The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I received this comment on episode 9 of my podcast, entitled, "Don't Hate On SharpieGate": - "Hahaha! Too much good stuff in this one!" You can listen to the episode here: https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/dont-hate-on-sharpiegate/

I found it utterly hilarious to listen to the ESPN talking heads discussing the college football national championship game from last night. It's as if they were all involved in a you-got-it-more-wrong-than-I-did shouting match. "You picked Alabama!" "Oh yeah?!? Well, you picked them by 50!" "At least I knew who Trevor Lawrence was!" "I said Lawrence was a better quarterback than Tua!" "Oh, no you didn't! You never even uttered his name!" Then there were "experts" who went the denial route, saying, "I still can't believe it happened. I'm stunned. I woke up today and thought, 'Was I dreaming?'" Just admit it, you drank the Nick Saban/Alabama Kool-Aid and were wrong, as Donald Trump would say, "bigly!" I admit, before bowl season began, I thought Alabama was going to win the title. After watching the semifinal games between the Tide and Oklahoma, as well as Notre Dame a...

The College Football Playoff Committee's job was easier than normal this year. The top three selections were easy ones to make: Undefeated SEC Champion Alabama, undefeated ACC Champion Clemson, and undefeated Notre Dame. I haven't heard anyone complain about Alabama or Clemson making the field of four. There have been occasional gripes made about Notre Dame making the field, but come on. As one of only four undefeated teams in all of college football, a team who defeated the likes of Michigan, Northwestern, and Syracuse, among others, deserves to be in the playoff. So the real debate centers around the #4 spot between Oklahoma, Georgia, Ohio State, and Central Florida. It seems as though the college football world is divided on what the main criteria for being playoff-selected should be. Roughly 50% think it should be based on which four teams have most earned a spot and the other 50% think, regardless of whether or not they earned it, the four best teams should be selected....

It seems that every year I have a gripe with one of the college football playoff committee's four selections. This year it's Alabama. I don't know anyone who has any problem with the committee's three other picks: The ACC and defending national champion 1-loss Clemson Tigers; the Big XII champion 1-loss Oklahoma Sooners; and the SEC champion 1-loss Georgia Bulldogs. That leaves one spot to be filled. While ESPN and other media outlets seemed to make the debate a black-and-white argument between Alabama and Ohio State, I'm going to add two teams to the mix: Central Florida and USC. Let's first look at the committee's documented protocol for selecting the four playoff teams. Here's what they allegedly look at when comparing teams: "1) Championships won 2) Strength of schedule 3) Head-to-head competition (if it occurred) 4) Comparative outcomes of common opponents" Based on that criteria, let's compare the four teams, starting with...

While speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper, Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks said the following with regard to the House's latest healthcare bill: "My understanding is that (the new proposal) will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool. That helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they're healthy, they've done the things to keep their bodies healthy. And right now, those are the people--who've done things the right way--that are seeing their costs skyrocketing." While I'm tempted to simply go off on Mo Brooks right now, I'll try to keep my cool. Are the odds better for those who "lead good lives" to be healthy and not require as much healthcare as those who don't "lead good lives"? Sure. However, is it a guarantee? Absolutely not! I was born with epilepsy. What did I personally do to deserve being ...

Alabama Representative Mo Brooks isn't shy about making controversial remarks, yet he still found a way to raise a few eyebrows with his most recent comment, as he said this with regard to Democrats' critique of Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions: "It's really about political power and racial division and what I've referred to on occasion as the 'war on whites.' They are trying to motivate the African-American vote to vote-bloc for Democrats by using every 'Republican is a racist' tool that they can envision. Even if they have to lie about it." I'm sorry, but this comment is stupid beyond words. There is no "war on whites" in this country; there is simply a war on equality led by whites (this includes Mo Brooks). Let's place things into their proper perspective here. Slavery Brooks: "War on whites!" Segregation Brooks: "War on whites!" Discriminatory cr...

Republican Alabama lawmaker Steve Hurst has recently proposed a bill which would require certain sex offenders to pay for their own (surgical) castration before being released from prison. Hurst elaborated on the matter, saying, "I've often wondered what that child went through, physically and mentally, and what kind of shape he's in now. They (sex offenders) have marked these children for life. They will never get over it. And if they've marked children for life, they need to be marked for life." Founder of a sexual disorders clinic at John Hopkins University, Dr. Frederick Berlin, came out against the measure, saying, "There are many sex offenders who aren't driven by intense sexual urges. Some of these folks have other mental health issues, so it could just lull us into a false sense of security." He added: "Just to do it as a one-glove-fits-all is very unlikely to be helpful. I do think there is a role for medicines that lower sexual d...

Since Barack Obama was elected president in November of 2008, Republican legislators have been working effortlessly to pass laws requiring some form of voter ID in order to vote. These very Republicans said such laws were needed to prevent voter fraud, while most Democrats felt it was just an attempt to reduce voter turnout within certain demographics which tended to vote Democratic, namely minorities and women. Did Republicans hold a legitimate concern about voter fraud? According to statistics, not really. In a comprehensive study published by Loyola Law School professor Justin Levitt of the Washington Post in 2014, it was found that there were 31 credible cases of voter fraud out of one billion ballots cast since 2000 (0.000000031%). In other words, there's a greater chance of me transforming into a werewolf named Jack Nicholson overnight tonight than there is of a credible voting fraud case on election day. To no one's surprise, the conservative state of Alabama followe...

Think I'm overreaching a bit with the title of this post? Sure, I've handed out awards for the Douche of the Day and the Douche of the Week, even the Douche of the Year, but not until today have I had an opportunity to award a person as Douche of the Century. After explaining to you what this person said, however, I'd like to believe your eyes will widen, jaw will drop, and you'll think, "Holy sh*t! He really is the douche of the century!" Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has always been a ardent opponent of gay marriage rights, but for as ridiculous as he's sounded in the past when it comes to LGBT issues, he really outdid even himself with what he said in a recent interview with AL.com . When Chief Justice Moore was asked if he'd enforce the Supreme Court's decision in legalizing marriage for gay and lesbian couples nationwide, here's how Moore responded: "Could I do this if I were in Nuremberg [at the war crimes trial...

When discussing the new playoff committee's top 25 rankings on Tuesday night, ESPN analysts Danny Kanell and David Pollock debated about whether TCU or Oregon should currently be ranked 4th in the country and agreed that both teams should be ranked ahead of Alabama at this point. Fellow ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstriet, however, disagreed, and said, "If you were to ask me who I think is the better team, I'd say Alabama is better than Oregon or TCU. That's just a gut feeling, an eye-test kind of thing" (just paraphrasing). I usually respect Kirk Herbstriet's opinions, because he tends to be unbiased. Even though he's an Ohio State graduate, he's never been shy about criticizing his Buckeyes and the Big Ten conference when he deems it necessary. However, I strongly disagree with him here. What's the point of teams scheduling tough out-of-conference opponents if they're not going to be rewarded at season's end by beating these teams, simply beca...

On Sunday, National Journal 's Ron Fournier told Fox News host Chris Wallace that "the fastest growing voting bloc in this country (the Latino community) thinks the Republican Party hates them. This party, your party, cannot be the party of the future beyond November if you're seen as the party of white people." This was in response to the recent immigration debate. In response to Fournier's comments, Alabama Representative Mo Brooks (Republican), said this: "This is a part of the war on whites that's being launched by the Democratic Party. And the way in which they're launching this war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else. It's part of the strategy that Barack Obama implemented in 2008, continued in 2012, where he divides us all on race, on sex, greed, envy, class warfare, all those kinds of things. Well that's not true." He also said the following: "Democrats, they have to demagogue on this and try and turn it in...

Following Alabama's dominating 42-14 victory over Notre Dame last night to win their 3rd national championship in the past 4 seasons, many of my Nebraska friends started making comments on Facebook stating that the Nebraska teams that won three titles in a four year span in the '90s were superior to the Alabama teams from these past four years. I find these comparisons to be silly. There's absolutely no possible way we'll ever know who would win between two teams from two different decades. It's impossible. We can look at as many numbers as we'd like; we'll never know who would win if the two teams faced one another when they were at their best. We can compare two teams as far as their dominance goes for a season. However, even then, it'll be difficult to compare the two teams, because once again, they played in different times, against different kinds of competition. Nebraska was dominant in the mid-90s. They were a great football team, however do I t...

So, I just heard (from an anonymous source in my mind) that 73-year old Brent Musburger watched Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron's girlfriend more often than he watched the national championship game last night.  Kirk Herbstreit caught Musburger in la-la land on a couple of occasions, which led to these back-and-forths: Musburger: "What penetration!" Herbstreit: "By the defense..." Musburger: "Yeah, that's it. Where was I going with that? Do you see, folks? This is what happens when you get to be my age. Can we get another shot of McCarron's girlfriend again? Wow. If I ever had a wife that looked like that... Whew...well, I won't go into detail folks." Herbstreit: "Thanks for that..." and Musburger: "...and the ball goes deep, very deep, oh so deep..." Herbstreit: "It was dropped like 5 seconds ago." Musburger: "Right you are, Herby. Right you are." Herbstreit: "What are you ...

The conference championships are now less than a week away in college football and soon thereafter, we'll officially know who will be playing in the national championship game. It's all but decided that unbeaten Notre Dame will take on the winner of the SEC Championship game between #2 Alabama and #3 Georgia. However, while it would be difficult for me to argue against Notre Dame deserving one of the two spots, I'm not entirely certain that the winner of the SEC title game is deserving of that second spot. Regardless of who wins the Alabama/Georgia game, and who gets rewarded that second spot in the BCS title game, I will clamor that a playoff would be more suitable to determine the national champion this year - of at least a four-team variety. Going into next week's games, there are five teams with one loss from major conferences whom could try to make legitimate arguments that their team belongs in the national title game alongside Notre Dame. Following next week...

Yeah, that's right. I love what the pastor said when approached about this. Reverend William Collier said that he wasn't a racist, but that "the white race is God's chosen people." The founder of the church, Mel Lewis, complained that the uproars this year shows a disrespect for religious liberty. ...and yes, the KKK will be attending this year... Yeah, Jesus was Jewish. If there were a chosen people, wouldn't it be Jews? If we don't want to look at it that way, wouldn't everyone be God's "chosen people"? People amaze me with such idiotic comments and then they hide behind their distorted version of their religion to say they're not a racist and then attempt to turn the tables and say it's the people calling them out that are against free speech/religion/diversity. According to Collier and the like, the hymn goes something like this: "Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world, White and white, w...

It seems as if I'm in the minority on this following Alabama's dominant 21-0 win over LSU last night in the national championship game, but I for one believe LSU deserves a share of the title - to be placed #1 in the AP Poll, while Alabama earns that spot in the USA Today/Coaches. If there were a playoff system in Division 1-A college football and Alabama beat LSU in the title game, there would be no argument - Alabama would be the sole national champion and deservedly so. However, Division I-A college football works a little differently than any other sport. No, I don't like the current system. I loathe and despise the BCS in any and every way and hope it's disposed of in the very near future, BUT with the current format we have, I believe the team teams should share the championship honors. Let me explain why. Before the wild card was implemented in baseball, each division was given one team to enter the playoffs. That was it. The first place team from each divisi...

I'd be a tad angry and frustrated if I were LSU head coach Les Miles. As I've described in detail in past blogs with a semi-sound mathematical formula, the SEC is the toughest conference this year. They are very top heavy, but all-in-all, are the best of the best, with the Big XII ranking 2nd. So, how many SEC championships must Les Miles and his Tigers win in order to be crowned national champions? Let's think about this... In a #1 vs. #2 match-up on November 5th, LSU went to Tuscaloosa and defeated Alabama 9-6 in overtime to basically win the SEC West. They would had to have lost to 2-10 Ole Miss and Arkansas in order for Alabama to overtake them by winning their remaining SEC games and that wasn't going to happen. That was one SEC championship game, as far as I'm concerned. LSU then defeated 10-2 Georgia this past weekend in the actual SEC title game to secure themselves of a BCS-bowl berth and a trip to the national title game. That was SEC title number two. W...

Since Alabama has been slated to play LSU in the championship game, I just say we give the trophy to LSU. LSU defeated Oregon and West Virginia out-of-conference (both in BCS games). They defeated #2 Alabama, #6 Arkansas, 10-win Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. They've defeated 9 teams with a .500 record or greater, 7 teams with an above .500 record, 5 Top 25 teams, 3 BCS teams. Let's just give it to LSU - the lone unbeaten in college football. If Alabama wins the re-match, I say we split the title. The two teams will have finished 1-1 against one another, with LSU holding the edge in their overall resume. I'm all about a playoff, but this year, I don't think one is necessary. LSU has proven they're the top team in the country and even in a loss, they deserve a share of the national title. I just hope this second game between the two schools generates more excitement than the 5 combined field goals in their first match-up. Just one touchdown would do it. Come o...

Almost every sports writer and analyst said that the game was all but decided. Even if LSU were to lose the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, they would likely go to the big game at season's end. It was going to be a re-match of their 9-6 overtime game not long ago between those same LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Mark it. They're the two best teams in the country and nobody would be able to prevent a re-match. Then Oklahoma State had to close the night last night by dominating in-state rival Oklahoma, the 10th-ranked team in the country, 44-10 and it wasn't even that close. So, now what? With Virginia Tech losing to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and Stanford not playing in the Pac-12 Championship, one would have to think that Oklahoma State will likely jump to 3rd, at worst, in the human polls. Since they defeated #10 Oklahoma, chances are the Cowboys will move up to 2nd in the computer polls. In other words, it's going to be close. BCS guru, Brad...

Even before their big #1 vs. #2 showdown on Saturday night, there was already chatter about if the game were close, if the two teams should meet again in the National Championship Game. Of course, it's way too early to make such predictions. Either or both of the teams could lose from here on out. Unfortunately, the game was very tightly knit throughout with LSU eventually winning 9-6 in overtime. Yes, it was the game of the century indeed. Not... Now, if LSU had won by 3 points at home and the two teams went the rest of the way not losing a game, I could understand a possible rematch between the two clubs, so long as there wasn't another unbeaten outside of LSU. HOWEVER, the game was played in Tuscaloosa, where LSU was a 4-point underdog. Since LSU beat Alabama on their home turf, what really is the point of the two teams playing again, this time on a neutral field? This would do a disservice to the Tigers. What if Alabama won the game on a neutral field? The two teams would...