The Year Of The Favorite

You've got no fear of the underdog. That's why you will not survive.


Well, Britt, to this point in 2008 anyone who doesn't fear the underdog has been surviving at an alarming rate. USC thrashed the "Fighting" Illini, racking up the highest total yards in Rose Bowl History and some horrible death machine called the Georgia Bulldogs is ripping everybody's favorite accused-rapist-turned-golden-boy Colt Brennan and his once-proud Hawaii Warriors to shreds. It is, clearly, not reasonable to blame this on 2008 entirely, because it continues a horrible trend from 2007 that involved the Patriots going 16-0, the Red Sox sweeping the World Series, Real Madrid beating Barcelona and Manchester United overtaking Arsenal for the lead in the English Premier League. With the only shining example of the non-survival of the favorite in recent memory being England's horrible collapse in EURO 2008 qualifying, I think things were well on track to set us up for what must be known in the future as the New Year's Day Massacre, 2008.

I know that years changing are pretty arbitrary ideas especially in regards to trends and superstition, but I think we can all admit this is not a good omen for an election year. If Brennan and company can't manage a significant comeback in the second half down in New Orleans, I'd say we might as well put all our money in the pot that says we will be faced with a Clinton/Giuliani election. This is especially bad for me because I have been betting heavily on the Green Bay Packers. I would like to believe that this horrible trend cannot continue for very long, and there would be no better time for such a humiliating fall from grace than the Super Bowl for those hulking, cheating pricks from New England. But today's slate of college football action has got me feeling despondent and depressed.

Yes, things are shaping up to be ugly. And we have a continuous onslaught in the next week, which seems almost criminally unfair. We need time to recover from the bloodbath that was 2007, and nobody has the energy for a National Championship Game just yet, and certainly not an Iowa Caucus. Good Christ, there are meant to be two Iowa Caucuses, aren't there? This is worse than I thought. No rest for the weary, on one hand, but I will be soaking up whatever there is to soak up in Central America very soon and that's the only hope I have. I will be missing the NFL's Conference Championship games and I'm hoping not to see the scores until I come home. Actually, now that Georgia added another touchdown to make their lead 31-3, I might not even want to know after that. Fuck all if it's New England-Dallas. And fuck-all if Roger Clemens wriggles out of this steroid mess, and Hillary Clinton gets elected President. Ahhhhh, hell, why don't we just give the Oscar to Steven Spielberg right now?

I hope it's just paranoia or a horrible ignorance of sample size concerns, but I have a genuine fear that 2008 will be the Year Of The Favorite. I think it might be best to try and stack the odds in your favor as soon as possible. No need to worry about the Hawaii Warriors, compadre. Our posts are safe.