Yes, fellow BONers, it's time to organize. A boycott, that is. Wait, hear me out.

This boycott will not hurt you a bit. All you give up is the chance to watch a very, very boring game. The payoff? Just maybe, the end of this ridiculous BCS system.

At first, like most of you, I was upset by the idea of a rematch for the MNC game. Particularly a rematch of one of the most boring games ever played. Don't give me the story of a defensive battle. The first LSU - Alabama game was more the story of incompetent offense than great defense. Then I realized, this is actually for the best. The resulting lowest ratings ever for any so-called major bowl game, much less the Mythical National Championship game, may finally get the attention of the powers that be. We can only hope.

Actually, we can do more than hope. Join me in not watching this abomination of a game. Your sacrifice (if you can call missing another snoozefest a sacrifice) will be rewarded in the long run.

Boycott the game. Vote with your remote. Hit 'em where it hurts, in the wallet. Spread the word across all of college football fandom. If nobody outside of Louisiana and Alabama watch this crap, change will happen.

Until yesterday, I respected Joe Paterno.  That is all past tense.

Joe Paterno seems to be immune to prosecution in the sad saga of child abuse at Penn State.  The AD and others responsible for this tragedy are using the statute of limitations and other legal maneuvering to escape prosecution for their deliberate lying or inaction in this case.  They will all probably avoid fines or jail time, other than Sandusky, of course.  We can only hope he pays for his crimes, if proven guilty.

There is more to this than just the minimum legal requirements, of course.  If someone, that you have no reason to disbelieve, tells you that a coworker is molesting young children, what should you do?  If you choose to report this to your boss, is that the end of it?  What if there is no sign of any action in a couple of days, or even weeks?  Are you justified in forgetting the whole affair, or do you have a moral obligation to all the other children that might be in danger? By the way, you know this former coworker is actively involved in children's charities.

Now consider waiting 9 years, while making no effort to protect the children who you know are in danger.

Not only should Joe Paterno resign immediately, he should be stripped of every victory since 2002 by the NCAA.  That would take away the one thing he is genuinely interested in, his record number of wins.  He clearly has no interest in the good of the young people under his care.

I know I will get flamed by Penn State fans for this, but sometimes the truth hurts.

In a quick response to the breaking news of the Mountain West and Conference-USA merger, the Big East announced today their plans to expand to Paris (not Texas), Berlin and Moscow (not Idaho).  When questioned by reporters about the viability of the expanded conference, a spokesman for the newly renamed Big World Conference was upbeat, despite the fact that there were no schools currently playing American style football in any of the named cities.  We'll work that out later, he replied.

When questioned about the difficulties of travel for the student-athletes, he laughed and said:  Just when has this been about the students and/or the athletes?  This is all about expanded TV markets, you fool!

In other news, the ACC has renamed itself the AC&PC&FOSC (the Atlantic Coast and Pacific Coast and Flyover States Conference) in anticipation of expansion to 32 teams.  The Big XII is sitting pretty as it holds the rights to the name Big XXXII.

Coach Brown seemed his usual, politically astute self at the Big 12 - 2 media days.  He had a little fun with the Longhorn Network question, and offered up the usual platitudes.  Frankly, he's too good at this for any of us to expect anything different.  With the current slate of coaches, the only hope for anything really quotable is Mike (I'm a MAN!) Gundy.

After admitting to not being good last year, Mack did go a little overboard when saying that changing the turnover margin would have made us a good team last year.  I don't think he really meant it, since you don't replace most of your coaching staff if turnovers were the only thing keeping you from being good.  Actually, I just went to the Big XII site to look at the quotes after spotting this online.   I have to agree.  Margin of turnovers wasn't the difference between the Horns and a good team last year, it was the difference between the Horns and a mediocre team.

Boy, does it hurt to admit that.

Not just for the game, which is actually a pretty good one. And not just to see what a former UT defensive coordinator can do.  No, watch for the commercials, which keep saying those famous three little words.  No, not "I love you".  Those other 3 - "Vince Young Scores!"  This has come up about 8 times so far.  Can't hear it enough, if you ask me.  And, of course, you get to watch the best TD run in history.  Over and over again.

Infield Elephant posted a fanshot of the picture.  Winers and losers, indeed.  I thought you would appreciate Spencer's take on this, as it is right up there with his best work.  Scroll down to The Curious Index.  There is also a link to a Denver Post article about Dodds and the UT program, which is worth a look.

"Bob Stoops strikes us as a Pinot Noir guy, since the grape is expensive, very good under the right conditions, and sometimes falls to pieces under the slightest pressure." 

Just too good to not be shared.

I ran across this yesterday, thanks to Hey Jenny Slater.  Made me stop and think.  How many years has it been since UT failed to accomplish this trifecta?  Being lazy, I'll leave the research to one of my fellow BON'ers, but I suspect that it has been quite awhile.  More to the point, I can't imagine any newspaper or other organization in Texas that would feel the need to congratulate UT for such a major "accomplishment".

So, the next time you feel the need to complain about Mack's not landing every 5 star recruit in the country, or Rick's not winning it all, or Augie's tendency to sacrifice bunt too often, just stop and take a deep breath.  Things could be so much worse.  Yes, we're spoiled, but it's good to be spoiled.  Just don't get too upset if we don't win National Championships in every sport  in which we compete.   How many fans can honestly look forward to the possibility of a championship at the start of the season for each of these major sports?

Remember, as my Grandpappy always said, "It's not polite to ask a man where he's from.  If he's from Texas, he'll get around to telling you.  If he's not, well there ain't no point in embarrassing him."

Like most of you, I am just trying to cope with yesterday's disappointing loss to Duke.  Combined with OU's win, it might make some of you temporarily jealous of our good neighbors to the north.  This morning, I ran across this. 

"In January 2008, London's The Sun found a practitioner of a new art form in which a design is inked, with a tattoo needle, into the sclera, which is the white part of the eyeball. That volunteer (from Canada) may well be the only daredevil, or one of a tiny number, but Oklahoma state senators were alarmed enough that they passed legislation out of committee in February to ban the practice in their state. "If we can stop ... one person from doing it, we've been successful," said Sen. Cliff Branan. An Oklahoma City tattoo artist told KSBI-TV that the law is useless, in that "common sense" will prevent the problem. (So far, only the senators from Oklahoma seem to believe they have constituents who might actually ask for ink to be inserted into their eyeballs.) [KSBI-TV (Oklahoma City), 2-20-09; The Sun, 2-27-08] "

While Chuck Sheperd seems to be poking fun at the Oklahoma state senate for passing an unnecessary law, we know better.  The good senators from Oklahoma know their constituents all too well, it seems.  If any jurisdiction on the planet needs a law to prevent its citizens from getting their eyeballs tattooed, it's Soonerland.

To summarize, while you may feel pain this morning, life could be worse.  You could be an Okie. 

Watching the Titans this year, particularly yesterday in their predictable loss to the Ravens, I found myself less than overwhelmed with Kerry Collins.  Serviceable, yes.  Good enough to carry the team in a big game?  I didn't think so earlier, and yesterday seemed to bear that out.  I don't think Kerry had a bad game, so much as he didn't have the weapons to win this one.  Once Chris Johnson went to the sidelines, Tennessee just had nothing to beat the Ravens' defense.

Watching the second half, I kept thinking that someone had predicted this, and had offered a solution.  Oh yeah, our own PB.  http://www.burntorangenation.com/2008/12/21/698862/kerry-collins-vs-vince-you

When you're right, you're right.

Watching last night's game, when even Kirk Herbstreit noticed the blatant OU holding, I recalled a post I had made here some time ago.  Stoops has his offensive line well coached to play in the Big 12.  If the officials are not going to call holding, then teach your line to hold.  This strategy has worked well for him, with more conference championships than I care to remember.  However, when you reach a BCS game, you are not going to find Big 12 officials.  I think this may be one reason Bob has laid so many eggs in bowl games recently.  (Love that picture.)  Your O-line cannot be conditioned to hold all year long and then suddenly switch to clean blocking.

What could we expect if OU passes Texas in the BCS, and goes to play Florida, for example?  Well, let's look back to Dallas in October, when the Sooners faced another fast, talented team.  45-35, and I think it would have been about 52-21 if that game had been called by real officials.  Given the speed and skill of Florida, I expect that score would be close to the outcome in Miami.  As it would be closer to a Florida home game, and given a natural tendency of teams to give up when they are being whipped, i would not be surprised to see something like 63-14.  Then  everyone will say how much better Florida and the SEC are than the Big 12.

It's time for the Big 12 to start enforcing the rules of the game.

Pete Fiutak of College Football News is actively promoting his ideal 8 team playoff scenario.  He wants the 6 BCS conference champs, plus the top ranked non-BCS conference champ, plus the highest ranked at-large team.  My response: NO NO NO NO NO!

This year, putting a team from either the Big East or the ACC, much less one from each, would be a complete travesty.  They have less business in a playoff than the top high school team from Texas.  I tried, I really did, to watch some of the Miami -Virginia Tech game tonight.  Folks, this is not football.  Does anyone really believe that either of these teams would be ahead of Iowa State in the Big 12 North?  Well, maybe I exaggerate, but you get the idea. 

If we are going to get serious about a playoff, it has to be the best 8 teams, period.  This year, that does not include any teams from the Big East or ACC.  Some year, it might not include any teams from another of the BCS conferences.  Let the best teams in, regardless of conference affiliation. 

Of course, this is intended to benefit our grandchildren, who may be alive when a college football playoff is finally implemented.  I don't expect to live that long.

I watched some of the Titans - Bears game today.  Just before the 2 minute warning, Bo caught a pass and made the first down,  He then slid to avoid any chance of being knocked out of bounds, thus keeping the clock running down to 2 minutes.  As the Bears were out of timeouts, this guaranteed that Tennessee would keep the ball until time ran out.  Smart, heads-up play.  He put the team first, rather than trying to pad his stats.  Just what we expect of a Longhorn.  Of course, the talking heads completely missed this aspect of the play.  I'll bet Jeff Fisher didn't miss it, though.