- It may not have determined a true national champion and it may have completely screwed one undefeated team out of a title shot, but just don’t try to tell college football’s powers that be that the bowl system doesn’t work. The system works for them because it does what it’s designed to do - get them paid. This year, college football conferences rake in a record take of about $170 million from bowl games. Bowl Championship Series honks would have us all believe that their system is improving because of the new high of $24.7 million for the five conferences that don't get automatic bids to the BCS, but that would be a perfect case of manipulating the numbers to tell whatever story you want to tell. Mark Twain spoke well when he said that there are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics. Never have stats told a bigger lie than appearing to prop up the case that the BCS works. BCS officials claim the figures were driven by their new television contract with ESPN. That’s fine because in all honesty, the intelligent college football fans who want the playoff system the sport badly needs could not care less about where the money comes from because it is flowing through a corrupt and badly flawed system that needs to be fixed. A playoff could bring in even more money than the busted BCS, but the good ol’ boy network of the bowl system won't allow it to happen and too many university presidents are getting their schools’ pockets filled by the system as is for them to accept a change. Oh, and the record take of the five conferences that don't get automatic bids was boosted by TCU’s Rose Bowl appearance, an appearance that wouldn’t have happened at all if not for the demand that non-BCS schools be offered some sort of way into the system if they played a schedule much tougher than a BCS school and went undefeated. So do us all a favor, BCS honks, and don’t try to use these figures as proof that your horrible excuse for a system works because it’s insulting to our intelligence and we all know much better…………
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Once again, it’s time to salute fearless citizens defying their government’s orders and taking to the streets to make their voices heard. Last week, it was Algeria. This week, it’s Egypt, where protestors again took to the streets on Wednesday and clashed with security forces a day after an inspiring display of public rage at the government and angry cries for the ouster of the longtime president. In turn, police battled back with water cannons and tear gas in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a futile attempt to shut down anti-government demonstrations as the Interior Ministry warned it "will not allow any provocative movement or a protest or rallies or demonstrations." Those, simply put, are fightin’ words. You may as well issue an open invitation to riot if you’re going to say stupid sh*t like that. Any good dissident hears those comments and is already out the door before they finish echoing off the walls. The rage was very apparent in Cairo, where people were being beaten with sticks and fists and demonstrators were being dragged away as tear gas wafted through the air. Riots raged on even as darkness descended and the oppression wasn’t just limited to rioters. Witnesses saw security forces harassing journalists and photographers as well, so this was equal-opportunity abuse of power. But hey, I’m sure the Interior Ministry will have lots of success with its plea for "citizens to renounce attempts to bid and trade their problems and not lose sight of the consequences of provocation for those who attempt to try to open the door to a state of chaos or portray the situation in the country this way." I’m not sure what that is supposed to mean, but I know how it sounds. Like a bunch of bureaucrat-speak, garbled government propaganda from a regime that sees its grip on power slipping away. For some odd reason, I just can't imagine a scenario in when thousands of protesters spill into the streets of Egypt on Tuesday and within a few days, they decide to just stay home because the government told them to. Protestors have died and security forces have been injured, but the riots must go on. The uprising in Cairo's Tahrir Square had a crowd of 20,000 at its peak, but I think that number can definitely go higher. Ironically, the protest took place on a holiday known as Police Day. Because the issues sparking the riots are such core issues in the everyday life of the average Egyptian - the rising cost of living, failed economic policies and corruption - their outrage isn’t going away. They will keep on rioting until they get what they want, namely the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, who's been in power for three decades. The organizing will continue via Facebook and other social networking sites and there is talk among protesters about staging a big demonstration on Friday, after Muslim prayers. Blocking Twitter, as the Egyptian government has reportedly done, won't help either. For the rest of us, there is nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the riots. In Egypt, the rage rolls on………
- This idea is going to go over about as well in New York City as a 500-percent increase in single-game Yankees tickets. State Sen. Carl Kruger thinks he has a solution for a problem that ails NYC and that problem is idiots talking on their cell phones or using any portable electronic device that may take their attention away from the perilous endeavor of walking down a busy city street. The Brooklyn lawmaker is proposing a one hundred dollar fine and a mandatory appearance before a judge for those who use their phones on busy city streets. "It's no different from jay walking," Kruger ass-hattedly asserted. "This is not only a hazard to the person who's using the device; it's a safety threat to the person driving the car." He’s referring to the fact that scores of accidents have happened around New York City over the past few years, including two pedestrians struck and killed in the city since 2007. Unfortuantely, Kruger is making the mistake of lumping accidents and deaths involving any and all electronic devices as an excuse to target cell phones. For example last month on the Upper East Side, a dump truck backed into and killed a college student while he was using his iPod. It was a tragic incident, but to run around recklessly banning cell phones from busy city streets is going to open so many cans of worms and cause so many more problems than it solves that the idea doesn’t have any merit. For example, how on Earth do you expect busy, overworked police officers to go down the street and arrest anyone they see talking on a cell phone? There won't be time for them to do anything else. Secondly, you cannot restrict a person’s right to talk on their phone when they’re not operating a motor vehicle of any kind. Third, how do you define “busy city street” for purposes of enforcing the law? How will people know if a street is deemed busy? The same street might have two people on one of its blocks at one point in time and 100 people on that same stretch of road an hour later. This sort of asinine idea is why you’re a state senator and will probably never reach any higher politically, Kruger. The backlash against this law if it passes would be swift, severe and über-angry. Part of me wants to see it go through just so the real drama can start……….
- Bull-freaking-sh*t. That’s the only acceptable response to the possibility of the Weinstein Company gutting and self-censoring its mega-successful film The King’s Speech just to cash in for a few extra bucks now that it has garnered 12 Oscar nominations. TWC is considering changes to the coarse language that earned the film its R rating in order to knock that rating down to PG-13 for a bastardized version of the film that would hit theaters in late February. While I understand that TWC was irate with the MPAA’s decision to drop an R rating on the film, the reality is that the movie has soared and been a huge financial and critical success with that R rating. Sure, kids can’t go see it, but how many kids or even teenagers are going to see a period piece about King George VI of England? In nine weeks of limited release, the film has grossed $58 million and as with any movie that gets multiple Oscar nominations, there will be brainless sheep who will flock to see it for that reason alone even though they’ve seen promos and commercials for it for months and never had any interest in it before it was up for some pointless, tacky golden statues. Before making the decision to re-cut the film, TWC should probably consult director Tom Hooper, who has not yet publicly commented on the proposal to edit the film. All in all, it just seems like an incredibly commercial an un-artistic thing to do, hacking up a movie merely so you can sell more tickets after moviegoers have made it perfectly clear that they enjoy the movie as is. But as always, Hollywood is not about putting out the best possible movies; it is about turning as big a profit as possible and cashing in on hot commodities while they are still hot……….
- WE GET IT, WORLD! ALL RIGHT! STOP PILING ON AMERICA! WE’RE FAT! Sorry for that outrage, and coming from a skinny guy it might seem odd, but I get the sneaking suspicion that scientists from other countries are just taking easy drive-by shots at America, knowing full well that most of us are orca FAT and not doing anything about it. The latest punch to the junk comes from researchers at University College London, who piled on by claiming that staying indoors longer during the winter and turning up the thermostat could make humans fatter. They concluded that our demand for "thermal comfort" might be related to weight gain. And while the study wasn’t specifically examining subjects from the United States, the underlying message is clear: You’re morbidly obese, America, and the rest of the world is laughing at you. Specifically, the study indicated that by staying indoors and avoiding shivering we may be tinkering with our bodies' natural balance between white and brown fat, which may alter the body's ability to generate heat. This brilliant reasoning comes to us from Dr. Fiona Johnson and her team, who reviewed the link between our reduced exposure to cold and the growing obesity rates in the United States and the United Kingdom. Their findings were published Monday in the journal Obesity Reviews. "Increased time spent indoors, widespread access to central heating and air conditioning, and increased expectations of thermal comfort all contribute to restricting the range of temperatures we experience in daily life and reduce the time our bodies spend under mild thermal stress — meaning we're burning less energy," Johnson wrote in a prepared statement. "This could have an impact on energy balance and ultimately have an impact on body weight and obesity." Hmm, you think? Shorter, colder days with inhospitable weather outside could lead to people gaining weight because they stay inside and cram tons of food down their pie hole to lift their spirits over the aforementioned crappy weather and darkness descending early in the day? Whether that has led to "greater expectation of thermal comfort" and a subsequent biological change when your body isn't exposed to mild cold, what does it matter? If spending more time indoors and less time spent shivering leads to losing brown fat — the good fat that helps your body generate its own heat, do you really expect Americans to do something about it? They would rather stay indoors, warm and cozy, building up the white fat that stores energy. Lord knows they won't exercise to get rid of that FAT, whether it’s on a treadmill in their living room or - Lord forbid - outside in the snow and cold. So just back off, world, because you’re only making us angry and you won't like us when we’re angry………
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