The Buffett Rule: Politically Dishonest Gamesmanship

Don't you feel sorry for President Obama and the other millionaires who didn't earn income from long term capital gains last year? Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of days, Mitt Romney released his tax returns from 2010. Can you believe he had an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent on income of $21.7 million? He must be cheating the system. Just how can Romney pay that low of a tax rate while the rest of us hard working Americans pay much higher rates of 20, 25, or even 30 percent?

Scapegoats and Cyber Toughness

I was in Orlando, FL yesterday as I took in about 3/4 of the Texans/Ravens game. Duty called as my stepdaughter was competing in UDA Nationals for Cal State Fullerton. They won their 11th national title in Division 1 Jazz Dance. What, you don't think I can tie dance and football together? Keep reading. They are a cohesive team consisting of 16 total members. They "start" 10 freshmen who have never appeared on the big stage before. This is the showcase that ESPN airs in the spring. This is the March Madness of Dance. This is the BCS of Dance. These national titles are recognized in Titan Gym on campus at Fullerton. If your daughter (or son) dances for a top-tier university, they want to be on ESPN's recap of the competition. In essence, you have arrived as a dancer collegiately if this can be realized. The girls have practiced tirelessly for about two months. Rehearsing the same routine over and over again. Striving for perfection. They sacrificed partying with their sorority friends to accomplish the goal that they set for themselves this past spring when the team was formed. There are no perfect dances, mind you. Fullerton scored 95/100, to obliterate their closest competitor by more than three points. This is a VERY large margin of victory in the dance competition world. So, where am I going with all of this? Follow along...

Roll Tide: Take Two

Every summer, college football teams gather in camps across the country to ready themselves with the hope of achieving their goals. Most teams have goals that build upon one another. I imagine they look something like this:

1. Win Division if member of conference with a championship game
2. Win conference championship game (if Big 12, win conference)
3. Win BCS title game/bowl game

Logically, these goals build upon one another. It makes sense that a team needs to accomplish an earlier goal to acquire the opportunity to achieve a latter goal. Essentially, you cannot head out and run a marathon without obtaining some smaller goals leading up to the main event. Enter Bill Hancock, the BCS, politics and the above is not necessary any longer. 

Let Them Play...Let Them Play...Let Them Play

The Coaches Poll essentially kept the Oklahoma State Cowboys from facing off against LSU on January 9th. Well, that was actually the vehicle driven on the BCS highway that fleeced the Cowboys this year from participating in what should be rightly theirs. There was one perfect team in college football this season. The rest of them endured one or more setbacks and endured blemishes. It is the subjectivity of grading blemishes rather than victories that ultimately leads to determining number two which borders on criminality. Don't think it is criminal? Check the dollars involved. We don't know with certainty if Alabama is better than Oklahoma State. But, they are receiving the SEC/pedigree nod over the Pokes. Nothing more, nothing less. Supporters of the sequel will tell you that Alabama earned it. They are lying to you. Period. In college football, Every Game Counts. It is their mantra. It is the BCS slogan. Unless that game took place on November 5, 2011. The "game of the century" did not count. Somehow, all of the other regular season games for the rest of the teams under consideration did manage to count. One thing they all have in common: they have not faced LSU. Yet, the only team to receive a reprieve has. And they lost. At home. As a 6 point favorite. Follow along...

Hear Me Out: LSU Should Forfeit CCG

Get ready. Do you hear that? These are the rumblings from SEC country regarding the fact that LSU has punched their ticket to Atlanta, GA to face the Bulldogs from Athens for the Southeastern Conference Championship. On an even cuter note, they probably do not even need to win the game to advance to the "Mythical National Championship" game to be held in New Orleans on January 9th. Do you know what I would really like to see? Something that could and should occur. Due to the fact that LSU does not need to win the SEC to play for the MNC (go ahead and think about that for a minute), Les Miles and his LSU Tigers should forfeit the game to make a point. He has bigger fish to fry. Georgia has nothing to lose. What if the "Honey Badger" is injured? What if Jordan Jefferson loses his cool and get ejected and suspended for the next game? Why risk injury to one of the marquis starters for a game that has become meaningless? Did you catch that? The SEC Championship Game is virtually meaningless this year. That's right. LSU can lose this game and still punch their ticket to the Superdome this January to square off against the latest team "selected" to play for some apparent title. This is how jacked up the system has become. Bill Hancock's deal with the devil must be a damn good one...

Monday Morning Backup QB

The Bowl Championship Series. I think most of you know where I stand on this issue. The BCS is ruining college football. There are three weeks left in the college football season and only three games remaining matter: OU vs. Pokes...Arkansas vs. LSU...and the SECCG (presumably GA vs. LSU). None of the other games matter. Not a single one. As we all know, if the Pokes and LSU win out, they will meet for the MNC in LSU's back yard down in New Orleans. This will be good for college football.

The Eyes of Bill Hancock Are Upon You

Conference realignment. Bet you are sick and tired of this charade. The latest rumors have Houston, Boise St., Central Florida and others headed for the Big East to help fill the void of the soon to be departed West Virginia Mountaineers. The mad scramble is being driven by the incestuous desire to be affiliated with an Automatic Qualifier conference in the hopes of obtaining BCS riches. It's not about the Longhorn Network or the University of Texas imposing its will in the Big 12. This is the result of not having a true playoff system in place to determine college football's annual champion.