College Football Karma

College football towers heavily over the NFL for many reasons. Tradition, pagentry and unpredictability are some of the facets of the college game that make it much more attractive then the No Fun League. There also many rules that go with being a college football fan. One of the most important rules is...

NEVER EVER ROOT FOR YOUR MOST HATED RIVAL.

Texas fans violated this rule in droves this past weekend and have learned a powerful lesson in college football karma.

College football is a game of the heart...not the brain. It is a game of emotion...not logic. You should never root for your most hated rival even if appears to be in the best interests of your team. Such appearances usually are merely a chimera. I believe it is okay to quietly root for other lesser rivals in such cases. But...

Alabama should never root for Auburn
Michigan should never root for Ohio State
Florida should never root for Georgia

and Oklahoma should never ever root for the Texas Longhorns. And vice versa.

This past weekend the Burnt Orange faithful made a big show of rooting against Texas Tech. Many were joking about borrowing OU gear for the game. Not only were they rooting for their most hated rival...they were rooting against an in-state team...Texas Tech. Since Oklahoma State is not OU's main rival and is in-state I could forsee times when I would have to root for them to help OU in the polls. But I would never in any circumstance root for the Longhorns even if it appeared that it would help OU in the long run. I hope ut loses every game. And if OU needs so much help from texas that it needs my rooting interest...then OU doesn't deserve to play for the championship.

No, it is not logical or rational. But that is the beauty of college football. And because of the Texas fan's blatant disregard for this rule and for an in-state team...college football karma struck back 65-21 in Norman. Now OU has vaulted past texas in three polls and conventional wisdom says that an OU win next week all but guarantees them a spot in the Big 12 Title Game and a chance for a national title shot. All because they utterly destroyed Tech this past weekend.

So to all you Texas fans...thanks for all your support...but we didn't need it nor want it. No one likes a traitor to their own state or their rooting interests. I will never do you the favor of rooting for Texas...ever. Boomer Sooner!

Joe the Idiot

I guess Joe the Plumber was wrong that electing Obama "would be the death of Israel" now that Obama has named a Jewish Chief of Staff. Rahm Emanuel is a well known supporter and friend of the nation of Israel. Just another example of how stupid Joe the Plumber is and why McCain should have never pandered to him during the campaign. Oh...I guess that also debunks the Obama Muslim conspiracy theory as well. Would a radical Muslim name a Jew as his Chief of Staff?

Dave's Review of the New 007 Flick...Quantum of Solace

Awesome.

Who Can You Trust?

I voted for Obama. But I am going to follow Cornel West's lead when Dr. West stated that "If Obama is elected, I will dance and celebrate for a day. The next day I will be his number one critic." Dr. West's speech can be found here: http://www.cornelwest.com/photos_video.html

I was happy Obama won. I enjoyed the historical nature of the moment. I have great hope that we will move on from the disatrous administration of the Bush White House. But I'm not going to give Obama a free pass. No responsible citizen should. Obama deserves a fair shake and the patience of the American people as he deals with our economic woes and difficult geopolitical environment.

Despite his immense failures I can also acknowledge that Bush had some positives. His cabinet and top advising staff was the most ethnically diverse in the history of our Republic. His choice of Justice Roberts to the Supreme Court was an excellent one. The Federal Abortion Ban was a step in the right direction.

Nothing disgusts me like straight ticket voting. No offense to the Geico guys...but a Neanderthal could pull the lever for a straight ticket vote. Neither party deserves unswerving and slavish loyalty. Both parties have numerous examples of corruption and malfeasance in their ranks.

A brief rundown of names of powerful party members prosecuted or investigated for one crime or another...

The G.O.P.: Ted Stevens, Larry Craig, Tom DeLay, Scooter Libby, Mark Foley, Bob Livingston and Jack Abramoff.

The Democrats: Dan Rostenkowski, Barney Frank, Gus Savage, Tim Mahoney, Daniel Inouye, Jim Wright and Bill Clinton.

I'm not going to elaborate on the crimes or misdeeds perpetrated by this rogue's gallery. There are many more names you could add to both lists. You can google their names if you wish. My point is that blind loyalty to either party is asinine. It is the duty of the democratic citizen to critically analyze both parties and hold them accountable. Party members on both sides of the aisle often scramble to make excuses for people within their party who are guilty of corrupt behavior. Why? If you hold the guilty accountable then your party will be stronger in the long run.

I've mentioned Jim Wallis's phrase in prior posts and I'm going to repeat it now: God is not a Republican...or a Democrat.

Oh Ye of Little Faith...

As I was browsing my friend's facebook statuses after the election I was not surprised to find a number of disappointed McCain supporters. Whoever won the election would leave the other side disappointed...perhaps even a little bitter. This is true of all elections.

However, I was particularily struck by the doom and gloom nature permeating through their status updates. End of the world kind of hyperbole was everywhere. I remember these same people bemoaning the defeat of Bush to Clinton in 1992 and yet the world did not end in the 1990's. Again, I guess this kind of hyperbole is to be expected in the emotional aftermath of an election.

I did find one sentiment backwards, ignorant and offensive...all from someone I consider very intelligent and gifted. They implied that Obama's victory was a sign of God's judgement on a sinful America. This friend was trying to be positive by saying that we should always accept God's judgement even if it's not easy to take.

But I'm offended by their implication that those who voted for Obama, including myself, were unknowingly bringing down God's harsh judgement on America. That I and the majority of the nation were too stupid to realize what we were setting in motion by voting for Obama. I am sick and tired of my fellow Evangelical Christians saying that the Republican party is the only party for followers of Christ. The only two issues that matter to many of them in their narrow vision is abortion and gay marriage. Christ's vision is much more comprehensive than just those two important issues.

How many times must it be said..."GOD IS NOT A REPUBLICAN...OR A DEMOCRAT!"

I believe Christ is also concerned about a consistent ethic of life (which includes both the evils of abortion AND capital punishment). I believe Christ would care about our stewardship of his creation. I believe that Christ would be greatly concerned about our treatment of the impoverished, hungry, widows and orphans. Narrowing the Christian political focus to abortion and gay marriage limits the vision of Christ.

What kind of faith do we have in God if we preach such doom and gloom every time one of our candidates loses an election. The early Christian apostles lived under Nero for crying out loud...and the faith spread like wildfire!

Number one: McCain's biography is no more "Christian" than Obama's. He only reached out to evangelicals to win the election.

Number two: McCain and Obama actually agreed in the debates that they did not want to change the definition of marriage. Both stated their agreement with George W. Bush on the importance of civil unions for gay couples.

Number three: McCain said in the debates he would not use abortion as a litmus test for selecting a supreme court justice. He has stated that although he was pro-life he would not actively seek to overturn Roe v. Wade. So how does this make him more acceptable to pro-lifers? Was he acceptable just because he "said" he was pro-life? How blindly foolish is that? Obama said he wanted to see a world that didn't need abortions and actually favored banning partial-birth abortions. He may not be pro-life...but at least he is against abortion is some cases. And abortion is already legal in this country...for eight years we have had a pro-life president and the most conservative court in a generation...and yet Roe v. Wade was not overturned.

But those points are secondary to the lack of trust many Christians place in God. There are good Christian Democrats and athiestic Republicans. This election proves it's high time that evangelicals break free from their slavish and dogmatic loyalty to the G.O.P., widen their vision of Christian justice and focus their faith in Christ and NOT on the government of the United States.