RadicalRuss's Comments (81)

“What's this "feels like roulette"... you mean the notion that a #8 team could prove it on the field and upset a team the computers and polls have decided is #1 or #2?

There are 120 FBS teams. To suggest that only 1 2/3% of the teams that played this year are worthy of being considered to play for the "national championship" is a prediction that is slimmer than the margin of error in most polls, especially when five teams end the season undefeated.

You suggest Oregon at 10-2 is worthy of consideration but dismiss the Boise State team that owned them on the field. What good is this regular season for a majority of college teams when their actions on the field don't matter?

And how does your collisions and "what about the children?" argument not apply to FCS, Div-II, and Div-III football playoffs? Are they just not hitting hard enough? Or since most won't be sacrificing lucrative pro futures, they don't matter? C'mon now, players have as justifiable argument for payment now under the billionaire bowl system as they would under a playoff.

Finally, most (85%) of the fans probably agree that the controversy over a neglected two-loss #9 team not making the playoffs is preferable to undefeated #3 & #4 & #6 being neglected over an undefeated #2 that was one second on replay away from losing to three-loss Nebraska team.”

“Right, just like those college kids who can't make those road trips to March Madness games.”

“How does any national champion qualify as legitimate when large swaths of the nation have no chance of ever becoming national champions? If the conferences are truly unequal, then make two different divisions. If they are all "FBS", must then create path for non-BCS-conference teams to qualify for championship. It's not Boise State's fault the rest of the WAC (but Fresno and Hawaii in some years) sucks. It's not their fault nobody from a "big boy" conference won't schedule them, even at home, preferring easy wins against the FIUs and Chatanoogas over potential season-killing losses against a potent Bronco team.

Whoops, my bad. The PAC-10 champion got pwned by the Broncos. I believe it was zero first downs, nine yards of offense for -2 points in the first half, 18 Bronco first downs before Oregon got their 1st first down halfway through the third quarter, Didn't kill their season; they get in automatically even with a two-loss season.

Screw the BCS. We want a playoff.”

“I love the idea that physical bionic improvements to enhance performance beyond human norms are OK and celebrated, but chemical steroidal improvements to enhance performance beyond human norms are unfair and despised.

Wellen nails it with the "churlish" line - because of a disability, we're motivated by guilt to allow something that we won't allow for the able-bodied. It's kind of like medical marijuana that way.

The anti-steroids argument always pivots on the notion that the "natural" athletes won't be able to compete and that pressure will mount on them, and eventually impressionable youngsters, to "juice" in order to stay on the field. So is the difference here that high school track stars are unlikely to sever their legs just to get the newest "Cheetahs"?

If steroids are wrong because they are unfair, then so are bionic prosthetics.”

“And so the Local 15 news team learns their first Twitter lesson, the #FAIL hashtag!”

“If all 11 1A conferences truly belong in one division, then any 1A team should have a legit shot at being National Champions. Even Florida International University. Give us a 16-team playoff with 11 conference winners and 5 at-large bids, which will likely go to those big 6 conferences anyway. Winning your conference makes regular season meaningful and great season with quality wins by non-conference winner can still make playoffs. Non-conference games and polls still important to determine who gets the #1 seed and the gift of playing a MAC or SBC winner in the first round. Play all playoffs at highest seeds' home and you get huge gate since teams don't have to travel to some neutral turf. Hold national championship in one of five current BCS bowls, rotating each year.

Beauty is, the existing bowl system can still survive. March Madness didn't make the NIT disappear. Since your top 6 BCS conference winners are unavailable, plus five at large teams probably from those top 6, you can still have the Ridiculous Corporate Sponsor Bowl featuring #2s-#4s from most conferences and maybe only as high as a #3-#5 from the Top 6.

WE WANT A PLAYOFF!”

“Yes, I know the "weaker schedule" argument. Problem is, BCS turns "whole season into a playoff" as they like to say, so top 6 BCS schools load up with cupcakes for non-conference games. Boise State has begged to play the big boys, even going to their home without a return game for the opponent at BSU, but they won't bite because they know BSU could come into their stadium and give them a good game. (And really, should they be scared after Georgia pasted BSU a few years back?)

Right now, what you have is a two-tiered division - six BCS + Notre Dame vs. the five also-rans. A bone is thrown to the best of the also-rans while top division conferences enjoy a system that perpetuates them remaining top division conferences. The "weaker schedule" argument actually supports dividing the 1A (or whatever we call it now) into 1A and 2A (or 1Ai and 1Aii, whatever).”

“The Ducks apologists here in my adopted home of Portland tell me that Boise State wouldn't win against Oregon now, because Oregon's a much better team than they were in September. And what, Boise State is not a much better team than when they DOMINATED the Ducks in September? Lest you forget, this potential Pac-10 champion was held to five three-and-outs and minus-2 points (safety) and nine yards of offense in the first half of a game they had circled as a "revenge" game since being whupped in Autzen by these Broncos the year before. The potential automatic-BCS qualifier converted only one third down the entire game and had only one successful drive over fifty yards.

The BCS stinks. Any system that puts in a two-loss Ducks team in a BCS bowl (and will likely put in a two-loss Oklahoma State team in the Fiesta should they beat OU) while the undefeated team that humiliated them is left playing in the Who Cares Bowl is corrupt and shameful. Of course, we already knew that from their denial of Utah's national championship last year and ignoring the Oklahoma/Texas head-to-head results in ranking those two teams in that weird three-way tie a couple years back. Or we could just point to the special rule in place solely for Notre Dame.”

“Why is physical technology that enhances performance (prosthetic blades) OK, but chemical technology (steroids) is not?”

“Where are the numbers? Perhaps too poor to afford a trip to DC to protest and unable to get time off work to do so and too scared to call in sick lest they lose the crappy health insurance they've got?”

“You mean like the trillion dollars we blew on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction? You were clamoring for accountability and fiscal responsibility in 2002, were you?”

“Uh, Mr. Weiner, how is it that Oregon, who lost to BSU at home last year, who was ranked at #16 vs. BSU's #14, and who was playing on the road in a stadium where the home team is 64-2 in a decade, suffered "an upset loss to Boise State".

Typical non-BCS-conference bias. Why, they're PAC-10 vs. WAC, of course they should win! Not. Ducks were lucky that game wasn't a three touchdown blowout; had the game been in October and not first game of the season, it would have been.

Sad thing? BSU must go undefeated to have any glimmer of decent bowl hopes, while Oregon can lose four or five and still get a bowl berth. Yeah, I know, BSU creampuff schedule, but problem is no BCS conference dares invite BSU in and few BCS teams want to play them, because they might suffer "an upset loss".

The people overwhelmingly want both a college football playoff system and a public option for health care. Unfortunately, the people with the most money don't.

And Blount? Four out of five people voting online at the Oregonian http://bit.ly/3uGT7kk) say "Kick him off the team". Favorite comment in blogs? "Have the JailBlazers flown south to become the JailBirds?"

Bronco Alum in Portland, OR”

“Ah, my favorite Idaho GOP comment since Helen Chenoweth spoke about how blacks don't live in Idaho because they don't like the cold-weather climate (uh, Cleveland? Detroit?...)”

“Yes, a very long line. After all, we need to spend more taxpayer money on our defense (ahem) than every other country in the world combined. If we go about caring for the health of the "unproductive" in this country, we won't have enough money to bomb people in other countries.

Yes, it's the cost of the health care that's the problem. For example, the cost of pharmaceutical medications, kept outrageously high because we don't allow Medicare to collectively bargain (a.k.a. free market actions in grand scale) and we have insane laws regarding drug patents that protect corporate profits over human lives.

For another example, the markups hospitals have to charge the insured patients to cover the losses from the uninsured, who rarely come into the doctor for a check-up, but commonly come into the emergency room as a last resort.

And covering these health care costs are insurance companies, those grand innovators who found ways to NOT cover people's health care costs even when they did purchase insurance for decades.

No the REAL problem is treating human suffering and misery as a commodity to be bartered for profit. Some things we do for the good of society - police protection, fire protection, education, military, and if we were as civilized as every other industrialized first world nation, public health care.

Somebody needs a minimum wage job and a bout of kidney stones for a little perspective on health care and insurance in this country.”

“The point you miss is that under Canadian health care, you're a lot less likely to need that open heart team.

Every 7 minutes in Canada, someone dies from heart disease or stroke. http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.3483991/k.34A8/Statistics.htmm)

[E]very minute [in America], another heart attack death occurs. http://ezinearticles.com/?Heart-Attack-Statistics&id=4612933)

Another point you miss is that currently in America, there is already a panel that decides whether you get that hip replacement; it's a private health insurance company that denies you coverage for whatever technicality they can find. So of course, you're arguing against a public choice of insurance, because gov't healthcare (Medicare, Medicaid, TriCare, VA) is so awful. Well, fine, if you hate gov't healthcare, don't take it! But stop preventing the rest of us from trying to join the every other nation of the civilized world that actually cares for its citizens!

How I miss George Carlin during this health care "debate". This country is getting the exact oligarchical control it deserves. I can't wait for the follow-up stories in a year or two of these health care protesters facing some sort of catastrophic illness or injury and going bankrupt and/or dying because the health insurance and pharmaceutical corporations they are unwittingly carrying water for deny them coverage. I think Carlin would have found it to be an irresistibly ironic Malthusian solution to deal with overpopulation and undereducation... and would've made me laugh, too.”

“How about we just keep Senator Franken off of small aircraft? And Texas.”

“Bullfighting, Bullriding, Running with the Bulls - I'm always rooting for da bulls.

Barbarism and cultural acceptance are a matter of degrees. How many of us are disgusted at the maiming and killing of a bull in Spain but perfectly fine with the weekly annoyance of a bull for the PBR bullrider in Vegas?

I grew up in small town Idaho, attending rodeos. It seems obvious the bull really doesn't want to be enclosed in a pen, a dude on his back, a tight strap around his flank, zapped by a cattle prod into a noisy bright arena full of screaming humans, but so what, it amuses us. He's lucky he's not a Big Mac, right?”

“American Idol will never release the voting totals. To do so would show:

A) Texting counts for far more of the votes than phoning. In four hours of voting, how many busy signals will you get before recording a vote? In four hours of power texting, however, there are no busy signals.

B) Texting is only available to AT&T Subscribers, with coverage and users concentrated in the South (see AT&T map http://tr.im/mIGZ vs. Verizon map http://tr.im/mIGW, remember also that AT&T is the former Cingular, which was Bell South and SBC http://tr.im/mIGR)

C) People might put 2+2 together when they realize that of 16 Idol finalists, ten were from the South vs. none from the Northeast, 3 were from Alabama vs. only 2 from California, and six of eight winners are from the South.

Seacrest saying, "THIS.... is Confederate Idol!" would be more accurate. The South has risen again. Fortunately, they only control televised singing competitions and college football.”

“Agent420 is right. Patients may possess 6 mature + 18 seedling plants, as well as 24 ounces of usable marijuana (which may be dried buds, "medibles", tinctures, or even hashish). There are no "random inspections" of gardens. Chronic pain and chronic nausea are included along with all the conditions Illinois lists.

However, we still lack:
- a dispensary to get medicine to newly diagnosed patients or those who cannot grow;
- protection of the rights of patients to work and drive;
- protection for mental health conditions, like depression, anxiety, insomnia, and PTSD, conditions marijuana is known to help alleviate;
- any system of statistical record keeping regarding patient demographics, aside from how many use it for which conditions;
- any requirement for state scientific and medical research into the use of marijuana by patients;
- clear directives to county law enforcement for uniform adherence to the law (e.g. some county sheriffs don't think hash is legal when it is.)

Still, Oregon has 1/10th the population of Canada, a country with free health care and federally legal medical marijuana available from the government, yet we have 10x the number of registered patients (going on 25,000).”

“I've often joked that gay people should just form the "Church of Gay" and define sexual orientation as just one of their religious rites. After all, religion (a "lifestyle choice") is a federally protected class. Not letting members of the "Church of Gay" would then be an unconstitutional breach of freedom of religion.”

“Yes, we must ban this unnatural choice of sinistrality, or so-called "left-handedness"! God obviously made us to be right-handed and those who choose to use their unnatural hand for primary dexterity live an ungodly lifestyle.

Furthermore, so-called "left-handed" items like scissors, pitchers, and guitars must be destroyed. Sinistralists like Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney defile the guitar and the bass by stringing them in an unnatural manner. If God wanted sinistrals to play unnaturally, He'd made backwards pianos, violins, and saxophones.

Beware the sinistral agenda! Both John McCain and Barack Obama are sinistrals, so it is obvious how deeply this sinistral agenda is trying to force acceptance of their "leftie" ways down our throat!

(Tongue slightly in-cheek - my grandpa and mother were both forced to tie their dominant left hands behind their backs in school. My brother's young enough to be accepted for his sinistral orientation. This is a fun tack to take with a left-handed homobigot.)”

“Sixteen Idol Finalists.

Ten from the former Confederate States and territories.

Six winners from the former Confederate States and territories.

None from the Northeast (yeah, there are no good singers in New York, Philly, and Boston.)

Three finalists from Alabama alone.

Two finalists from California (yeah, there are so few good singers in LA and San Fran.)

The South has risen again. Fortunately, they only control American Idol.”

“So...

1) Me and my wife should get divorced, since we're infertile.
1a) Polygamy raises more children, so it should be allowed (and, for the vast majority of human society throughout history and even in some places today, is.) It also improves society, since the richest and most powerful men will have more breeding opportunities, and more able-bodied males will be spared the responsibilities and bills of marriage, so they can contribute more to society.
1b) We're about a decade away from same-sex couples being able to produce genetic offspring.
1c) If you want to determine civil rights based on what society (majority) values, you'd better hope you're "valuable".

2) Uh, how is it that black folks ignored that basic human right of interracial marriage between 1865-1964? Gotta crawl before you can walk.”

“"What if people decide they want to marry multiple people?" - What do we do NOW? How does allowing a person to marry the person they love become polygamy or polyandry? We're saying "there's a government institution called marriage and no person shall be denied that right by virtue of their sexual orientation."

"What if two women are married, and both claim they are the child's mother, but one is biological, how does the court act in custody cases?" What do we do NOW when a birth mother and step father are fighting for custody?

"How are assets established?" What do we do NOW? How is marriage any more legally confusing based on the number of penises in the relationship?

"This will undoubtedly flood our courts with hundreds of hours of forced new rulings that will be both confusing and troublesome." This is undoubtedly the lamest excuse for supporting Prop 8 I've ever heard. Respecting people's rights is too confusing and troublesome? This argument could be made for recognizing women's right to vote or work (oh, gosh, now there will have to be two restrooms in the office and we'll have to take down the pin-up pics, oh, how troublesome!)”

“Well, not quite. Federally protected classes would still be protected from California's majority (race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, disability, veteran status, family status, and that one protected "lifestyle choice", religion).

But there are still plenty of "deviant minorities" for the majority to discriminate against. Left-handers, redheads, blue eyes, tall people, etc. Get to work, Californians Against Tall Blue-Eyed Ginger Sinistrality! (Even has a nice acronym: CATBEGS!)

However, don't blame the court. They made the correct ruling (not the right or just one) based on California's constitution. The ballot initiative giveth (Prop 215 medical marijuana) and the ballot initiative taketh away (the right of gay people to marry.) There was a reason our Founders made federal constitutional amendments so difficult to pass; they knew full well a majority would eventually vote itself superiority in a pure democracy.”