Does it make me a bad Steelers fan to be openly rooting for the Ravens?
Out of My Bunker
So the Steelers managed to somewhat salvage (congrats, Hines!) what was otherwise an awful weekend here, and by awful, I mean the entire town is just shocked, disgusted, and depressed. Going from the possibility of a National Championship to nothing just really kinda dampens the mood of the town.
Oh well.
At any rate, I see via catcalls in the comments that I am for some reason or another supposed to be eating crow over TNR no longer standing by Beauchamp, which makes me wonder about the ability of some people to read. What a moran. For the reading impaired, I never argued that Beauchamp was telling the truth, and consistently argued he could have been making it all up. My disgust centered around the stupidity of pretending that the ramblings of a diarist in a little read publication A.) mattered B.) Was a grievous insult on the dignity of our troops C.) Was proof of the liberal media D.) would have even been discussed had he stuck to the positive military stories in his first few disptaches rather than the less positive stories in Shock Troops. The vicious pile-on, calls for violence, and trashing of Beauchamp simply increased my disgust for a group of people I have already started to revile. At any rate, the entire memeorandum linkfest can be found here (I love their archive feature!), as I missed it the first time around and you might have as well. I guess my final thoughts on the matter are that while TNR should have, in retrospect, been more careful with these little anecdotes they are publishing (although I am not totally sure why they should have been more careful- it was just a diarist for Christ sakes), this whole situation is comical. I simply can not believe this was blown so out of proportion. If anything, my respect for TNR is much greater than it was at the beginning, because I appreciate the way they stood by Beauchamp until it became clear they could not. Also, the behavior of the military, with their selective leaking to friendly right-wing sources and bullying attitude, was quite illuminating.
Meanwhile, the Corner is having their own little brouhaha over their serial bullshitter, and Sullivan and company are giving them a very small dose of their own medicine. I don’t think there is anything particularly new about NRO exaggerating threats (and I agree with Yglesisas), it is essentially all they have done over the past eight years. What is noteworthy is that the truth detectors on the right have not kicked into high gear, and have not found the need to parse every past post, post personal information, or check myspace. Interesting, no?
At any rate, expect me to be in a crappy mood for a couple days. Well, crappier than normal. I guess #9 and a BCS Bowl game is not complete failure, but right now it sure feels like it. I just hope the players aren’t too hard on themselves. I am sure they did everything they could to win, and they have nothing to be ashamed about.
I guess we can consider this an open thread. I am still kinda letdown and not all that motivated to blog much, and right now wish I was John Cole, plus three.
0-2
Army Loses, WVU blows a spot at the National Championship, I have an earache and have bene drinking since 3pm, and I think I might continue drinking until Monday.
Maybe the Steelers will lose and we can call it a weekend.
Football Open Thread
Redskins Safety, Sean Taylor, Has Died
He was shot in the leg yesterday, apparently during a home robbery and was hit in a critical artery. Very unfortunate. No link yet, just hearing it now on CNN.
***Update: Link
Steelers Open Thread
GO STILLERS! Beat the fish!
*** Update ***
Will someone pick up the 22 kids at Heinz field who just played a pony league football game on national tv?
Steelers win, 3-0.
Blech.
We’re #2
But shooting for #1:
Perhaps for the first time all season, the national championship race can be explained very simply.
If No. 1 Missouri (vs. Oklahoma) and No. 2 West Virginia (vs. Pittsburgh) both win on Saturday, they will play each other for the BCS title. If one of them loses, No. 3 Ohio State will slide into the national championship game. If Missouri and West Virginia both lose, a two-loss team will probably meet the Buckeyes in New Orleans for all the marbles.
It seems unlikely that West Virginia will lose at home against Pitt, but if it happens, choosing which two-loss team belongs in the national title game will be a difficult assignment for the voters.
No. 4 Georgia is the highest-ranked twice-beaten team in the standings this week, but that might change next week if it matters who’s atop the two-loss heap. Because the Bulldogs didn’t win their division of the SEC, it’s doubtful voters would put them into a BCS championship slot, especially if another two-loss team (LSU) emerges as the conference champion.
This will be the biggest Backyard Brawl in my memory- I might go grocery shopping on Friday and lock all the doors until Monday.