sunday six

- Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game was fantastic - of course, in no way does that justify the overboard, suffocating, 24/7 blitz of coverage leading up to the game. No game should ever receive that much coverage. Still, it was definitely one of the top two or three college games of the season. Yet I am going to reverse field from what I had previously believed and say that there should not be a rematch in the national championship game. Why not? The most compelling reason I have heard, and it just makes logical sense: say Michigan would win the national championship game against the Buckeyes. What you would then have is a 1-1 split in two games between the teams, yet Michigan would be the national champion? Huh? Shouldn’t that necessitate some sort of tie breaker. And since when should a team, OSU in this case, have to beat one team twice to win a championship? Let’s have Saturday’s sparkling gem of a game stand alone and match the Buckeyes up against USC, Florida or Arkansas in the title tilt. Right now, in the BCS standings, which determine who will play in the national championship game, Michigan remains second behind Ohio State, but USC should jump over them if they can beat Notre Dame and USC to finish the regular season.

- Toilet enthusiasts are overflowing (pardon the pun) at news of the World Toilet Association’s first-ever global summit, to be held in South Korea in November 2007. The organization hopes to have representatives from 50 nations present to discuss the state of their public restrooms. Set aside for the moment my mortal fear of public restrooms and willingness to put my own bodily well-being in danger to avoid using one and consider what a monumental moment this is in terms of world politics. So many nations will set aside their differences and come together in the hopes of reaching a consensus on topics such as the best scent and shape for urinal cakes, whether blow dryers or paper towels are better for drying your hands and whether one-ply toilet paper will suffice or if they should bite the bullet and pay extra for the two-ply. All of this, however, can't sit well with the rival World Toilet Organization. Yes, there are competing toilet organizations, much like boxing, with four separate governing bodies. No word on whether the two toilet federations have their own title belts, but here’s hoping they meet in a plunge-off to decide who is number one in the business of providing a place for people to go number two.

- So an update on the topic I mentioned recently of ABC’s canceling new show Six Degrees only a few episodes into the season. The network insists the series will be revived in January, although you can believe that when you see it. In fact, they may retool the whole focus of the show, narrowing down the six-character theme that gave the show its name in order to zone in on two specific characters, Whitney (Bridget Moynahan) and Steven Caseman, the show’s resident former drug addict and fashion photographer. I had alluded to the show’s inability to smoothly shift between all six central characters and maintain a coherent flow and feel, so this might be a step in the right direction, although it would be a shame to lose the other four characters entirely. Still, the series has a lot of promise, so reworking it and giving it another go could be a good idea. Stay tuned.

- Count me among those who will be sure to miss the Madonna concert special on NBC this week. Aside from the fact that I find her mock crucifixion offensive to the umpteenth degree, her music has always been a mystery to me, a mystery as in I’m mystified how anyone likes or listens to it. You can reinvent yourself two dozen times, but if every incarnation of your persona produces equally crappy music, count me out. All of it falls into the same lame pop category, just in different packages - cowboy hat and chaps, leather, leotard, etc. I know gay men everywhere and middle aged women love Madge’s music, but that hardly makes it anything other than dance music/club/techno fodder. The only thing bigger than the gap between Madonna’s music and actual good music is that chasm between her two front teeth.

- Iceberg, right ahead! Well, at least it is for residents of New Zealand. Normally, when you think of the Kiwis and their terrific country, you think of warm weather and sunny skies. Yet here we have an iceberg that had broken loose and drifted within sight of Dunedin, on New Zealand’s South Island. The iceberg has drifted away now, but not before providing enough crushed ice for lots and lots of fruity drinks with tiny umbrellas for tourists visiting New Zealand.

- Our nation’s governors held their retreat this past week, and the chief topic on the agenda was immigration. That leads me to ask: what? Am I missing something. For the governors of certain states, such as Texas, California, Arizona, New York, New Mexico, Florida, yes, but what about the governors of places like Kansas, Iowa and Utah? Is immigration really a big concern for these places? Are illegals dropping out of planes into places like Provo, Ames and Topeka or streaming across the border in a mad rush to get to Salt Lake City? Would topics like health care, transportation, the economy and the environment be better suited for a gathering of state leaders? Either that or finding ideas for improving those lame bets political leaders make when teams from their respective states meet on the athletic field in championship games. Y’know, like when the governor of Maryland bets Twenty pounds of crab legs that a team from his state will defeat a team from Louisiana, whose governor bets a big pot of gumbo and some Mardi Gras beads that his state’s team will win. Or maybe the governors were too busy having all night poker games and hiring hookers for one another to get any actual work done.