Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Peak wingnut was a lie.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

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College Football Open Thread

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college football nation

Lots of great NCAA action on tap for today. I’ll be following the contests involving SEC teams closely. Many of the games could rightly be termed tune-ups, but there are some genuine upset threats on the schedule. For example, Alabama better not be looking past Wisconsin. I wouldn’t assume Notre Dame will beat Texas. And there would be much rejoicing as well as copious wailing and gnashing of teeth if the Hokies take down the Buckeyes on Monday.

Any predictions?

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  2. 2.

    divF

    Stanford fans are not going to like that map.

    ETA:
    “And there would be much rejoicing … if the Hokies take down the Buckeyes on Monday.”

    Anyone taking down the Buckeyes is disproportionately a cause for rejoicing among the other Big 10 schools.

  3. 3.

    TriassicSands

    Ah, the poor Buckeyes, they can’t get any respect. They beat — convincingly — three great teams last year to win the title, but for some reason people still want to hate the team from one of the most boring states in the country. I think the hatred was warranted when Woody Hayes was coach, but that was decades ago.

    It will be interesting to see who starts at QB.

  4. 4.

    divF

    @TriassicSands:

    I think the hatred was warranted when Woody Hayes was coach, but that was decades ago.

    True, but the alumni of the other schools from that era have long memories.

  11. 11.

    Botsplainer

    And look for Satan on Earth (aka Bobby Petrino) to eke out a mild upset over War Tired of Hearing It Eagles.

  12. 12.

    dp

    I predict my LSU Tigers will ultimately prevail over mighty McNeese State. Things start getting real next week when they go to #Clangaville.

    Betty, how do your Gators look?

  14. 14.

    srv

    Football is for wussies:

    A pillow fight between freshman cadets at the United States Military Academy took a violent turn when cadets swung pillowcases packed with hard objects at each other.

    Thirty cadets were injured, including 24 that suffered concussions, the New York Times reported.

  15. 15.

    Gex

    OT OT: Read in the Chicago paper that Rowan county licenses are going out sans signature and the judge said that couples are taking a chance on them.

    I know Omnes thought that wouldn’t be important.

    I do know I expect the kind of people who have challenged the voter registration of every voter with a Hispanic name in some counties will gleefully challenge these marriages. I wouldn’t risk all the financial and legal arrangements that marriage provides based on a hope that the judges in KY will find the licenses valid without the signature.

  16. 16.

    Big ole hound

    @srv: Our military’s future leaders already cheating. What a surprise. Thow then all out of West Point. Why should the taxpayers be on the hook for such crap. America’s finast? BULLSHIT

  18. 18.

    Steeplejack

    @Betty Cracker:

    Thanks for clearing up the murk a bit, Betty. I was just looking at the on-screen channel guide and pondering some of the oddball games coming up today, e.g., Norfolk State-Rutgers, Wofford-Clemson, Holy Cross-Monmouth, Wagner-Rice, Lincoln-Cheyney (?!). That last game, if someone quizzed me, I wouldn’t have been able to answer whether they are really colleges at all, much less where they are. Ditto Wagner, for that matter.

    Okay, in honor of Raven I just put on the Georgia game, but if it descends into a bloodbath too soon I’ll have to switch away. I don’t like these tune-up games very much. “But Slippery Rock gets a huge paycheck!” Yeah, whatever.

  20. 20.

    Cervantes

    You did say it is an open thread, right?

    Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders faced his own challenge at a political event last month, when two African American women pushed in front of him to use the microphone to demand four and a half minutes of silence to honor the death of Michael Brown. Sanders left the stage and mingled with the crowd. Later, Trump criticized Sanders as being “weak” for allowing them to speak, but truly he showed grace under pressure by acknowledging their frustration and anger. Instead of bullying their voices into silence or ridiculing them as losers, pigs or bimbos, Sanders left. After all, it was not his event; he was a guest. Besides, his voice was not silenced, but came back booming even louder: The next day, Sanders posted a sweeping policy of reform to fight racial inequality. (The timing coincided with Michael Brown’s death and had nothing to do with the two women.)

    You ask:

    Any predictions?

    Yes. The author of the above will be accused of “whitesplaining.”

    (Read the whole thing. It’s good.)

  21. 21.

    srv

    @Big ole hound: Actually, it’s encouraged. They’re supposed to wear helmets, but some think that’s for weaklings.

    Really brave men go into combat with PTSD, not come out of it with PTSD.

    At least the cadets aren’t kidding themselves, like all the college football fans are. I, for one, look forward to all those hard hits today.

  22. 22.

    redshirt

    There’s no fan base for college football in New England. No one cares about BC. It’s weird given the rabid passion that follows professional sports.

  30. 30.

    benw

    @Gex:

    I wouldn’t risk all the financial and legal arrangements that marriage provides based on a hope that the judges in KY will find the licenses valid without the signature.

    I don’t look forward to the couples accepting these licenses having to be the ones to fight off the inevitable lawsuits challenging their validity. They are accepting personal risk to fight for civil rights for all Americans who want their state separated from the church.

  31. 31.

    ThresherK

    Fascinating map, even if I can’t read all of it. Where’s it from? And are there any teams missing, like South Dakota State’s Jackrabbits?

  32. 32.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @Botsplainer: I though Nick Saban was Satan, well at least in Louisiana. Speaking of Saban I wonder if the SEC may be in a little of a terrified mode considering the loss the Tide had in the playoffs. I think the Tide will be on a rampage and would love to visit Urban Meyer and the Bucks again.
    Of course GO BUCKS!

  35. 35.

    Steve from Antioch

    Yes, I have a prediction.

    College players will continue to get concussions and the lucky few that make it to the pros will continue to get concussions, too. Black athletes – about 45% of NCAA football players, I believe – will continue to bear a disproportionate share of this abuse.

    Colleges will continue to charade of “educating” people who would not be on campus were it not for their athletic abilities.

    Colleges will continue to cover up the rape culture that is fueled by a system where athletic stars are coddled like fine Wagyu beef – at least as long as they keep producing wins.

    Adults who should know better will continue to waste time cheering for this monstrosity because it gives some semblance of meaning to their lives.

    Thats my prediction.

  38. 38.

    Eric U.

    someone asked me why I hate Michigan more than Ohio State. Well, for one thing I feel sorry for them since they are in Ohio. But the first year I was at Penn State, the game was lopsided, 63 to 14 PSU or something like that. And, whatever his faults, Paterno was not one to run up the score. So that makes me feel better about them.

  39. 39.

    Elizabelle

    Tom Brokaw on C-Span 2, from the National Book Festival in DC. Live.

    Having developed cancer (currently in remission), he is telling folks how hard our healthcare system can be for those without his resources. (“If I was a 55 year old mechanic who suddenly discovered I had cancer, I don’t know what I would do.” He mentioned how one is out of luck before one has hit 65.)

    He says care is available, but the cost ….

  40. 40.

    benw

    @A Ghost To Most:

    And Tebow is once again rejected by the NFL.

    No matter how many times he gets rejected by the NFL, he’ll always have that glorious season with the Broncos.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    Brokaw’s apparently written quite an indictment of the American healthcare system, and options for the uninsured. He says he’s done 3 documentaries too.

    I hope that hits the mainstream news. They’re wasting his talents talking about Very Serious People consensus stuff. He needs to be out talking about healthcare.

    So tired of these Tea Party and Glibertarian invincible types, screaming about Obamacare because they lack either illness, imagination, or empathy.

  42. 42.

    shell

    Again for non-football folks. On TCM this afternoon
    1:45- I Walked With A Zombie

    3:15- Royal Wedding

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    @shell: Gonna switch to “Zombie.”

    Own it on DVD, but always up for a viewing. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is on late tomorrow night. TCM.

  44. 44.

    gian

    @A Ghost To Most:
    He might make a decent tight end in the NFL. But his (much celebrated)humility won’t allow him to switch from the thankless job of quarterback to something else.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    Brokaw on investigative journalism: He’s involved with the Livingston Project; deals with i-journalists aged 35 and under.

    “More being done than you realize. [They’re] doing it online and digital arenas.”

    Mentions Pro Publica.

    Great: “the work is being done out there. You just have to go and find it.”

    [Not like we have publicly owned airwaves, or 24/7 cable channels with a lot of airtime to fill.]

    Same deal as cancer. Once you have it, the consumer has to go find the information and evaluate it.

    Same thing if you want actual investigative journalism.

  46. 46.

    Mack

    I picked Notre Dame and Alabama to win in my pool, but I’d like to see upsets in both games. My mighty Dores looked shitty against Western Ky, and lost. The only team I grew up hating was USC, because I was a Bruin fan. But now I just hate Alabama.

    O/T, Ben Carson getting hyped all over the place, BTW, and he scares me because evangelicals. They largely sat out the last two elections, but were a force for W. Can any of y’all make me feel better about this?

  50. 50.

    Cervantes

    @Elizabelle:

    Brokaw’s apparently written quite an indictment of the American healthcare system

    Don’t quote me but I think his daughter is still a physician.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    @Cervantes: He redeemed himself a little for me with this appearance.

    Cannot abide his Morning Joe VSP seances.

    Anyway, got “I Walked with a Zombie” on now, and it’s miles better.

    Talking about bitter putrescence. No beauty here, only death and decay.

    But it looks so damn good in B&W.

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    Love how some of these 40s movies touch on the injustice and the aftermath of slavery.

    They just looked at St. Sebastian as the figurehead of a slave ship. Host tells nurse that the island people came from slavery; they still cry at births and celebrate at death.

  56. 56.

    Mike in NC

    The good die young, so expect Tom Brokaw and Dick Cheney and their ilk to survive well into their 90s.

  59. 59.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Mack: I highly doubt that evangelicals sat out the past two presidential elections. I’ve heard that before too but it doesn’t ring true. Evangelicals are the Republicans’ most loyal foot soldiers. IOW anyone who digs Ben Carson is already a dyed in the wool wingnut and regular voter.

  60. 60.

    raven

    Whew, I really feel like shit but went anyway. It was ugly at the half and I could see the weather coming and now they shut it down because of lightning. The Illini, who got lighteninged out last night struck early and it’s 14-0 already/

  66. 66.

    Tommy

    This is going to sound dumb but I will say it. I cut cable a year plus. I forget I am paying for the sports and SEC package on Sling. Had it for months but forgot I was paying for it. The world is a little better now.

  67. 67.

    Anoniminous

    @Mack:

    Carson is full of it.

    A Pew Research Center analysis of exit poll data finds that white evangelical Protestants voted for Romney with as much enthusiasm as his other supporters did. In addition, white evangelical Protestants voted as heavily for Romney as they did for the GOP candidates in 2008 and 2004, and they made up about the same share of the electorate as they did in the two previous elections.

  69. 69.

    Gimlet

    What a game. Just when you thought Trump was babbling because of a concussion.

    According to a new poll released Friday by SurveyUSA finds that matched up directly, Trump garners 45 percent to Clinton’s 40 percent.

    In other head-to-head matchups, Trump beats out Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by 44 percent to 40 percent; Vice President Joe Biden by 44 percent to 42 percent; and former Vice President Al Gore by 44 percent to 41 percent.

  71. 71.

    Cervantes

    @burnspbesq:

    I notice you refrained from commenting on the factual assertions, limiting yourself to personal matters and subjective perceptions thereof.

  72. 72.

    Elizabelle

    @Cervantes: Don’t you dare be leaving this planet any time soon. Be healthy.

    Brokaw’s on his own. He mentioned there are six (?) doctors in the family, but I was not listening carefully.

  73. 73.

    Amir Khalid

    i see Salon’s movie critic is calling panic stations at the Hillary campaign. I saw Jamelle Bouie do the same thing at Slate, also for no discernible reason. Hillary is not going to get perp-walked out of the presidential race over the emails, which issue has the pundits far more worked up than the public. She remains comfortably ahead of Bernie in the polling despite Bernie’s rise of late, and Joe does not look keen on entering the race given what his family’s already been through this year.

    I wonder if there are some liberals whose reaction to Hillary is, “Oh God, not her.”

  75. 75.

    gogol's wife

    @Amir Khalid:

    I was reading the front section of the NYTimes late last night, skimming through the horrible news with averted eyes (3-year-old child face down on a beach, desperate refugees crowding onto trains to nowhere, climate devastation, etc.), and I saw something with “Clinton e-mail” in the headline, and I thought, really? Really?

  80. 80.

    catclub

    @Amir Khalid:

    I saw Jamelle Bouie do the same thing at Slate,

    I think that was the headline writer. He actually wrote that there is not much there, there, and that she did something that might have been not well thought out. I do not remember much more.

  84. 84.

    Gimlet

    @catclub:

    No idea.

    I’m going to take it at face value without breaking it down, like a “Mitt Romney in a landslide” poll until after a few primaries.

  86. 86.

    catclub

    @Amir Khalid:

    I wonder if there are some liberals whose reaction to Hillary is, “Oh God, not her.”

    The ones who forget, or never knew, that between her and Bill, she is the more liberal.

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: We’re having similar weather. Good day to pile up on the sofa with the dogs and switch back and forth between games!

  89. 89.

    Botsplainer

    Hiked 6 miles with the dog this morning, brought him to WorldFest for mauling by women and children, and now am sitting and watching football in my office (conveniently across the street) while the dog destresses before ambling back. He’s out cold.

    I wanted to see the Greek dancers but don’t have the heart to wake him.

    Wife coming back Monday for 3 weeks before leaving for a month.

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Elizabelle:

    I don’t want to spoil anything if you haven’t seen it before (or haven’t seen it in a while), but the rot in that family goes ALL the way down. And it’s explicitly traced back to the fact that the family brought slaves to the island and got rich off their misery. That’s why she had to be a Canadian nurse traveling to a British island in the Carribbean. It never would have gotten through the Hays Office if it had been set in the U.S.

  94. 94.

    Botsplainer

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):

    Thanks for that reminder. There has been a reordering of the status quo as far as I’m concerned – there are things that I can accept and even embrace moving forward, given travel and time realities.

    Likewise, there are things I can never again passively surrender to, despite my patience.

  100. 100.

    Cervantes

    @burnspbesq:

    I notice you have nothing useful to say.

    Maybe stop before you prove my point beyond all doubt, viz.:

    I notice you refrained from commenting on the factual assertions, limiting yourself to personal matters and subjective perceptions thereof.

  103. 103.

    raven

    @efgoldman: It was the lightning. It stopped the game once for about an hour. When it cam again there didn’t seem to be any point to keep playing.

  107. 107.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Well this is just bizarre: Maryland 50, Richmond 21–William Likely returned eight punts for 233 yards and a touchdown, breaking the Big Ten conference record for punt return yards in a game set in 1939 by Nile Kinnick, who won the Heisman Trophy that year with Iowa.

    By halftime, Likely had 64 yards on three punt returns. Because the Spiders had so much difficulty tackling him, the 5-foot-7 junior figured he might not get another chance to run one back.

    ”After the third one, I was like, `I probably won’t get that many opportunities”’ Likely said. ”Then he kept kicking it, so I said, `OK.”’

    Richmond punter D.J. Helkowski was instructed to keep the ball away from Likely, but couldn’t pull it off.

    ”I love D.J., but for the last three punts I told him to put it out of bounds,” Spiders coach Danny Rocco said. ”It didn’t get out of bounds. I guess we just have to practice (it) a little more.”

    Now tell me–you know it’s coming, so wait for it–

    how Likely was that?? :p

  108. 108.

    Mack

    Thanks for the info regarding the evangelical vote. One thing I take comfort in is there doesn’t seem to be the exodus of young preachers heading for DC hoping to cash in…I saw a lot of this during the Bush years. Maybe they learned….

  109. 109.

    Gator90

    Extended weather delay at Dolphins stadium. But as long as the game is suspended in the second quartet, they won’t stop selling beer,

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