Month: April 2005

March Madness rant. Look, will all of you complaining about the RPI just cut it out? Obviously, the RPI doesn’t rule the NCAA Selection committee. Proof? How about TCU? 21-12 record, RPI of 32, which puts them ahead of ELEVEN other at-large bids in RPI rank–so go ahead, tell Tubby Smith (TCU’s coach) about how the NCAA is tied to the RPI. And all the Georgetown and USC fans better be *really* quiet about the RPI, since there were NINE teams ahead of USC in the RPI that didn’t get bids and TEN teams ahead of Georgetown (including a team from the Big East with an identical 19-9 record, West Virginia). So yeah, sure, bitch about selection, but don’t bitch about the use of the RPI–a team’s RPI is clearly not as important as everyone seems to think.

(original date: 1997.03.10)

Yet another sports rant. No, it’s not about Dennis Rodman kicking a photographer, lots of other folks have said more than enough about how stupid that whole scene is. No, today’s rant is about all the god-freak athletes out there. Look, gang, if the god you believe in is willing to not intervene and let innocent children get slaughtered in civil wars in the Balkans and in Africa, but is willing to intervene to affect the individual performances in sporting contests, well, then it’s a god the rest of us can do without–so shut up about it already.

(original date: 1997.01.21)

Another sports rant, this time Lou Holtz. Why is everybody making such a big deal over it? He’s a classless whiner and the faster he gets out of the spotlight the better off we’ll all be. Here’s a good illustration of the classlessness: In his final home game against Rutgers, he was up five touchdowns against a clearly overmatched team. Did he put in the subs and just try to run out the clock? Nope, there was starter Ron Powlus in, throwing deep, so that Notre Dame could run it up 62-0. Totally, totally vulgar.

(original date: 1996.11.26)

OK, the Olympic and dissertation break from ranting is over, and I’m gonna rant about the Olympics. I had a blast. Every single person I talked to (and believe me, on those MARTA trains and in the stands, I saw a lot of folks) had a blast, just a totally terrific time. But, of course, the out-of-town media and the IOC had lots of bad things to say. Um, hello? I hate to break it to you, but the Olympics are not for the media or even the IOC. They’re for the athletes and the fans. We were happy, so the media and the IOC can just piss off, thank you very much. The Atlanta Olympics were awesome, no matter what these pampered whiners said.

(original date: 1996.08.08)

Michael Jordan as “Comeback performer of the year”? Hello? Let me get this straight, the guy voluntarily retires because he wants to screw around on a baseball field, then returns because he isn’t very good at it, and he gets comeback performer over Monica Seles, who returned from being stabbed by a fan on the court and made it to the U.S. Open finals? Yeah, sure, MJ is the greatest to ever wear a basketball uniform, but puh-lease. Monica Seles by a mile on this one.

(original date: 1996.05.24)