I know it’s not an edifying subject, but Kay Hymowitz entertainingly dissects the cultural phenomenon that is Paris Hilton:

Now despite her fame and good fortune, for most sentient adults Hilton personifies the decadence of our cultural moment. With her nightclub brawls, her endless sexcapades, her vapid interviews, her rodentlike dog and her lack of ostensible talent, she reeks of every vice ever ascribed to our poor country. She has become a synonym for American materialism, bad manners, greed, “like” and “whatever” Valley Girl inarticulateness, parochialism, arrogance, promiscuity, antifeminism, exposed roots and navels, entitlement, cell-phone addiction, anorexia and bulimia, predilection for gas-guzzling private transportation, pornified womanhood, exhibitionism, narcissism — you name it.

The “rodentlike dog” in particular tickled my funny bone. But as Kay points out, it’s not about worship of her, but hatred. Deserved or not, she’s our Marie Antoinette.

OK, they’ve got the general region down, but they don’t seem to be able to differentiate between Michigan and Wisconsin, which is pretty weird. Just one more question (bubblers versus drinking fountains) would nail it down.

And for the record, I’m a “pop person.” Soda is a thing with ice cream.

So sayeth Zoidberg. Behold, Futurama, the movie.

[Via tdr]

It doesn’t follow the BCS rules, but assuming that USC beats UCLA next week, it makes the most sense. Have a playoff between the Trojans and the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl, and then let the winner play Ohio State on January 8th. Of course the Buckeyes would have an advantage in that they’d be rested for two months, but they’d also be rusty.

It doesn’t follow the BCS rules, but assuming that USC beats UCLA next week, it makes the most sense. Have a playoff between the Trojans and the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl, and then let the winner play Ohio State on January 8th. Of course the Buckeyes would have an advantage in that they’d be rested for two months, but they’d also be rusty.

It doesn’t follow the BCS rules, but assuming that USC beats UCLA next week, it makes the most sense. Have a playoff between the Trojans and the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl, and then let the winner play Ohio State on January 8th. Of course the Buckeyes would have an advantage in that they’d be rested for two months, but they’d also be rusty.

If number one beats number two by a field goal on number one’s home field, sounds like they’re ranked about right. We’ll see what the pollsters and computers say this afternoon.

Ohio State definitely looked like the better team, though, at least after the first quarter. Michigan’s first drive was impressive, but after that they seemed to sputter somewhat. I’d say that if these teams played ten games, Ohio State would win six or seven of them.

And I was pulling for a Cal victory last night, but it wasn’t to be. But if Notre Dame knocks off USC, what to do, what to do? It doesn’t make sense to rank the Irish ahead of Michigan, considering the pasting the Wolverines gave them in South Bend. Perhaps, though, just to be safe, USC should beat Notre Dame, and then let UCLA knock off the Trojans. That would leave Florida, I guess.

I know that a lot of people don’t want a rematch, but it looks like there’s a good possibility of that happening. Of course, then, if Michigan wins, people will be demanding another, and the best two out of three. Such is the silliness of trying to assign a national championship to college football teams. There simply aren’t enough games for it to be meaningful.

Pete Fiutak thinks that Saturday’s game should be dubbed the national championship:

Not only have Ohio State and Michigan had the two best teams all year, there isn’t anyone else deserving to be in the picture. In the storied history of college football’s greatest rivalry, and it is college football’s greatest rivalry, this will be the biggest game ever played between the two. That makes this, arguably, the biggest regular season game in the history of the sport. So let this weekend be it. Crown the winner the national champion, and let’s get the talk about the 2007 season going. USC, Florida or Arkansas as the preseason No. 1 … discuss.

That’s the way it looks to me. The national championship is mythical anyway, might as well do what makes sense. But of course, that wouldn’t generate all the revenue that they’re expecting in Glendale in January. And of course, it’s easily conceivable that the computers will decide to do a rematch, anyway.

…of rocket cars. From Iowahawk. I missed this when he posted it in April.

The good news–we won’t have to stay up late this weekend watching any more baseball games. Also, Patricia, being from St. Joseph originally, and still having a lot of family in eastern Missouri, including St. Louis suburbs, is happy.

And there’s not really that much bad news. No one at the beginning of the season expected the Tigers to even necessarily break .500, let alone get into the playoffs, and if you’d told anyone that they’d be in the series, they’d have thought you were nuts. But you don’t win a world series with eight errors, particularly when many of them come from the pitching staff. But, all things considered, there’s always next year for Motown…