Cubs continuing to build Dynasty

While at first blush it may seem the Cubs are poised for a poor 2013, particularly since they lost so many talented players at the trade deadline last year, as well as an All Star in the off-season, looking deeper will reveal that they are in fact poised for greatness.  When exactly that greatness comes, that remains to be seen.  It could be this year, it could be next year, who knows?  But there are a lot of signs pointing toward serious improvement, and I would like to mention some of them now.  We all know that they recently signed a pitcher, Edwin Jackson, who has tremendous talent but has never quite lived up to it.  That could be because he keeps getting bounced around from team to team.  That changes now, with the Cubs having given him a long term contract.  He finally has stability, for himself and his family, and can focus on finally being the best pitcher he can be, and that could mean very, very good things indeed for the Cubs.  Even more recently, they signed a man who hit 20 home runs last year for the New York Mets, and they signed him to a 2 year, 5 million dollar contract.  20 home runs for 2.5 million per year?  Yes please! 

But I could go on and on about players they've signed, perhaps what's most important of all is what we saw on MLB TV recently.  The Cubs now have THREE prospects in the Top 50, including one in the top 20!  That's not exactly super-duper awesome, to be sure, but its a LOT better than it used to be, the Cubs used to have one of the worst minor league systems in baseball, and now they have one of the better ones.  They also have the #2 pick in this year's draft, which could help propel them even closer to the coveted #1 spot, currently held by St Louis.  Theo Epstein and his team are really turning this team around, and it's a lot of fun to watch!  Here's hoping 2013 is finally the year the Cubs win that next World Series!

Merry Christmas!

Here at the Gladiator Blog, we (meaning I, your friend and mine, Sir Gladiator) would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!  There is a lot to be thankful for, good health, cheerful (if cold) weather, family, friends, etc.  Of course not everyone has all those things, and sometimes, as we all know, around the Christmas Season some folks suffer from depression, because this is the time when things should be at their best, instead they seem bleak, and it just feels like they're never going to get better.  Believe me, I know how you feel, I think pretty much everybody has experienced a Holiday season of some kind of other like that, but it's important to remember that Christmas isn't about ourselves.  It isn't about what we're going to get, or even what we're going to get for others.  It isn't about singing, it isn't about snow, etc.  It's about Jesus, it's about celebrating His birth, His life, and of course ultimate His death and resurrection.  He died so that we can live.  Before He died, He was born, and that is what we are celebrating at Christmas.  When we make Christmas about us, its easy to feel sad or depressed when things don't go our way.  But its not about us, its about Him, and as long as we keep that in mind, it will be a truly Merry Christmas indeed!

Huge new Dragon Age 3 News!

Thanks to my sources, I can now reveal possible super-secret new details regarding the next game in the Dragon Age series, Dragon Age 3!  Now, I should begin by stating that everything is subject to change, and you never know for sure what's true and what isn't, but this very much appears to be true, so with that in mind, I'm giving you, my loyal readers, information that will most likely make you one of a VERY SELECT FEW who know the first major details of this highly anticipated game!  This is a quote, a description of the basic plot of the upcoming game, based on my sources.

 "A portal between the worlds unleashes hords of demons in the land, civil wars rip apart nations and the corruption is limitless. Someone is behind the shadows, drawing the threads which destroy the world. Time has come for the Inquisition.

Take the Inquisitor's cloak and lead the only force able of bringing light into the darkness. Choose the direct method and gather your armies, send spies into the shadows or engage in a political war, make friends and use your connections indirectly: it is up to you how you lead the inquisition. But you'll have to take lead of it from the beginning. Make your player a rogue, warrior or mage and set up your crew from up to ten (!) complex companions to lead them against those who attack you by systematically spying on, revealing and destroying them."

It appears that you will be, as the 'Inquisitor' have a wide range of choices both in regard to how you play, and who your companions will be.  It really sounds super fun!  Now, again, this is according to my sources, and everything is subject to change even if it all is 100% accurate right now, but I do believe that this is indeed the real deal info, and you are now one of a select few in the world who know it!  So stay tuned to the Gladiator Blog as we continue to bring you breaking, awesome, super duper cool info, on DA3 and so many other topics!

Ron Paul the new GOP Front-Runner?

For all the talk of 'Obama vs Romney' its worth noting that Ron Paul is continuing to notch victory after victory at the state level, gaining a ton of delegates in the process.  In Nevada, in Minnesota, in Maine, in Iowa, and many other states, Ron is winning both states and large numbers of delegates.  The Media has declared Romney the winner, but the actual voters, the ones that show up to state conventions and elect delegates, are declaring a different winner.  Its still way too early to know who will emerge victorious, but certainly for now it appears that Ron Paul has a much stronger chance of emerging victorious at the GOP Convention in Tampa later this year than anyone in the Lamestream Media would like you to believe.  Stay tuned!

Cubbies building a Dynasty one trade at a time

As you probably already heard, the Chicago Cubs finally got rid of their loose-cannon pitcher Carlos Zambrano, which of course is a victory in and of itself.  You may have also heard that we got a young, promising starter in his place, one that could be an important part of the Cubs rotation for many years to come.  However Theo and company didn't stop there.  They made another bigtime trade today, this time trading relliever Cashner for power hitting 1st baseman Rizzo of the Padres.  This is a shocking victory for the Cubs, as there had been rumors that they would have to give up Garza to obtain a package including Rizzo.  To only give up a reliever (the Cubs also gave up, and received, one lower level prospect in the deal) for a potential Superstar like Rizzo is nothing short of highway robbery, Theo Epstein and his group are proving themselves to be brilliant trade negotiators.  They managed to trade reliever Marshall for a left handed Starter and two promising minor leaguers (one of whom will likely make the team at the start of this season), and they traded for power hitting third baseman Stewart of Colorado, both trades done last year, before the most recent two awesome trades.  The Cubs are already so much better this year than last, you'd have to consider them one of the early favorites in the NL Central, and there's still well over two months before the season even begins! 

Clearly there is plenty of room for Theo to work out even more trades, involving Garza, Byrd, and of course Soriano, in addition to possibly signing a free agent or two, such as Cespedes.  The future is looking so bright for the Cubbies, that Cubs fans may indeed have to wear shades!

Sadly, as you all probably know, the future is looking less bright for Presidential Candidate Ron Paul.  A surprise third place finish in Iowa, despite being in first or second place in litearlly every poll, was without question disappointing, but he did score an impressive 22 percent of the vote, which is about where he's at right now in New Hampshire.  Rick Santorum, who came up from nowhere at the end to almost score the victory in Iowa, is only at about 10 percent in New Hampshire and doesn't figure to do much better than that by the time the voting takes place four days from now.  It truly is a 2 man race in New Hampshire between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.  The bad news is that Ron is currently down about 20 points, but the good news is that this is New Hampshire, and front runners rarely win, and when they do its usually not by all that much, so there's a good chance that Ron will at least get close by election day, and a victory is, despite how the polls look right now, definitely not out of the question.

Stay tuned to the Gladiator Blog for more news and information from the Presidential race, as well as more information on the Cubbies progress toward a Dynasty!     

New Iowa Poll shows Ron Paul almost in the lead!

The newest poll out of Iowa has some very, VERY good news for Congressman Ron Paul, as well as Constitutional Conservatives throughout America, and the world.  The latest results from the Bloomberg poll of likely Iowa Caucus voters show that Ron Paul has surged into a strong second place with 19 percent of the vote, just a point behind the leader, Herman 'thats what she said' Cain who still leads slightly, with 20 percent.  Romney placed third in the poll with 18 percent, just ahead of Gingrich who had 17 percent.  This is, of course, effectively a four way tie, but the biggest news has to be the huge surge by Congressman Ron Paul.  His message of economic liberty and freedom, a foreign policy that puts America's National Defense ahead of nation building and endless wars, and his overall strong Libertarian, Constitutional Conservatism that is unmatched among the candidates, is clearly starting to reach the masses in a powerful way.

Some months back, Ron Paul had all the momentum in Iowa, he had moved up to about 16 percent in the polling, and was just zooming up.  Then, just before the Iowa Straw Poll that he seemed poised to win, the Rick Perry fans Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck began savaging him on their nationwide radio programs.  This resulted in Ron no longer going up, and in fact he started going down, Rick Perry took his place as the man with all the momentum.  Happily for America, Perry was exposed for the incredibly flawed candidate that he is (albeit a highly entertaining one, particularly for those of us who enjoy watching the debates).  Since then multiple men have enjoyed significant momentum, including Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, but as we've already been seeing, these candidates too have very significant flaws.  Ultimately it is Ron Paul, his principled leadership, his proven record of standing up against big government and globalist nation building and endless wars, that is poised to win in Iowa, win the GOP nomination, and the Presidency in 2012.  When he does that, don't be surprised to see the headline the next day 'Obama finishes a strong second' with no mention of who defeated him.  It would be very consistent with the media coverage that Ron gets.   

Ron Paul gets two new Iowa endorsements ahead of big Debate

Just a day before the big Florida debate, the Ron Paul campaign announced they had received two more endorsements in the first in the nation Caucus state of Iowa.  Both are from Clay County, Kris Thiessen is the Clay County GOP Chairwoman as well as a small business owner (she runs the White Glove janitorial service), and Josh Davenport is the Clay County GOP co-chairman, as well as a former supporter of 2008 Iowa Caucus winner Mike Huckabee.  Thiessen also founded a local Tea Party group.  Both endorsements are obviously quite important, as the Caucuses draw ever nearer, and the debates continue to help shape the field.  Ron Paul has continued to improve his standing in the polls, recently a national poll showed him at 13 percent, and even more recently a New Hampshire poll showed Ron in second place with 14 percent, trailing only Mitt Romney, as Perry has just eight percent support in the Granite State.  No doubt a win in the Florida debate would help him gain even more ground, as he continues to pass the supposed 'front runners' in the polls.  He's already zoomed past Michelle Bachmann nationally, and now he's passed Perry in New Hampshire.  He's been close to passing Romney in Iowa for some time, any day now we could hear that he's done that also.  We're definitely getting closer and closer to 'President Ron Paul'!