as Missouri goes, so goes the nation...

Hi loyal followers of the BiffBlog! The old man is still cruising down I-95, so the youngun gets to guest post for a while. No worries, though, I've been promised on-the-road updates, which will then of course be put up here.

Anyway, it's Saturday, and that, of course, means utter college football madness. This particular Saturday was without question a truly epic one--for multiple reasons, but mainly because of the Texas-Texas Tech game. I would describe it here, but really, it's something that needs to be seen (ESPN's highlight reel is at this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3677736&categoryId=2378529&n8pe6c=2). Suffice to say that Tech beat a number one team for the first time in their history, and a minute-thirty on the clock is just way too much time to start slacking off on defense. Mack Brown, of all people, should know this--he's the one who beat USC in the '06 Rose Bowl with 19 seconds left.

In other exciting news around the conferences, Rice clinched bowl eligibility (this'll never get top billing in other media outlets, so I'm giving the event its due right here and now), Michigan clinched a losing season in a last-minute fall to Purdue, Florida stomped all over Georgia in a cold-blooded act of revenge (I want to see the new Heisman rankings, even though I suspect McCoy will still be leading), and the Huskers got shucked by the Sooners. ESPN, that master of self-promotion, floods the airwaves with Monday Night Football reminders throughout these games, but frankly, I find the college game infinitely more exciting and interesting than that of the pros (and to think I didn't even pay attention to it until, well, I got to college). The rivalries are more intense, the plays and players less refined and more gritty--football started at the college level, and it's here, still, that the game is best watched.

However, Chris Berman is interviewing McCain and Obama during the MNF halftime show, which is something definitely worth watching.

Sen. Obama spoke at Mizzou this past Thursday to a crowd of about 40,000 people, of which I was one. I had seen him earlier this winter, when he was still campaigning for the primaries in Texas, but to have a presidential candidate come to your school in the waning days of election season...well. That's something entirely different. The speech he gave was much more focused than his Houston talk, zeroing in on the economy (no surprises there), and encouraging all to go out and vote on Tuesday. I know the audience for this blog is not quite at 40,000 yet, but I'll do the same on that latter issue. VOTE. Please. You can't complain about the government, be it Democratic or Republican, unless you cast a ballot. My excitement levels over the election probably have a lot to do with this being only the second time I've been able to participate, but I hope they don't decrease in the future. Having spent the past couple weeks working on a research paper detailing apartheid policies, I appreciate all the more my right to have a say in how things are run. It's not something to take for granted--I don't buy the "principled non-voting" argument. Plus, you get the "I Voted Today" sticker!

Stepping down from the soapbox, here's to an extra hour of sleep tonight! Peace out, and look for a Biff update in the near future :)