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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (34071)	1/2/2004 8:36:06 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 89467

A left coast view. BCS a little out of this world This just in from the Bogus Championship Series headquarters, which are rumored to be located on the dark side of the planet Pluto: Sunday's scheduled BCS national title game between Oklahoma and Louisiana State University in the Sugar Bowl has been called off. The University of Southern California is the undisputed national champion, after all. According to the latest calculations by the much-ridiculed BCS computers, there is no mathematical way the Sooners or the Tigers could catch the Trojans after what has transpired during the bowl season. Turns out, USC doesn't have a strength-of-schedule problem. The combination of the Trojans' 28-14 conquest of Michigan in Thursday's Rose Bowl and bowl victories by five of USC's regular-season opponents has proved what only we on the Left Coast knew all along. The partisan sellout crowd of 93,849 at the Rose Bowl made the official announcement for the BCS in the form of a thunderous chant with 4:10 left in Thursday's game: ``We're No. 1! We're No. 1! We're No. 1!" The BCS was forced to change its final regular-season rankings after these bowl scores came in: Oregon State 55, New Mexico 14 in the Las Vegas Bowl. Hawaii 54, Houston 48, in triple-overtime, in the Hawaii Bowl. Cal 52, Virginia Tech 49 in the Insight Bowl. Washington State 28, Texas 20 in the Holiday Bowl. Auburn 28, Wisconsin 14 in the Music City Bowl. The Trojans defeated all of the above bowl winners except Cal, which handed USC its only loss. But the Bears' upset of Virginia Tech and USC's convincing victory against Big Ten champion Michigan exponentially elevated USC's BCS numbers so that no more games are necessary. The BCS issued a statement apologizing to everybody it confused along the way and announced it would return to Pluto to stay. Sentimental slogan: Defensive tackle Shaun Cody was one of many Trojans who wore a T-shirt under his uniform Thursday that was emblazoned with this message: ``Smells Like Roses/Tastes Like Sugar/USC Football." Perfect. Cody was asked after the game if he is going to watch the Sugar Bowl. ``Sure, two great teams going at it," he said. ``But it doesn't mean much to me. From our standpoint, we did what we had to do. They told us if we won the Rose Bowl, we would win the national championship - and that's what we did." Defensive end Kenechi Udeze had a different take. ``I wish we could have a playoff," he said, ``because this team could play with anybody in the country." Ultimate spin doctor: As usual, USC coach Pete Carroll took the high road with regard to the latest BCS controversy, saying Thursday he has never complained about the system and wasn't going to start now. He even put a positive spin on the most embarrassing scenario since the origin of the BCS - the No. 1 team in both polls being left out of the BCS title game. ``We have generated enough momentum to fix it, as best we can," he said during his postgame news conference Thursday night. A good start, obviously, would be prohibiting teams that didn't win their conferences - such as Oklahoma this season - from playing in the BCS title game. Agony of de-feet: If there were a turning point in the game, it likely was a fluke play in the second quarter that resulted in a USC interception. On third-and-18 from the Michigan 9-yard line, Wolverines quarterback John Navarre's pass hit the heel of receiver Braylon Edwards and bounced up into the waiting hands of linebacker Lofa Tatupu, whose 26-yard return set up the touchdown that gave USC a 14-0 lead with 4:58 left in the half. ``I'm still not sure what happened there," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. ``Braylon said it hit him in the foot." Call it Michigan's Achilles' heel. Good point: Wide receiver Kerry Colbert, who caught six passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns on Thursday, was asked when he knew that sophomore USC quarterback Matt Leinart was going to be special. ``Well, his first collegiate pass went for a touchdown against Auburn (in the season opener)," Colbert said, laughing. ``I think that's pretty good." Sack time: The Trojans effectively used cornerback blitzes by Will Poole and Marcell Allmond, to keep the pressure on Navarre all afternoon, resulting in a season-high nine sacks. ``They say speed kills," Poole said afterward. ``I guess we proved that." Stat of the Day: Elapsed time of USC's four scoring ``drives" were 37 seconds, 52 seconds, 75 seconds and 2 minutes, 5 seconds. In all the four scoring drives totaled, 4 minutes, 49 seconds - or an average of 72 seconds. That's quintessential quick-strike football. Oh: For some reason, USC's game notes included the final media and coaches' polls but did not include the final BCS standings, which ranked the Trojans No. 3. ``They were not appropriate to this game," Tim Tessalone, USC's sports information director, said when I asked why the BCS standings were being ignored. Get me rewrite: Michigan needs to change the lyrics of its famous fight song: ``Hail to the victors ... champions of the West." The West? I don't think so. bayarea.com lurqer

To: stockman_scott who wrote (34071)	1/2/2004 8:51:29 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

When I saw this title Easy pickings for champion rat catcher I immediately thought of a location just south of Baltimore where his talent could be put to use. Rest of story LABOURER Ismail Hamzah has earned almost RM3,000 (S$1,350) and the title of best rat catcher by killing 1,175 of the rodents in three months. The Kota Baru city council in Kelantan offered residents RM1 per rat as part of a campaign to eradicate the vermin. At the end of the three-month campaign, participants handed in a total of 1,922 rats. Mr Ismail, 43, caught 1,175 of them. He received the bounty for each rat and a first-prize bonus of RM1,500. He said he shot the rats with pebbles, using a slingshot that he made from a block of wood and rubber tube. straitstimes.asia1.com.sg JMO lurqer