Okay, here's this week's list:
1. The Iraq Study Group: basically tells us what we already knew
2. Cold weather: snow is nice enough, but single-digit wind-chills aren't
3. MI legislature: wasting time and $ on idiotic resolutions re: the BCS
4. Microsoft Zune: can you say fugly?
5. I Am Amway ads: (head explodes)
My only other goal for the weekend is to plow through the rest of season five of 24. I downloaded the episodes from iTunes as soon as they went up in May, watched about 2/3 of them, and then totally fell off the wagon. Season six is starting with a bang on January 14 and 15 with four episodes airing over both days, and I need to be ready for the premiere. I haven't watched an entire season of 24 when it was on the air since season three, so I'm looking forward to seeing it as it happens again. Now I won't have to cover my eyes and ears whenever I see an ad for it on TV or an article in a magazine anymore.
That's basically it for this weekend. Have a good one!
COLUMBUS, OH—In what many BCS officials are citing as "proof that their flawless system indeed works," no Division 1-A college football team was found to possess the sheer excellence required to face Ohio State, the No. 1 ranked team since the season began, in this year's BCS Championship game.
"The main job of the BCS is to place the best football players in the nation in a single game in order to decide the national champion," said BCS chairman Mike Coleman. "This year, our computer took hours to process the polls' relevant data—by which I mean the opinions of the nation's finest sportscasters, sports-radio hosts, coaches, color commentators, and ESPN The Magazine contributors—and determined that no championship game is necessary. No team in America deserves to even step on the same field as Ohio State, let alone actually play in a game against them."
"It's good to know that, after the Harris and the USA Today polls carefully and painstakingly take care of the fallible, emotional, potentially biased human element of the ranking through old-fashioned voting, the BCS then takes that human element and subjects it to its own infallible rigid mathematical formulas," Coleman continued. "It's a confidence-inspiring system that has never failed us before."
"Although I'll be the first to admit that previous years have usually featured some sort of game," Coleman added.
There. Problem solved.
Good, because Paul Yerrick... is... getting...
M A R R I E D !
Yep, our little Paul-Paul is all grows up!
Paul, you thought I was a dork?
It was funny, because he and I were having this little facebook exchange yesterday, and were trying to figure out a day to get together (for the first time in forever) for lunch/dinner next week. We went back and forth a few times, and then he posted this on my wall:
Hey, Tuesday will probably work out best for me... let me get back to you in a couple of days! Hey, by the way... I got engaged today!!! Never thought that would happen... haha.
I know it's terrible, but I haven't seen Paul in like two years, and I haven't even met his fiance... but my dad has (he ran into them at a restaurant over the summer). In a way, I'm totally blown away by all this, but at the same time, this is a classic "Paul" thing to do. Ha ha. Can you tell that I'm still shocked?
So anyway, hopefully I'll get the scoop on everything next week, but yeah, I just had to share that piece of news.
CONGRATULATIONS, PAUL AND ROCHELLE!
This song has never been more relevant.
The LSJ's Bleeding Green blog basically nails the sentiments of everyone outside of Washtenaw and Oakland Counties... we're all kinda glad to see you guys get hosed:
Ha Ha Ha! Being a Spartan fan, I take a lot of personal satisfaction in the fact that the boys in blue will not get a rematch with Ohio State in the National Championship. Sorry Wolvie, you had your chance and you lost. You don't deserve a shot at the crown unless you win your conference title - flat out.
Let me clarify that I think U-M is a very good team, they would probably beat Fla. and will likely knock off USC in the Rose Bowl. But I stand by my conviction that the Wolverines didn't deserve a to play in the NC and its time to quit crying about it.
Agreed. Leave it to the Wolverines to complain about playing in the Rose Bowl. Play your game against USC, and move on with your lives.
Yes, the BCS stinks and until there is a plus-1 system in place, we are going to have arguments like this just about every year. However, the Gators (who also disgust me to no end) won their confernce title game and played the toughest schedule in the country (exception in beating up on that tough high school team from Western Carolina a couple weeks ago).
The Big Ten confernce can also be held soemwhat accountable for UM missing out on a championship opportunity. By choosing to end the conference season earlier than any other conference in the country and having no designated league championship game, Big Ten schools are missing out on the exposure and momentum that can be gained (or lost) in the polls during the final two weeks.
I think the idea of a Big Ten championship game sounds nice, but the season is already too damn long. Sure, the added exposure helped Florida last week, but I really don't think UM would've benefited from a Big Ten title game, since they probably would've lost to OSU again anyway.
Look, what's done is done. My fellow Spartans and I are content to sit back and watch all the other Big Ten bowl games, and be happy with our lives. Plus, it doesn't hurt that our school is getting a fat check for $2 million, just for being in the same league as all these other schools that get to play in the post-season.
Gee, what can we do with that money? Hmmm. Well, it could be used to pay off about half of what we owe John L. Smith, about a third of our new coach's salary, or we can put it towards our nice, new $19.5 million parking structure. Man, sometimes it pays to lose.
Sure, an OSU-UM rematch would've been interesting (and yes, OSU would've beaten them again), but it wasn't meant to be. Wolverine fans everywhere will shed a few tears over it. Boo hoo.
As much as I love to seeing Michigan fans piss and moan about not getting to play for a national championship, I am glad that this little controversy (if you can call it that -- Forida is a good team, and yes, they'll lose to OSU too) is forcing more people to openly question the highly-flawed BCS system.
Remind me again why we don't have a playoff system? Look, there's a reason why March Madness is a million times more exciting than the college football title game -- because any team that makes the tournament at least has a shot at winning a national championship. Sure, a #64 seed will never win the whole thing, but it's theoretically possible.
In college football an entire season can rest on a single game, which is completely insane. For Michigan, that game was the one they lost to OSU. Are they still probably the second best team in the country? In my head, yeah, they probably are, and deserve a chance for a rematch. But the way the system works today, that ain't gonna happen, and until the NCAA pulls its head out of its ass and completely overhauls the way the post-season is set up, we'll keep having stupid hiccups like this.
• Cleaned up on Friday
• Babysat Morgan and Kyra that night. Watched Ghostbusters.
• Mom and Dan got in on Friday night. Stayed up to chat with them.
• Slept in until about 9 on Saturday morning.
• Did some light Christmas shopping with mom and Dan on Saturday.
• We visited my mom's friends Houng and Joan, both in Holt.
• Went to 5PM mass, where I proceeded to doze off during the homily.
• The three of us went to Panera for a light dinner at around 6:30.
• After dinner, we met up with Stef at my place before Brian's party.
• She and I took off at 8PM to help set up at Dagwood's.
• The party really got hopping by 9:30 or so. The bar was packed.
• I have a bunch of pictures, but probably won't post them for a few days.
• Got home a little after midnight and collapsed after standing all night.
• Slept in until a little after 9 on Sunday. Stef came over for breakfast.
• All four of us drove down to Jackson for lunch at
• We were celebrating my grandpa's 80th birthday a couple weeks early.
• Stef had her first rehearsal yesterday afternoon. I went grocery shopping.
• When Stefy got back, we watched some tivoed Friends episodes.
So yeah, that was pretty much it for this weekend. Right now my Christmas shopping is going pretty well. While I probably only have a quarter of it done, I do have firm ideas in mind for just about everyone on my list, and I'm hoping to make a lot of progress over the next 7-10 days or so. Anyway, that's it for now. I hope everyone had a nice weekend.