We asked one of our favorite new voices in this little online "community" of ours (and huge — and white — LSU fan), the Cajun Boy In The City, to address this for us. Because we're petrified.

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I really don't think that even on a day of unparalleled verbal excellence that I could summon the eloquence to accurately describe how much seeing this video pains me deeply. As an LSU fan, a native Southerner, a native Louisianian and as a HUMAN BEING, it stings in places that rarely get touched. I feel dirty by mere virtue of having watched it, but let me at least give a shot at making a larger point and, in the process, attempt to defend those of us with above room temperature IQs.

Irony being the prickly lover that she is, I felt compelled to touch on race relations in America, something that I rarely do, in a post about the Obama candidacy on my personal blog a few days ago. Going back and reading what I wrote after having just watched this video frustrated me to the point of wanting to punch myself repeatedly in the genitals.

As a child of America, a child of the South, a white child of the South at that, I think that I speak for a great number of us when I say that we want to support a black candidate for the presidency. It's a desire that springs forth from way down, down in that place where the body meets the soul, and it's rooted in part by feelings of guilt, though largely unwarranted and somewhat irrational, over the injustices perpetrated upon blacks by our ancestors. It pains us when people from other places stereotype us as being a bunch of backward hicks because of things that happened long before we were even born. It pains us when we hear reports of pockets of racism that still occasionally take place, such as the whole Jena, LA saga, because these unfortunate incidents only serve to reinforce that stereotype, even though these sorts of things are fading quickly with the passage of time. Older southern Americans that were raised in pre-integration America, thus more likely to be steeped in the ignorance that breeds racism, are dying off. The younger generations are, and there are of course exceptions to this as there are for every rule, much more tolerant and accepting. We went to school with black people. We have close friends that are black people. We have entered into romantic relationships with black people.

The times, they are indeed a-changin'.

Um, yeah, so much for that I guess.

With all of that said, I will say that having grown up in a small town near New Orleans that I can attest to the horrendous depths of despair that life in the New Orleans area housing projects had become for many people. To describe it as epidemic would be a gross understatement. Just picking up the local newspaper or watching the local news was all too often an exercise in human tragedy, we're talking complete lack of respect for human life or authority, and lost within the idiocy displayed in the video are legitimate concerns that many locals have had for years over that. But Jesus, there are certainly a million better ways to express that concern.

In the end, I would hope and pray that anyone seeing this would keep in mind that these people don't speak for the majority of us. It's sad and disheartening and downright revolting I know, but please don't paint us all with the same broad brush. Now excuse me for a moment ... I've got some self-loathing genital punching to do.

Let me say this once and for all, to all the Ohio State fans out there:

Thankfully, mercifully, finally... S.T.F.U.

Dan Shanoff Is the Bandwagoneer

Stop yapping, stop emailing, stop commenting. After your season of bitching, we don't want to hear from you. Certainly not today. Let's throw in next year, too, as a penalty for last night's bed-shitting.

For the second straight year, your team has shown up in the national title game ranked No. 1, boasting the sport's "best" defense (at least on paper, which let's all agree was bullshit) and gotten shellacked.

After those consecutive personal-foul penalties that effectively ended the game, I actually had this thought, only half-sarcastically:

If Ohio State really wanted to win the national championship this season, the Buckeyes would have been better off turning down the BCS title game and playing USC in the Rose Bowl, hoping for a win against the Pac-10 and salvaging a split title. Because it's obvious this "winning a title outright against an SEC team" BCS Championship stuff doesn't really work for them.

Congratulations to LSU fans, on a championship performance so dominating that it made me think twice about yesterday's well-intended but half-cocked assertion that Georgia deserved a national title split.

And to Ohio State fans, I would say better luck next year, but the rest of college football fans would like you to stop wasting a slot in the national title game. Unbeaten? One-loss? Doesn't matter: Stick to the Rose Bowl. Give a chance to another team that might not suck... again.

This season's final Top 10 ballot:

1. LSU
2. Georgia
3. USC
4. Missouri
5. Kansas
6. West Virginia
7. Ohio State
8. Virginia Tech
9. Texas
10. Oklahoma

Split the Vote! Campaign: As you see above, even I backed down. But three AP voters picked Georgia as their champ. (One each picked USC and Kansas.)

There WAS one split... for No. 2: The AP picked Georgia; the coaches picked USC. Chalk it up as a moral victory for everyone.

Playoff Watch: There will be a ton of talk about the "Plus-One" idea this offseason. And the idea STILL sucks.

Consider its two manifestations, applied to this season:

(1) Match up the top two teams after the bowl season. OK, after watching all the bowls, who would you pick today? LSU and...

Georgia or USC? UGA was 2nd in the final AP poll. USC was runner-up in the final coaches' poll. It's intractable.

In a season as muddled as this one, the bowl season did nothing to clarify a single pair of teams ahead of the rest.

(2) Pick 4 teams and have them play in two "semifinal" bowls, with the winners advancing to a championship game.

Here are the four teams that would have likely been picked heading into this year's bowls: LSU, Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma.

In hindsight, with bowl season to use as a litmus test, three — THREE — of those four choices now look ludicrous. USC, UGA and KU were clearly more "playoff-worthy" than OSU, VT and OU.

This season was frustrating to those who want some sort of playoff system, but here's what this season WAS good for: Exposing the flaws of the Plus-One concept.

Unless a Plus-One proponent can explain how it would work in a season as crazy as this one, the Plus-One is even more flawed than the current system.

In the end, almost every fan who watched the game last night can agree that LSU is the best team. USC lost at home to a 41-point underdog. Georgia didn't win its conference. Kansas played a flimsy schedule. Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma all lost their bowls. Missouri couldn't even beat Oklahoma once in two tries.

Once the season played out to its very last game, there was a clear champ — or perhaps the least-flawed team, which in sports is often the same thing.

Looking ahead to 2008: Back in August, I predicted that the BCS would implode this season, because multiple teams would go unbeaten - not, of course, because NO teams would go unbeaten.

I was right in theory, wrong on the execution. I think we'll see a correction next season: College football will be top-heavy with some overwhelming powerhouses. The game of the year will be USC and Ohio State: The winner has the inside track on one of the spots in the national title game; the loser needs help.

The rest is a jumble: The survivor (if any) of Georgia, Florida and LSU in the SEC. The survivor (if any) of Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma in the Big 12. And God help us if Ohio State makes it back into the national title game. Let's hope poll voters have finally learned their lesson about putting OSU there when there is any doubt about their viability. Ranking inflation — preseason or otherwise — based on "reputation" is an insult to fans, teams and the sport. Now let me undermine that...

Here's a preliminary 2008 preseason Top 10 ballot to keep you feeling warm and fuzzy until August — or at least Signing Day:

1. USC
2. Georgia
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. West Virginia
7. Ohio State
8. Missouri
9. Kansas
10. Virginia Tech

As usual, send all comments and questions to danshanoff-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.

It is only fitting that the most exciting and bizarre college football season in a decade would with ... a pedestrian game between two traditional powerhouses. You can't tell us Missouri vs. West Virginia wouldn't have been more fun.

But yes, congratulations to LSU, particularly to those still recovering from Britney Spears. You are the "champion," of "college football." We guess. Somebody has to be.

Oh, and please: No more Ohio State in a national title game. Ever.

Keith Law, in his personal blog, points out the ridiculousness of a system that rewards a team for spending a season playing inferior competition and then sitting alongside, idle, watching while teams above them lose. (Which is how Ohio State is here.) But we point out the opposite problem. We're not sure we understand why everyone is so insistent — rule or not — that a team win its conference to have an opportunity at the title. We do not do this in any other sport; not even in the supposedly tradition-obsessed world of baseball to we chafe when a wild-card team is playing for the championship. How the BCS can move Virginia Tech ahead of Georgia simply because they beat a slightly above average Boston College team is bewildering. If LSU had lost to Tennessee, would Virginia Tech have moved ahead of Georgia? Oklahoma? According to the BCS standings, they would have ... though hardly any voters would have put them ahead before this weekend's action.

The way this worked out: Ohio State was rewarded for not playing, and Georgia was penalized. And we have the Ohio State-LSU matchup we all would have enjoyed a few weeks ago, back when we were under the misconception that each team was really good.

One Reason I Hate College Football [TheDish]

"This team has not lost a game in regulation. I know it does not mean much to you guys (media.) The point is, in a 60 minutes game, we play as competitive as we can be. There is not a team that we have played that has bested us in the first 60 minutes. If you had to look at the length and width of the game, that is how it is measured. Then you go to overtime, and I think our overtime system is just as flawed as any other overtime system. It's just the way it is and it is probably correct. You have to decide it then where it takes the length of the field and certain situations out of it. It is imperfect, but a darn good system. You tell me if there are other teams in this country that can say that. If you just give us ties, like in the old system, we are undefeated with two ties. Maybe that adds up as one loss."

This is true. Also, if they didn't keep score in football, LSU would also be undefeated. Really, they should just give trophies to everyone simply for showing up. Oh, and flowers.

Miles Addresses Media [LSU Sports]

That voodoo's real. When the "Four Corners Salute" gets cranking, it's like listening to a 747 made entirely of fired clay crashing into a field of shattered glass. Getting a snap off effectively is in itself a game ball-worthy achievement. Combined with the orgy going on outside the stadium for five miles in any direction, it's the gold standard for any other college gameday experience. Any of them. It is peerless in terms of demonstrated intensity, lunacy, commitment, flair, and menace. At several points in the day, we were convinced we were going to be killed, injected with creole butter, and thrown in a deep fryer...but only in the most festive and accommodating of ways, of course.

Heck, it's such a party ... Rick Reilly is showing up, in terrifying ways, apparently.

EDSBS Road Trip: Baton Rouge [Every Day Should Be Saturday]
Curious Index [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

It's Shaq's party bus, parked out in the LSU parking lot. Considering the folks he's chosen to adorn the side of the bus, he's must feel really bad when he has to, you know, arrest gangsters.

Shaq's Gangsta-rificly Phat Party Bus [Cajun In The City]

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — I'm spending the week embedded in SEC country. That alone probably should have been enough for me to abandon last week's prediction that Virginia Tech would beat LSU in Baton Rouge, let alone my asinine (if admirable) preseason position that Virginia Tech would win the national title.

But I accept the reality: LSU is awesome. The Tigers' offense hung 48 points on what was arguably, coming into the season, the best defense in the country. (Adding insult to injury, LSU's D can now claim that "nation's best defense" title, too.)

Friends: That's your No. 1 team in the country.

Indulge me a brief rant about this week's AP and Coaches' Top 25: While LSU was busy obliterating a Top 10 team, USC was battling it out with that perennial strength-of-schedule booster: "Idle."

I was hoping that voters would see the lunacy of keeping USC at No. 1 ahead of No. 2 LSU simply because ... USC was there last week — and didn't lose. Alas, 2/3 of AP voters favored inertia over evidence.

If we go by our own eyes, rather than preseason bullshit, LSU is clearly the best team in the country. This week, and every week until another contender delivers a more impressive win. Just don't expect LSU to lose:

LSU's four toughest remaining games — South Carolina, Florida, Auburn and Arkansas — all come in Baton Rouge. (Compare that to USC, which still has to play AT Nebraska, AT Washington, AT Oregon, AT Cal and against intra-city rival UCLA.)

You don't have to be drinking the SEC Kool-Aid like me to have watched that game on Saturday night and to have seen just how ferocious —- how relentless — LSU is this season.

Merely two weeks into the season, we have our top contender. The pollsters can keep ranking USC ahead of the Tigers, but fans know what we have seen.

More from this weekend: (1) OK, so maybe TCU isn't this year's Boise State... (2) Then again: This year's Boise State isn't this year's Boise State either... (3) Given Washington at 2-0 versus Notre Dame at 0-2, ND couldn't possibly have been worse off with Willingham in Year 7 than Weis is in Year 3... (4) Is the best coach in college football South Florida's Jim Leavitt?... (5) Steve Spurrier could win at Georgia if he had Lee Corso as his QB playing with a baby arm.

This Week's Bandwagon: So who will be Michigan's next coach? It's funny to imagine Michigan fans last week saying, "Well, at least it can't get worse." But, amazingly, it did: The most lopsided loss by the team in multiple generations. So it's not "if" but "when" the team starts looking for a new head coach...

... Because we all sure as hell know it ain't gonna be Lloyd Carr for much longer. I'm not in the camp that he should be fired. He ought to do the right thing and just resign, giving defensive coordinator (and presumptive in-house candidate Ron English) a shot at salvaging the season.

Meanwhile, Michigan fans should root for alumnus Les Miles to win a title this season at LSU. With nothing left to prove there, Miles might just be persuaded to rebuild Michigan's broken program. Double-digit wins consistently out of the Big Ten is easier than in the SEC.

Other should-be Michigan coaching contenders:
1. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia
2. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
3. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa

More Ranking Ranting: I'm not quite sure why South Florida winning at a ranked Auburn or Washington solidly beating AP favorite Boise State wouldn't merit making the Top 25 this week. But, hey: A handful of voters took advantage of the new "App State" rule and had the Mountaineers in their Top 25. So there's that.

My BlogPoll ballot Top 10
1. LSU
Hard to see who can stop them.
2. USC
Good luck with that road schedule.
3. Rutgers
Rare contender with O/D balance.
4. Louisville
With that offense, who needs a D?
5. Oklahoma
Not quite as bullish as AP (No. 3)
6. West Virginia
Last week's No. 1. No D, either.
7. Florida
Can Tim Tebow play defense, too?
8. Texas
Considering I picked TCU...
9. Cal
Beat USC or bust.
10. Oregon
Don't penalize for Michigan's Hep-D.
Rising: South Carolina (14), Georgia Tech (15), Washington (22)
Check out the entire ballot here.

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Schedule:

Notre Dame (Unranked) at Michigan (UR): It's the first annual Schadenfreude Bowl, pitting two winless giants to see who sucks worse.
Pick: Who cares?

USC (1) at Nebraska (14): I know the Pac-10 schedule suddenly looks a hell of a lot tougher, but who else would LOVE to see USC lose NOW?
Pick: USC.

Boston College (UR) at Georgia Tech (15): Not sure how BC is still unranked by the AP, but winner of this could be the next ACC champs.
Pick: Georgia Tech.

Boston College (21) at Georgia Tech (15): Forget Virginia Tech: This game could be the de facto ACC Championship.
PIck: Georgia Tech

Tennessee (22) at Florida (5): See below. The Gators are overrated, and I say that as a Florida fan. Erik Ainge could skewer UF's porous D.
Pick: Florida.

Louisville (9) at Kentucky (UR): Showdown between the first two QBs taken in the 2008 NFL Draft: Brian Brohm and Andre Woodson.
Pick: Louisville.

Ohio State (10) at Washington: After last week's win over Boise State, all of a sudden, the Huskies look REALLY tough to beat in Seattle.
Pick: Washington.

Arkansas (16) at Alabama: Houston Nutt and Nick Saban should get to guest-host PTI. Not crazy to call this a must-win for Saban.
Pick: Arkansas.

The Bandwagoneer On the Road:
Apologies to everyone at the Florida-Troy tailgates who I didn't get a chance to see. I'll be at The Swamp again next week for Tennessee, this time hanging out with a couple of surprise college football "celebrities." More next week.

Send any comments, criticisms or questions to danshanoff-at-gmail-dot-com.

Even as we remember that sometimes college football can be boring, and even though the real LSU excitement comes next week, we'll be watching. August is almost over, folks; life begins again, anew.

But since this is Every Day Should Be Saturday, you know that the interview doesn't end there. Miles "continues," criticizing a random 11-year-old girl named Hayley Lafontaine:

"Her bicycle lacks streamers. Her birthday parties always turn up the dregs of the sixth grade ... And she plays Avril fucking Lavigne all damn day. Avril Lavigne. As if anyone in the world gave a flying dog turd-shaped airplane made of dog turds about her anymore. Goddammit, how I loathe that brokedick excuse for an 11 year old girl. She keeps going on about how excited she is about the Bratz movie coming up—Omigod bratz bratz bratz weeeEEEEEEE—that I'm thinking of burning down the Regal 5 the night before just to watch her cry."

In Hayley's defense, nobody really uses streamers anymore.

LSU Rates SEC Best [2TheAdvocate]
Les Miles Calls Out USC, Big 12, 11-Year-Old Girl [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

The shocking resignation of LSU women's basketball coach Pokey Chatman was linked Thursday to inappropriate conduct with players, according to university sources familiar with the matter. Chatman announced she would step aside immediately.

The folks at Women's Hoops Blog are all over this story, though you get the feeling they'd rather not. There are tons of rumors out there about which player(s) Pokey — Pokey! — might have been involved with, including a current WNBA player, but we doubt those names will ever officially come out. We will enjoy watching them try to talk around this during LSU NCAA tourney telecasts though; Musburger's not covering these games, is he? Because that would make us all rather uncomfortable.

Chatman To Leave LSU Immediately [Times-Picayune]
Women's Hoops Blog

Look, according to union rules, technicians in the ESPN video truck get one 15-minute coffee break every two hours. So if you're the director, sometimes you need to delegate. "Go ahead and choose which section of the crowd to pan, Buzz. I'm finishing my danish." Or, you know, perhaps every fifth person in the Kentucky rooting section had a similar sign, and there was just no better place to point the camera.

Or could it be that Tim Hardaway really believes that the LSU roster is populated with gay players? That's a distinct possibility. Oh, those crazy kids in Lexington. Here's how it looks on video:

We're not sure, but we think we also saw Ralph Wiggum in there holding a sign that reads "I Like Purple."

Also, as Awful Announcing pointed out, what's the deal with the girl up front? We can only assume that that's some sort of hospital outpatient bracelet she's wearing.

What Kentucky Really Thinks Of LSU [Awful Announcing]
What's Eating Tim Hardaway? [Deadspin]