Saturday, December 13, 2008

BCS


For this blog I decided to be less political and less idealistic. Instead of trying to change the world, let's start small. Let's change the BCS. As it is right now the top two teams play for the championship, and the others get shafted. Both of the teams this year are one loss teams, both of the teams have scored more than 600 points, but the problem is there are 4 other teams with the same credentials. The BCS is completely off point by saying that there are two "better" teams. This is politics at its finest. Florida and Oklahoma are great teams, and they have the biggest followings. Their fans are known to travel all over the country, bringing millions of dollars with them. There are game time local economy "booms" when these fans enter the college communities. So the BCS chose the two teams that would make the BCS the most money. Additionally, these colleges are some of the largest in the nation with the most viewers. So ratings would sky rocket. These teams are way sexier than say the underfeated Boise State University Bucking Broncos. Even though BSU is undefeated, even though Texas Tech has potentially two top draft picks at qb and rb. The BCS no longer works.

Coaches tell their players to play hard and to win everygame. That's exactly what Boise State did, their players played hard, they won every game they were asked to. Yet Boise State is playing in the Poinsetta Bowl. The Poinsetta Bowl! That's a joke.

We need to install a playoff system. The coaches are so old and need their power. SO let them rank the colleges. Same as now. The top 8 rankings will play in a playoff system. This would allow the outsiders like Boise State and Utah to have a chance to not only get national coverage, but also to have a chance to win. This 8 team playoff would allow other teams to share the lime light for atleast a game. Let's follow Barack Obama's lead and create this system!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Number 1 Threat to Southern Asian stability: Indian/ Pakistanian relations


The terror attacks in Mumbai were truly tragic. Since 9-11 this was one of the most deadly attacks. This is similar to previous attacks in tactics, weapons, and the fear that it invoked through out the billion people in India. A conspiracy has sort of been uncovered consisting that the attack was orchestrated by Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshian nationals.

However, again the media are focusing on the wrong aspects of this attack. They are focusing on the few Americans that passed away. The media and even to some extent the U.S. gov't are focusing on the tactics of this attack, even going as far as sending an FBI team to India. There are reports saying the motive of these attacks was because of the Kashmir region. The Kashmir region has been a pain in the side for India and Pakistan for 50 years. These countries both claim ownership of this region, but to make the situation even more "hairy" is that some of the citizens of Kashimir want independence. There have been hundreds of terrorist attacks in this region yet the world barerly cares. If a major attack like this were to be linked directly to the ISS (Secret Police of Pakistan) or to even worse the governement, this could mean destabilization of a region that has had little stabilization. Additionally, both of these countries have nuclear weapons. While India's are bigger and have greater capabilities, any nuclear weapon obviously would cause millions of deaths. Especially with a country of 1.1 billion people.

We, as global citizens, need to bring those who were associated with this attack to justice. More importantly is that we need to solve this Kashmir region dispute. We should allow the people of Kashmir to vote upon which country they would like to be a part of. Further there should be an open migration period following this vote. This would ensure that people can peacefully choose where they would like to live. No migration is warranted and will possible create a refugee flow, but under U.N. supervision and the world watching, this plan could work.