“We need to decide — what product comes across the border.” Two of the biggest cartoons in Congress flash their… philosophy for CNN:
Roma, Texas (CNN) — Michele Bachmann leapt out of a black SUV near a high cliff overlooking the Rio Grande, dashed to the edge of a boulder and scanned the river that divides her country from another.
It was a quiet Friday afternoon in this border town where immigrants routinely sneak across the river in inflatable rafts, climb a ravine and seek shelter in a local church. But at this moment, there was little more to see on the Mexican side than some fishermen casting rods and a few horses snacking near the river.
Today it’s dead,” said Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, sounding disappointed.
She blamed the stillness on the presence of a hand-held CNN camera.
“I think it’s quiet because the cameras are here. Because more than anything, the criminal cartel worries about and fears the wrath of the American people,” Bachmann said. “They’re crooks, they’re villains, but they’re businessmen. And that’s why they fear the CNN cameras.”
She was joined by her friend, Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, on a boulder above the river. The duo represent a coalition of House lawmakers who are staunchly opposed to any legislative action on immigration that would offer lawful status to immigrants living in the United States illegally. While they don’t hold much official sway in Washington—neither chair a congressional committee and Bachmann plans to exit Congress in January—they do play an outsized role in amplifying conservative messaging.
They are prolific fundraisers and enjoy widespread support among the GOP’s tea party base…
When asked about critics who argue a border-length fence would be costly and nearly impossible to build in entirety, King compared it to the Great Wall of China, a project intended to keep out invading armies that cost the lives of thousands of Chinese workers to build.
“There were plenty of Chinese left over,” King said….
Yeah, it would be funnier if King didn’t already have the potential 2016 GOP candidates lining up to kiss his… ‘kingmaker’ ring. And Citizens United paying for the feast.
***********
Apart from cheap antics, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Emma
@efgoldman: Agreed. I used to think the were ignorant or stupid. Now I know they are evil, in the biblical sense.
PsiFighter37
Watching Netflix episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I forgot how wickedly funny this show is.
Iowa Old Lady
Question: Do you (or did you) leave anything other than milk and cookies for Santa? My family left him a beer, and my husband and DIL think that’s howlingly funny. It never occurred to me that it was odd.
divF
Steve and Michelle should have known that all the undocumented workers had crossed the river before midnight to make it to their Black Friday jobs.
TR
I’m impressed these two are even able to dress themselves.
sparrow
@Iowa Old Lady: That is pretty funny. I think we did milk and cookies a few times, but it was because I (the older child) fully planned to come down at midnight and eat them myself.
trollhattan
Michele, Cantaloupe-Calfs Bachmann, refreshed and ready for another
run for the borderpresident!How many gazillion would that Likudnik wall cost to run the entire border? Probably exceed the F-35 program.
Build a 12-foot wall and somebody builds a 13-foot ladder.
NotMax
A word whose meaning as generally used has somewhat, um, migrated over the years applies in its classic sense.
They’re boobs.
Iowa Old Lady
@sparrow: Santa always drank it.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@PsiFighter37: I made it about four episodes into that show. I found it phenomenally boring. Every single character was irritating and not in a funny way.
Hungry Joe
Agenda tonight? And you don’t want to hear about cheap antics? Then I guess I’ve got nothing to contribute.
Stan of the Sawgrass
I wonder if anyone ever told Steve King and the Batch that the Great Wall was built with slave labor, and didn’t even work– the barbs still got over while the guards were someplace else.
(anybody that knows more about this, please chime in and correct me.)
jeffreyw
Turkey pot pie and I don’t care.
Stan of the Sawgrass
Oh, and PS– no, you can’t see it from space.
(trollhattan said it: you can always build a ladder big enough to scale the fence…. or just dig a tunnel under it. Just like the Berlin Wall.)
Schlemazel
@Emma:
Don’t know about him but ‘ol Batshit is not stupid. She is crazy. This is the opposite of Arizona Barbie (lets be honest they got the hell out of Wasila as soon as they had money) who is not crazy but is very very stupid.
beer time somewhere
Last year did some helicopter work along the Ont/Minn border. Didn’t see Bachmann making sure I didn’t sneak across the border to the good ole USA.
Oh, wait. I’m white.
Idiot.
lamh36
video made my afternoon.
love it… President Obama and Malia laugh at Chuck Todd’s book
https://twitter.com/only4rm/status/538812663225384961
Mike J
@jeffreyw: I’m doing turkey enchiladas. They taste less like a turkey dinner than pot pie, but I’ll probably do that tomorrow.
Princess
There is also the fact that the Great Wall of China ended up being entirely ineffective.
dance around in your bones
I’ll bet Michele was bummed that no feelthy Messican tried to cross the Rio Grande while she was watching – why, she woulda pulled out her shotgun, drawn a bead on that mofo and missed him by a mile, only to watch in dismay as he got up and ran across the border anyway. Or, wait! Maybe she coulda got him from a helicopter!
‘Course, she’d of had to make sure the CNN cameras were rolling.
Iowa Old Lady
@efgoldman: Santa was very polite.
When my kid was little, we didn’t leave anything. What was I thinking?
gogol's wife
@jeffreyw:
oh man that looks good
Hildebrand
The Border Patrol was thick on the air and ground because those god-damned yahoos were strutting around and pretending to be here for reasons other than to get their stupid faces on the bloody television. Useless cretins.
gogol's wife
@lamh36:
She said exactly what I said!
Iowa Old Lady
@lamh36: I love how self-possessed the Obamas are. No wonder the beltway resents them.
Ruckus
@Princess:
I’m not sure they would care.
No wait, yes I am. They wouldn’t.
Because they could never think something should work, or not, only that their outrage should be soothed. For 5 min. Then they can move on the next whatever to be outraged against. As someone once pointed out, they can fund raise with outrage, there’s little to no fundraising about doing the right thing, especially if they may have to actually follow thru and do the right thing.
lamh36
PsiFighter37
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): It truly is Seinfeld on crack. I think it also helps that I went to college in Philly, so I can completely see some of the insanity in the show actually happening.
debbie
@lamh36:
Hope this is playing as he leaves the room:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GugzLSbOQE
Ruckus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
I tried to watch it when it first came out and lost interest immediately. I gave it a second shot and realized I was right the first time.
ljt
De-lurking to share this link my daughter posted, from a young white woman trying to deal with Ferguson. It’s a long read, but well worth it.
Stan of the Sawgrass
Steve and Michelle, protecting American jobs— picking tomatoes at slave-labor wages, and hanging around the Home Depot lot hoping to make $20 for day labor. Can’t wait to see King at a photo op with a crowd of real murrkins fighting over THOSE jobs.
Hildebrand
@lamh36: I love it. That should be put on a loop at the beginning of Meet the Press, replacing the theme music.
WereBear
All these years… and I’m still kind of stunned when one of them opens their mouth and shares their actual thoughts
dance around in your bones
On the Santa snack issue, we always left a glass of milk and a couple of cookies. Santa drank about half the glass of milk and left one cookie with a big human bite taken out of it (calms fears that ‘the dog ate it! ) and left a little thank you note, which suspiciously looked like Mom’s handwriting, just like all the tags on the presents :)
But kids WANT to believe in Santa long after he’s become credible – so, what they heck. You’re only a kid once.
eta: “lost all credibility”
NobodySpecial
@lamh36: Dunno why he’d quit, he made over $400k this year on the job. Maybe a TV deal.
ljt
@ljt: @ljt:
Link didn’t post..trying again. If it doesn’t work, the blog is called ‘iambeggingmymothernottoreadthisblog’
Ruckus
@debbie:
Nice way of saying don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.
ljt
There’s a reason I only lurk–failing miserably at trying to comment. One more try on the link:
http://iambeggingmymothernottoreadthisblog.com/2014/11/27/race-ya/
mai naem mobile
@NotMax: don’t be offensive to boobs.Boobs genuinely serve a good purpose.
Stan of the Sawgrass
@lamh36: I’m sure he’s pondering his future– should he be a guest on talk radio (too hot for Fox, except maybe Hannity), or just lay low for a couple of months and take another police job in another state? His past isn’t likely to limit his law-enforcement employability.
debbie
@Ruckus:
Yes, to him and to his clear conscience.
Ruckus
@WereBear:
Really? After all the evidence that they are pure evil? Satan’s spawn, if you believe in that sort of thing?
FlipYrWhig
@dance around in your bones: We had Christmas, with a tree, and presents that were surprises, but didn’t have Santa Claus. My parents are basically militant rationalists. Once I asked why we didn’t have a star on top of the tree and my mom scoffed and said, “That’ll be the day.” Never had realized that it was supposed to be religiously significant.
mellowjohn
@Iowa Old Lady:
a beer for santa and carrots for the reindeer.
Russ
Actors, in a political play that generates plenty of dollars for the actors to pocket. Don’t help solve the problem because the money is made inciting hate towards the immagrants seeking a better life just like those two seeking a better life from the money they get from promoting the distrust and disdain for those people who are not like me. I am an alected official and hold sway………..
dance around in your bones
@FlipYrWhig: The Star of Bethlehem!
I like that, though – all the trappings without the dogma…..we got all the dogma but as Episcopalians, so it hardly counted ;)
Ruckus
@debbie:
Conscience?
You really think he has one?
If he does it seems rather unused, possibly brand new, very, very low mileage as in maybe driven around the block once, or possibly never even unwrapped…..
Luther Siler
I’ve spent the entire weekend trying to figure out how to market independently published books. There’s clearly a reason marketing is a major, because this is really difficult.
That said, if you’re a science fiction fan, my stuff’s on sale: http://infinitefreetime.com/2014/11/26/luther-siler-thanksgiving-weekend-sale-live/
Mike E
@FlipYrWhig: We celebrated Blue Xmas for a couple of goes, complete with Elvis ornaments (he was on the star too) and kept the tree up until his birthday in January. Fun.
FlipYrWhig
@dance around in your bones: I once asked an English Episcopalian at what point the church started thinking of itself as tolerant and big-tent-ish. He said “Right about 1559.”
FlipYrWhig
@Mike E: Nice!
Mnemosyne
Bought a little yarn on Small Business Saturday and now have to decide what to knit for my niece, nephew, and mom. Niece (almost 15) and nephew (just turned 12) both want hats; my mom wants nothing, but she’s getting handwarmers anyway. So there.
satby
@ljt: Thanks for the link.
debbie
@Ruckus:
I don’t think so, but he does and he says it’s clear.
Tree With Water
I live in a Sonoma county, Ca., once the northern border of Spanish California. As a native Californian I find such behavior offensive in the extreme. The intent of two midwest birdbrains is to spread the gospel of hate- period, over and out. I’ll believe the democratic party is on a rebound the day its officials begin speaking in similar terms. Lord knows come January there will be plenty of opportunity for them to do just that.
And what is it with midwest? Its like the region is in a footrace with the south to reach the bottom of this nation’s barrel.
fidelio
Today when we got back from buying groceries, my housemate found a stray shihtzu in our neighborhood, trailing his leash. Luckily, he had a collar and tags, and we were able to get him back the the elderly woman he’d make a break from.
That current, numbered rabies tag kept a cute pup out of the pound & saved a lot of tears.
shelley
When I was a tot, it was the milk and cookies and a carrot for the reindeer.
If I had a little one in the house now, I’d add a little snifter of brandy for the Old Elf. He’s flouting the space=time continuum to deliver all those toys in just one night; so he could use an eye-opener.
Skerry
Having recently seen a portion of the fence, it is several hundred yards inside the border on private land with occasional gaps so the landowners/farmers can access all their property. Useless.
ETA: my kids always left carrots for reindeer in addition to milk and cookies.
jo6pac
@divF: LOL and true sadly enough.
dance around in your bones
@FlipYrWhig: Sounds about right :) Totally mellow church, no angry nuns with rulers, (as far as I know) no pedo priests (or at least not the concerted attempt to keep it quiet, priests in the church weren’t looked upon a demi-gods, just guys who, BTW, got married and had kids if they wanted to…..were even known to grow a beard and pick up a guitar and play!
smintheus
Darren Wilson explains why he is quitting:
Not counting the 18 year old he shot full of lead.
Mike J
@Mike E: I grew up in Memphis. Death day was a bigger deal than birthday. I remember when the station was doing remotes from Graceland the engineer had to drive the van back to the station because all the jocks were too trashed and piled in the back.
Ruckus
@debbie:
Babies have clear consciences, it’s possible that some adults do, but someone who has murdered an unarmed person and says they do is either lying or has no idea what a conscience is.
SiubhanDuinne
@FlipYrWhig:
Heh.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@ljt: Thanks for your persistence. It’s a good essay – thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mike in NC
@smintheus: Wilson will land on both feet, possibly as a regular substitute for Hannity on FOX.
debbie
@Mike in NC:
No, I think it’s more likely he’ll go the way of George Zimmerman.
gogol's wife
@ljt:
Thanks, I’ll read it later — looks interesting.
raven
@efgoldman: You can hear and alternative broadcast:
The Fat Kate Middleton
@ljt: That was … wonderful.
gocart mozart
Daily Kos has a good take on King. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/29/1347437/-Rep-Steve-King-border-fence-designer
gelfling545
@efgoldman: I’d say clowns because while they should be funny you know, at bottom, that they’re just plain creepy.
prufrock
@raven:
That’s what’s showing at Hell’s Sports Bar. No thanks.
ruemara
Did anyone else just plain old not believe in Santa as a kid? I’m not saying I was a born skeptic, but it just seemed the empirics were off. I never got anything I wanted, which meant that if Santa existed, he wasn’t very good at his job; he was also an adult and they are notoriously unreliable, ineffective and lacking in most ways. I may have once left milk & cookies at the behest of my mother, but, I knew she was eating the cookies. The adults around me always said I was way too cynical for an 8 year old. I never said it because sass had consequences, but, just once I did: Why wouldn’t I be cynical? I haven’t seen anything to make me not cynical.
Re: Wilson. We knew he wasn’t going to head back to the force. He’s gotten his bounty. I hope it destroys him.
gocart mozart
chopper
Just once can’t the boulder give way when we want it to?
Hal
She was joined by her friend, Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, on a boulder above the river.
chopper
@gocart mozart:
Complete with dusky Lego messicans. I’m sure there were plenty left over.
Schlemazel
@Luther Siler:
There are a bunch or writers on this blog, you should all get together & see if you can come up with a common effort.
NotMax
Is there any difference anymore between Food Network and Game Show Network?
SiubhanDuinne
@ruemara:
I was lucky enough to learn to read at a very young age, and by the time I was three years old I had figured out that Santa and my mother had identical handwriting. It was pleasant to acknowledge Santa as a cultural icon, kind of like God, but none of it had much to do with my own beliefs.
lamh36
Wow, have yall seen Jake Gyllenhaal’s new body in his new film? Not a mega JG fan, wow I didn’t recognize him.
He was pretty ripped in Jarhead, but wowza, he’s even bigger here!
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/538869226635661312
raven
@NotMax: I’m on Offbeat Eats on the Cooking Channel!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Schlemazel: I don’t know. I think Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods is both stupid and crazy. And mean.
Mnemosyne
Okay, that was weird. For some reason, Charlotte decided to attack Keaton, and I mean a pretty serious, screaming attack. I now have everyone divided up into separate rooms until they calm down.
jl
So, was King’s comment just a reflection of his knee jerk racism, relevant to nothing in particular regarding the border wall, or was it a slam on unions, worker safety and uppity attitude of ordinary people not wanting to get killed working at their jobs.
I don’t think I can figure it out.
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t remember when I figured it out, but I remember being disappointed. So when I had my own kids, we taught them that Santa had been a historical person , St. Nicholas, and that we celebrated his spirit of giving at Christmas with characters dressed like Santa. Convoluted, but it saved me lots of discussions around “how could Santa be here when he was over at that other store a minute ago” when they got older. Kept the focus on giving a slight bit more, too.
pseudonymous in nc
@Princess:
Yep.
I mean, have these people actually been to the bits of the border that aren’t a river? The bits that are mountain ranges and deserts and canyons? Of course not. If you haven’t seen Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the southern border, it’s worth watching: smartest bit of television made about it in the past decade.
(Also, small matter of sovereign rights to indigenous people that extend across both northern and southern borders.)
satby
And since we’re talking about Santa, I need suggestions from parents of boy teens, 15-17, for the Santa giving tree at my local grocery store. They have a ton of needy teenagers this year, and the last time I had boys that age was 14 years ago. No idea what they like now.
pseudonymous in nc
@lamh36:
FTFY, wire services.
NotMax
@pseudonymous in nc
Need it be pointed out that to Bachmann, King and their ilk, they may be indigenous but they’re not really people?
p.a.
@efgoldman: Who has it? CBS has SEC but all I see are crappy Xmas cartoons. O-O State is already a rout, and the clashing colors are making me queasy. Thank FSM they’re not playing on the blue Boise St field.
Mike E
The Menagerie, original Star Trek, is playing on MeTV.
Raven
@p.a.: Espn
NotMax
@Mike E
Crude but true observation is that many folks describe the Talosians as buttheads.
Mnemosyne
@satby:
I do not have teenagers, boy or girl, but my first instinct is Best Buy or Target gift cards so they can buy music and/or video games.
beth
@satby: That’s a really tough age. I always do gift cards, mostly for local movie theatres or fast food.
satby
@Mnemosyne: yeah, I did do that a lot with my own kids, they do like to pick out their own stuff.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Or Amazon gift card.
(Plus underwear and socks. Some traditions, however sappy, ought be kept alive.)
Patricia Kayden
“There were plenty of Chinese left over.” Wow. Speechless.
p.a.
@Raven: Tks. Oh well, no cable. Wonder if they will show both parts of The Managerie?
pseudonymous in nc
@NotMax:
But of course, what kind of American is Tohono O’odham, sounds all kinds of foreign to Steve Racist King and Michele Fruitloop Bachmann.
Mike E
@NotMax: “He keeps blinking no…no to what?”
It’s amazing what they accomplished as a dramatic sci-fi program during the same era as I Dream Of Jeannie and Gilligan’s Island.
pseudonymous in nc
@p.a.:
Iron Bowl is ESPN; ABC is Ducks slaughtering Beavers.
NotMax
@Mike E
Spock hysterically shouting “The women!!!!!!” is a highlight.
Jerry
My Hulu Plus subscription is paying off in a giant way with all of the heretofore unseen Top Chef (and Master) seasons. This shit rules and my wife can’t keep me out of the kitchen now.
JPL
@satby: Local sports t-shirts are normally acceptable.
redshirt
I’m a sports fan, but have never ever got into college football. And it occurred to me today that it’s the only sport where sports radio talks less about the actual games, and more about the rankings/polls. It’s tedious and dumb. Get a real playoff system.
Steeplejack
@efgoldman:
I have spent way too much time trying to figure out a plausible car-wreck “accident” scenario involving him and Al Michaels. Maybe sharing a limo on the way to the ESPYs? Nah, don’t want to hurt the poor driver.
ETA: Musburger seems to do a lot of SEC games, so I
seehear him much too often.raven
@Steeplejack: That’s because he is with the SEC Network. This game is an “ESPN/SEC Network game.
Mike E
@NotMax: Ah, the original pilot with Majel Barrett as the X-O…Spock needed his Vulcan/human mix ironed out, like Sisko’s character getting sorted out at the start of DS9.
jenn
Holy crap. King’s outburst about the Great Wall… I am honestly speechless. WTH?!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
About Wilson, it’s pretty freaking hilarious reading people who are so DAMN sure they know what’s going Wilson’s mind. Meanwhile I was talking to a retired cop who thirty years after killing a suspect who attacked him with a knife is filled with self loathing, considers himself a murderer and this is after he was vindicated by an investigation, Who knows, maybe Wilson a pysco and could careless, or he could be haunted by the whole experience and is tormenting himself in ways no judicial punishment could. One thing for sure is anyone who claims to intuitively know what’s running threw Wilsons mind is a utter jackass and a fool.
Baud
I would support an impregnable wall around our border if we could get King and Bachmann on the other side of it.
Mike E
@efgoldman: The most successful bomb in syndication, ever ;-)
Cckids
@Iowa Old Lady: At my daughter’s insistence, we would leave strips of sweet red peppers for the reindeer & coffee in a thermos for Santa. Because the reindeer would be tired of carrots (apparently the choice of others) and caffeine would be welcomed by the big guy.
NotMax
@efgoldman
Bombed? Three seasons is pretty respectable.
The network shuffling the days and times it aired did not help. First season was at 8:30 on Thursdays. Solid young adult and kid audience.
Second season it was moved to Fridays at 8:30, which lost much of the young adult crowd (a coveted demographic), who went out for other entertainment at the beginning of the weekend.
Third season moved again to 10 on Fridays, which significantly cut into the kid audience (beddy bye time and all that).
CBS was the powerhouse network at the time. Trek fared respectably against their shows and, IIRC, consistently got higher ratings (as well as a more affluent audience share) than whatever was against them on ABC.
Mnemosyne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Judging by the interview on ABC that he did, the primary thing that seems to be going through Wilson’s mind right now is, Only say what the lawyers told me to say so I don’t go to jail.
How he’s going to feel once the publicity dies down and he’s left alone to think about his actions may be a different thing.
redshirt
@efgoldman: Yeah, I know. College football is a nothing burger in the very region with most of the world’s greatest colleges. Odd how that works.
I suppose if I went to Alabama or USC or Michigan I’d care, but nope.
Still, all the talk about polls and subjective rankings. It’s nuts!
redshirt
@efgoldman: It feels like such a dirty sport. The huge money, the bowls, the schools pretending to provide an education.
Compare it to college basketball – the difference is stark.
Emma
@lamh36: You have made my evening! That is a well-brought-up young lady.
Mike E
@p.a.: Part 2 will air next Sat.
MeTV is digitally b’cast over the air as ’50-2′ here, next to the Fox channel. The ‘LiveWell’ network is similarly run alongside the ABC channel; that’s being discontinued however, which sucks since they show the excellent Motion program…the host is hiking all of the nat’l parks/monuments, and I guess (hope) you could stream that show online after the cancellation.
raven
@redshirt: What a fucking crock of horseshit.
redshirt
@raven: What’s horseshit? The college football is the only sport that prominently features a massive level of discussion on subjective rankings and polls (all other sports settle it on the field/court/rink)? Or that it’s the dirtiest, most contemptible major American sport?
JPL
@jenn: Gotta admit, that King leaves me speechless all the time.
redshirt
@efgoldman: Discussion of college basketball focuses on the games and the tournament. College football is all about these mysterious “polls”. And sponsored bowls.
redshirt
Regardless, Pats v The Pack is such an awesome game, I’ve planned my whole week around it.
raven
@efgoldman: Shit, elitist east coast bullshit ain’t flyin dog.
JPL
@raven: I assume that you haven’t recovered yet from the earlier game. I listened on the radio while I was cleaning up the neighbors leafs that the wind gave me. I still have more tomorrow. Next year, I’m hiring help or chopping down the trees. I haven’t decided which is the best approach.
raven
@efgoldman: I ain’t talkin about you knucklehead.
raven
@JPL: It was total stupidity by Richt. Exciting game that Tech deserved to win but we wrapped it in a bow and gave it to them. I headed right to the beach and about 20 minutes before sunset something hit me and, after a really good fight, broke my line. That’s the second one since we’ve been here. One more full day and back home Monday.
PurpleGirl
@NotMax: Not to mention that it was an expensive show to make. And NBC wanted another Lost in Space, not the intellectual Cowboys in Space that Roddenberry wanted to make. Watched the original show, was involved with the first conventions in NYC. Somehow managed to over-rule my father on using the TV and sent him to the basement to watch his preferences on the other TV down there.
raven
@efgoldman: Well then, screw all ya’ll. “College football is a nothing burger in the very region with most of the world’s greatest colleges”
raven
@efgoldman: And if you want to talk about geography and football the NFL is much bigger in the “the very region with most of the world’s greatest colleges”. So what does that prove? Nuthin, that’s what.
redshirt
@raven: I don’t think anyone really cares about Harvard v Yale.
As for the comparison of college football and basketball, I ask sincerely: How many college basketball champions have later had to give up their championship because they fell foul of the NCAA? How many programs get “the death penalty”. Is there anything like the Penn State scandal in basketball?
redshirt
@raven: You seem upset with that one line – “region with most of the world’s greatest colleges”. You disagree? ‘bama has a better academic reputation than I’m familiar with? Besides Duke and Rice, what college in the South (the beating heart of college football fandom) compares with Harvard or Yale?
opiejeanne
Watching the Apple Cup (or whatever it’s called), waiting for the Cougars to roll the Huskies for a change.
raven
@redshirt: Yea, Michigan is in the south isn’t? Who you tryin to bullshit?
eta And I’m not upset I just think it’s a load of crap.
raven
@redshirt: If you have to ask that you clearly don’t know what you are talking about.
raven
The 1978–79 Boston College basketball point shaving scandal involved a scheme in which underworld figures recruited and bribed some Boston College basketball players to ensure the team would not win by the required margin (not cover the point spread), allowing the gamblers in the know to place wagers against that team and win.
eta
Famous examples of this are the Dixie Classic scandal of 1961, the CCNY Point Shaving Scandal in 1950–51 and the Boston College basketball point shaving scandal of 1978-79
redshirt
@raven: Give an example.
And yes, the Midwest loves their college football too. As does most of America, except, strangely, the Northeast, home of most of the best universities.
raven
@redshirt: Strangely they are more into the scandal ridden NFL. So what?
redshirt
@raven: Because the NFL is a real sport, unlike the subjective world of college football.
opiejeanne
@redshirt: Most of the best universities.
California has a bone to pick with you.
redshirt
@opiejeanne: @raven: “Most”. There are certainly some world class Uni’s in California, but only a few.
redshirt
@raven:
Did anyone win and then somehow “lose” a national championship?
The very idea is ludicrous. Oh yes, USC won the national championship, but then a few years later they lost it. Absurd.
JCT
@raven: You forgot Arizona’s illustrious Sun Devils! Booooo!
http://articles.latimes.com/1997/dec/06/sports/sp-61336
redshirt
@efgoldman: That’s a good example. Thanks.
redshirt
Just be happy Raven I’m not shitting up the actual college football thread. On purpose.
Jay C
@jl:
It’s Steve Fucking King – how about going for “all of the above” ???
Yatsuno
@opiejeanne:
You are much more optimistic than I am. My only hope is that it’s in Pullman this year and right now it is colder than the backside of Pluto there right now.
Xenos
@redshirt: we snooty New Englanders like college football, but are not into the game as played by all those tacky colleges out in the wasteland extending south and west of Philadelphia.
(My snooty French phone refuses to believe such a déclassé city exists, and keeps autocorrecting to “phyla delphiniums”, which is not good Latin. Oh tempora! )
Mnemosyne
@redshirt:
You might be surprised at how inconsequential most of those East Coast universities are here on the other coast. If it’s not Harvard or Yale, no one really cares.
MIT? Is that like Caltech?
AnotherBruce
@raven: Thanks for the info, and fuck the SEC.
redshirt
@Mnemosyne: MIT is powerful beyond belief.
AnotherBruce
@raven: Good for the Big Ten, who have been a lot smarter than the ESPN jackasses. Good for Delany, who told them exactly where they could shove their network.
grandpa john
@Mnemosyne: the primary thing that seems to be going through Wilson’s mind right now is, Only say what the lawyers told me to say
I don’t think he has to worry about jail unless it comes from the feds
grandpa john
@redshirt: Evidently some of us still believe that colleges primary purpose is learning.
grandpa john
@redshirt: And what would the NFL be like without having college foot ball as a free minor league?