The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

It's time we finally admit it - the United States of America is not a democracy. Sure, we may often like to brag about how we're the freest country in the world, that it's our duty to help spread our democratic principles to other parts of the globe, and even that we're the greatest country in recorded history. Unfortunately, our actions don't validate these words. A democracy is a "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." Yet we continue to make it more difficult for certain demographics to vote on election day, we refuse to acknowledge the day as a national holiday (or at least hold it during the weekend), and at the end of the day, it's not a guarantee that the candidate with the most votes will be rewarded the presidency. Let's take this past election as a prime example. In this country, there ...

Every New Year's Day since I was about 7- or 8-years old, my father and I would sit down, veg out, and watch football. Through the years, especially since the inception of the BCS, while the quantity of bowl games has increased, the number of New Year's Day games has decreased, and with these changes, the excitement for that day has decreased as well. Perhaps it also has to do with a drastic increase of televised games during the course of the regular season. Twenty years ago, there weren't games being played all day every Saturday on ESPN 2, ESPNU, Fox Sports, Vs., Gameplan, etc. In any case, while there's still some excitement in seeing the Rose Bowl and other such games on New Year's Day, it's definitely not at the level it was, and due to this, I'm especially glad there will be a change coming next year. While I've always been a playoff proponent for college football, I don't think it could come at a better time. It's time for something new i...