NCAA Finally Makes the Right Decision
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
We’ve gone through so many ridiculous iterations of how a college football champion is declared. Ages ago they just decided which undefeated team they thought was better and declared them the champion. They never even played some of the other undefeated teams. It was basically an eye test. Then they brought in the robot BCS Rankings to decide a handful of games between the top teams, 1 of which would be the championship. These rankings were basically strictly numbers based. The opposite of the eye test. They took one bad idea from the end of the spectrum to another bad idea at the opposite end of the spectrum. These 2 championship plans went on for what I guess is as long as college football has been around.
It took until 2014 for them to make the move to an actual playoff bracket. Weirdly enough they had the whole plan staring them in the face in Division 1-AA. They have and have had a playoff bracket for years. Even after 2014, 4 teams just seemed to few. A great example is this past weekend, Michigan defeated Ohio State, both undefeated at the time. Are we supposed to think that Ohio State shouldn’t be in the playoffs because they, #2, lost to a mega rival who happened to be #3. Just doesn’t make sense. Starting in 2024 season the NCAA is moving to a 12 team playoff bracket, which is perfect! It’s sports, and seasons are long, great teams are going to lose games. That shouldn’t take them out of a chance to show how great they are against other great teams. The 2024 college football season and playoff bracket can’t come soon enough! Think about the top 12 teams going against multiple out of conference top 12 teams for a few extra weeks! That’s sports.
Christmas Songs: 25 Classic Rock/Pop Tunes to Get into the Holiday Spirit
Now that it’s finally December, it’s time to fully embrace Christmas songs. (Sure, some may have started long ago, but many like to wait until Thanksgiving is in the rearview.)
There are a surprising number of Christmas songs recorded by some of music’s biggest icons. Many rockin’ holiday tunes tend to be covers, but many artists have tried to pen the next Christmas classic. If they don’t end up classics, they are often at least a lot of fun.
On one rare occasion, an original Christmas song inspired a theory that went viral. The song in question is the Paul McCarney hit “Wonderful Christmastime.” The theory started on Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" is about friends practicing witchcraft but then someone walks in and they have to suddenly play it cool pic.twitter.com/0FscqecVzW
— Ryan George (@theryangeorge) December 11, 2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X (formerly Twitter) via Canadian actor Ryan George, who wrote, “Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ is about friends practicing witchcraft but then someone walks in and they have to suddenly play it cool.”
McCartney was asked about the theory in a special Q&A about the song on his official website in December 2022. Sir Paul said when asked if the theory was true, “Oh yeah. Well, thank goodness they found me out. This is completely true, and in actual fact, I am the head wizard of a Liverpool coven. [Paul laughs] Either that… or it’s complete nonsense. And you know it’s the latter!”
Macca is then asked, “This theory may have come from people mishearing the lyrics. Could you confirm if the lyric is ‘the moon is right’ or ‘the mood is right’?” He responds, “It’s ‘the mood’! This is the mood; I’ve gathered together the witches and wizards… I’ve got ‘the mood’, which is what we in wizardry call it [laughs]. The thing is about this stuff, it’s so easy to convince half the people in the world. You do have to be a little bit careful! “
McCartney added, “No, it’s ‘the mood’. And you know what, I’m thinking about Liverpool Christmas parties, that’s really all I’m doing with that song. ‘The mood is right, let’s raise a glass, the spirit’s up’ – you know, all the stuff you do at Christmas. Particularly with my old Liverpool family parties.”
To help fully get into the holiday spirit, consider adding these 25 songs to your Christmas playlist. Or you can try and see if Sir Paul has an opening in his coven.
Steve Vassalotti is co-host of “The Matt Cord Show with Steve Vassalotti” weekday mornings 6a-10a on 102.9 WMGK. He has been with the station since 2015. For WMGK he writes about inane nonsense that surrounds our daily lives, sports, food and other various topics. Steve writes about Philadelphia lifestyle content, the Philadelphia Eagles culture and trending topics.
