Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Complete List of Subjects Treated in the "Partial List of Subjects Treated" in Garry Wills' Translation of Martial's Epigrams

Adult Homosexuality
Artifacts
Baldness
Banqueting
Body Odor
Cunnilingus
Debt Delinquency
Fellatio
Legacy Hunting
Marital Fidelity
Marital Infidelity
Misogyny
Pederasty
The Simple Life
Tributes to Emperors
Tributes to Friends
Tributes to the Dead
Wine
The Writing Profession

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A Modest Bowl Proposal

I can appreciate a meaningless football game as much as anyone, especially if the grass is real and the weather is dismal, but bowl games aren’t supposed to be meaningless. The way I understand it, a bowl game is a championship of some sort. For example, the NFL has the Super Bowl. College has a tradition of bowls, which should be scrapped for a playoff, but I can accept a series of games spread out over the holiday season. In fact, it was just that lovely idea that had me preparing to clip the bowl game schedule, so I could post it on the fridge in anticipation of some leisurely tv viewing.

That’s where I found a list of 35 bowl games. Thirty-five! That’s 70 teams, a huge number of which are absolutely mediocre. 32 of the teams playing—almost half of them—have records of 7-5 or worse! That’s unconscionable, pathetic, appalling. I realize that’s where money can be made, and that’s where our power lies. If your team goes 7-5 or 6-6, please don’t fly off to some southern city to support them. Let them earn their way to a bowl game. And if you’re at home with nothing to do, don’t watch the game. What if no one attended these games, and the broadcasts garnered 0.0 Nielsen scores?

And by the way, what ever happened to the Cotton Bowl? That used to be one of the biggies.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

For a Good Time . . .

check out the Literature Map. It's pointless, but it's fun.