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Hot idea to tone Manning's pre-snap craziness down

Gonna be all over the place today, so bear with me.

To start with ...:A New Year's wish.May we never experience a polar vortex like that again.Ever.55's the Mike!Let's set the record straight: I like Peyton Manning.He's a great quarterback and a pretty darn good actor who totally set the bar for athletes hosting #8220;Saturday Night Live.#8221;But:There's one thing I can't stand about him: His pre-snap routine.He's yakking, he's pointing, he's walking over here, yelling over there.C'mon, snap the ball! Just a thought:How about cutting down the time on the play clock?Theatrics by Manning and others only prove that QBs obviously have about 5-8 seconds too much clock to work with.Plus, defenses need all the help they can get, and cutting the clock would be a small step in that direction.Anyhoo:Enjoy the games this weekend.Oh, and go Chargers.The book of class:Marian Hossa, Paul Konerko and Luol Deng.Deng nabbit:Seems like the only people upset about the Deng trade are his former coach and teammates.But the bottom line is it was absolutely the right move.I dare ya:To find a creepier ad than the Old Spice spot with all those moms bemoaning the fact their boys have become men.Bet ya can't. Good timing dept.:Has any middling baseball player ever received more mentions for calling it a career than Ryan Theriot did this week?I certainly don't recall Bump Wills getting that much pub.Never too late:Alshon Jeffery is right where he belongs #8212; in the Pro Bowl.Question:Think there's any chance Phil Emery might recruit Jerry Angelo to help select safeties the Bears will never use in Rounds 5 and 7 of the draft?Did ya notice:How good the Maple Leafs and Red Wings looked wearing their traditional colors in the Winter Classic?Just sayin'.Who knew?Interesting note from Comcast's Nina Falcone: Throughout the 2013-14 season, 15 NHL markets (including the Hawks) have averaged at least 100 percent capacity for home games, while only eight NBA teams have garnered such gaudy numbers.The countdown:Three weeks until we find out exactly what the Illinois 2014 horse racing schedule is actually going to look like.Scary times.Kudos:To Marcus Hersh and Marty McGee of DRF for winning Eclipse Awards. Two interesting, talented cats and two of the hardest workers in the game.Sad note:Sorry to hear about the passing of former Sportsman's Park executive Ed Duffy, a man who was always very kind to me.I remember:In the late '90s when I first started covering racing, I found myself sitting across a table from Ed and car owner Chip Gannasi as the pair were explaining how the conversion of Sportsman's into Chicago Motor Speedway was gonna work.Interesting times.As we all know:It didn't work out, but you can't say they didn't think outside the box on that one.One lasting memory:I'll never forget my encounter with actor Anthony Edwards at the inaugural Target Grand Prix at Sportsman's.While looking for notebook fodder, I spotted Edwards, the grand marshal of the race, and walked up to him with my recorder and notebook in hopes of a quick interview.It went a little something like this:Me: So, you're a big car racing fan, huh?Him: What do you think?Click. Good times!mspellman@dailyherald.com

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