The Daily Dose/January 5, 2017
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
NEW YEAR, NEW MATERIAL, RIGHT…RIGHT?: You would think we would find something else to write about.
I Guess Not: I mean, as usual, the world abounds with its usual tumult and other circumstances demanding a writer’s attention. For example, a new president takes office later this month and the times, as they usually are, are as contentious as they are momentous
The times interest us, too. We’ve been on the ballot for both the United States Senate and House of Representatives and we care about the world we live in and we enjoy writing about substantive matters for thoughtful people like you.
Hut, Hut Hike: But all we can think to write about right now is college football and how this great sport continues to be screwed up by those who run it.
We grew up in Rose Bowl country and generally go out of our way to watch it. Not this year. In fact, we didn’t even know who won it until the morning after the game. USC and Penn State, two schools whose football teams received some of the biggest sanctions the NCAA dealt out to anyone not named Southern Methodist, were the participants.
Hi Boys!: Penn State’s participation in particular, galled us. After keeping a child molester on staff for three decades, we’ve always felt Penn State should no longer be allowed to make off money off of major division intercollegiate football. Their program should’ve been shut down and, later, if they wanted to offer football they could’ve done so at a lower level.
The Heart Of The Matter: Regular readers of this crap know that, as usual, our biggest complaint was the lack of an NCAA-sponsored playoff at the major division level. Sure, there is a major division title game, but it followed a mere four-team invitational semifinal round.
The game is Monday night and there’s no real complaint about who’s playing, as both Alabama and Clemson are very good. Still though, the champions of the Big Ten and Big Twelve conferences were not given the opportunity to compete, which is hardly fair and we could bore you with other points we’ve made off and on over the years.
FunFact: We will remind everyone, however, that a 32-team NCAA sponsored major division football playoff could’ve begun Thanksgiving weekend and ended Monday, January 2. Such a playoff would become an American classic quicker than you could say “Bahamas Bowl”
Instead, we spent December being force fed bowl games – meaningless exhibitions, really – some featuring a team or teams that were not good enough to produce a winning record. Most were played in front of a lot of empty seats. Major division football schools are still making a lot of money, so good luck getting this to change. Maybe President-elect Trump and his Russian buddies can force a change.
GREAT MOMENTS IN CONVICTING THE INNOCENT: French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus, recently convicted of treason, is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island in French Guyana on this date in 1895.
Dreyfus was wrongly convicted. A few years later evidence who really gave French military secrets to the Germans was produced and Dreyfus was eventually completely exonerated, though not until he had to go through the hassle of being found guilty at another trail, after which he received a pardon and he eventually returned to the French Army.
Don’t Let Sam Walton Hear About This: Ford Motor Company announces it was unilaterally reducing the work day from nine to eight hours and doubling pay from $2.50 a day to $5.00 a day on this date in 1914.
The move caused other automakers to roll their eyes at ol’ Henry Ford, but Ford knew what he was doing. Production went up and profits doubled in two years.
Dry, Technical Matter: $5 a day comes out to about $15-an-hour in 2016 dollars.
And So It Began: The German Worker’s Party, which would eventually become the Nazi Party, is founded in Munich on this date in 1919. Membership was low initially, at least until September when Adolph Hitler, then an army veteran with no prospects, joined and began livening matters up.
Heatwave: The warmest reliably recorded temperature in the Antarctic – 59 degrees – is recorded on this date in 1974 at Vanda Station
Thought For The Day: Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits targets no one else can see. – Arthur Schopenhauer
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Of the three members of Apollo 8 – Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders – none would later walk on the moon. Borman would retire, Anders was on the Apollo 11 backup crew, but otherwise did not make another spaceflight while Lovell was commander of Apollo 13, which suffered an accident on the way out and did well to make it back to Earth.
Today’s Stumper: The Trivia feature will return!
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