Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Voters Reject Democrats

Beshear's dream of switching the senate by appointing Republicans popped tonight. Republican Jimmy Higdon beat Democrat Jodie Haydon with 56% percent of the vote. The solid victory occurred despite Higdon being outspent almost 3 to 1. Two components led to the Republican win tonight.

The first element was the strategic decision to tie Haydon to the national Democratic party. The national party's strong tilt to the left has been a monkey on state Democrats for some time and continued tonight. Secondly, Higdon was a state representative. He already had an experienced team at GOTV. He was able to use it to do well enough in his district to help sway the election results. This is the same thing that allowed Sen Webb to win the last special election.

In addition to the senate race, Republicans picked up the 96th District house seat in Eastern Kentucky. It was to fill the spot vacated by newly elected Senator Webb. Republican Jill York trounced Democrat Barry Web with over 60% of the vote.

The results tonight will dash any hopes Beshear had for flipping the senate next year. The chance of that occurring now is close to zero. It also means the Kentucky constitution will not be violated by slots legislation. Expanded gambling will only occur with the passage of a constitutional amendment.

The Republican win should also send shudders down the spines of Mongiardo and Conway's teams. The effectiveness of Higdon's strategy of tying Haydon to the national party despite being outspent 3 to 1 is eye opening. It also provides a preview of what we are likely to see next fall. A fact that will prove very difficult for either Democratic candidate to win next year's general election. The tide has turned. The only question remaining is how big will the Republican wave be next year?

Posted by brians at 9:44 PM in Kentucky Politics

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Annual Anti-BCS Rant

Part of my yearly sports therapy is to use my blog as an avenue to rant against the stupidity of the current BCS system. This year was a nightmare for BCS supporters. Having 5 undefeated teams makes the title game a bit of a farce. How can you have a championship where deserving teams are left out of the mix? Especially when their only sin is not being ranked high enough at the beginning of the year. Or not having a blue blood name like Texas. It puts a lie to the argument "every week is a playoff". If so, then who eliminated Cincy, TCU, and Boise State?

The answer is so obvious it is frustrating. We need a 16 team playoff. With 16 spots every conference champion can get an automatic bid meaning every team starts the year with a chance to win the title. The remaining five at large births can be determined by the current BCS system. Like the other football divisions, the higher seeded team plays at home until the championship game which is played at a neutral site. Here would be this year's pairings.

16 Troy @ 1 Alabama
9 Georgia Tech @ 8 Ohio St
13 Penn St @ 4 TCU
12 VT @ 5 Florida
15 ECU @ 2 Texas
10 Iowa @ 7 Oregon
14 C Michigan @ 3 Cincy
11 LSU @ 6 Boise St

How cool would that tournament be? But won't that take away the excitement of the regular season? No for two reasons. First winning your conference is priority number one. Conference games are huge because winning guarantees you a spot in the playoffs. Secondly, it will encourage teams to schedule better out of conference in order to prepare for conference play. There will be no drop off in excitement. Every conference game is just as important as every game today.

But we will miss the drama from last weekend where Texas, UF, and Alabama were playing for a spot in the title game. Will we? Pitt and Nebraska would have been playing for spots in the playoffs while Texas, Cincy, UF, and Alabama would be playing for seeding. The UF / Alabama game would have still been big because it guaranteed home field throughout the playoffs. Plus it matters who the first round opponent would have been. There is a big difference between playing Troy and Virginia Tech.

Besides, the amount of buzz around the sixteen team playoff would be enormous. Many times greater than the buzz around the Alabama / Texas two team playoff. But instead of letting the players decide it on the field like every other college sport, the BCS is going to spoon feed us crap so they can continue to make their money. It is a joke.

Want to know the reason Texas got the miracle second back on the clock unlike say FSU versus Miami? Because the BCS didn't want TCU playing in the title game. How embarrassing would it be if TCU had won it? I also like how the Fiesta Bowl is taking one for the team. Pair the two non-BCS schools together so they can't suffer the humiliation they received last year when Utah punked Alabama.

But what teams being rewarded with a bowl game for a good season? You could still have bowl games. They would still be as meaningful as they are under the current system. Heck you could even invite the first round playoff losers to bowl games.

But instead of a playoff and bowl games we are treated to the BCS. An institution that is nothing less than a cartel used to keep money in the hands of the haves and out of the hands of the have nots.

The BCS is a cartel in the truest sense of the word. If Exxon Mobil and Chevron did in the oil industry what the BCS has done in college football, they would be prosecuted for violating antitrust laws.
Need proof of the cartel? Well, look at TCU (non-BCS conference) vs. Baylor (BCS conference). Here’s the tale of the tape from 2005 to 2008:
Baylor is earning more than $1.5 million a year from bowls it never plays in, while TCU — which during this time period beat teams such as Oklahoma, Texas Tech and even Baylor, twice — received just a third of that.

I am rarely for government involvement in our day to day lives, but these are public institutions getting public dollars. Maybe government should step in and at least break up the cartel. This would be more useful (and better for my health) than taking over the health care system. The whole thing pisses me off! Ok, rant over. Return to your regularly scheduled programming.