If you bother to look beyond the hype, past the overselling of tradition and the outright propaganda issued by vested interests such as those broadcasting the games, the four-team playoff system for the Division I national championship has neutered all the other bowls.

Whatever the flower, fruit, or corporate sponsor in their names, these outsider games all have become toilet bowls. Time just to flush them.

The best and brightest players opt out of the lesser-echelon games, meaning they don’t play in bowl games that are not in the playoff system lest they get injured and cost themselves some money when they try to move on to the pro ranks.

Presumably they don’t think they can get injured playing for a championship.

Matt Corral, the Ole Miss quarterback and likely NFL first-round draft pick, stood out by opting to play with his team in the Sugar Bowl – not one of the championship bowl games this year. And, just to add fuel to the fire, Corral had to be carted off the field early in the game with an ankle injury and did not return.

Fortunately for Corral, X rays were negative and according to reports the injury should not affect his draft stock.

But that hasn’t stopped the social media Monday Morning Morons from using Corral’s misfortune to lampoon critics of opt-out players. Notable among that group of critics is ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who questioned the love of the game of those opting out.

Fellow ESPN analyst Desmond Howard also was critical of the opt-out players.

The way I see it, this trend to opt out has helped to strip away the already thin student-athlete nonsense when we’re talking big-time college football.

The better college football programs serve as semi-pro leagues for the NFL, or CFL.

It can be argued that the colleges and NCAA take financial advantage of the players in this setup.

It also can be argued that many players take advantage of their colleges, pitting them against each other in the recruiting process and expecting to be treated like royalty when they hit the campus. Yet these players reserve the right to cut and run should they get an attitude cramp.

Let us deal with the reality of the situation. For all the corny crap about living or dying for Old State, how there’s no I in team, or about teams being one huge family, the reality is too large a percentage of players are lone rangers.

They do what is good for them and if it happens to help the team, too, well that’s just serendipity.

It’s not just the opting out that has removed that student-athlete illusion. The so-called transfer portal has become an eight-lane highway allowing disgruntled players to leave for theoretically greener pastures without losing any time.

Let me emphasize, I’ve got no problem with players looking out for themselves. I merely want all involved to be upfront and honest about it.

Moving forward, players, coaches and media should spare us the syrupy tributes to college football using buzzwords such as tradition, loyalty, teamwork.

Paint the players with the appropriate brush of mercenary self-interest and leave it at that.

And, please, let us get rid of maybe 25 or 30 bowl games so we have that many fewer chances for the self-interested to strut their indifference to their team and game by opting out of bowls.

The year 2021 is down to its last gasp and we can only hope 2022 is better, both than this year and the previous example.

Getting COVID hysteria under control would be a start. A competent person in the White House would be a boost, too, although that’s not possible any time soon.

Regardless, here’s a little True-False quiz for you from headlines in the waning days of 2021 as a reminder of how ridiculous this year had been.

True or false, the much ballyhooed Jan. 6 “insurrection” was a planned coup attempt by angry Trump supporters and various right-wing groups.

False. Despite the ongoing narrative, a Reuters report way back in August, citing an FBI source, said the protesters had been found to be almost entirely people acting on their own without any kind of centralized planning.

True or false, despite rising energy prices, particularly for oil, discovery of new reserves was at a 75-year low in 2021.

True. According to a story on QZ.com citing the Rystad Energy firm, the search for fossil fuels has suffered a large decrease in funding, no doubt owing to the clean energy maniacs led by the likes of Sweden’s Rain Girl. Expect prices of gasoline and natural gas to rise in 2022, both here and abroad. Thank AOC and her Green New Deal friends for this.

True or false, the New York State Health Department, in a memo setting priority standards for doling out anti-virus medications, has included being “nonwhite” in a list of more traditional risk factors such as diabetes or cancer that would give an individual preference to receive the drugs.

True. Black Lives Matter types would be so pleased. Can a White Lives Matter group be anticipated?

True or false, using the IRS as its collection agency, the cash-strapped United States is calling on criminals to report income from theft or various illegal activities such as dealing drugs on their 1040 tax forms.

True. As reported by the New York Post, the IRS even specified such income from illegal activities could be reported on Schedule 1, Line 8Z or on Schedule C. So, crime does pay, but the IRS still wants its cut.

True or false, in a rare triumph of facts over propaganda, virus demigod Tony Fauci admitted during a Thursday appearance on his MSNBC cable soapbox that most so-called hospitalizations of children with COVID, are not due to COVID.

True. Mentioning a broken leg, appendicitis or similar issues, Fauci said kids entering the hospital for treatment for those conditions are automatically tested for COVID and if they come back positive, they are listed as a COVID hospitalization. That, in a nutshell, speaks to the statistical manipulation that has been employed to make COVID numbers look worse then they actually are. This has continued despite ample evidence that the current Omicron variation is on par with the common cold.

Goodbye 2021. You were a joke of a year that ended true to form.

I read that an MSNBC lack of personality snowflake is outraged because a citizen said “Let’s Go Brandon” to Joe Biden on a phone call.

From this she has extrapolated that it’s all part of an ongoing insurrection against a sitting president.

I wonder if she was as outraged when the FBI, the LameStream media, members of Congress, a presidential election opponent and a cast of thousands of entrenched bureaucrats conspired to gin up a Russian conspiracy in the attempt to discredit and remove a sitting president named Trump?

The Let’s Go Brandon meme arose from fans at an auto race chanting “F— Joe Biden” as a post-race interview was being conducted on track with the winner, a guy named Brandon.

The twit holding the microphone could have ignored it all. Could have expressed dismay. Could have spoken louder.

Instead, she did what too many media members do these days, twisted it into something it obviously was not, saying the crowd was chanting “Let’s go Brandon.”

And a meme was born.

Understand that it was painfully obvious she was not reporting accurately. But, again, accuracy these days plays second fiddle to messaging.

A common ongoing media theme is to speak with horror of Jan. 6 and the so-called attack on democracy in this country.

Let us recount that for all the participants in this incident, the only person who died from violence was an unarmed female protester who was shot for the high crime of reaching through a broken window.

One policeman died – not from being hit on the head with a fire extinguisher as was widely reported – but instead from a pair of strokes.

Two protest participants died from heart attacks.

One died from what was first reported as being trampled but later was changed to an “accidental” overdose.

There have been four suicides since among police officers.

All the above has been gleaned from factcheck.org, not exactly a right-wing operation.

This hasn’t stopped political opportunist and math-challenged socialist (aren’t they all?) AOC from proclaiming that it was a terror attack with “almost 10 dead.”

What is “almost dead.” Or can this lefist figurehead not count to 8, 9, or 10? How did she ever make correct change in her bartender days?

The blame for some of this overblown insurrection chatter owes to the lack of history being taught in our schools.

Instead of poisoning minds with tales of Adam and Steve, they might remind the young ‘uns that this country was born of an insurrection, against a British government that actually was less intrusive and controlling than our current regime. You can look it up!

The current populace is restive as prices go up daily, leftist lame-brained legislation is attempted to be rammed through, virus overkill has become a never-ending power grab, and parents are being told to sit down and shut up if they don’t want their kids indoctrinated instead of instructed.

A man using the Let’s Go Brandon meme is not insurrection. Neither was the Jan. 6 protest.

But, if government and media continue to attempt lead us down this path of unquestioning subservience, an actual insurrection is an outcome for which they should start planning.

Let’s Go Brandon!

Call it the Burger King Christmas miracle. A stranger bought lunch for me and the wife today.

It happened not on 34^th Street, but in the drive-through lane at the Westwood BK, which I’d occupied for maybe 10 minutes thanks to an unlikely rush at 2:30 p.m.

No problem. I’m a new, more patient guy these days and I’d promised to bring home something for us to eat since my wife was about to make more cookies – she’s always making cookies!

When it finally was my turn to yell into the ordering microphone, I asked for two chicken parmigiana sandwiches. This puzzled the guy. Memo to self: Got to call it Italian chicken sandwich in the future.

The rest of the order was made without difficulty.

But it was me who was soon to be the puzzled one. As I reached the pay window, money in hand, the pleasant woman there told me there was no charge, the woman in the car ahead of me had paid for my order.

I was temporarily speechless, a condition I’ve heard about but am not really familiar with firsthand. As I stammered, the woman continued it was a pay-it-forward gesture.

Although definitions vary, basically the pay-it-forward philosophy is if you are the beneficiary of a good deed, you should gift another with a similar act. They do the same. Wash, rinse, repeat.

The employee volunteered that it happened more than you’d believe and she thinks it’s a really nice gesture. “Your lunch is free today,” she said.

Because I’m wired the way I am, my mind raced for context.

It would have been nice to have thanked the woman, but she and her Cadillac were long-gone.

I also would have liked to have known if perhaps she had taken pity on me due to me driving the wife’s older, rusted Ford Focus, not her pristine, low-mileage Pontiac Grand Prix GT. Plus, I’m old. So it could be the woman figured I could really use some economic relief.

Pondering the matter further, I speculated that this could be a karmic response to the wife’s generosity. As mentioned earlier, she bakes a lot of cookies, particularly for Christmas although this latest batch is for a party.

Regardless, Christmas cookie platters are widely dispensed to friends and family, not to mention neighbors on our street who act civilly toward us.

Cookie platters and other assorted sweets also are highlights of a union Christmas party we attend, where they are offered as raffle prizes.

As I’ve told my wife often, she’s a much better person than I am. It could be that by me offering to bring home something to eat, I indirectly benefited from her generosity with cookies and the like.

She’s the kind of person who once gave a bouquet of flowers to a little girl who was helping her dad shop for groceries because the mother was ill. My wife had noticed the father and the girl often in the store and felt obliged to acknowledge the girl’s actions.

So, perhaps for those acts, or due to other reasons I cannot call to mind readily, we got the proverbial free lunch today. At least it was free to us.

I ventured out this morning, despite the fear porn being dispensed by local weather people.

The folks on the various local Stormwatch–Stormcenter–Oh My God You’re All Going To Die–Armageddon Is Nigh–Doomsday broadcasts warned of sleet and freezing rain.

Such weather is not an all that uncommon state of affairs in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania, yet each recurrence is treated with overkill hype.

It’s a variation of how “news” has devolved into telling people to look after outdoor pets in extreme heat or cold, or to be careful driving in snow and ice or rain and fog, or not to put a plastic dry-cleaning bag over their heads lest they suffocate and be lost forever to the ratings numbers.

At this point I will emulate these broadcasts with some free, no-kidding advice: Studies have found that hitting yourself on the head with a hammer hurts and can cause long-term damage. Now, back to the matter of driving in ice and snow . . .

My brother, who lives at an elevation several hundred feet lower than I, had been using the wife’s old front-wheel drive sleigh and reported things weren’t that bad downtown.

A quick scan of my surroundings indicated ice and slush, but nothing approaching impassable, so he was given the go-ahead to pick me up.

The reason we were daring the weather was to make the daily visit to our mother, who is in long-term care.

We had no difficulty in getting there. But I am pleased to report that in riding maybe two miles with him, then returning solo two miles or so to my house, the high level of driving idiocy for which this area is known was being maintained, albeit by fewer drivers.

One brain donor, doing the old left onto Sunshine and right onto Susquehanna dodge to avoid the traffic light at Goucher and Menoher, decided approximately 100 feet was enough room to make another left and pull safely in front of a plow truck on Menoher.

Said plow truck disagreed and planted the brakes hard, allowing the moron to avoid being broadsided in the driver’s door and, ostensibly, to live to do more stupid things.

But wait, there’s more.

The person following me – too closely for this or any condition – almost didn’t get stopped before hitting me. Not at all sobered by that experience, the same driver continued to follow much too close for conditions.

This could have been problematic as I eventually would have to make two left turns. To aid this clueless individual, I slowed my speed, made sure to hit the turn signals plenty early and tapped out in Morse code with the brake pedal a message having to do with safe driving.

Turning onto my street, I was amused, but not surprised, to see a car at the end of the block pulled at a 45-degree angle across both lanes. Apparently the person was scraping snow and ice off their car and wanted to deposit it in the middle of the street instead of in their parking space.

I assure you, I’m not making up any of this.

Let us close with more news you can use. Another neighbor had her vehicle running (remote start) when I went onto my front porch to await my brother. It still was running when he picked me up, and when I returned from dropping him off to visit our mother. We’re talking about at least 30 minutes and likely more.

Two points need to be made.

First of all, any person knowledgeable about cars will tell you the best winter startup procedure is to let the car idle for about 30 seconds and then begin driving gently. Extended idling is not good for the car’s engine and you will warm it up and melt the snow/ice on windows faster by driving. This is the magic of fuel injection instead of old-school carburetors. Take a few seconds to scrape windows, then start the car and leave.

Second, never buy a used car that comes equipped with a remote starter. While the mileage on the odometer may be low, the hours of running time will be high resulting in much unnecessary wear and tear on the engine and other components. That 30,000-mile car you buy might have an engine that’s run the equivalent of 70,000 miles considering that idling is less than ideal for engines and produces much wear.

.

Take it from someone who spent more than three decades covering sports, the NFL vintage 2021 is a team full of flawed teams.

Even the teams with the best records are suspect. Consider the Green Bay Packers, runaway leaders of the NFC North Division and possessors of the league’s best record at 12-3.

Playing at home Saturday, the Packers held on to win by a thin two-point margin. This was despite Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield throwing FOUR interceptions, Cleveland missing one PAT and later sacrificing further PAT attempts by going for two-point conversions, and the Browns generally showing their ability to mess up a one-car funeral.

If Cleveland (7-8) had played with any sort of acceptable execution, the Browns would have beaten the league’s supposed top team at historic Lambeau.

Cleveland also was playing with a short preparation week, having had its previous game moved to Monday due to COVID 19 hysteria.

Just a week earlier, the largely pathetic Detroit Lions had laid one on the fading Arizona Cardinals. The Arizona collapse continued yesterday with an uninspired performance against Indianapolis. This is a Cardinals team that has lost its division lead to the similarly uneven Los Angeles Rams.

Look around the rest of the NFL and you see similar tales. The Dallas Cowboys can’t score with any kind of consistency.

The entire AFC North standings are compacted by mass mediocrity. Baltimore can’t keep a quarterback healthy and has had other injuries decimate its lineup.

The Steelers have problems on both sides of the football, where once it was only the offense that was laughable.

Cincinnati has lost two of its past three games to “ascend” into a share of the division lead with Baltimore.

Defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay still leads its division, but is stumbling mightily, having been blanked in its last outing.

New England, another long-running success story, holds a division lead despite obvious shortcomings offensively.

Tennessee soldiers on with its division lead despite not having its best offensive player, among other shortcomings.

A common theme to this NFL season has been key injuries, augmented by routine COVID absences.

Currently it seems the Omicron variant, which various reports indicate shares symptoms and overall danger with the common cold, is putting players on the sidelines until they can test free of the virus.

Once this sort of overkill would have been mocked. One of the highlights in the lore of the Pittsburgh Steelers is how defensive end Dwight White crawled out a New Orleans hospital bed to play and star in the Steelers’ Super Bowl IX victory.

White, who had spent the week leading up to the game hospitalized with pneumonia, lost 20 pounds, but still played.

He sacked Minnesota quarterback Fran Tarkenton in the end zone for a safety to account for the only first-half points scored in the game.

In the NFL of this era, White would have been sidelined because pneumonia can be a contagious ailment.

History fails to record any outbreak of pneumonia due to White’s presence in that Super Bowl.

We still say Merry Christmas in this household, mostly because we celebrate the holiday, but also because we refuse to bow to the politically crowd and their Happy Holidays dictates.

Let me assure you that if you desire to wish me Happy Hanukkah, Merry or Happy Kwanzaa, and/or Merry or Happy Ramadan, I won’t be offended.

I won’t be traumatized. I won’t be rushing to the media to make charges of intimidation. I won’t consider it a microaggression, or even a macroaggression.

If one is looking to be offended, opportunities are many. Just last night — Christmas Eve – I was trying to watch reruns of The Office only to have my eyes assaulted by repetitive promos for RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Is this appropriate advertising on Christmas Eve? Not for me.

But I didn’t curl up in a fetal position sucking my thumb due to the trauma of it all. Along that line, if someone wishes me well for a holiday, I will accept it in the spirit it was offered.

I can’t celebrate these holidays of others– that would allow the social justice warriors to scream cultural appropriation. I can, however, recognize that they are holidays celebrated by many and feel good for them.

And, in the final analysis, isn’t that a common theme that the holidays of different cultures are supposed to represent?

Soon our family will be arriving here to eat another great turkey dinner prepared by the wife, exchange presents and later make some trips to visit my mother in a long-term care facility.

We will enjoy Christmas, despite governmental efforts to derail that. I hope you do, too.

Blogger’s note: Today there’s no carol, just a fresh take on a classic Christmas poem.

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through land,

people were living their hat in their hand.

Prices were rising and paychecks were shrinking.

And this meant the folks, they were taking to drinking.

The libs they were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of socialism danced in their heads.

And we on the right, we were gaining resolve,

Though Biden’s a problem, ’tis one we could solve.

The man has gone senile and lost all his senses,

Evidence includes him downing our fences.

Jabbing us often with the latest vaccine,

Was among Biden’s goals, with this most obscene.

If only he’d go back to sniffing girls’ hair,

Get out of the office and back to his lair.

Or brag of his exploits with much exaggeration,

Instead of more dabbling in vote exploitation.

The man’s lapdog media, it does fawn o’er his mumblings,

Leaving the sane alone with their grumblings.

This is the man who did claim to beat Trump,

But faith in that tale brands believers as chumps.

It ’tis much more like it, that the election was stolen,

Rules fell like tenpins when a good one is bowlin’.

And here now we’re facing a U.S. demise,

Due to fools and their misdeeds; commies and lies.

But hope springs eternal in the breasts of the faithful.

Anyone but Biden would prove to be helpful.

The man is a train wreck of Botox and facelifts.

His transplanted hair is both mismatched and misfit.

His handlers would brand him as Old Uncle Joe,

But only the brain dead would buy all that snow.

Biden, it’s clear, is no jolly, old elf.

But rather a loser quite fond of himself.

His ego is massive, his awareness quite tiny;

His wife is a shill, his VP quite whiny.

In just a few years, they all should be out,

Left to lament and do the Hillary pout.

‘Cause it just has to be that a nation like ours,

will fail to elect more fools, boors and liars.

And now we can dream of the day they all leave,

A time we will welcome and leftists bereave.

We will hear them exclaim as they flee Old D.C.,

Whoever replaced us must be better than we!

Blogger’s note: The updated holiday songbook concludes today with a carol about Joe Biden. It borrows from Good King Wenceslas, even though Biden has little in common with the caring king of the original song.

HE’S NO WENCESLAS (To be sung to the tune of Good King Wenceslas)

Joe the clueless king looked out,

on a failing nation.

Rife it was with crime and fear,

and runaway inflation.

Joe took no blame for all the woes,

’twas his inclination.

Admitting fault not what Joe does,

not even with hesitation.

Am I still the president,

or just back in the Senate?

Do I read these lines aloud,

I’m puzzled if they meant it?

Can I make the people do,

anything I want to?

Why must I still follow rules,

when I just don’t want to?

It’s four o’clock and I grow tired,

I need my daily nappy.

Tuck me in and change me please,

That would make me happy.

Wake me up at 8 o’clock,

to watch the cables praise me.

CNN, MSNBC,

Not Fox ’cause they do craze me.

You stupid people just can’t get,

That I’m one standout ruler.

Not the one with 12 inches,

But a hip dude who’s much cooler.

Listen up and you will learn,

how to understand me.

Think of all the fools you know,

And I’ll fit right in there for thee.

I hear you people moaning much,

about your situation.

But don’t blame me I’m just the king,

Though well above your station.

Understand I feel your pain,

well actually I’m numb.

You little people who complain,

Should shut up while I suck my thumb.

Blogger’s note: Christmas nears. Today we offer an update on The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire). If only Nat “King” Cole were still around to sing it.

THE COVID SONG (To be sung to the tune of The Christmas Song).

(Verse) Leftists coming down with COVID now,

Despite taking all their shots.

Instead of owning right up to the truth,

They now want to vax up all the youth.

Everyone should know that these vaccines they just don’t work,

Aren’t worth getting after all.

But they insist just get more and more,

And maybe then your masks can fall.

(Bridge) They know that Fauci’s on his way.

He’s loaded lots of jabs and bullets on his tray.

And if you doth protest you’re gonna find,

You’ve put your freedom right there on the line.

(Chorus) And so they warn you now to toe the line,

If you don’t want to pay the cost.

Take your shots and just shut up,

Or it will truly be your loss.

(Bridge II) Again, Fauci’s on his way,

You can’t move without first getting his OK.

He is power-drunk — a grumpy elf,

We’d like to put him away on the shelf.

(Chorus II) A day will come when all this grief,

Is put quite firmly in the past.

Until that the day the best you can do,

Is recognize Fauci’s an ass.