Bedlam in Oklahoma and in the BCS

The rivalry in my native Oklahoma between the Sooners of the University of Oklahoma and the Cowboys of Oklahoma State divides parent and child, brother and brother.  It certainly does in my family!  The Sooners have almost always been better, but the intensity of the games is such that the Cowboys occasionally stage an upset.  I have proposed, to torment my brother and parents (OSU alums) that the state legislature pass a bill requiring the lower-ranked of the two teams to forfeit the game between them, so as to protect the state’s chances to pursue a national championship and thus improve our image in the hopes of bringing new jobs to our citizens.  (The prospect of “new jobs” can sell any bill.)

But such a bill would have worked against my cause this time.  Oklahoma, ranked #10, would have had to forfeit to Oklahoma State, ranked #3.   The lesson here is to never support a law that would support your narrow self-interest when it could actually cut two ways.  (A good example would be Newt Gingrich’s proposal for congress to limit the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction over certain bills.  Conservatives might like that idea, until liberals do it.  With that power, congress could have declared Obamacare non-reviewable.)