Saturday Commentary: football, hypocrisy, and politics

College Football
What weekend is complete without a little football? Well it looks like Ohio St. and UMich will stay on top. In fact, the divide between the best and the rest only seems to be growing. And as much as it pains me to see UMich as one of the best, I am proud of the Big Ten. If the BCS title game is between anyone other than UMich or OSU at this point, it will be an utter travesty!

Other potential contenders for a BCS title just do not stack up... here's why.

• N0. 3 Louisville: If only they hadn't lost to Rutgers. But even then, they did not deserve the chance. With the mess they made at the end of the game, and my generally low opinion of the Big East, Louisville just isn't a National Champion.
• No. 4 Texas: Texas could come back and beat Kansas state, but it'll be tough. And the fact that they are so far down, does not make them look like an attractive National Champion.
• No. 5 Auburn: Another one of those, if only situations, except this time I actually feel rather bad for Auburn. But their loss to Georgia was nowhere near close in my opinion.
• No. 6 Florida: With Auburn and Louisville's losses, Florida is likely to move up to either No. 3 or No. 4. But Florida already has one loss to Auburn, and barely got by South Carolina. If Auburn isn't good enough to play in the big game, why is Florida?
• No. 7 USC: It'll be interesting to watch what happens in their game against Oregon. But as before, I maintain that USC's schedule is far too easy, and they already lost to Arizona St. At least have the decency to lose to a ranked team.
• No. 8 Cal: While I am inclined to think Arizona just got lucky, Cal has had one too many losses. Multiple losses in the PAC-10 are certainly not acceptable.
• No. 9 Notre Dame: The Irish have definitely rebounded since the ass-whooping they got at the hands of UMich. But it's easy to stay unbeaten when you play the cellar-dwellers of all the major conferences. Besides which, I have serious questions about the quality of the ND defense. They beat Air Force, but allowed them to get 400yds of offense. Notre Dame's real test is coming up at USC.

So suppose, Ohio St. and Michigan meet next week and then again in the National Championship game. It is likely that they would split the games... and then who would be the Champ? It's one of those things that makes you go hmmmm...

Fat Suits and Fake Empathy
Tyra Banks tried this awhile back, and it annoyed me then too. (Check it out.) But I randomly had ET on , and they had Vanessa Minello (Nick Lachey's new girl) in a fat suit, dressed ala Ugly Betty. And poor Ugly Vanessa, she was crying and sad because people were not talking to her. The punch line was, "you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover". Are you for real ET? You are in the business of judging people for the way they look. And would Pretty Vanessa even consider dating a guy with questionable fashion sense who was carrying an extra hundred pounds. Talk about hypocritical!

Germany and the Donald
Poor Donald Rumsfeld. First, he is ignominiously fired by Bush, before Virginia is even conceded. Then he is forced to plaster a fake sort of Rumsfeldian smile on his face as Bush announces Gates as the new Secretary of Defense. Now he is facing potential charges in Germany for war crimes associated with torture at Abu Ghraib.

Now I am not a fan of Rumsfeld, but war crimes do seem to be a bit unnecessary, and more than anything a way for some German politicians to gain a couple points in the polls. And although Rumsfeld may have a head of stone, and be prone to idiocies including statements like "it [the war] is complex for people to comprehend" (see my older entry for more Rumsfeldisms), he is not the real problem. The Cheney-Rove duo is the real problem within this administration and this country, and sadly it looks like they are not going anywhere for the next two years.