Alex Lemon, a first-year English professor at TCU, looks much younger in a wrinkled blue shirt, yellow paisley tie, brown suit jacket and jeans than the authors he reads.

But Lemon, who has written two books of poetry, "Mosquito" and "Hallelujah Blackout," and has a third on the way, didn't start writing seriously until he had a surgery in 1999 to remove an abnormal growth in his brain stem. The growth was removed and the bleeding in his brain was stopped, but the surgery deprived Lemon of the ability to speak, walk or see.

This weekend's matchups feature similarly talented teams, but certain strengths will help Eagles and Steelers rise above competition.

NFC Championship Game: Philadelphia Eagles at Arizona Cardinals.

Sunday's first championship game features two teams that few could have predicted would meet at this point in the season.

Almost two months ago, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was benched during a 36-7 blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens. His team fell to 5-5-1 with the loss.

Sometimes democracy and a market-oriented economy just don't work.

Take America's current financial crisis. Fat cat politicians on Capitol Hill go home to their trophy wives and eat steaks lined with gold shavings, letting the economic nightmare grow worse amid partisan bickering. Meanwhile, the rest of us are eating our shoes for sustenance.

It's time for a dictator. It's time for Hulk Hogan.

As we find ourselves on the eve of a new presidency, I am reminded of how important it was to Americans for each candidate to establish his or her religion during the primaries.

President-elect Obama struggled throughout the campaign with rumors that he was a Muslim. When this turned out to be unfounded, the religious liberal left, confident that Obama's Christianity was as solid as theirs, were off to the voting booths.

We are now left to wonder though, how much his Christianity will be an evident guiding factor in his decisions during the next four years.

The university track and field team opens its indoor season at the Texas Tech Invitational in Lubbock on Saturday and looks to use the meet to set the routine for the season, the team's head coach said.

"We've got to get used to travelling, getting on the bus, kids being on time, all the little things that we have not done this year," head coach Darryl Anderson said. "Obviously, if we can get some quality performances that would be great also."

Before this week the team had not trained together since Dec. 1, Anderson said.

BC athletic director should honor contract

Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo should be commended for sticking to his word and firing former Eagle head coach Jeff Jagodzinski for interviewing for the same position with the New York Jets.

Now, hopefully a precedent has been set that will keep coaches to their word and respect the contracts they sign.