We are normally not a big fan of the ‘I told you so’ rhetoric.
It’s not a good look, and no matter how right you are in the moment, at some point the shoe will be on the other foot. Or in this case, the other ballot. (Or even the shoe may be in the other person’s mouth.)
Today, however, around these parts, Stewwie, you get the right to drop the above four words whenever and however you may like.
Stewwie has tried again and again to tell us that Donald Trump was going to win. He pointed to outrage and the angst. He, like most heavily invested partisans in this, the strangest presidential election ever, accurately and consistently harped on the sins of the Clintons – Hillary, her husband and her foundation – and that proved out.
A lot of us – even those of us who voted against Hillary who did not support Trump during the GOP nomination process – are stunned by this.
We are stunned about how wrong the polling process was. Dear Buckets of banged chads, were the polls wrong. Even number-crunching guru Nate Silver – a guy so good at forecasting the electoral college in previous elections that the website he runs is called fivethirtyeight.com – missed this one by a lot.
We are stunned with the disconnect between the media and the general public. Or at the very least the voting public Tuesday. Before we continue this line of thinking it has to be with this caveat: I am a full-blown member of the media, writing for the daily paper and getting three hours of talking time on a local radio show in a top 100 market. This is a miss that the entire industry must carry. We underplayed so many stories that so many talking heads desperately pointed to during Tuesday’s coverage of the biggest political surprise since Richard Pryor won the mayor’s race in New York in Brewster’s Millions.
In truth, those storylines mattered – the awfulness and expensive nature of Obama Care, the fear that resonates among the American heartland, the real and boiling angst at the traditional politician and Washington gridlock, the bewilderment at the nation’s most powerful nation being pushed around in negotiations and being more than $20 trillion in debt because of bloated government to name but a few – were like the jacks scattered on the table being pawwed at by commentators trying to grab as many as possible before the next bounce of the TV ball. And before we go much further, we have to say this about the Van Jones contingent and the challenges and claims about this being a ‘white-lash’ against a sitting black president.
OK. Maybe for some. Race is an undeniable part of our society. And in truth, Mr. Jones’ rant last month about how would Mr. Trump be viewed if he was black was very thought-provoking. But maybe, just maybe, this is not as much about race as some think. Maybe this is not about rage against a black president as much as it was against a bad president in a lot of voters’ view. There certainly was no mention of our racist ways when we elected Obama eight years, and the biggest weapon in his historic march to the White House eight years ago this month was that he was not George W. Bush. There were no calls about racism then, it was about bad leadership in the eyes of the voting public.
Is it possible that it’s just that simple.
And this goes beyond the White House and covers all of Washington and the establishment of gridlock and frustration with America’s problems falling on deaf ears and every idea being weighed more by which party devised it rather than the merits and the meaning it could have for the people of this country.
And if that underplayed fact was meaningful to a larger part of middle America than anyone reported, was there a worse candidate to offer than Hillary Clinton, who has been part of a litany of governmental horrors at every level of bureaucracy?
Because, if our stagnating and failing government was the biggest issue on way more voters’ minds than any pollster anywhere concluded, not only did the American voters buck the expectation, they bucked the old saying that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.
And that’s a powerful statement on Federal leaders at all levels that is more about reliability and responsiveness than race, even for Pres. Obama, who has the chance to really salvage his legacy by trying to unite a divided country in the weeks and months before the divisive president in our history is inaugurated.
Regardless of which candidate won this election, there was – and is – a divide in the sides that waged this political tug-of-war. The country needs healing – and wholing, if that’s even a word – more than anything right now. Regardless of how this turned out, there was going to be fear and the need for the leadership of each side to try to meet in the middle.
So now we ponder this historic upset – this was not unlike Villanova toppling juggernaut Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA title game because the Wildcats connected on almost every shot in the second half.
How did we get here? What will happen next? It’s rather unbelievable, in every way imaginable.
So now comes the uncertain course for our country that will be charted by the most unpredictable administration ever. (Well, unpredictable for most everyone not named Stewwie.)
And Donald Trump is president, and we’re certain he’ll make mistakes and have failures. All presidents do, regardless of the color of their skin or their party.
And when that happens, we’re sure there will be more than a few anti-trump folks there to tell us “I told you so.”
Baylor quarterback Seth Russell (17) throws a pass under pressure from Baylor safety Jairon McVea, rear, in the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) A different story of precedent
CBSsports.com is reporting that Baylor won’t receive Penn State-like sanctions from the NCAA. OK.
The NCAA overreacted on the horrors that happened at Penn State. Yes, there was a lack of control, especially when you consider the testimony that as far back as 1976 Joe Paterno was informed of the evil happening to young boys at the hands of defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who worked on Paterno’s staff from 1966-99. The NCAA unloaded every barrel in its arsenal short of the death penalty, pressuring Penn State to vacate 111 wins, accept a bowl ban and heavy scholarship reductions and pay a $60 million fine. In fact, the NCAA reversed a lot of those penalties eventually.
So we think the off-the-top-rope leg drop that Penn State received is understandable.
But the NCAA had better do more than send a middle-aged white guy down there to deduce that ‘violations have occurred’ and impermissible benefits were afford student athletes. Then the next thing you know the football team loses two scholarships and the women’s soccer team and the men’s track and field team are given three-year postseason bans.
The status quo is not enough, and in truth, this should be even a bigger target for the NCAA than the entirety of the Penn State mess.
Penn State was way more about the court process and the criminal charges. Yes, the Baylor allegations about multiple cases of sexual assault is very much a criminal case too. But where Penn State’s powers that be committed their sins by protecting a predator who could really teach linebackers how to tackle against the interests of children, Art Briles and Baylor protected their predatory players – and even recruited known predators – to benefit their predatory program.
That, and those decisions being made to win football games at Baylor as opposed to Paterno wanting to avoid scandal makes the Baylor case more in line with what the NCAA should be doing.
Of course, that only matters if the NCAA actually cares about enforcing the rules and keeping the power programs in line. It does not, and that is becoming more and more clear.
So if a Johnny Come Lately like Baylor football – and that program should be getting way more national scorn for selling #CAB T-shirts (for Coach Art Briles) and having its players say the black uniforms they wore last week were in support of Briles – gets a relative pass from the NCAA for crimes this egregious, what can we reasonably expect the NCAA to do with a blue-blood power like UNC hoops?
As a nation, the country voted, in a lot of ways, to blow-up the power structure in Washington.
You can make an argument that the NCAA is even more broken than Washington, so who can save it?
Alabama sophomore defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick batted down this pass at the end of the first half and added a fourth-quarter interception during Saturday night’s 10-0 victory over LSU.College football playoff
OK, who’s ready for something a little lighter?
The college football playoff poll was released last night and other than Kirk Herbstreit’s family, was any one watching? The top four are the four remaining power five conference unbeatens.
Alabama, Clemson, Michigan and Washington lead the field with Ohio State at fifth. Kirby Hocutt, the head of the committee said that the gap between Washington and THE Ohio State was very tight.
And that’s OK, until it’s not.
Last week, Texas A&M was fourth with one loss, ahead of unbeaten Washington. Maybe it was a statement. Maybe it was an indictment on Washington’s terrible schedule. Maybe it was a way to make a splash on the first poll that was released. Well, the Aggies lost and fell to No. 8, and the Huskies moved up.
The committee says each week it completely starts over, and that makes sense. But by completely starting over each week, it is obvious that the committee does not use any type of consistency in its evaluation. Because if A&M was good enough with one loss to top-ranked Alabama on its resume to be ahead of a Washington team that has one of the weakest schedules in the country, why is a one-loss Ohio State team not viewed in the same light?
Did the committee feel the heat from putting a one-loss team ahead of a power five unbeaten? Did the committee feel the burn and “I Told you so” scorn of placing faith in one-loss team that lost the following week?
Maybe.
And it certainly was not anything from last week’s showing, because as impressive as Washington’s 66-20 win over Cal was, THE Ohio State delivered a near-historic win over a top-10 foe by whipping Nebraska 62-3.
It also is fair to discuss, the Bobby Petrino claim of teams outside the top four needing to run up the score on foes. Uh, coach, are you saying your team, which has wins of 56, 34, 43, 31, 41 and 45 on its resume, has been overly worried about scoring too many points?
That’s really not the message, Bob, as much as the committee wondering why you needed a late stop to beat a bad Virginia team by seven. And that’s affair query when you are splitting hairs on the top five or six college football teams in the country.
Maybe that wasn’t as light as we had hoped.
So it goes.
This and that
– Since the presidential election went well past midnight, the Trump win was the biggest upset of Wednesday morning. The biggest upset of Tuesday night then becomes Hawks 110, Cavs 106. Say what?
– Here are the 2016 Gold Glove winners. Three Giants and two Cubs made it in the NL. Outfielder Ender Inciarte was the lone Braves player picked.
– This is a very well-detailed preview on how Dwyane Wade feels heading into his return to Miami tonight as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
– Lost in the hoopla of the Alabama Crimson Tide’s overpowering effort in Bator Rouge is the fact that Nick Saban now has 200 career wins. He is the third fastest to that total in college football history, trailing only Paterno and Dr. Tom Osborne on the list of coaches who got to 200 wins in the fewest number of games.
– Speaking of Alabama, here’s a list of the early point spreads from Brian Edwards, a professional handicapper with the Tide listed as a 14-point favorite in the Iron Bowl.
Today’s question
Man, we need some fun on a one-word Wednesday, right?
OK, let’s go with these:
Your reaction to the results last night of the monster upset (Hawks over Cavs) was __________.
Your reaction to the results of last night’s election was _________.
Of the current top four in the college football playoff, _______ of them will be in the bracket. (Choices here are all, 3, 2, 1 or none. Then feel free to discuss the changes as you see fit.)
As for a Rushmore, well, what would be on the biggest non-sports related upsets? Feels like last night would be there, right?
Go, and remember the mailbag.