Fun With College Football Vocabulary
I have serious issues with the Pontiac Game Changing Performance. Well, actually, I just have one issue with it, but it’s a big one. What irks me is this: too often a game winning play gets voted as the game changing play.
Not to take anything away from Michael Crabtree and Texas Tech, because seriously, wow. That was a great play, and a fantastic ending to a football game. But that’s what it was, an ending to a football game. That play did not spark a triumphant comeback, it didn’t knock the wind out of the sails for the opposing team; it simply ended the game. I’m not opposed to calling that a season changing play. In fact, I think that’s a great term to tack onto it. If it weren’t for that play, Texas beats Texas Tech, goes to the Big 12 championship, probably beats Missouri and ends up in the BCS title game.
There were plenty of games that featured a true game changing play. I may be biased here (actually, yeah I am biased,) but did anyone else see the Georgia/Georgia Tech game? The Yellow Jackets came out after halftime with an explosive one play, 60 yard scoring drive on the first play from scrimmage after the ball sailed out of bounds on the kickoff. That play changed the dynamic of the game. After that play, the Bulldogs looked sloppy, they missed tackles, they fumbled a kickoff, they just weren’t the same.
There’s a difference between changing the momentum of a game halfway through, and winning on a last second touchdown, interception, or fumble (I’m talking to you, UNC, and Penn State.) There’s a difference between an upset and a mounting a comeback in a game you should easily win (you hear me, Pete Carroll?) And I don’t buy that the blocked extra point in the Washington game was a game changer. If you want to claim the celebration call, I can give you that, but not the blocked kick.
If we’re going to nominate plays as “game changing,” we should make sure they’re labeled correctly. ESPN has already helped us out here, as have most other college football wrap-up programs, and set up a top ten plays of the day, or week, or other arbitrary time period. Don’t award a scholarship based off the misinterpretation of the word “change,” we’ve already shown that this country is highly susceptible to voting idiotically when that word is thrown around too much.
I’m Getting Hotter, the Earth is Not
We’ve reached the end of 2008, and I’ve again found myself reflecting on the issue of global warming, or climate change, or whatever the correct term is for the completely fabricated crisis that the world is facing (which the United States is solely responsible for, by the way.)
Here in Georgia we’re in a “perpetual state of drought” because over the past several years we’ve gotten less than the average amount of rainfall and our lakes are “drying up.” At least that’s what we’re being told. I have several issues with this, not the least of which is that the US government has decided that we should release a certain amount of water from our lakes and send it to Florida and Alabama.
Let’s start with the average annual rainfall, shall we? After several years of less than average rainfall, would the average not change? I’m pretty sure that we all learned mean, median and mode when we were taking elementary school math (though I could be wrong, our public schools are atrocious.) All I’m saying is, there’s a reason it’s called “average.”
Also, what happens to the rain deficit/surplus on New Year’s Eve? Does it just reset at midnight January 1st? Where does the extra rain go when there’s a surplus at the end of the year? Where does it come from if there’s a deficit?
And let’s not forget that the government is sending our water south. Is the state of Alabama dealing with a watering ban? Are the lawns in Florida brown and dying? Not that I’ve heard. If we’re in such a bad state of drought, why can’t we keep our own water?
Plus, we’d really appreciate it if Tennessee would give us our land back, thanks.
On to the bigger issue: the global warming hoax is quickly losing favor with scientists. It’s about freaking time. The warmest decade in the past century was the 1930’s, long before the serious congestion on highways in LA and cities like it. The Middle Ages was the hottest time period in recorded history, before the industrial revolution. What’s more infuriating is that the average temperature has gone down in the past decade, hence the sudden switch to the term “climate change” as opposed to “global warming.”
I’ve actually heard proponents of this nonsense claim that global warming is causing colder temperatures. Oh? That makes total sense! I often find myself complaining that my furnace has made my house cold. I’ve also heard that global warming is causing a shortage of water, which is interesting for two reasons: approximately 71% of the earth is covered with the stuff, it literally FALLS FROM THE SKY; and the “ice caps are melting” crowd is super concerned that the ocean levels will rise due to excess water from the melting ice.
I’m highly skeptical of all of the man made climate change hype. Throughout history there have been several periods of ice ages and warm periods. I’m firmly planted in the “it’s a naturally occurring phenomenon” camp, and fully intend to remain so. I’ve seen no hard evidence supporting global warming, or climate change or anything of the sort. Just let me water my damn lawn.
