Awww snap - it's gettin' political up in here

At least in my mind, election season seems to denote extra emphasis on the national media's influence on the minds of "the masses." Not only are we bombarded even more than usual with the opinions of the louder and more obnoxious on all programs save Fox, something about how they deliver their message is dangerously contagious to the public, whether it is their forced confidence or just the fact that it makes others feel better about themselves to disparage something so high and powerful as the US government. For example, if I lived in a bubble and my only information regarding the upcoming election status was what I heard on TV, I would believe that McCain was a criminal and doesn't have an inkling of a chance in the upcoming election, when in reality he leads the polls.

What I recently came to realize when the sentiments of the season forced themselves upon me was how easy it is for us as the public to actively choose to recieve a distorted sense of what really happened or is happening, based on emotional tones in others' discussions of a topic, or on the seat those people may be sitting in at the time of their ramblings, which lends them perceived credibility. I think if people would stop and think things through for themselves rather than spitting back what was fed them, we could have a much more accurate picture of a lot of things. Much of the criticism of Bush's administration can be traced back to this. For some reason people have a difficult time actually explaining exactly what they don't like about it, more often why, but that's a loaded topic for the very reasons I pointed out and besides, this post is about football.

If anyone saw the BYU game Saturday, please indulge my opinions on the popular analysis it is being given. If you didn't see it or don't care, sorry. The short story is that in helping along their perpetual quest to gain more respect and a BCS bid this last week, BYU beat a PAC-10 opponent on the road. At the very end of the game, down 28-21, Washington's shifty quarterback Jack Locker broke a couple of tackles on a draw and stumbled three yards into the end zone to come within a PAT (the often-automatic extra-point kick) of tying the game. Here's where it all gets warmly contentious, to coin the Book of Mormon. Once he got into the end zone Locker threw the ball into the air and started celebrating with his teammates, and was flagged for an excessive celebration penalty, which moved the PAT kick from 20 yards to 35 yards. BYU blocked the kick and won the game.



The basic chatter happening in the media right now and throughout the past several days complains that BYU was "lucky to win," that they "had" to block a kick to get the victory, and that we were all robbed of the "natural progression of the game into overtime." Much of the media cite the quote from the rule book which states that "throwing the ball high into the air" constitutes a penalty for excessive celebration, but then say it should have been ignored in that circumstance. The grossest of these is Pat Forde.

Here's the rub:

1. It was excessive celebration, and then BYU was called for the same thing after the point-after kick. The critics are NFL fans, in which league the professionals are allowed to sing, dance, sign autographs, and practically destroy the football in celebration of a touchdown, and it brings revenues to a corporation which decided the trade-off between Jacksons and sportsmanship was worth it. This is the NCAA. It's school. Its rules are much more along the lines of those for high school football, during which I was once reprimanded by a coach for almost getting an excessive celebration penalty for putting my arms in the air after a touchdown run, never even letting go of the ball, much less flinging it in the air behind me. Locker came up short - plain and simple.



2. There's no way the game should have even been that close. Washington enjoyed the benefits of lucky bounces the entire game, lending the feeling to any who watched it that BYU was completely in control and the better team for the entire second half. An inopportune goal-line fumble by BYU after driving the full length of the field as well as the referees' negligence to call holding in the backfield on every single play during Washington's final drive was ludicrous. Here's the stat line (BYU's numbers are first,) in which BYU dominated in almost every category:

1st Downs 25 22
Total Yards 475 337
Passing 338 204
Rushing 137 133
Penalties 7-60 4-25
3rd Down Conversions 12-14 9-15
4th Down Conversions 0-0 1-1
Turnovers 2 0
Possession 31:04 28:56



3. Check out the above picture. Though a 35 yarder has a slightly lower trajectory than a 20-yarder, BYU's line had hands much higher in the air than Jorgensen's (84) and would have easily blocked a hypothetical 20-yard kick, the distance which would have been played had the referees ignored the rules and let slide Locker's excessive celebration, like everyone seems to wish they had.

4. Finally, what's so cheap about blocking a kick? Why doesn't anyone consider that a respectable play? BYU is criticized for "needing" a blocked kick in the Vegas Bowl to beat UCLA, and "needing" one to beat Washington. The O-line is expected to protect the kicker and the trajectory of the ball, and if they don't, they don't score. I equate it to hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer in a crucial game. Does it seem fair to say Michael Jordan needed a game-winning jumper over Bryon Russell to win, and that the nation was robbed of a Jazz championship? (that was glorious, by the way)

The point I'm trying to make for all of this is that people love jumping on bandwagons together. The media has tremendous power to distort truth and impose opinions on its recievers; all they have to do is talk in confident tones. What I think is that this game and its implications have been desecrated by anchormen who didn't even watch it, but instead saw replays of the game's end. They sit in such seats of power that their negligence infiltrates everyone quick to jump to conclusions about games they didn't watch.

Normally I don't care what people think, but the ridiculous labels given to this game were bad enough that BYU dropped from number 15 nationally to number 18 in the AP poll, so it's no longer just about faulty opinions of the game, it's about the BCS. When a team from a lame conference like the Mountain West thoroughly beats a PAC-10 team on the road and drops in the polls, something horrible has happened.

Go Cougars.