mrs. smith, can bobby come out and play for a national championship?

This rant comes at the suggestion of a former roommate of mine from Rotterdam. I agree with his stance on this issue and have decided to bring it to light. MO - I've got your back!

Its the time of year that I really like - the end of March is also the end of the regular season for the NHL. Its the time of year when the games take on different significance as teams become more desperate to make themselves eligible for the playoffs. *A classic case of people not performing when they should and now are panicking to get done what they should have done months earlier - win games.* Whatever the case, its a great time to watch hockey - too bad its not on TV since the NHL's commish screwed up and lost ESPN as a broadcaster (fuck us very much Gary Bettman...). However, if I were to be able to watch it on the tele, I would be presenting the same argument - even though my team is on the cusp of NOT making the playoffs.

Right now in the NHL there are 30 teams in two conferences (properly called the Campbell Conference and Prince of Wales Conference, but those names were stripped by the magnificent shithead known as Gary Bettman for easier names like Eastern and Western). In any case, there are 15 teams in each conference and of those 15 teams, 8 make it to the playoffs. In case you didn't do the math - that's over 50%.

That's right, the chance to play for the Stanley Cup - the championship of the league, is contended by over half of the people who play in the league. Wait - isn't a championship tournament supposed to bring the best teams together to vie for the ultimate prize? If that's the case, why is it that 53% of teams in the NHL make the playoffs? Oh yeah, I forgot - more revenue for the owners...

Don't be fooled, expanding the playoffs to 16 teams was done on purpose and that reason isn't going to change anytime soon. The owners realize that the more games their team plays, the more money they get. Believe it or not, there used to be a time when there were only 6 teams IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE!!! And of those 6, only the top 2 regular season performers squared off for the Cup.

Its not exclusive to just hockey though, there are plenty of other money-hungry whores out there dying to get their hand on your money. Oh no, there is far worse than the NHL out there - at least the players in the NHL have a chance to earn some of the proceeds. The worst part is the NCAA and its plethora of bowls.

Last year there were a total of 118 Division I (now called NBS as to not confuse it with the D1 AA schools which will now be the NCS) that put a team into the NCAA football game. *Football is an expensive sport to run and as a result, not every school out there that is of the proper size can afford to run a program. Basketball is much cheaper and therefore more school participate in it.* Of those 118 schools that had a football team last year, 64 of them made it to a bowl game.

64!!!!

That's a greater percentage than the NHL puts into its playoffs. And the kicker is - only one bowl game decides the championship! The rest of the bowl games are just a way for schools to make more money on the athletes that play at those schools, many of them play for free. (I can hear people saying that they do get money in the form of scholarships and illegal contributions, but the majority of players aren't on scholarship and aren't getting money from scouts or shoe companies)

So why is it that this is happening? The NFL and MLB only take the top 4 in each conference (league for baseball), what's wrong with that model? Why is it that everyone thinks that they DESERVE to play in "the big game"? Why do people get mad when their school is "left out" of a bowl game when the team was barely won more than it lost? Does every Tom, Dick, and Harriett need to go play for a championship?

NO. Not everyone is a winner - deal with it. You're team had a lackluster season and should just go home and think about what you can do to make it better for next season. And this is coming from a person who went to a university that had its first bowl game since 1968 this year (and we lost that game just like the Tangerine Bowl of '68). I loved the fact that Ohio University made it to a bowl game - it made me proud to be a Bobcat but the simple truth is that the team lost in the MAC championship game and was only 2nd best in the conference. Simply put, they weren't the best and why should they have been rewarded with an additional game for not being the best?

Easy - money. Companies make fortunes off these games and Americans go farther into debt trying to do whatever they can to be a part of another Americans life. They want EVERYONE to feel special, EVERYONE to feel like a champion; ya know what? Get over it and go home! Stop paying so much money for all this crap and get a handle on your life. Spend the holidays with your college son/daughter rather than flying to Orlando to watch a team that plays for the school that you went to 22 years ago. Save some money on the fan gear and invest the time you would spend going the game with your family. Stop feeding the machine that is hyper-consumerism.

Alas, this rant has gone on long enough. Just thinking out loud...

consumerism takes a break

I was logging on to my MSN Money account today when I came across an article that I really enjoyed reading. I plan on sending it to my friends that live in the States and see what their reaction is (click on 'consumerism takes a break' above for full story).

What I read really gave me hope - and I'm not being sarcastic. It gave me hope that someday the great treadmill of American consumerism would start to slow down and the country, as a whole, would start being a bit more fiscally responsible and not so far in debt. The author, Liz Pulliam Weston, put forth a challenge to her readers - only buy the necessities for a month and see what happens. In other words, stop buying the crap you don't need and just purchase those things you do to survive. No Starbucks frappachino, no extra pair of blue jeans that make you butt look good, no travel books to Machu Pichu that you want to go to - just the basics. What she and her readers found is refreshing to hear and there are some unexpected results.

The obvious bit about saving money is good. While some people did 'fall off the wagon' and make the occasional purchase they didn't need, the majority stayed the course and followed through with the experiment's design. Most found that they saved $400-$500 per month. That's an extra $6000 a year! One teacher managed to save $800 in the month of bare minimum spending - not too shabby at all. So from a financial perspective, it was a success.

But there was more to it than that. As people followed through with the experiment, they found there were additional side effects. In an attempt to save money, people started taking their lunch to work and lost weight through eating healthy. When they got bored, they didn't go to the mall to see what was on sale, they went for a walk in the park and gained in fitness. Instead of meeting for dinner and/or drinks at the TGIF's down the street, they went over to each other's place and spent time enriching themselves in the tranquility of a home.

How amazing! People who spend less can have the following habits - healthier lifestyle, greater depth of personal relationships, and a stronger sense of well-being from a lack of financial hardship. No longer do you have to worry about the idea of whether or not you can actually pay off your monthly bills. By doing things in moderation (like spending and eating crap food), you can achieve so much of what you are looking for without looking so hard.

So America - take heed. You may have the strongest and largest economy in the world but at what cost? Try putting the credit cards away and stop giving yourself everything you want, only meet your needs. Don't be so spoiled that you think you MUST have everything you desire; get away from the idea of keeping up with the Joneses. What you might find if you do just might be what you're looking for instead...