Who Will End This Cycle of Bullshit?

In a year in which "we're-the-best-and-most-deserving" bloviating seems to be more the story in college football than the games themselves, it seems fitting that the season's final two combatants are engaging in such a meaningless war--and I use that term in the loosest of senses--of words.

Florida star linebacker Brandon Spikes has launched his own counterattack following OU cornerback Dominique Franks' sacrilegious assault on Gator quarterback Tim Tebow, who may or may not have instigated this cycle verbal violence with a covert shot across the Big 12's bow. The collateral damage left in the wake of Spikes' offensive extended across the college football landscape, from the Pac-10 to "Penn.... State."

Neither side seems concerned that the verbal sparring will have no bearing on the outcome of Thursday night's battle for the national championship. Homerism sees no winners in these ugly exchanges of hot air, outside of the college football media hacks whose jobs have been made immeasurably easier this week with all the jacking of jaws. Aside from the images of both programs, the biggest losers in all of this hating-on are the fans, who risk reaching a T.O.-Romo level of who-the-hell-cares irritation.

Won't somebody think of the children?