I have read some reports recently about how the BCS does a better job picking a national champion and how March Madness makes the regular season meaningless.

First off, that doesn’t make sense.

Second..Ok.. still doesn’t make sense.

BCS, in a nutshell, is where a group, primarily made up of BCS coaches vote on who they think is the best. This last year they set up a “championship” game to pit their top two vote receivers against each other. Yip de skip. Any system that allows speculation as to what team is better should never claim to crown a national champion. The fact that BSU finished the season without a loss and was not the National Champion is a joke. And I don’t even like them and their smurf turf.

March Madness, with its flaws, allows for a team to play their way into a position at the National Championship. If Eastern Mississippi Advanced Sledding University can make it to the Big Dance, they have equal shot at playing for #1 as any other school. They get to leave it all on the court.

As far as March Madness making the regular season irrelevant, ask any of the teams that made it to the Big Dance without winning their conference tournament if their season was irrelevant. If you are looking for irrelevant, ask Michigan fans how they feel about playing in the Florida Citrus Bowl with as many losses as Florida. Ask a Bronco fan how it feels to be the only team without a loss all season and still being #5.

The only fair way to “crown” a champion is to let the teams play. All conferences get an automatic bid for the champion (regular season is relevant) and the remaining seeds are filled with highest ranked leftovers (makes OOC relevant.)

Seriously, what is wrong with some people?

“‘Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws,’ animal rights activist Frank Albrecht was quoted as saying by the mass-circulation Bild daily.

‘The zoo must kill the bear.’”

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/20/story.polar/index.html

I am pretty sure the bear, who this dude (he doesn’t even deserve ‘guy’) claims he is trying to protect, would rather live. So the bear gets used to humans? He’s in a zoo in Germany, not fighting for his life somewhere in Canada. How can you protect an animal by killing it?

Ok… maybe not the world, but at least in the Great Salt Lake City area. Feel free to leave a comment to disagree, but alas, you are wrong. I have a fixation with ordering fajitas everywhere I go (I have now had them on 3 continents) and am constantly updating my list.

3. Guadalahonkys (Draper): Seriously, not as bad as you might imagine. I don’t make it a habit of eating there very often, but all the times I have gone its been a pleasant experience. The best part may be the giant cups for the soft drinks and the free chips and salsa. The fajitas are good, not great. If I were giving out stars like I was a food critic, this would get a M.

2. Baja Cantina (Park City): Great place for Mexican food. A little more expensive than the other two options, but worth it. Take someone there on their birthday (make sure it’s not your’s) and they make them put on a big sombrero. Sucker. Anyways… Fajitas are quite good, big plate of good ingredients but never enough tortillas (that cost extra, whats the deal?) That fact alone makes sure this will never be #1. Try the chimichangas too, they are pretty amazing.

1. Chilis (Everywhere): Seriously. Chili’s knows how to make one sweet plate of fajitas IF you get the Mushroom Jack version. I like to start off the meal with some Southwest Eggrolls (you have to try them) and work my way to this platter of good eats. Make sure the salsa comes with it, they usually forget it (its on the menu if they look confused.) If you are a high-roller you can get it “Cadillac style” for an extra .99 (or $1.38 worth of metal if you pay with pennies) that has pretty nasty rice but great black beans.

Honorable mention:
Applebee’s regular fajitas have a great seasoning on them, but the condiments provided and overall quality isn’t the best.

Dishonorable mention:
Bajios: No good. Don’t try. Save your money and get the Burrito Classico.

The common phrase “my 2 cents” is used to preface an opinion. Last May, the USA Today ran a story saying it cost about 1.4 cents to make a single penny. I haven’t taken math since my sophmore year of high school, and I’m no economist, but I’m pretty sure that math doesn’t add up. This page will serve as my own forum to vent, review, discuss anything and everything I’d like, from NCAA football to where to find the best fajitas.

And all for the low-low cost of 2.8 cents (you can keep the .2 change.)

Earlier in the season, I wrote an article gushing about how this year’s men’s volleyball team would win the national championship based on their early consistent play and domination of opponents. Was that really this season? Is this the same team that was routinely sweeping opponents whilst barely breaking a sweat?

Last night at the Smith Fieldhouse, BYU scratched out a tough four-game win over a much less talented Long Beach State squad. Having not seen the team play for an entire month, it became easy to recognize why BYU mysteriously dropped a couple of matches on their month-long California tour of inferior opponents. BYU is plagued by the same type of inconsistency that has defeated other talented squads in the last several years.

It starts at the setter position. Yamil Perez has all the tools to be great, but at the moment he has a problem staying sharp as the match progresses. Last night he was spraying balls all over the gym again. It was like spotting Los Coyotes (inside joke for the ‘01 Trippers) 5-6 points per game, turning routine side-outs into tough battles or hanging his hitters out to dry with no chance to beat the block. Even the most casual observer could tell when Yamil put the ball on the money because LBSU couldn’t touch BYU on those points. In fact, I remarked to Jacob that Yamil could set Yosleyder Cala on every single point if he would just set it high enough for Cala to go get it above everyone else–they couldn’t get anywhere near high enough to block it. I’m totally serious about that.

Another problem continues to be service errors. Ivan Perez had seven all by himself, which is inexcusable. At one point in the match, the Pyramids couldn’t do anything right on offense…when the Cougs got the stinkin’ serve in! Long Beach was completely discombobulated, but BYU kept hitting serves out and allowed LBSU to stay in the game. That’s the only way LBSU got the game 3 win.

Barring a miraculous mental transformation by the team, I don’t think BYU has the stuff to take down the top teams in the MPSF. It’s especially sad because Ivan Perez and Russell Holmes are two sure-fire 1st team All-Americans this year and it’s a shame to waste their talent like this. Holmes just broke Ryan Millar’s record for solo blocks in a season with 23, no small feat when you consider that it was ten times easier to do before the RSE (rally scoring era).

So, to sum up: I’m underwhelmed with the state of BYU men’s volleyball. Young team? Yes. Talented? Yes. Long way to go? Yes. Time running out? Yes…