Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Your Michael Jackson counterprogramming - Orrin Hatch

There are indications that Florida may lose wide receiver Riley Cooper to the Texas Rangers farm system before the season begins. Cooper probably has a better chance at a pro baseball career than a football one, and he already has been part of a couple of national titles. UF would certainly prefer to have him, but I don't think anyone can question Cooper's choice if he feels like now is the time he has his best leverage for a big MLB contract. Florida would miss his blocking on the perimeter as much as his receiving skills if he does choose to leave.

Another week, another BCS dog and pony show in Washington, DC. This time it's Orrin Hatch leading a Judiciary subcommittee through an exercise that will accomplish nothing. Don't believe me? Check out the witness list for today's hearing. A Utah senator asking the president of the U of Utah about whether the system is unfair to them is the definition of pandering to constituents. A reminder - there is nothing in the system which prevents Utah from playing for the BCS title. What kept them back are pollsters who did not rank them one or two - which would have still happened under the old setup. I'm no BCS defender, but this is a ridiculous argument.

The ACC embarassed itself yesterday, removing the conference baseball tournaments it had awarded Myrtle Beach for the years 2011-13. The decision is a result of the ongoing NAACP boycott of South Carolina due to the Confederate flag that still is prominently displayed on the Statehouse grounds in Columbia. No facts have changed between the time the ACC awarded Myrtle Beach (roughly three hours from the offending flag) the games and yesterday, so why the abrupt change? A "miscommunication", says the ACC. That's a load of garbage. They simply didn't have the guts to stand by their commitment to a city (one which has nothing to do with the flag problem) once someone from outside the Myrtle Beach area started complaining about it. The ACC could have said they'd remove the games if action wasn't taken by a certain date, giving Myrtle Beach legislators an incentive and opportunity to work toward change. They could have staged the event for one year to demonstrate the economic impact the state has been missing out on, with a deadline for change or the other two tournaments would be lost. Almost any course of action the conference took would have been better than running, claiming they somehow weren't aware of a boycott that's existed for a full decade. It was pathetic.

If you're the kind of person who takes your TV viewing extremely seriously, there's a guy looking to fix you up with your own Man Wall. 4 TVs, a sports ticker, two cigar humidors and a beer tap can all be yours for the low, low price of $14,900. To the guy who designed this thing's credit, he admits he doesn't expect to sell many. If there's a married guy alive who can get that purchase by his wife, I would like to meet him.

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