My attempts to stay out of politics lasted maybe an hour. Burris has been denied a seat in the Senate. That's not unsurprising, but deep down, I had really hoped the Democrats would be able to avoid a spectacle. No such luck. More on this one a bit later.
My blog has taken quite a political slant, which I don't mind because I love politics. But, I'm also a sports junkie and I feel the need to vent a bit today about college football. I start with a question -
Am I the only person who is pretty much completely bored by the bowl games this year?
I don't think I am alone on this. These have been some of the most boring and uninteresting bowl games I can remember. Utah peaked my interest a bit by knocking off Alabama (even though I thought the Tide was a bit overrated this year). The last quarter of last night's UT/OSU match-up was great. Other than that, the bowl games this year have been a pretty uninteresting.
Beyond the terrible match-ups you have the extended wait between games. The championship game doesn't even take place until tomorrow. That's ridiculous. I truly long for the days when all the games were wrapped up around new year's. This attempt to stretch out the bowl games has only lessened my interest.
The answer to all this is of course a playoff. The whole thought of voters deciding a championship instead of having it decided on the field is ridiculous. Also, all the talk of the "best regular season in sports" is also ridiculous as so many 6-6 and 7-5 teams end up with the "reward" of going to a bowl game. There is really nothing special about that at all.
With a playoff system, you could still keep all those lower bowl games. The big plus would be that they would now actually matter. Each team would have a shot at the national championship. You could still give them a trophy or whatever for each individual bowl game they won. Then, at the end of the year, the two truly best teams would square off and you wouldn't have to worry about USC, Texas, Utah, etc feeling like they got the shaft.
It just makes a lot of sense....so of course it hasn't happened yet.
The inauguration is a lil' over 2 weeks away and personally, it can not get here soon enough. I feel like everything has been in a bit of a holding pattern since Obama won the election. Now its time to see Obama put his ideas into action. Here's what I'm most looking forward to in an Obama administration:
1. Job growth - This is probably on the top of most people's lists, but knowing so many people who have lost their jobs really makes this one personal for me. The carelessness of the powerful in corporate America has truly shattered the lives of millions across America. This is something that will take some time, but the administration appears to have ideas that will help them get this situation turned around faster than most of us think.
2. Health care - The status of health care in this country is terrible. As someone who has a wife with medical issues, the challenges of health care coverage hit home pretty much every day and we have "good" insurance. The entire concepts that people can be denied medical coverage for already being sick or have to pick and choose between medicines due to what an insurance company will or will not cover is sickening. Again, I'm looking forward to seeing Obama advance the ball on this issue.
3. The Economy - I think remedies to #1 and #2 will automatically increase #3. However, I think government spending will get worse before it gets better and I'm not sure how that is going to effect the overall state of the economy. In my mind, by getting people employed and healthy, the overall mindset of the people will improve to a degree that encourages everyone to start spending again. However, any false moves by the government when it injects funds to get the economy back going could result in a set back. There is little doubt this is a tough issue for Obama to address, but I think the team he has assembled can handle this job.
4. Global Image - The view of America around the world has taken serious hits during the Bush administration. It will be nice to see America go back toward being an admired country instead of a hated one.
