<This statement from Ohio State AD Gene Smith was released by the school early afternoon on Friday:

"I am disappointed that negative references have been made about our football coaches and particularly head coach Urban Meyer regarding recruiting. In our league appropriate protocol, if you have concerns, is to share those concerns with your athletic director. Then your athletic director will make the determination on the appropriate communications from that point forward. The athletic directors in our league are professionals and communicate with each other extremely well. Urban Meyer and his staff have had a compliance conscience since they’ve arrived.">

At my university, students in marketing classes are given the assignment of watching the game and grading the commercials.

The church I attended when young had Sunday evening worship services. On Super Bowl Sunday, these were moved back to mid-afternoon or cancelled completely.

Jay Leno informs us that Americans are expected to eat 1.4 <billion> chicken wings during the game. No wonder chickens can't fly.

For instance, the candidate who advertises the most is more likely to win an election. But restricting political advertising would not address the problem, which chiefly lies in the attitude of voters who are unwilling to sort through the noise and think for themselves.

As for McCain-Feingold and such ilk, I am reminded of a story of the day when The Tyrannical Monarch granted an audience to the Inventor. The Inventor took a vial of powder out of a pocket and said, "Lo, O mighty king! This Irresistible Gunpowder will make your weapons invincible!"

The king said, "I must have this gunpowder!", and tossed a gold pouch to the inventor.

The inventor drew a vial from another pocket and said, "Lo, O mighty king!" This Invulnerability Powder, sprinkled over your ramparts, will render the Irresistible Gunpowder harmless!"

The king said, "I must have this powder!" and tossed another pouch of gold.

The inventor reached into yet another pocket, pulled out yet another vial, and said, "Lo, O Mighty King! When added to the Irresistible Gunpowder, this substance will render the Invulnerability Powder useless!"

The king called to his guards. "Search this man and tell me how many pockets he has." After a couple of hours, they reported back: "Your Majesty, we are but humble products of the local school system and cannot count that high."

As this point an axe comes into play and things get rather messy, so I think it best to skip to the dual moral:

1) People are incredibly inventive at finding ways to do what they want;

Adding to that: I believe this holds true up to a certain point of saturation. Past that point, a very heavy spender has I think a negligible edge over a merely heavy spender.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_H...

Pyrrhus the conqueror (for whom the Pyrrhic victory is named), having just conquered most of Greece, was discussing his plans with the old philosopher. "I'm going to cross the Adriatic Sea and conquer Rome and Italy," he bragged. "And then what?" asked the philosopher.

"After Rome, I'll cross the sea and conquer Carthage."

"And then what, sire?"

"Sicily, I think. Then Spain."

"And then?"

"Asia, perhaps. Or Egypt."

"And then, sire?"

"Well, I suppose then I'll come home and rest."

Two things to watch. Throughout the playoffs, the Patriots have been playing a big gamble defense. They stop many plays for losses, but also give up a lot of big gainers.

They could get away with this against relatively weak offensive teams like Denver and Baltimore. Will Eli Manning be able to exploit the openings, or will the Giants revert to midseason form?

Defensively, the Giants have to get to Brady. They've got the front four to do it, but it's not a sure bet.