19.11.03
Schadenfreude: You know those Geico commercials? The ones where some crap happens, someone says "I have really good news", the other person replies "You...(fill in some crap related thing here)?", to which the first responds "No, I just saved on my car insurance"?
Those are as funny as Rowan Atkinson.
Melodrama is also funny. And when melodrama and schadenfreude are mixed, it's the highest of high comedy. Like when some dude and his chick are talking, he says he has good news, she mentions something about commitment (I think), he says that he's saved on car insurance.
So she walks away. But the funniest moment of the commercial is when he starts pleading his case: "I thought that meant something to you. I just saved."
I'm laughing just thinking about it.
Anyway...
College football: Dennis Dodd pops off about how the computers have some sort East coast bias, since the computers and schedule strength are the major reason that Ohio State, rather than SC, is in 2nd place in this week's BCS rankings.
To which I say pbbttthhhhhh.
Most people say that SC is the second best team in the land, and, truth be told, I think that, head to head, SC would probably beat Ohio State. But, that said, computers use formulae rather than simple, subjective human judgment. If computers rate SC lower than Ohio State, it's because, according to the formula used by the computer thinks that Ohio State is better.
The computer could make a persuasive argument. Ohio State, according to the BCS, has played the 13th toughest schedule in the country, whereas SC has played the 37th. Regardless of what the computers say, if SC played a schedule that got it a quarter of the way closer - that is, to the 31st toughest schedule, they would still hold 2
I don't think that the BCS is perfect, and the computer rankings leave much to be desired, not least of which is from the prohibition of computer rankings to use margin of victory. Let's just say that there is a substantive difference between beating a team at home by 24, and beating that team at home by 3.
If SC had beaten Cal, then this would be moot.
And in this Dodd article, Dodd floats the idea of Conference USA coaches bumping TCU up in the poll to second place, to help their poll numbers, and, thus, their BCS numbers; C-USA will collect a substantial portion of TCU's bowl payout and distribute it between the 11 football members (although I don't know what, exactly, is specified by the agreements between schools and the C-USA), and, therefore, the five C-USA coaches with ballots should cast their second place votes for TCU.
Dodd makes the note that they could lose their votes because of this, because USA Today, which administers the vote, notes and marks such "abnormal-looking" ballots. Personally, TCU, though its schedule strength is even weaker than LSU's (90th to 72nd), may well deserve this vote, and I can't argue against anyone who would vote them second (although, like Dodd implies, voting them first would be a bit far-fetched; OU has a much stronger schedule, and has beaten up on just about everyone it's played). TCU, after all, is one of two I-A football teams which remain undefeated.
Other things mentioned in the notebook:
- Barbara Hedges, AD at Washington, said that Keith Gilbertson will be back next year. I'm not a big fan of keeping coaches only one year, but if U-Dub doesn't beat Wazzu, the Huskies will finish under .500 for the first time in my lifetime. I'm glad that she's giving him a vote of confidence, but the question is whether he's earned it. I would wait and see how he plays against Wazzu. Since it is his first year, I wouldn't even fire him for losing, necessarily. But if he loses bad, he'd be out the door were I AD up there. Of course, the losses to Nevada and Cal (54-7!) don't help Gilbertson's cause.
- In Columbus, they apparently booed a baby at a Blue Jackets game when he was shown on the video screen...because it was wearing Michigan paraphenalia. Amusing. And I bet that if the Red Wings were to show a baby wearing OSU gear, the baby would get booed, too.
- Miami of Ohio, my parents' alma mater, can become the first non-BCS school to become bowl eligible with 1 loss. They're 14th in the BCS, and they have to get to 12th. They have Ohio and UCF (combined record: i forget offhand, but neither have more than 3 wins, I don't think). I don't see them making it. Shame, too.
Zuletzt: Guess Gruden didn't want to put up with Keyshawn's delusions of grandeur any longer.
Later. R.
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