Starting Off Easy

I know, I know... pointing out the stupid shit that Gregg Easterbrook writes each week is like shooting fish in a barrel, but it's my first post, so I'm gonna do it anyway; besides, shooting fish in a barrel is kind of fun. Plus, what's the point of slogging through five bazillion words of TMQ if you can't complain about it in neurotic detail later. Anyway, here goes:

1: Who the fuck cares what Gregg Easterbrook thinks about the BCS? I actually don't have much to say about Gregg's insightful analysis of the BCS shit sandwich because I skipped most it; I mean, seriously, why are we starting an NFL column with the most annoying college football topic imaginable. Oh right; so Easterbrook can turn the whole debate on its head by taking a ludicrous position. The BCS was not formed to decide a "final victor." Stunning! Genius! Truly insightful! It was at this point that I decided to skip to the next section (a full third of the way down the very long page).

2: Ok, Gregg, we know you don't like the Patriots. I myself have no strong feelings about this year's greatest team of all time, and I can see how the officiating at the end of Monday night's game might have seemed, well, convenient. Maybe Gregg can address this issue without making any sense at all:

The defensive holding on fourth down with 55 seconds remaining was inarguable; the officials had to flag it. Ravens nickelback Jamaine Winborne theatrically removed his helmet after the call, and the officials could have flagged him for that, but they did not. But after ... the touchdown ... the zebras flagged Ravens linebacker Bart Scott twice for unsportsmanlike conduct -- once when he said something to an official and a second time when he picked up the flag and hurled it into the crowd. This was a stupid, stupid move... Adding the encroachment penalty on the PAT, the Patriots kicked off from the Baltimore 35, drilling an easy touchback... Excessively penalizing Baltimore in the final minute, in a manner that strongly aided New England, was at best a lapse by the officiating crew and at worst strange.

It's just amazing how he can go from listing several, as he describes them, reasonable penalties, to essentially insinuating that the refs intentionally gave the game to the Pats. Argggghh, he's so obnoxious. You know what will make me feel better? That's right, a little swim in the race pool:

Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle said after the game that head linesman Phil McKinnely repeatedly called him "boy" in the game's closing minutes, a racial insult when spoken by a white person to an African-American... If McKinnely (who is African-American) did use a racial insult against Rolle, during the same game-deciding moments when the officials were favoring New England (so far, McKinnely has not commented on this), that would have been highly unprofessional and would call into question whether the officiating crew was neutral.

Wow. Let's just break this down: If a white person call a black person "boy," it's a racist insult. The ref, who is black, called Rolle "boy." Therefore, the ref is an unprofessional racist, and so is the rest of the officiating crew, and they basically fixed the game. I'm speechless.

...more later- we're not even halfway through the article