Manziel first freshman to win Heisman Trophy

award in New York December 8, 2012. Manziel was awarded the Heisman Trophy on Saturday, …more
(Reuters) - Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was awarded the Heisman Trophy on Saturday, making him the first 'freshman' to win college football's top honor.
Manziel, nicknamed "Johnny Football", beat out Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o and Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein at the swanky ceremony in New York.
"This is a moment I've dreamed about since I was a kid running around the backyard pretending I was Doug Flute throwing 'hail marys' to my dad," the first-year player Manziel said.
"To be invited into this fraternity, what a pleasure it really is.
"I wish my whole team could be up here with me tonight especially my whole offensive line."
The Texan Manziel finished the regular season with 3,419 passing yards and 1,181 rushing yards to set a new total offense record for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 12 games.
Manziel, who is not eligible for the NFL draft for at least another year, also broke the 1969 record held by Archie Manning, father of Peyton and Eli Manning, for total offense in a game with 557 yards against Arkansas.
He later bettered that with 567 yards against Louisiana Tech.
Marqise Lee from USC was fourth and Braxton Miller from Ohio State was fifth.

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Seven Big East basketball teams leaving conference

(The Sports Xchange) The seven Catholic schools in the Big East that do not have Football Bowl Subdivision teams unanimously voted Saturday to take their men's basketball teams out of the conference, ESPN reported.
St. John's president Rev. Donald J. Harrington scheduled a news conference for 4:30 p.m. ET.
DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova will leave the Big East on June 30, 2015. They will pursue another framework for their basketball teams.
The conference future of remaining Big East members Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida -- which have FBS programs -- is uncertain.
"Earlier today we voted unanimously to pursue an orderly evolution to a foundation of basketball schools that honors the history and tradition on which the Big East was established," the seven presidents said in a joint statement. "Under the current context of conference realignment, we believe pursuing a new basketball framework that builds on this tradition of excellence and competition is the best way forward."
The Big East will have 12 teams in its conference for football starting next season. Boise State and San Diego State join the Big East in football only next season. Rutgers and Louisville are leaving the conference after next season.

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Pennsylvania suit against NCAA a long shot: experts

(Reuters) - Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett faces serious obstacles to winning his antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA over the harsh sanctions it imposed on Penn State in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal, legal experts said on Wednesday.
While targeting the National Collegiate Athletic Association may be popular politically in a state where Penn State football is widely loved, the federal court handling the case might rule that the state lacks standing to bring the lawsuit in the first place, experts said.
Moreover, the state of Pennsylvania must demonstrate the NCAA penalties harmed consumers and constituted a breakdown in the competitive marketplace.
"It's not a frivolous lawsuit - there are real arguments to make - but, boy, is it weak," said Max Kennerly, a lawyer with the Beasley Firm in Philadelphia who has been following the case closely.
The sanctions the NCAA imposed on Penn State in July included an unprecedented $60 million fine and the voiding of all of the football team's victories over the past 14 seasons.
Corbett's lawsuit was distinct in that, unlike the university, the state of Pennsylvania was not a party directly affected by the sanctions. Instead, Corbett brought the suit on behalf of third parties such as stadium workers, shopkeepers, hoteliers and others whose businesses were disturbed because of the NCAA's penalties.
The obstacle Corbett faced was "converting what may be real and perhaps significant harm" to Penn State students and athletes and local businesses into an antitrust violation, said Gabriel Feldman, a professor at Tulane University Law School.
"This is an extremely uphill battle for Pennsylvania," Feldman said.
The NCAA has been sued on antitrust grounds fewer than 10 times over the past five years, estimated Matt Millen, a professor at Marquette University Law School and director of the National Sports Law Institute. Most of those cases were settled or dismissed because courts often defer to the NCAA when it comes to matters of rules and enforcement actions, Millen said.
Past antitrust suits against the NCAA that have been successful tend to involve operations such as marketing and licensing because the body has "a stranglehold" over those spheres, Kennerly said.
The Supreme Court ruled in the 1984 case of NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma that the NCAA's policies on television broadcast rights to college football games violated federal antitrust laws. Former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon led a class-action suit against the NCAA in 2009 that is still pending over the use of student-athletes' images and likenesses without compensation.
In contrast, antitrust lawsuits over NCAA sanctions have been less successful in court. In the 1988 case of NCAA v. Tarkanian, the Supreme Court ruled the NCAA was a private entity not obligated to abide by due process considerations when it hands down sanctions, Kennerly said.
(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Steve Orlofsky)

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A Tale of Two Strategies: The Twitter Genius of Chuck Grassley and Cory Booker

If you’re on Twitter and not following Sen. Chuck Grassley, you’re not using Twitter correctly.

The Iowa Republican is known for his colorful and personal Twitter feed. Take a gander: he personally tweets about everything from the History Channel to Obamacare to an incident in which he hit a deer with his car  (“assume dead"). Grassley’s tweets take us along for a ride, one that's often riddled with spelling errors (which he has said is due to his distaste for typing and the iPhone’s auto-correct function).

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A Tale of 2 Strategies: The Twitter Genius of Chuck Grassley and Cory Booker

If you’re on Twitter and not following Sen. Chuck Grassley, you’re not using Twitter correctly.
The Iowa Republican is known for his colorful and personal Twitter feed. Take a gander: He personally tweets about everything from the History Channel to "Obamacare" to an incident in which he hit a deer with his car  (“assume dead"). Grassley’s tweets take us along for a ride, one that's often riddled with spelling errors (which he has said is due to his distaste for typing and the iPhone’s auto-correct function).

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Can Social Media Help You Lose Weight?

At the start of the New Year, when weight loss is often a priority, building a support team to help keep us on track can be extremely helpful. This might typically consist of family members, friends, co-workers, or perhaps even a nutritionist or registered dietitian. But today, support can also be found online. Plenty of Web sites focus on losing weight, and include communities that provide support and encouragement. Since many of us spend a lot of time on social media sites--maybe too much if you ask my husband!--why not use these platforms as another tool for support? In fact, one study suggests employees participating in a workplace wellness program who also joined the company's Facebook page, run by a registered dietitian, stayed with the program longer than those who didn't.
[See Already Struggling With Your New Year's Resolution?]
Could it actually make sense that gluing ourselves to our mobile device or computer could help us shed pounds? It sounds like quite the oxymoron, since increased screen time doesn't usually equate to weight loss. But here's how to make social media sites work for you:
Facebook
Facebook is a place where you can share what's going on in your life with friends, but you may not feel comfortable announcing what you weigh or that you're trying to lose weight. On the other hand, you may enjoy posting fitness milestones, such as training for and completing your first marathon, or a bike ride for your favorite charity. Sharing your fitness goals with the Facebook universe may be helpful, because the more people who know about it, the more likely you are to stay committed.
[See Small Steps, Big Change: How to Lose 50 Pounds Without Really Trying]
Rather than simply connecting with friends on the site, you can also connect with health and fitness professionals, such as registered dietitians, or pages for diet books, like mine, The Small Change Diet. You can also "like" the pages of health and fitness magazines and your favorite brands. The folks who run these pages may post articles that provide you with helpful weight-loss tips, and many organize regular Facebook chats, allowing you to ask an expert your questions. The more that healthy information is "in your face," the more likely you are to stick to it.
Most importantly, you may discover a weight-loss community on Facebook, where like-minded individuals share their weight losses (or gains) and offer support. Daily accountability could be just what you need, and knowing others are rooting for you can make a world of difference. If you can't find a Facebook community you like, start your own.
Twitter
So many of my patients don't have Twitter accounts, because they think they have nothing clever or witty to say. My advice to them is always the same: You don't have to "say" anything; you can just follow, at least at the beginning. Registered dietitians (I'm @kerigans) have great tips and, if they're like me, are more than happy to answer questions via Twitter. I've had followers tweet a picture of their dinner and ask what my dietitian colleagues and I thought of it--priceless information for free.
[See Best Plant-Based Diets]
Just as you do on Facebook, follow fitness professionals, health magazines, and other sources that provide weight-loss motivation. Once you feel comfortable, you may decide to join in the conversation, since that's what social media is all about. Perfect example of how it can benefit you: One morning, I tweeted that I felt more like staying in my pajamas than going to yoga. Some of my followers chimed in that they were feeling the same way, BUT stressed that we should all still exercise. And so we all did. And trust me, none of us regretted going--rather, we were thankful for each other.
[See Are Mobile Health Apps Helpful?]
Seek out people on Twitter and Facebook who you find inspirational, and hopefully a little of what they do will rub off on you. Since nothing is etched in stone, you can unfollow, unlike, or unfriend them if they aren't helping you. And please keep in mind that while social media can be another tool in your pursuit of weight loss, it's not the end all. Healthy eating, fitness, and plenty of sleep actually need to happen away from a screen.
Hungry for more? Write to eatandrun@usnews.com with your questions, concerns, and feedback
Keri Gans, MS, RD, CDN, is a registered dietitian, media personality, spokesperson, and author of The Small Change Diet. Gans's expert nutrition advice has been featured in Glamour, Fitness, Health, Self and Shape, and on national television and radio, including The Dr. Oz Show, Good Morning America, ABC News, Primetime, and Sirius/XM Dr. Radio.

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"Fiscal cliff" creates waiting game for payrolls firms

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - At payroll processing businesses across the United States, the "fiscal cliff" stalemate in Washington means uncertainty over tax-withholding tables just days before the start of 2013.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service still has not issued the tables for next year that show how much money employers should hold back from workers' paychecks to cover federal income taxes.
Payroll processors need the tables to get their systems geared up for the new year. The tables are set by many factors, including tax rates and annual inflation adjustments.
In anticipation of late-breaking developments, Rochester, New York-based Paychex Inc will be serving Buffalo chicken wings for staffers working late on New Year's Eve, said Frank Fiorille, an executive at the payroll processing giant.
"Our systems are flexible enough that we can wait almost up until the last minute and still make changes," he said.
The IRS appreciates of the impact of Congress' inaction.
"Since Congress is still considering changes to the tax law, we continue to closely monitor the situation," IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said in a statement. "We intend to issue guidance by the end of the year on appropriate withholding for 2013."
Tax rates are slated to rise sharply for most Americans if Congress and President Barack Obama fail to reach an agreement that averts the "fiscal cliff" approaching at year-end.
"The political process will determine one way or the other what" the IRS must do, said Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation, a business-oriented tax research group.
For now, he said, from the tax-collection agency's viewpoint, "doing nothing is probably the best course." This would be because withholding tables distributed now might only have to be revised if Congress acts in the next few days.
Some payroll servicers are not waiting for formal IRS guidance. The American Payroll Association, which represents about 23,000 payroll professionals, told members on Friday to rely on 2012 withholding tables until the IRS releases the new forms for 2013.
The association said its decision was based on a statement earlier this month from an IRS official.
The agency would not confirm that policy on Friday.
Tax preparer H&R Block Inc said it will use 2012 tax-withholding tables if the 2013 tables are not issued.
Executives said they were frustrated with the uncertainty in Washington, but were doing their best to cope.
"We are not doctors or surgeons and this is not life threatening," said Rob Basso with Advantaged Payroll Services, an Auburn, Maine-based payroll processor that serves 30,000 businesses. "It is annoying and disruptive to people's lives, but we will get through it."

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Future of state estate taxes hangs on U.S. "fiscal cliff"

Not necessarily for some state governments that could begin collecting more in estate taxes on wealth left to heirs if the United States goes over the "cliff," allowing sharp tax increases and federal spending cuts to take effect in January.
In an example of federal and state tax law interaction that gets little notice on Capitol Hill, 30 states next year could collect $3 billion more in estate taxes if Congress and President Barack Obama do not act soon, estimated the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.
The reason? The federal estate tax would return with a vengeance and so would a federal credit system that shares a portion of it with the 30 states. They had been getting their cut of this tax revenue stream until the early 2000s. That was when the credit system for payment of state estate tax went away due to tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush.
With the return of the credit system next year as part of the "cliff," states such as Florida, Colorado and Texas - which have not collected estate tax since 2004 - could resume doing so. California Governor Jerry Brown has already begun to add the anticipated estate tax revenue into his plans, including $45 million of it in his 2012-2013 revised budget.
Brown may or may not be jumping the gun.
CLOUDY CLIFF AHEAD
The outlook on the "fiscal cliff" coming up at year-end is uncertain. Democratic President Barack Obama has said he hopes for a last-minute deal to avert it. That would need to get done soon, with Congress just now coming back from its holiday break.
Chances of an agreement became more remote last week after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives fumbled their own legislative attempt to prevent the fiscal jolt that economists say could trigger a recession.
House Speaker John Boehner abruptly adjourned the chamber for the holidays after failing to gather the votes from within his own party to pass legislation he and other Republicans had drafted, after walking out of negotiations with Obama.
Weeks of inconclusive political drama over the "cliff" have focused largely on individual income tax rates and spending on federal programs such Medicare and Social Security, but many tax issues are also involved, including the estate tax.
At the moment, under laws signed a decade ago by Bush, the estate tax is applied to inherited assets at a rate of 35 percent after a $5 million exemption. That means a deceased person can pass on an inheritance of up to $5 million before any tax applies. Inherited wealth passed to a spouse or a federally recognized charity is generally not taxed.
Obama wants to raise the rate to 45 percent after a $3.5 million exemption. Republicans have called for complete repeal of the estate tax, which they call the "death tax," though Boehner earlier this month called for freezing the estate tax at its present level. It was difficult to determine what the Republicans want after last week's events in the House.
STATES STAND TO GAIN
If Congress and Obama do not act by December 31, numerous Bush-era tax laws will expire, including the one on estate taxes. That would mean the estate tax rate will shoot up next year to the pre-Bush levels of 55 percent after a $1 million exemption.
It would also mean that for the first time in years, a portion of that estate tax would go to the states, through the return of the credit system.
Under that old law, estates paying the tax could get a credit against their federal tax bill for state estate tax payments of up to 16 percent of the estate's value.
If the fiscal cliff were allowed to take hold unaltered by Washington, 30 states would again automatically begin getting their share of federal estate taxes. The state laws are generally written so the state estate tax amounts are calculated under a formula based on the amount of the federal credit.
This would help states that have struggled with lower tax revenues since the 2007-2009 financial crisis and resulting recession, according to research by the Pew Center on the States, though painful federal spending cut backs would also hurt the states.

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Exclusive: Profits up, but Britain gets less tax from big firms

LONDON (Reuters) - Big companies in Britain now pay less tax than they did 12 years ago despite a big jump in profitability, a Reuters analysis of official data shows. Tax campaigners say the trend is the clearest signal yet that tax avoidance has blossomed under a more business-friendly strategy at the UK tax authority Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Large companies' payments of corporation tax - the UK equivalent of corporate income tax - totaled 21 billion pounds ($34 billion) in 2011/12, HMRC data shows. That was down five billion pounds or 21 percent since 2000/01 when the government, then controlled by the Labour Party, took the first steps towards a more collaborative approach to big business.
At the same time, the gross operating surplus for all companies in the UK - a widely watched measure of companies' profitability compiled by the Office of National Statistics - has risen 65 percent, to 329 billion pounds. The economy has grown by 55 percent over the same period, and receipts of both personal income tax and small companies' income tax are higher.
HMRC and the finance ministry denied the figures showed an increase in tax avoidance - legal tactics used by multinationals such as Google, Amazon and Starbucks. They cited recent economic weakness and lower corporation tax rates. The UK's official corporation tax rate was steady at 30 percent between 2000 and 2007 but has been gradually cut. In the last tax year it was 26 percent.
Reuters calculations show the lower tax rate and the weak economy account for about half the fall, leaving around 2.6 billion pounds of the difference in the amount of corporate tax paid between 2000/01 and 2011/12 unaccounted for.
John Christensen of Tax Justice Network, a tax campaigningoogleg group, said the figures show successive governments' attempts to create a more business-friendly administration - which includes a policy known as "enhanced relationship" based on mutual trust - have encouraged companies to use such tactics.
"These figures tell a more powerful story than any figures I have seen so far," he said, adding that senior HMRC staff had told him in recent years that they were "alarmed" at the drop in payments from large companies. HMRC defines these as firms with annual profit of more than 1.5 million pounds.
The finance ministry declined to comment on the calculations.
"PARADOXICAL"
Prem Sikka, a professor of accounting at Essex University who has written extensively about tax avoidance, said that even allowing for the tax cut, the figures were "paradoxical".
"How are they managing to reconcile higher profits with lower taxes?" he said. "It can't be done ... unless they are booking these profits somewhere else." Companies reporting for tax purposes are increasingly diverting UK profits to lower-tax jurisdictions, he said.
Google, for example, channels $4 billion of UK sales through Ireland each year, most of which ends up in Bermuda. Google said it complies with tax law in every country in which it operates but that it also has an obligation to its shareholders "to run our business efficiently".
When shown the calculations, an HMRC spokesman said the downward trend may also have been emphasized by a shift in the way taxes were paid from 1999 which led to "elements of double counting" in 2000/01 and 2001/02. That could make revenues in those years look artificially high. He declined to quantify the impact of this.
Sikka dismissed the impact of this change.
"That wouldn't make any difference to the total tax liability," he said.
HMRC's own data does not point to a spike in corporation tax payments over the period the changes were initiated.
Total corporation tax payments were just 2 billion pounds higher in 2001-2002 than in 1998-1999, a rise of 7 percent, while GDP rose 16 percent over the period.
The government's tax minister, David Gauke, who has described corporation tax as one of "the most economically damaging taxes", called the tax authority's current approach "very successful" in a September speech. He declined requests for an interview.

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Te'o sees career end with BCS title-game loss

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — One of the last things Manti Te'o remembers Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly telling his team before the BCS title game was about the importance of four particular segments of play.
—The first two minutes of the game.
—The last two minutes of the first half.
—The first two minutes of the second half.
—The last two minutes of the game.
Of those, only one was not wrought with disaster for the Fighting Irish — and by then Te'o had left the field for the last time as a Notre Dame player.
Overmatched from the very start, Notre Dame's hopes of going from unranked to undisputed this season ended in a crimson-and-white display of precise football. The Irish were beaten by Alabama 42-14 in the title matchup on Monday night, the only loss in 13 games for a Notre Dame team that few thought would be a championship hopeful when the season began.
"I'm obviously disappointed, not necessarily all that we lost, but just we didn't represent our school, our team, our families the way that we could have," Te'o said. "So in that aspect it's just disappointing. But at the same time I'm proud to be a part of this team. What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger."
Cliche, sure.
But if anyone can live by those words, it's Te'o, particularly after what he endured over the course of his final college season.
Alabama set the tone in the first two minutes, starting the game with an 82-yard march in only five plays to take a 7-0 lead on Eddie Lacy's touchdown run, the first of his many highlights on this night. With 31 seconds left in the half, Lacy caught a touchdown pass for his second score — one that made it 28-0 and had Kelly cracking a joke at his own expense in a televised halftime interview.
"All Alabama," Kelly said at the time. "I mean, we can't tackle them right now. And who knows why? They're big and physical — I guess I do know why."
Anyone who was watching knew why.
So the first two minutes were all 'Bama, the last two minutes of the half went the Tide's way as well, and the first two minutes of the third quarter ended with Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson throwing an interception near the goal line, a sensational play made by Alabama's HaHa Clinton-Dix to come up with that turnover.
Alabama scored on the ensuing drive, and Te'o stood perfectly still as he took a long look at one of the giant video screens in Sun Life Stadium, studying the replay of that touchdown.
It was a pose that Notre Dame repeated way, way too often.
"We just needed to execute better," safety Zeke Motta said. "It was just a matter of execution and playing the right way."
Missed chances on offense, missed tackles on defense. Kelly didn't pinpoint reasons why for either — months of agonizing over film will tell that story — but some in the Notre Dame locker room insisted that the final score didn't accurately show how far the Irish have come this season.
"They didn't dominate us," Notre Dame nose guard Louis Nix said. "We missed tackles."
The numbers sure suggested domination.
By halftime, the Irish had already given up more points than they had in any game this season, the previous high being 26 in a triple-overtime win over Pittsburgh.
The most yards Notre Dame gave up this season was 379; Alabama cracked the 500 mark early in the fourth quarter. The Crimson Tide finished with 529 yards, converted 8 of 13 third downs, got five touchdowns in five trips to the red zone and became the first team since Stanford in 2009 to score at least 42 points against the Irish.
"Pretty darn good football team, but not good enough," Kelly said, assessing his team as Alabama's victory celebration was wrapping up on the field. "So it's clear what we need to do in the offseason."
What they do next will come without Te'o, the senior linebacker who was widely considered the nation's top defensive player this season.
He was a nonfactor early with a couple of missed tackles — rare for him — and that foreshadowed how the rest of the night would go for the Fighting Irish.
"The best thing about this experience is it creates fire, it creates fuel, for both the guys staying here and the guys leaving," Te'o said. "Everybody here tonight will be better because of it."
Te'o leaves as an absolute surefire Notre Dame fan favorite, for both what he did on the field and how he handled things away from the game.
He's a Mormon from Hawaii who spurned USC to sign with Notre Dame. He was one of the biggest sparkplugs for this current revitalization of Irish football, and saw his personal story become one of the more compelling parts of this Notre Dame season — when he mourned the deaths of both his girlfriend and his grandmother by playing perhaps his best game, a 12-tackle show against Michigan State.
He wound up finishing second in the Heisman Trophy race.
The Irish wound up finishing second in the national title chase.
And when it was all over, Te'o showed absolutely no regrets. He was subbed out of the game with about 2:15 remaining, shook some hands and started saying his farewell to the college game.
"Obviously we wish the night could have ended in a different way," Te'o said, "but the season, the year, my career here, I've been truly blessed to be at Notre Dame.
"And I'll forever be proud to say that I'm a Notre Dame Fighting Irish."

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