Michigan Did Not Play Well Enough to Deserve a Rematch

After Ohio State defeated Michigan 42-39 last Saturday, a debate ensued over who should play Ohio State in the national championship game. A lot of people felt Michigan should be the team based on how well they played Ohio State. Michigan played well, but not well enough to deserve a rematch. To deserve a rematch, one of two things would have needed to happen.

• The game went into overtime.
• Ohio State had to come from behind in the fourth quarter to win the game.

Overtime in college football is a crapshoot so if Michigan lost in OT at Ohio State, their 11-1 record would be better than USC or Florida's one loss records.

Last season Ohio State had to score 2 touchdowns at the end of the game to beat Michigan. If that had occurred this season, Michigan would have a case at a rematch. But Ohio State took the lead with 12:29 to play in the second quarter and never relinquished it. Trailing for the last 42:29 of the game does not provide a strong case for a rematch.

If USC loses to UCLA and Florida loses to Arkansas, Michigan deserves to play in the national championship game. But if not, USC and Florida deserve it more. USC and Michigan both beat Notre Dame, and USC's win at Arkansas is better than any of Michigan's other wins. Florida would have beaten Tennessee, LSU, and Arkansas, which trumps Michigan's win over Wisconsin and loss at Ohio State.

Iraq War Costs: a Sign, not a Reason

When people criticize the Iraq war one of the most common complaints is the amount of money being spent, which is approaching $350 billion as I write this. You can even view a running total if you want. I know there are better ways to spend $350 billion, but the financial cost of the war is a weak argument against the Iraq war.

Criticizing the amount of money being spent on the war implies the Iraq war would be OK if it didn't cost so much money. If you think invading Iraq was a bad idea, ask yourself the following questions. Would invading Iraq be OK if it cost $200 billion instead of $350 billion? How about $100 billion? $50 billion? I bet you answered No to all three questions.

If a war is worth fighting, it is worth spending as much money as necessary to win it. When the British were fighting the Germans in World War 2, I doubt many people in Britain were complaining about the amount of money being spent to fight the Germans. The fact people are complaining about the cost of the Iraq war is a sign the war is not worth fighting, not a reason.

Welcome

Here is the start of my personal blog. My name is Mark. I work as a writer and software developer. I have a blog where I write about technical topics. I decided to create this blog to write about things that readers of my other blog would have no interest in. This blog will be about anything I feel like writing about. I doubt many people will read this blog, but I'm writing it for me more than for public consumption.