TLC FOR HAWKEYES, WOLVERINES

My goodness, it sure has been fun reading some of the Michigan bloggers this week. Are all of you going to pour yourselves a nice, tall glass of Drano if tomorrow’s Sparty game turns out exactly like you seem to think it will?

A little perspective is nice, and I refer you to this column by Ron Maly. Rediscovering him has made all my monthly internet bills worth it. Maly wrote for the Des Moines Register back when its Sunday sports section was still called “The Big Peach” . . . and back when the DMR’s sports section was worth reading. He does a nice job quoting Kirk Ferentz and thereby talking all us Hawkeye fans off the ledge, and I figure you Michiganders could benefit from reading what he wrote. The whole season is not on the line. A win tomorrow would put Iowa–or Michigan–at 1-1 in the conference. That doesn’t signify being “back,” in the same way that a loss tomorrow doesn’t mean you’re staring down a long day’s journey into Nashville.

There’s more to college football than those BCS bids. In fact, may the (A)BCS(PN) be cast into the outer darkness. I’d give anything to have the OJUS (Old Jumbled-Up System) back again. We as football fans should never get so jaded about our team’s success that we would consider, say, a Motor City Bowl bid a failure or an embarrassment. But, thanks to the (A)BCS(PN), the number of teams who can say they had a good season has dropped from forty or so down to eight–and half of those eight will lose anyway.

So you know what? The (A)BCS(PN) can descend and agitate as far as I’m concerned. I refuse to believe that there are only four or five bowl games worth going to. I will enjoy the heck out of this season and all the great football I see. If Iowa finishes 6-5 . . . heck, if they finish 2-9, there’s still nothing like college football and no better way to spend your Saturday than in pursuit of the ultimate football buzz.

Yes, winning is better than losing, in the same way that wealth is better than poverty. But who can tell you your team is a failure if they don’t go to a BCS bowl? Only yourself and the media. You can tune out the latter, and you can do something about the former. College football is a lot more fun if you don’t take it so flarpin’ seriously.

SHOCKING

The Ball State textbook scandal has gone to a whole new level.

Sixteen players suspended for abusing a textbook-loaning program. That’s not how you cheat in college football! No wonder Ball State can’t ever get over the hump.