NCCA Football should take a cue from NCAA Basketball & Implement Playoffs

In the sports world, subjection is not highly looked upon. The majority of major sports implement play-offs so there is no doubt as to who deserves to be crowned national champions. With almost all major NCAA sports and also all professional sports using the play-off system, one has to wonder: why hasn't NCAA football followed suit?
With no play-off system, there is not clear-cut national champion. Take the Big XII Southern conference for example. At one point, Texas had beaten Oklahoma, Oklahoma had beaten Texas Tech and Texas Tech had beaten Texas. With these wins and losses, it was almost impossible to determine which team truly deserved to represent the Big XII south in the Big XII championship, let alone the National Championship. Also, you take a team like Southern California (USC) who had one unfortunate loss early, and it does not seem fair to discount them from the National Championship either.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about the subjection surrounding NCAA football is that every idiot thinks they can comment on the BCS. During this time, those who cannot even explain why even a good offense struggles against a strong secondary feel they can comment on who should and should not be in the BCS bowls. In many cases, they use the transitive property, feeling if a beat b and b beat c, then a should beat c. By this property, you can have your junior high flag football team beating the National Champions.
In short, the NCAA football system needs to implement play-offs the way every other sport seems to. This way, there will be no question as to who should have the prestigous title of national champions. The BCS would also be able to keep its bowls if they wre used in the play-offs, which would solve the money problem. It only makes sense that the most exciting sport in college would have the most exciting aspect of college sports- play-offs.

Frogger: Fun as a game, not in real life

If you've ever played frogger, you understand the concept of a character weaving through traffic with hopes of avoiding being hit. This is the way I feel every time I cross 25th street, which runs directly south of campus. I take a step off the curb, and automatically the frogger theme music runs through my head. Like the frog in frogger, I maneuver through traffic, hoping not to get squished. However, unlike the frog in frogger, I do not have three lives. If a student gets hit, it's game over.
So how do we go about preventing what seems to be an inevitable tradegy in the making? It seems that lowering the speed limit through campus may make for a much safer environment for the students. At the present, the speed limit is set at 35 mph. I think that a reduction of 10 miles per hour would make a dramatic difference. When speed limits are lowered, a driver has a much better response time. It is much easier to make a sudden stop or react to a hazard when driving at lower speeds. If the speed limit was lowered to 25 around the campus area only, it would take a driver less than an extra 45 seconds to make it through the lower speed zone and it would be drastically less hazardous for both students walking and driving.

Soft News Mania...

As most of you probably know, I am no big fan of soft news. I do not find it a valid form of journalism. I can, however, admit that it seems to be what sells and despite my personal opinion, it seems to have a place in the journalistic world.
However, it does not seem right that soft news has seemed to take a place highly above hard news. It seems that magazine racks are dominated by entertainment magazines rather than magazines filled with hard news. On any given rack, you will find a plethora of celebrity dominated magazines, such as People or In Touch. However, rather than a possible mandatory Newsweek or Times, the magazines which touch on real issues which affect our nation seem absent. This is true of online news as well. On the Yahoo! home page, the main feature stories include behind the scenes footage of the Obama family, Jennifer Love Hewitt's called-off wedding, Brangelina's 'two reasons to celebrate' and couples therapy. The democrat’s stimulus plan to fix the economy, New York's Senate pick and a Pennsylvania fire which claimed 15 lives, however, got pushed under the feature stories.
When the hard news seems to be put on the backburner, taking second to celebrity gossip, one must question the validity of the journalistic system as a whole. While it makes a certain sense to report what Americans seem to want to read, it is another matter entirely to make the soft news the main focus of our media. While Americans devour the gossip, no one seems to take the media seriously. I think that if we shifted our focus to stories with more substance, the media would be looked upon with more creedence and respect. Although soft news seems to have a place in the media, it should not be put above hard news. It is past time that American media put a higher value on news with substance and strive to get our reputation back.

http://www.yahoo.com/

Obama Inauguration: Pre-set agenda?

As our nation dawns on a new era under our 44th president, the main focus seems to be not his political policies or his beliefs. The nation seems fixated almost solely on Obama's race. While there is no denying that the election of the first African-American president is a vital part of our nation's history, there seems to be little to no discussion on ways in which Obama will change the nation outside of breaking through the racial barrier.
The racial issue seemed excessively present during the innaggural ball, with primarily African American performers, such as Beyonce, Usher and Mary J. Blige. There was even a major event hosted by B.E.T (Black entertainment television). Obama has even been referenced in a rap song.
Don't get me wrong- I voted Obama. However, this decision was made on evaluating his economic policies and plans to stimulate our economy. I also want to state that I am not in the least bit racist. It seems, however, that it may be more important to put focus on Obama's political worth rather than his nationality.

Article Response

For the response to an article assignment, I am using a post from the USA today online newspaper. The article is titled "Wake Forest jumps Duke for No. 1 spot in coach's top 25".
I throughly enjoyed this article because it was very condensed and easy to read. It gave a very vivid image of the college basketball polls and referenced excellent reasons for the jump. One of the strongest points of the article was when they made mention that Wake was "the last undefeated team in Division I". This was a valuable piece of information to the article and strengthened the piece as a whole. The most interesting and artistic phrase came upon mention that Wake had "leapfrogged" No. 2 Duke to seize the No. 1 position. The wording on this phrase gives the reader an image of the way in which the college polls work and manner of moving up in the polls. It was also a witty and intelligent description of the 'jump'. Overall the article was well-written, informative and very enjoyable.


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/2009-01-19-coaches-poll_N.htm

Hello, World!

This is my first blog and it is required for my blogging class at UNK. My name is Kelly Bernt, I am a senior at the University of Kearney, NE and I am originally from Stratton, NE. My passions include dancing, music and running.