Reasons I am not disappointed that the 2016 Olympics will be in Rio

(1) Now we will not have to listen to complaints about how much the Olympic building projects are costing the city of Chicago, the citizens of Chicago, the US Government to help out Chicago, etc., etc., etc. Seriously, if it cost $1.2 million just for the President to make his overnight trip to Copenhagen, then we are probably saving money until the then-President flies to Rio to watch the games.

(2) Having the Olympics hosted in a city with a reputation of crime will hopefully make the Atlanta bombing not look so bad to the IOC, thereby increasing the US's chances of hosting another Olympics game at some point in the future.

(3) In 2012 we will not have to hear Obama bragging about singlehandedly bringing the Olympic games to Chicago.

(4) The opening ceremonies will be much cooler in Rio. What would Chicago do for opening ceremonies? Rap? Hip-hop? Blues? Evolution of American music and dance? Fire? Mob? World fair serial killer tribute? Rio will probably do Carnival and it will be cool with the outrageous costumes.

(5) It is about time that South America join the hosting.

(6) Olympics cost more than they make in the short-term.

(7) We will probably have a scandal about an American athlete(s) partying too much in Rio and be able to blame bad performances on that. The excuse would not work too well in Chicago.

(8) It isn't Tokyo.

(9) The world's attention will be turned for a little while to a place that needs the gospel. Of course this would have been true for all of the other cities on the list as well, but most of us probably do not think of Rio that often.

(10) We do not have to hear the "They're Coming to America" song for the year preceding the games!

My Favorite Season

We are now in the midst of my favorite season - Football Season! Last year I was not as impressed with the start of football season. I was not entertained. It took a while for the big games to come, and my teams were not doing all that great (except for a defeat of OU), and even the NFL had lost some of its charm for me. Towards January I was no longer watching my favorite sport of all time, and I had very little interest in the Super Bowl and the NCAA Championship game. It was like I had taken a year off from my favorite sport since the season was riddled by disappointments. It was depressing.

This year has started out very different from last season. I am once again excited about my favorite sport. I am once again entertained by the skill of the players on the field. I think that time off from the sport created a greater sense of expectation for this year's season. I still skipped watching most of the preseason games because I do not find those entertaining, but I sat mesmerized the first weekend of the college football season. Then came the Michigan-Notre Dame game. Then came the Texas-Texas Tech game. Then the Mannings showed why every team wants a Manning as a quarterback in the 4th quarter and clutch kickers just in case the Manning cannot find the end-zone but can get within reach. I am once again addicted to football. Teams I hate are losing, teams I love are winning (at least sometimes - Baylor and Houston still have some issues to work out!). The TV schedule for games has been great even if we had to watch Oklahoma State instead of Baylor because apparently the national programers think that people in our area would prefer to watch OSU lose than to watch Baylor win (but my iPhone let me keep up with the Baylor game ok enough). I am once again excited about football. After last season I was beginning to wonder if I would ever be a fan again. I am glad that I once again have football to use as a stress relief! I still refuse, however, to allow football to dictate my schedule - except the Texas-OU and the Texas-Texas A & M game of course!

Random Thought #36

I played racketball tonight with a tennis racket and did not die. If you saw how the boys play and how often I get in the way, you would realize that is a huge accomplishment!

Bad Coaching

Here is an example of how not to coach a basketball game. This shows a lack of confidence in your own team and a streak of vindictiveness. Using two players to take out one player all night long, even when he is standing in the corner, is not fair to the other three players who are now going up against four. I am glad that they lost by thirty so that no one else will try a stupid stunt like this.

College Football

Last weekend is an example of why football season is my favorite season of the year. It started on Thursday with USC losing. I did not watch the game. I had no interest in watching USC blow out Oregon State. I am going to have to learn to flip it over just to check the score every once in a while because I missed an excellent opportunity to watch the supposed "good enough to be an NFL team" Trojans fall. Saturday was even better. Texas made Arkansas look like a high school team. Alabama embarrassed Georgia quite possibly like they have never been embarrassed before. I venture to bet that we will not be seeing the funeral attire for a while!! Michigan knocked off the top ten ranked (OVERRATED) Wisconsin team. Those victories meant that three of my favorite teams had favorable outcomes in what were supposed to be tough match-ups. I love football season!!

Olympics - Week 2 and Weekend 3

I did not watch as much of the Olympics the second week. I guess that overall it was not as exciting as the first week of competition. Also, I usually could find out the results online before they showed the event that night, making the watching of the events seem less exciting.

Track and Field

Overall, it seemed pretty boring. The main stories seemed to be about Jamaicans instead of Americans, which made watching the events even more boring. I miss the days of Michael Johnson. I also miss the days of Jeremy Wariner being coached by Clyde Hart. The sad thing is that I don't think that Jeremy Wariner learned his lesson though. I am sure there is something that went awry in their relationship, but the change in coaches hurt Wariner. He definitely did not look as relaxed in the 400 final. The US guy that dove over the finish line was crazy though. Awesome.

Gymnastics

The events finals were ... well, boring. I guess that is what happens when you have seen the same routine over and over and over again. Plus, the "controversy" surrounding the age of the Chinese competitors is pretty boring too. The IOC is not going to do anything about it even though it is obvious that there are underage girls competing. The Chinese explanation about them being smaller than Americans and Europeans is laughable when you look at the Chinese divers who are obviously 16 and much bigger than their gymnastics counterparts. But, nothing will be done about it so stop complaining already!

Water Polo

I watched water polo one night because I was having trouble falling asleep. Let me tell you ... water polo becomes an x-rated late night event when they show the underwater camera and the players are tugging at each other's suits. I decided I did not like watching water polo very quickly. On that note, I think it is time that water polo and diving go to the biker short type speedos instead of the traditional speedos.

Diving

I like the Australian guy that beat the Chinese just because he beat the Chinese. It was awesome. I do not like the Chinese divers because they are too perfect and do not mess up enough. It takes the excitement out of watching.

Men's Basketball

If you missed the gold medal game, you missed a lot. It was great. Of course it was played at 1:30 in the morning, so unless you have DVR or still tape things the old way on the VCR, you probably missed it. It almost made me like Kobe Bryant. Then I remembered that it was Kobe.

Watching with Little Kids

On Friday I was able to watch the Olympics while babysitting an 18 month old little boy. There is nothing like watching the Olympics with a little kid around!!! He was hilarious! When the track and field relays were going on, he would look at the TV, bend down in the start position, and run laps around the couch and loveseat until the race was over. Anytime they showed anyone in a swimming pool, he would start yelling "googles!" When the Chinese diver would grunt while diving, he would grunt and jump with each replay. An otherwise boring night of the Olympics was made entertaining by watching him watch the Olympics!

Closing Ceremonies

I think I was just tired of China by the time the closing ceremonies came around. It was kind of a depressing show though. The "Bejing Bejing" song made me laugh, as did Jackie Chan. The coolest thing about the closing ceremonies was the awarding of the marathon gold medal at the closing ceremonies. And maybe Jimmy Page playing the guitar.

Olympics - Week 1 and Weekend 2

Last week was a crazy week at work so I did not get to watch as much of the Olympics as I wanted to. Here are my thoughts about what I watched.

Michael Phelps

The guy is amazing, incredible, and just about any other good superlative and/or descriptive adjective you can come up with. However, by the end of the week, I was tired of the commentators worshiping Michael Phelps. As far as I am concerned, they can interview him and his mother all that they want, and I am interested. When the commentators start just talking about him all of the time as if he is the only American at the Olympics, it gets a little old. That having been said, I am sad that swimming is finished because Phelps was the highlight of my day each day last week.

Gymnastics

I guess in college I realized that the judging was never going to be fair (or as fair as the commentators seem to think it should be ... and since they are the experts, that is all I have to rely on). Since that time, gymnastics has lost its appeal to me. I am still amazed, but I do not look forward to watching. I didn't even watch all of the all-around, but that was because it was on so late and I fell asleep. Gymnastics is like ice skating ... too subjective.

NBC's Coverage Choices

Someone needs to inform NBC that we are not China. I do not care how the Chinese men feel that it is their destiny to win, and I do not care to watch them win in gymnastics. Hello NBC! We had an American team in the men's competition. Apparently they were doing pretty good, although we (AMERICANS) did not get to see half of their performance because we were watching China thanks to NBC. It is bad enough that the live coverage is so late at night (something NBC can't control), but show us our own country instead of another one. And while I am on the subject of coverage choices, it would be nice if NBC would replay things like the Spitz-Phelps interview that I accidentally slept through although I did try to stay up for it. That is definitely more interesting than the marathon ... which leads to my next subject ...

Marathon

On Sunday, was it really necessary to show the entire women's marathon? I guess I am the idiot that watched, of course I was waiting to see a Michael Phelps interview (not people talking about him).

Redeem Team

I finally watched one of the basketball games. USA v. Spain. I enjoyed the game, and that surprised me. Plus, I found out that I don't have to wait until October to watch Chris Paul, and that made me happy. Still not as good as the original, but still highly entertaining.

The Olympics - First Weekend

I love watching the Olympics. I think that I like the Summer Olympics more than the winter, and I predict that my TV will be tuned into the Olympics a large portion of the time over the next few weeks. Here are some thoughts on this first weekend:

Opening Ceremony

WOW! I think I was mesmerized for the entire time (except the parade of nations). There was just so much to watch and to see. It was incredible. The lighting of the torch was highly entertaining. The people in lighted suits that were making all sorts of designs, including a human replica of the Bird's Nest were phenomenal. The scroll, artists, drummers, ... I could go on and on. This show definitely beat all of the others that I have seen.

Best quote of the night: [the announcer was talking about the United Arab Emerates or some other middle eastern nation at the time] This is the first time this nation has had women on their Olympic team. However, it is of note, that the two women on the team are the daughters of the prime minister.

Worst outfits of the night: Hungary's women. No one looked good in that dress. Whoever thought a white dress from the 1920s with huge red flowers all over it and a huge hat looked good needs to be fired. It was hideous.

Saturday's Events

I love watching Michael Phelps swim. Thankfully I will have plenty of chances to watch him in the coming days. He is amazing. I definitely was excited for his first gold medal swim.

I watched my first badmitton match (do they call them matches?). I am still confused. It was entertaining for about 7 minutes, but I got bored. I did not know that they could hit that birdie so fast though.

Sunday's Events

Men's freestyle relay. Not much more needs to be said. I think I got as excited as I do in football games that come down to the wire. I do not think I have been that excited for a non-contact sport ever. I like swimming.

I pretty much spent the rest of the night complaining about how long I was having to wait to watch Michael Phelps again. Gymnastics was mildly entertaining. Diving was boring (it isn't fun when you know who is going to win and it isn't even close).

Random comments

Although it is kind of cool that we can watch things live such as the swimming races because of the time difference, it is also a bit nerve racking. I usually claim that I do not want to know the results beforehand (and that is generally true for gymnastics), I usually end up cheating and finding out the results to things like swimming. It is driving me crazy that I cannot find out the swimming results until they happen!! However, maybe that accounts for my increased excitement during the races.

It is hard not to think, as I watched the nations march by and see the nations all competing with each other, about how our different races bring glory to God, and how heaven will have all different tribes, tongues, and nations in it. The big plus to heaven - we will all get along.

Brett Farve

As a long time football fan, I am disgusted to read the stories about Brett Farve. One thing that I do not like about sports is that there is no loyalty to teams that have built the athlete up and paid them way too much. I have never been a Farve fan. There is just something about him that I like to dislike. However, he is the face of Green Bay football. Now, he looks like a whining baby. If I were a cheesehead, I would be tempted to burn all Farve jerseys ... but the ironic thing is that they still love him and blame the Packers. I am not saying that the Packer management does not have any blame in the situation. I am sure that there are things that they could have handled better. However, he retired, and when he saw that the Packers were going to play without him and not beg him to come back, he decided to pull the "just kidding." Didn't he learn any lessons from Joe Montana or Michael Jordan? Sure, some people will remain loyal fans, but it is not going to be the same as it was. When you retire and come back, you are just not as good as what you used to be. Plus, chemistry between the quarterbacks and the players has to develop over time. Packer fans should be thinking good riddance and get ready for the next generation. Jet fans should be moaning because they already had quarterback woes, and now added a disgruntle old quarterback to those woes. Other quarterbacks should be watching this and taking notes (hint, hint Peyton Manning ... stick with the Colts then retire).

I wish someone would bring the concept of loyalty back to sports. Now, owners fire coaches because of one "bad" season. What happen to the days of people like Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi where a coach was expected to be there for years? Sure, there are still some Joe Paternos and Steve Spurriers in the world, but unfortunately it appears that they are a dying breed. I do think it is time for some coaches to go after a few years (after some truly bad seasons), but I also think that organizations tend to fire too quickly. If the organization is not going to be loyal to players and coaches, maybe we should not expect players to be loyal to organizations. I think it is a problem all around.

Go Spurs Go!

 v. 

Just for the record, I predicted the series would go to Game 7 and that the Spurs would be in a better position in a game 7 than New Orleans (even though NO had home court advantage).  Malcolm is my witness.  I am sad that I have to wait until Oct./Nov. to see Paul again (please, my NO friends ... chant MVP all season so that he can get it next season!!).  He was fun to watch and Game 3 when he and Tony Parker went head to head was one of the best games I have seen in a very long time.  Confidence is the Spurs having their bags packed for LA when coming to NO for game 7.  Now all that is left to say is GO SPURS GO!!

Bad News Bears! (but maybe good news?!)

Well, the Baylor basketball teams both made an early exit from the Big 12 tournaments. The boys put up a fight, and the girls seem to have decided to coast on their laurels instead of fighting. Maybe the boys made enough of an impression to go to the NCAA.

**Update: The boys did make it to the Tourney as did the girls, so at least we will get to see one post-season game from each. Sic 'em bears!!

Baylor Basketball

I was pleasantly surprised last week as I pulled my Sports Illustrated out of the mailbox and began flipping through the pages.  A little over midway through the magazine was a story about Baylor Basketball.  I guess people had to start taking notice of the success of the team when Baylor beat the Aggies after 5 overtimes.  Even though the game was not televised, it has been the topic of sports conversations off and on  since it occurred.  It will be interesting to see how the season turns out.  Personally, I think that Scott Drew should be coach of the year.  Most coaches would not consider coming to a school that is about to be punished - severely - by the NCAA.  Most coaches would only stay a year or two knowing that recruiting is going to be next to impossible and scholarships few and far between because of NCAA punishments.  However, Drew chose to expand his recruiting options and create a team for the future.  Finally, that patience is paying off and I am as happy for the coach as I am for the school.  Baylor is going to have a hard time hanging on to him I am afraid - I know that if I was looking for a coach this spring when the pink slips are handed out, I would probably put him on my short list.  I am just glad that Baylor Basketball received some good press for a change (even if it did take some of the spotlight away from the girls for a moment - girls who are ranked in the top 10 by the way!).  Maybe the brilliant choice of Drew is a good indicator of what we can expect from our football coach as well.

Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, and Gumbo

Since Mardi Gras fell a little too early this year, I barely had time to get over my Super Bowl excitement and wish that I was down in the Big Easy taking in some parades.

Well, I am pleased with the outcome of the Super Bowl.  That is my best Manning impression of trying to keep my happiness at a calm level.  I have to say that I was less excited about this Super Bowl than I think I was about the one a few years ago that Pittsburg won (and I REALLY did not care who won that one).  I ended up watching only the 4th quarter for the most part.  I did not care a thing about the commercials.  I talked and played with a kid more than I watched.  However, I was glued to the TV for the 4th quarter.  I was very excited to watch Eli lead the Giants in the 4th quarter, and just see the determination that he brought to the field and used to lead his team.  I was disappointed to see how poor a loser Bill Bellicheck (I don't care if I misspelled his name either) proved himself to be by not staying on the field until the end of the game and not congratulating the Giants in any of the post-game interviews that I saw.  I know that if I had to chose a quarterback to lead my team in the last two minutes of the 4th quarter in a game, I would want his last name to be Manning.  

My love of New Orleans has contributed to my love of the Mannings, and today is Mardi Gras.  I celebrated by eating Campbell's Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, which was a pretty good gumbo in my opinion.  It could have been a little spicier, but it still hit the spot.  Surprisingly the gumbo is part of the healthy request line, but it tasted almost like the real deal to me (granted the sausage was not the real deal, but it was still tasty).  Maybe tonight I will throw some beads at Lil T to celebrate.  He loves beads!

Baylor Basketball

I just noticed that the Baylor Basketball teams (both men and women) are ranked right now.  Given Baylor men's basketball history and the toughness of the conference for the women, that is pretty impressive.

"That's all I have to say about that"

I am a happy camper.  I would be happier if it was the other Manning in the Super Bowl or if both were in the Super Bowl or if New England was not, but I am glad that the Giants pulled off the upset.  I would say maybe we will see a Manning win again this year, but I have watched the Patriots.  Although I will be cheering for the Giants, the Patriots are going to have to have a bad day for the Giants to beat them.

Some Thoughts ...

Well, it looks like this is my first blog post of 2008.  Nice.  Too bad it isn't about something meaningful instead of just some random things all put into one blog.

Lil T:  Lil T had to share his house last week with another dog.  The Floyd (one of my co-workers) family went out of town and their dog Huxley came to stay with us for the week.  Huxley used the time to catch up on his sleeping, and did not do much else at my house.  He did insist on sleeping in my bed with me, but he was kind enough to take up only a few inches at the end of the bed!  Lil T and Huxley got along well.  Lil T did not pay Huxley too much attention unless Huxley had the nerve to come into the kitchen with me, which is Lil T's territory (he doesn't even like me in the kitchen unless it is to "visit" him).  I enjoyed having a dog around that was way out of the puppy phase and not even close to being as hyper as Lil T.  I look forward to the days when Lil T will sit down!  Maybe Lil T needs an older brother or sister.  I did not enjoy the morning and night time trips outside (Lil T is litterbox trained for the most part - nice, huh?!?!).

Writer's strike:  I am disturbed about how upset people are about the writer's strike.  Have we really become that dependent upon TV that we think it is the end of the world if we don't have new episodes of shows?  Maybe we should start spending time with our families or reading books or doing anything but watching TV instead.  I guess that is easy for me to say since the only show I am addicted to is The Office, but I refuse to watch new episodes on TV and instead wait for them to come out on DVD.  Why don't we support writers by reading books instead of watching TV?  It isn't the end of the world if there are only 5 episodes (or however many) of The Office this year - it just means a cheaper DVD of the season!

Football:  Wow, LSU sure pulled out all the stops against OSU.  OU is proving that they should not be considered for a BCS game even when they win the Big 12 (I think Missouri could have done better), but I guess they can't be excluded by contract.  In a season of upsets, there really were no big surprises in the bowl games.  That is kind of a letdown.  Apparently Mallett is transferring because Michigan hired someone who is bringing in a spread offense (really, that is against tradition at Michigan.  I already don't like the guy or the ones who hired him) so someone is about to pick up a pretty decent quarterback who has a year's worth of experience on a big stage.  Should be interesting to see where he ends up.  As for the NFL, go Giants.  Go Colts.  Anyone go to the Super Bowl other than the Patriots.  

LLBB:  I am coaching Little League Basketball again.  This year I am coaching a 5/6 grade team.  The kids are a little older, so at least they can all hit the rim, but it will still be an interesting experience.  Seems to be a decent team, and our skills goal is to learn how to do left handed layups by the end of the season.  I love coaching these teams, so it should be a fun season.

Romans:  Anyone who knows me knows that I love to study the book of Romans.  That is what we are studying as a church on Sunday nights this spring.  I am very excited!

Disclaimer:  I really did not proofread or try to use good English.  It has been one of those kinds of weeks - too busy to get my head screwed back on straight, so I am glad that the end of today and tomorrow looks to be a little less busy.  I am braindead.

Luck of the Schedule

I think that Tennessee and Washington must be two of the luckiest NFL teams out there (kind of).  Going into this week, both knew that a win would clinch a playoff spot.  Both also knew that the team they would be facing clinched their spots weeks ago, and would be resting many starters not too far into the game.  However, I think that the way the schedule was set up served as a disservice to  fans since usually both games are an exciting matchup of division rivals that will pull out all the stops to win.  Sure Dungi did what he could - except play Peyton in the 4th quarter!  I can't blame the coaches for pulling the starters.  Tennessee probably wishes it could have known they were going to the playoffs and pulled Vince Young before his hamstring injury too.  Washington probably is happy with the way their starters played since they are now "the hottest NFC team" headed into the playoffs, and the starters now have momentum going into the wildcard round.  Of course, it turns out their win over Dallas is now being called "irrelevant."

Bad Fan

I am a bad Texas football fan.  Since they didn't play in a New Years bowl game, I accidentally missed it.  Instead of enjoying the pounding that Texas put on Arizona State (or someone like that), I was enjoying episodes of The Office - Season Two.  I see that they did just fine without my usually loyal support.  In fact, I think that my normal New Years ritual of watching as many games as I can fit into a 24-hour period of time, then watching the last two bowls may be altered a bit since I really don't care in this year of crazy football.  At least on Saturday I should have the opportunity to watch Eli and the Giants take on New England.  Go Manning!  Even though it would be historic for the Patriots, I prefer to watch a Manning win any day of the week (and it is even sweeter if it is a win against Brady).  I am not holding my breath though.

Coach Briles

While I am on the subject of college football, I probably should weigh in about my thoughts on the recent head coaching changes that have occurred at Baylor.  For more info on the subject (or really just an attempt to have positive PR) you can go here.  I think that Baylor made a smart choice (although I thought the same thing when they hired the last coach).  Here are my reasons for making this bold statement before seeing how this coach performs:

1.  He knows how to recruit in Texas.  This is a big deal when Baylor is probably capable of recruiting in the second tier of recruits because of competition with recruiting powerhouses such as UT, A & M, OU, and all the other teams that feel the need to drain our talent pool in Texas.  If you are one of the best players in high school football in Texas, you are probably not going to choose Baylor.  However, if you are a Chase Daniels who is being looked at by Missouri and Baylor, there may be a chance that you will choose to stay closer to home.  Why didn't Baylor go after Chase Daniels?  Why did he end up all the way up in Missouri?  Could it be that our previous coach didn't know how to recruit in the second tier and insisted on taking the scraps of the first?  Coach Briles obviously knows how to put together a winning program with recruits no one has heard of.  He took Houston from being a no name to being a bowl contender every year.  I know that I can't name a single player on the Houston team, but they win anyway.  Maybe he can do the same thing at Baylor.

2.  His track record at Houston.  He took a program that was pretty much a laughing stock and turned it into a bowl contender.  His job will be more difficult in the Big 12 (especially the Big 12 South), but surely he can make Baylor competitive against the North teams (so that there is not a repeat of Kansas and Missouri in the top ten at the same time in the same year because it was their year to play Baylor instead of UT and/or OU).  

3.  Baylor's athletic director showed his ability to choose a coach by his decision to bring in Scott Drew as basketball coach.  First, Ian McCaw had to convince a coach to come to Baylor when the coach knew that recruiting would be affected by the NCAA's punishment of Baylor following a scandal that I do not wish to summarize here.  Plus, McCaw had to retain the guy.  Now the basketball program is reaping the benefits of a coach who determined to build a solid foundation, and is now making the program competitive, at least in this pre-season.  We will see how things pan out in the conference play, but things are looking good.  McCaw hopefully has done the same thing with the football coach (minus the huge scandal, although the minor one of an assistant coach getting drunk after a game and urinating on the outside of the bar is embarassing).

Hopefully Coach Briles will not be a disappointment.  Only time will tell.

College Football

I love college football.  I love spending my Saturdays camped out in front of the TV, reading good books while football is played in the background.  I love getting into the close games, cheering my teams on, or the underdog who is about to pull out an upset against a team I dislike.  I like the experience of flipping back and forth through the different games just because there are ten on at a time.

Maybe I should have put that all in the past tense.  This season I discovered something -- although I like the occassional upset, I do not like it when there is too much uncertainty in college football.  I would rather know who is going to win.  I would rather not have teams that are really not as good as their record speaks occupying the No. 1 and 2 spots just so that we can watch them fall each week in "upsets" when they face their first tests of the season.  Plus, I have decided that upsets can become old news when each week is filled with five of them.  I think that the BCS chose the right teams to play for the national championship since someone has to go to the championship game.  I am not sure that the BCS chose the right teams for the remaining BCS games though, but I guess in this year of college football, that doesn't really matter.

This is the craziest season of college football, although the two teams in the BCS championship game doesn't necessarily reflect that.  How much more fun would it have been to see Missouri v. West Virginia in the record books to truly reflect this season of chaos!  I am beginning to wonder if the BCS has created this chaos because of a flawed system (although any system would be flawed in some way or another) that finally imploded to create a year of uncertainty.  There are going to be years where the main conferences are full of good teams and highly competitive with two teams easily able to win the national championship or compete in the championship game, but because of the competition in the conference, the teams find it hard to come out without two losses.  Plus there are going to be years where the best teams in the nation have bad days.  There are going to be years where, for some unknown reason, the Big 12 South can't decide who can win on a given Saturday, but it is always capable of defeating even the best teams in the Big 12 North.  When all of this happens in one year, it creates chaos.  As a fan of college football, I have decided (at least through my actions) that I don't like chaos.  Hopefully things will be back to normal next year.  I mean, Kansas in a BCS game?  You have to be kidding me!