Video: Greg Reid wishes Marcus Lattimore a very painful New Year

South Carolina's star freshman, Marcus Lattimore, got off to another fast start Friday night, turning a short pass on the Gamecocks' third snap of the Chick-Fil-A Bowl into a 53-yard gain into Florida State territory. Three plays later, though, Lattimore's night came to an abrupt end, courtesy of diminutive FSU cornerback Greg Reid:

Lattimore suffered a concussion on the hit, according to coach Steve Spurrier, and spent the night in the hospital, getting his mouth surgically stitched. The fumble was his first career turnover, but only the first of five Gamecock giveaways on the night – three on interceptions from the arm of Stephen Garcia, and another on a fumble by All-American receiver Alshon Jeffery. Backups Kenny Miles and Brian Maddox kept Carolina's running game on track with 123 yards on 22 carries between them, but it wasn't enough to negate the turnovers in a 26-17 Florida State win.

Reid, listed at 174 pounds, was punching at least 40 pounds out of his weight class in the collision, and he was only getting started: With four passes broken up, a second forced fumble and a pair of big punt returns that set up FSU field goals, the former five-star recruit delivered the breakout performance of the night, setting himself up for a big, hype-fulfilling junior season in the fall.

The rest of the Seminoles may be right there with him as a team. The bowl victory sealed the 'Noles' first 10-win season since 2003, and will almost certainly leave them in the top 20 in the final polls for the first time since 2004, the first year of ACC expansion. Beyond that, though, the real test for Jimbo Fisher's first season in place of Bobby Bowden was whether a stagnant program had regained some momentum toward its birthright as ACC overlord and perennial national contender under the new administration. They're still on their way, but as far as momentum goes, Friday night was a confident "yes."

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

Related: Florida State Seminoles, South Carolina Gamecocks

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Video: Mike Rupp and John Erskine drop gloves early in Winter Classic

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After Cancellation Notice, Offshore SEO Company Threatens Negative Reputation Management Campaign

A company received a smear campaign threat from its outsourced SEO firm because the firm knows Google’s algorithm improperly ranks negative results, which Google claims helps to show an impartial view of the Web.

Reference this e-mail and tell me if you’d rather hire offshore to save a few dollars or go with a reputable SEO company that can provide you with skilled SEO link builders and an on-going professional relationship.

This is in response to a request to cancel services for a month-to-month service offering:

Click to Enlarge

The legal nature of these tactics is questionable in the United States, but hiring an offshore firm doesn’t provide you the same protection from a “Negative Reputation Campaign.”

It’s unbelievable that an SEO company would put its own reputation on the line with such an e-mail because a client has decided to go with another SEO firm. I’ve seen these tactics for more than a decade in both Web design/development and SEO, and its extremely unfortunate.

A couple weeks ago, Google tweaked their algorithm to penalize DecorMyEyes.com after the NY Times published an article discussing their alleged fraudulent business practices that resulted in supposed increased Google rankings.

Bottom line: Google took action! They need to continue that effort with sites like RipOffReport.com, ComplaintsBoard.com, Scam.com and other sites that obtain very high positions in the Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and seem to be favored by Google’s algorithm.

When searching for brand names, you often see negative complaints published on these URLs at the top of the SERPs. I would understand seeing these URLs with negative information showing up in the SERPs for searches like:

Brand name scamBrand name sucksBrand name complaintsBrand name problemsAnd other keyword combinations based around negative terms

But when a brand name is the sole keyword and a complaint site URL is showing up #2, there is most likely an imbalance of credibility with Google’s algorithm that gives the complaint site the advantage.

Keep in mind the backlink portfolio to the URLs listed do not warrant a #2 ranking, nor does Google agree that a similarly credible website should rank for every brand in the world with little more than a brand name displayed in a page title, header tag and content body. At least Google’s love affair with Wikipedia can be argued that Wikipedia’s deep pages obtain thousands of links individually and therefore deserve a top ranking.

What did I miss in this post and plea to Google to do the right thing? Please comment and share.

Tags: Offshore SEO Company, Online reputation, orm, Outsourced SEO, Reputation Management

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Japan's Christmas gift for MMA fans: 'The Reem' vs. Duffee

If the fight stinks, at least the postfight posedown will thrill the fans at Dynamite!! 2010. Japanese promoters have delivered an opponent for Alistair Overeem on their year-end MMA card, it's fellow muscleman Todd Duffee. What a holiday gift to close out the year.

Duffee has been in limbo since his mysterious axing from the UFC back in September. The 6-foot-3, 252-pounder was considered one of the UFC's best heavyweight prospects. After putting a first-round beatdown on Mike Russow, Duffee gassed and was shocked via knockout in the third. Four months later, he was cut by the UFC with a 1-1 record.

FanHouse confirmed Thursday morning that the 25-year-old will face Overeem on Jan. 31 in Saitama, Japan (HDNet).

HeadKickLegend reports that Duffee will be paid $60,000 to show and an additional bonus if he pulls the upset. HKL also says Bobby Lashley turned down an Overeem fight over financial concerns.

Overeem, the Strikeforce heavyweight champ, is riding an eight-fight win streak that dates to 2007. His last MMA fight was a walkover in May against Brett Rogers in St. Louis.

On New Year's Eve, he'll be just 20 days removed from fighting three times in one night at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010.

This is MMA fight No. 45 for Overeem and only Duffee's eighth. Is it too soon?

The youngster has everything to gain. Hopefully, he's corrected some of his gas-tank issues because Overeem can go hard for 15 minutes and has huge knockout power.

Duffee will also have to deal with a long trip to Japan. Let's hope he has only good things to say about DREAM's promoters on the way to the fight.  

Tip via Bloody Elbow

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DTotD: Santa's little helper needs to look when he runs

In honor of the holiday, I thought we should forego the actual football-related DTotDs and go for something a bit more festive. 

If you laugh at this you are an awful person. 

Related: Dirty Tackle of the Day

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Former Michael Jackson Associate Planning 'Billie Jean' Film Expose

Michael Jackson's real-life Billie Jean is set to be exposed in a new movie that a former Jacksons associate is shopping around Hollywood and London.

Ron Newt grew up with the Jacksons and took home video footage of Michael as his solo career was taking off in 1981 and 1982.

He was forbidden from doing anything with the film while the King of Pop was alive, because Jackson didn't want fans seeing rehearsal footage.

Newt tells WENN, "He didn't want people seeing all the mistakes, but it's hilarious stuff - Michael cursing and rehearsing and yelling at his brother Randy for stepping on his mic cord."

But now Newt has unearthed the lost footage and he's offering it to producers, along with an introduction to the California stylist who inspired Billie Jean.

He says, "It's time she was revealed on film. I know where she lives and I know she'll talk. She has a son that looks a lot like Michael Jackson. Hers is a fascinating story, and together with my rehearsal footage of Jackson before he started messing with his appearance, this film could be a big hit."

Newt is also working on a book, All That Glitters, about his long association with the Jacksons, which ended in 2005 after the King of Pop's child molestation trial.

Click for more great Michael Jackson pictures:

Photo Credits: Solarpix / PR Photos Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel talk 'How I Met Your Mother'

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Big League Stew's 'Lineup For Today'

Before we duck out for a few days of holiday cheer — hey, everyone else in baseball is doing it — the staff here at Big League Stew wants to wish all of you the very best. No matter how you choose to celebrate, we hope you do it safely and surrounded by those you love.

(And, yes, we realize those two wishes might be contradictory for some.)

As a Christmas stocking stuffer for all of our loyal Stewies, here's a great modern take on "Line-Up for Yesterday," Ogden Nash's classic baseball poem from 1949. It was written by my good friend, Tim Snips, and I took the liberty of setting it to some stock iMovie music and making a movie. If you'd rather page through the individual stanzas at your own leisure, click here for a set on Flickr.

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We'll be around if big news breaks, but if it doesn't, we'll see you on Monday. And if you'd like to give us a gift back, take your shot at a few "Line-Up" entries in the comments below.

All photos in the slideshow are from AP and Getty Images

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