Saturday, December 15, 2012

MU leaves the Big East!

Congratulations to Marquette, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's, Providence, and DePaul -- the Big East's basketball only schools -- for finally leaving the conference! (Knightly, left, is thrilled with the news.)  For these basketball schools, it puts an end to the ship-jumping and conference realignment forced on them by football schools chasing an extra buck of television revenue while destroying their historical, regional rivalries in the process.  I've been hoping for this break-away for years, and wrote about it more than a year ago.  Hopefully this group of seven will pick up three more schools from the region to form a nice, ten-team league with each team playing every other team twice -- once at home and once on the road.  These are exciting times for fans of the seven schools.  It's like March Madness, but in December.            

Happy Holidays from Hitch!

With all the magical and religious thinking going on this time of year, I can’t help but miss the calming, rational voice of the world’s greatest iconoclast.  For those of you who feel the same way I do, enjoy some of Hitchens’ most famous quotes, after the jump.  But for those of you who enjoy the holidays, don’t read on; instead, watch this fun holiday rap video.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Wisconsin's on Popehat! Wisconsin's on Popehat! Wait . . . this is not a good thing.

Wisconsin has proved, once again, that we have way too many government bureaucrats with way too much time on their hands.  In my first book, subtitled Myths, Oddities, and Lies About Our Legal System, I use the very first chapter to expose Kenosha’s “mashing” ordinance, which prohibits improperly ogling someone of the opposite sex.  Yes, our elected government officials seriously got together and wrote that law.  They didn’t prohibit ogling someone of the same sex, however, which is strong evidence that they thought gays and lesbians existed only in California.  In any case, Wisconsin’s legislators—this time those of Vernon County—are at it again.  But instead of dictating the manner in which we may look upon an attractive person of the opposite sex, they’re attempting to trample our free speech rights.

Happy Bowl Season!

Aside from the passing of Beano Cook, it has been a glorious year of college football.  And although I prefer watching thirteen straight hours of regular season games every Saturday, the bowl season is fun too.  Here are The Dog’s picks for the BCS bowl games:

Ø      BAMA crushes Notre Dame.  This one won’t even be close.  I could see Bama winning this game by 28 points, which means that if I were in Vegas (I’m not) and if I were a betting man (I’m not), I’d take Bama minus the points.  In the end, Mark May will get revenge.

Ø      DUCKS fly past the Cats.  This is the best of the BCS.  It will be a high scoring affair, and might even set a record for most combined points in a BCS bowl.  But in the end, Chip Kelly’s crew is just too fast and too athletic for K-State.  And their uniforms and their cheerleaders are guaranteed to entertain.  

Ø      WISCO upsets the overrated (and overpriced) school named after a color.  That's right, the Badgers will stun the Harvard Crimson wannabe Stanford Cardinal.  I’m not a Badger fan, but I will admit that my former hatred for them has been completely redirected toward Notre Dame, now that they’re winning again and Lou Holtz won’t shut up about it.  Anyway, "On Wisconsin!"

Ø      FSU will beat NIU.  The bigger question: Do the Huskies belong?  Yes.  Check the BCS’s complex criteria – the dogs have earned their bid.  But do they really belong?  Again, yes.  If the ACC is still entitled to an automatic birth in a BCS bowl after going 2 – 13 for a .13 winning percentage in previous BCS bowls, I don’t think anyone has the right to gripe about the Huskies.  I’ll be rooting for NIU, but in the end, FSU’s numerous soon-to-be NFL drat picks will be too much for the dogs to handle.      

Ø      GATORS chomp the Cardinals.  That’s Cardinals, plural.  That’s the bird, not the color.  You see how that's done, Stanford?  But despite getting their nickname and mascot right, Louisville just can’t hang with an SEC powerhouse.  This will be the biggest blowout of the BCS.