You know what Grinds my Gears

I get two beefs this week so here goes....
1) SEC Fans - You know it was annoying and first as to the great and powerful SEC. Yes I know its a great conference and their best team oblerated the Big 10s best team. Yes the hangover from that deservedly has people questioning OSU's ranking. However the outpouring of OSU's soft schedule and that they would be a .500 SEC team and therefore undeserving? Really? What logical leap are we taking here? Its not like somehow Oklahoma or BC have had harder schedules. And for the SEC well, their current SEC East Champ (Tennessee) got destroyed by a middle the rung Pac 10 team (Cal). Does that mean Georgia or Florida would be near the bottom of the Pac 10? Probably not. It might mean that somehow all of SEC 3 loss teams are superior to every other school in the nation is truly ridiculous concept. It also means that OSU isn't any different from just about any other school vying for a national championship birth. If the Big 10 or ACC is so easy I invite any SEC team up North to Camp Randall or the Big House and see how it goes. At least the Pac 10 or ACC can man up for a non-conference road game.

2) Deus Ex Machina - For those that are unaware deus ex machina is a latin phrase (literally G-d out of the machine) that basically used as a shorthand for some device or person that solves the problem of the day. Often times its used an illogical plot twist to save the day (Batman's utlity belt). However its also used to connote that somehow actions are mechanically translated without human intervention. Case in point ESPN's hue and cry over A-Rod announcing his free agency. From Gammons to Olney to the copy boy, ESPN is touting that A-Rod by himself created this wave of publicity that has overshadowed the Red Sox Championship and thereby diminished game (in this case a deux ex machina explanation) . Its truly fascinating concept that requires any number of suspensions of disbelief. ESPN really has no control over its own content? Whatever A-Rod and Scott Boras do automatically must be front page news and therefore covered by all of its stellar columnist? The idea that somehow ESPN has no control over its own news cycle and that if A-Rod is in the news its his fault and only his fault? Somehow I have a hard time believing that news coverage is simply that mechanical, that other people, whether they are the editors/columnist harping this or other people who are more cared about the hot stove than the Red Sox championship. But then again that would require thinking which I suppose is well....human.

That is all .....for today....