- Could the Bowl Championship Series actually change? Of course it can, as long as there is a huge cash incentive for BCS officials to do so. Keeping their system in place because it pays those who run it has always been the primary purpose the BCS. But with pressure mounting to decide a legitimate national champion mounting, the BCS is weighing four main options for changing the system, ranging from minor tweaks of the current system to a full-fledged, four-team playoff. A two-page BCS memo outlines the four ideas on the table. They will be debated when the BCS' leaders meet April 24-26 in Hollywood, Fla. "There is no leader in the clubhouse ... and frankly, that's just fine at this stage," BCS executive director Bill Hancock said. Of course that’s fine with Hancock and his cronies because either way, they’re going to make a boatload of money and be in control. Their loyal sycophants continue to argue that a playoff would devalue the regular season and negatively impact the traditional bowl games and student-athlete academics. All of those arguments are asinine and the fact that every other division of college football has a playoff system despite academic standards as tough or tougher than Div. I-A hammers that point home. Devaluing bowls is a rich argument as well, with a bloated postseason schedule that sports 35 (and counting) bowls. The best option for playoff proponents among the four in the memo is "four teams plus," -- which would expand to six teams to account for the traditional Big Ten versus Pac-12 rivalry in the Rose Bowl. If the top four teams in the BCS standings included teams from the Big Ten and/or the Pac-12, that team (or teams) would play in the Rose Bowl, while the other four highest-ranked teams would play in two other games. Championship game participants would then be chosen from among the three winners. In typical bullsh*t BCS fashion, the memo never uses the word "playoff" to describe the proposal, instead calling it a "four-team event." Call it what you will, be there is no arguing that a playoff/four-team event would be great for college football………
- Obesity is an omnipresent topic in the American healthcare debate, and not just because moving the billions of pounds of flab Americans are carrying around is too big a task to manage. The increased costs associated with treating a morbidly obese population are a burden not everyone knows how to cope with. The Citizen’s Medical Center in Victoria, Tex. knows how to cope and ironically, that has landed the hospital in hot water. The hospital has come under fire for a hiring policy that bans job applicants for being too overweight. The policy, instituted a little more than a year ago, requires potential employees to have a body mass index of less than 35. It’s not a high standard to meet, meaning someone who is 5-foot-5 can weigh no more than 210 pounds. Additionally, the policy states that employees’ physique “should fit with a representational image or specific mental projection of the job of a healthcare professional” as determined by the hospital. “The majority of our patients are over 65, and they have expectations that cannot be ignored in terms of personal appearance,” hospital chief executive David Brown said. “We have the ability as an employer to characterize our process and to have a policy that says what’s best for our business and for our patients.” A predictable backlash has resulted even though the policy is legal. But if hospitals can screen out candidates who smoke, then why not screen out those who are so FAT that they struggle to do their job and have added healthcare costs of their own due to their weight? Obesity is not a disability, as FAT enablers argue. Leading the charge against the policy is the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance and yes, there is such a moronic organization. “This is discrimination plain and simple,” said Peggy Howell, public relations director for NAAFA. “So the field of medicine is no longer an option for people of larger body size? What a waste of talent.” No P., what a waste of humanity to have people so laden with flab that they can't make it up a flight of stairs without losing their breath and necessitate a specially ordered uniform to accommodate their massive girth. A 5-foot-5 person who can’t keep their weight under 209 pounds has bigger problems than whether or not they can get hired at a hospital. This fight is not worth fighting and it’s time for NAAFA to waive the white flag…..assuming it can muster the energy and lung capacity…………
- The common person in Russia may be struggling with a brutal economy, fighting against a corrupt regime chafing under the rule of a brutal dictator, but at least life is good for the Russian Orthodox Church’s patriarch. That may not do much to salve the wounds of those struggling under the weight of communism’s oppressive yolk, but Patriach Kirill probably isn't too concerned. However, those who run the church’s website, which posted a photo of the patriarch sporting a $30,000 watch, clearly are concerned or else they would not have ripped the photo and replaced it with an obviously edited one sans the controversial time piece. The image first appeared earlier this week and for some odd reason, a man of God sporting a timepiece that costs more than most cars drew the attention of bloggers. A few concerned souls picked up the story, ran with it and a knee-jerk reaction from the church was not far behind. Thinking they could Jedi mind-trick the world into believing the original image was a figment of its collective imagination, they doctored the photo and Photoshopped the watch out before re-posting the picture. The heavily and clumsily edited image showed up Thursday, but whoever did the hatchet job on it failed to remove the watch’s reflection from the picture. After its cover-up failed, the patriarch’s office promptly apologized for “a mistake” of an employee. The drama has revived a discussion about the church’s wealth and close links to the Kremlin and/or the patriarch’s previously unknown status as a drug kingpin that allowed him to buy that bling on his wrist and which has also provided him with a collection of luxury cars, yachts and private jets that simply haven’t been discovered yet. OK, so some of that may not be true, but the scandal still looks really bad for the church and proves once again that the cover-up is always worse than the crime……….
- Say what you will about party rocker Andrew WK, but dude clearly knows his strengths and is playing to them – heavily. The British rocker, who penned an ode to the joys of debauchery and called it “Party Hard,” admitted in a recent interview that he has no choice but to party like a rock star. According to WK, in the same way sharks that stop moving can die, he is condemned to party as much as possible or he could meet a disastrous end. When asked if he could perish if he abandoned his partying ways, he replied: "Yes. For me, anyway, I don't know if it's true for everybody, but for me it's like how a shark can't stop swimming. It's not that I will die, but if I stop partying it will lead to extreme complications in my wellbeing. And that will lead to death within potentially two minutes.” But lest anyone think he is content to waste his life drinking, drugging and sexing his way through it while on one giant bender, Andrew WK made it clear that partying is not wasting and that his life will not be misspent if it is nothing more than a continual rager. "Most people tell you there are certain moments you should celebrate in life. For example, the weekend coming so you should party on a Friday. Or your birthday or New Year's Eve,” he explained. "But what if you're excited about being alive every day? Can't you be in that celebratory state every moment you're not dead? That became my theory and it became my mission to prove you can party every day." He makes a compelling point and even if that point is an excuse to milk the most out of his 15 minutes of fame as he possibly can, so what? Whose day is not made better by the presence of someone like Andrew WK or New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who also seems to be embracing the Andrew WK lifestyle this offseason? Party on, dudes…………
- Detroit may have avoided a hostile financial takeover by the state of Michigan this week, but control of at least one American town changed hands this week. Buford, Wyo. is not on the radar of most people because next to no one knows that it exists, but two mysterious businessmen from Vietnam know the town exists because they threw down $900,000 at an auction Thursday to buy the town from its owner and sole resident, Don Sammons. Sammons, who moved to Buford in 1980 with his wife and son, had continued to live there alone after his wife died in 1995 and his son moved away in 2007. However, he decided to try something new recently and put the town up for auction. Because the town consists of a gas station, a three-bedroom house and a few small outbuildings on 10 acres along Interstate 80, there weren't may options on where to hold the auction. And so a dozen bidders, auction officials and Sammons gathered around the town's one business to bid on Buford, with the two Vietnamese businessmen winning with a bid of $900,000. Adding to the intrigue, auction officials immediately whisked the two men away and refused to allow them to speak to the media about their purchase. Auctioneer Tonjah Andrews also refused to disclose the names of the bidders and said only that the men flew in from Vietnam after learning about the auction from online news stories. With the sale, Sammons closed the book on his time owning the town, which began when he bought it in 1990. Even though he was the one who chose to sell the town, he still fought back tears as the auctioneer declared the town sold. "I don't know when it will hit me. I've lived here half my life. I'm an emotional person, and I hope I handle it in an adult manner," he said. Sammons will move to a home he recently purchased in Windsor, Colo. to be closer to his son and plans on writing a book about his 32 years in Buford. He’ll leave behind the billboard with his face on it that has become a familiar sight to drivers in Interstate 80 as they approach Buford, located about halfway between Laramie and Cheyenne. "I can always rent one somewhere if I need to see my face," he said of the billboard…………
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