Bailouts, Bowls and Backbone

After a long hiatus (I actually forgot my password) I'm back with the vengence of a coyote who hasn't seen a road kill in a long time. Three things that have been getting under my skin for awhile now are bailouts, bowls and backbone. All to variying degrees and for varying lengths.

Let's start with bailouts since I haven't gotten political on here in awhile (ever really), there is no way we should help to bailout the auto industry and everytime I hear one of the talking heads explain why we should I want to kick in my TV. Let me preface my remarks by saying I'm the biggest free market capitalist you have ever seen. If there were a complete opposite of Vladimir Lenin you are looking at him. I believe in Darwin economics, survival of the fittist company out there. If we keep bailing out the auto industry aren't we just a socialist country that subsidizes the auto industry? And if we subsidize the auto industry aren't we just curbing competition and creating a monopoly for the big three? Yes is the answer. Let 'em fail I say and maybe just maybe it will cause another business person to start their own car company (what a novel concept) and maybe create a company that doesn't gouge the public for all we are worth and put endless commercials on my kicked in TV. If we are going to bail the big 3 out the least they could do is give us a free car, right? Seems fair.

Okay now onto the bowls, I love 'em, can't get enough of them. I've often asked those who want a playoff system to go ahead and give me your dream version. If you had the power to create one tomorrow how would you do it. That eliminates about half of those out there because beyond wanting a playoff system they don't even know how they would implement one. Have it be 8 teams? Sure, but how do you decide on the eight? Give the six BCS conferences an automatic bid with two at large? Sure, let me know how that conversation goes when you tell Texas Tech or Texas or Utah or Boise State that two of you have no more games because there is no more room. Expand the brackets to 12 or 16? Absolutely, let me know how the conversation goes with the BCS conferences when you tell them to make a 12 or 16 team playoff work and have it conclude by baseball's opening day that you have to limit the regular season to 10 or 11 games and cost them the revenue from that 12th game in these economic times. Look, I understand wanting to have a playoff, its easy like playing the game memory on a glass table (think about that one). But, I for one would like to see Notre Dame at 6-6 take on a Hawaii team and see if Irish fans cringe with a loss (or a win for that matter). I like to see Les Miles take on a crafty triple option in Georgia Tech in their backyard and see if the mad hatter isn't truely half crazy.

Now to the backbone and I feel bad for piling on to the Auburn situation, but the AD there has to be spineless. I'm not going to condone or agree with what Charles Barkley said even if there is some truth to it. But, Tommy T. just got done beating Alabama seven years in a row before falling to them this year. I know this past game against Alabama was the worst lost in almost half a century, but if you are fans of college football you have to look at this from a whole. Seven years of dominance is pretty good. I mean the law of averages catches up to you sometimes. Even if you think Tommy's days are numbered can you really say as the AD that I made a better hire for the future when you pick a guy who is 5-19 in the Big 12 north? Its one thing if you play the triplets every year in the south (Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma), but when you play in the north and still only manage that record? Ouch. Nice job on winning the spineless award Mr. Jacobs you have earned it for not standing up and making the right choice, just the one you were forced to do.