Give me a smack and I'll smack you back.

Basketball fans. My platform for smackdaliation just grew immeasurable higher when the Louisville Cardinals failed to live up to their high billing and handle Michigan State. My bread is in the oven and I am about to be toast. I am comfortably tied for 14th place and have a grand total of zero more points available. And I am not even good at losing. I'm the second highest ranking person with zero possible points left. Once again Piers is my better. But that is not what this post is about. I will wallow in self pity over on Twitter. With only 140 characters. I am here to set the record straight. Maggie Lou still wanted Pitt to win. She was disappointed with their loss, but when she heard that she was still highly ranked, she shrugged and did what any sensible person would do: she said the serentity prayer. Or at least she channelled it. Smiling with a this-is-not-what-I-wanted-but-I-guess things-might-turn-out-OK grin. And then when I told her that Louisville also lost, she looked up from the game she was playing with Franklin and said, "Oh well. I don't even like basketball anyway. Its so stupid. All you do is throw that ball through the hoop." She will think differently when she learns to type faster. On ad alma materum attacks. Please. Especially looking for the false equivalents (Georgia Tech's intramural champ vs. Lawrence's varsity). What about Georgia Tech's stoner frats? I am sure they could not hold a smoldering doobie to what LU could roll out. Or hot midwesterners with a nasal twang. Nothing. Regardless, it is pointless. Piers even goes after Chuck Stew for his crunchy college's lack of smackitude. What does one's college say about them? Not much. And certainly the athletes, er, student-athletes, don't represent the school. Even at some of the oldest and most famous universities in the country, the social and intellectual lines between the recruited athletes and the regular students is wide. And I know because Todd's roommate was one. The last point should carry over to academics too. Florida State is now getting fried for academic improprieties for their athlete-students, and I am sure that they are not any worse than the other schools in their conference and all that play at their level. (Spare me the Duke stories, Will. I smack my hands on your court.) A reliable source in Chapel Hill has informed me of the high level of intervention that comes from the athletic department for students in big time sports. And I am sure the SUC and the Big Least are as bad or worse. I realized during the election that what we hate about politics is what we hate about college sports. In politics, they pretend its about ideas but it's really about winning. In college sports, they pretend that they care about academics, but it's about winning. Principles go out the window when they help the ball go through the hoop. And those back benchers who keep complaining about the lack of smack: everyone likes talking about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Todd called some people onto the electronic carpet, and that is good. But this is a collective venture, and unless you put your hyperbole where your common sense used to be, we're no where. Having put in my 200 cents, let me add to Todd's roll call: Clarkson, where are you? Don't tell me you don't know how to blog. You at least know how to send email, and your responsible son explained how to do it via email here. Thomas, what about you. You respond "to all" via email at a drop of a hat. Consider my backward baseball cap dropped. Looking forward to hearing from you all.