Hail To The Dawgs

Even after last night’s total and utter mismatch in the college football championship game, I was going to title today’s post “Hail To The Dawgs, Hail To The Frogs.” Yes, the rhyme was appealing, but I also wanted to acknowledge both teams.

However, this morning I realized I had to salute Georgia. I expected them to score a lot of points, but I did not expect them to hold TCU to single digits. Horned Frogs backup quarterback Chandler Morris, who had originally earned the starting job at the beginning of the season before getting injured and losing the job to eventual Heisman Trophy finalist Max Duggan, acknowledged that his team was not at the same level as Georgia. Morris remarked after the game, “We want to be on that tier where Alabama and Georgia are on.”

If you’re not a football fan the following statistic won’t resonate. (Of course, if you’re not a football fan you might not be reading this, anyway.) Georgia gained 589 yards on offense; TCU gained 188. That is the kind of discrepancy one expects when a college power is playing a non-conference cupcake early in the season, NOT in the championship game for the sport. The final score (Georgia-65, TCU-7) was not misleading in any way. TCU was in the game early trailing just 10-7, but their defense had no answer for the Bulldogs and their offense didn’t, either.

In winning the national championship in each of the last two seasons, the first team to repeat in ten years as well as the first to do so in the modern CFP era, Georgia has won 29 games and lost one. Hail To The Dawgs!

 

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On this day in 1776, Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense” that encouraged the American colonists to fight for independence from Great Britain, was published anonymously. Of course, I find the title to have become ironical as I believe that common sense is not common enough, anymore.

I find it interesting that in the first of four sections in the pamphlet Paine describes government as a “necessary evil” and makes a distinction between society and government. Today, those on the left want government to control society, but so do those on the right in many aspects. The notion of government as arbiter and not active participant disappeared long ago.

Regulation may be founded in good intentions, but it has real costs, just like everything else. According to this study, and granting that the source is a “free market” advocate, if regulation had been held constant at levels observed in 1980, then the US economy would have been about 25 percent larger than it actually was as of 2012. This means that in 2012, the economy was $4 trillion smaller than it would have been in the absence of regulatory growth since 1980, which amounts to a loss of approximately $13,000 per capita, a significant amount of money for most American workers.

A similar study by two economists at North Carolina State (I was unable to find a direct cite) found that regulation had actually depressed GDP growth by 80 percent from 1949 to 2010, I believe. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. When some US citizens are moving to places like Portugal because it is much easier to start a business there than here, something has really gone awry.

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So, do I have any automotive sleepers for potential acquisition in the event we move into the “Goose Bumps” house? Well, I am and always have been transparent about my automotive preferences so I doubt I can show something out of left field.

I would have interest in a non-GNX Buick Grand National, but even models from earlier than 1987 are now listing for over $50,000, which is way beyond what I want to spend. I am torn in that part of me wants a “pre-computer” car, but part of me doesn’t. As I have written, in Arizona EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) is a must to avoid vapor lock in the hot summers. Of course, EFI kits are ubiquitous and, supposedly, not difficult to install for a qualified technician.

I’m stalling because I can’t think of anything I haven’t shown before…I guess this isn’t a sleeper, but is creeping back into contention, despite my history with Pontiac, because I think it looks better than its Kappa platform cousin, the Solstice.

 

 

This is a Saturn Sky, supposedly in Red Line spec. These are not common (only 8,778 Sky Red Lines with an automatic transmission were manufactured–7,045 were produced with a manual, no stick for me), but examples for sale do exist. The biggest drawback, in my opinion, is the manual top that can only be raised or lowered from outside the car.

This morning, Autotrader had 13 Sky Red Lines listed in all of the US for sale at dealers with an automatic transmission, fewer than 60,000 miles and no reported accidents. If I narrow the search to those within 500 miles of my home zip code, only one is listed for sale.

Maybe I shouldn’t be putting the cart before the horse, but my brain is always moving ahead to the next big project, even if the one in front of me is not finished.

 

#HailToTheDawgs

#ThomasPaine

#TheRoadToHellIsPavedWithGoodIntentions

#SaturnSkyRedLine

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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