Make it a safe, fun holiday, BON'ers. I'll be catching up with some old friends and spending my remaining time finishing the 1998 review for the Greg Davis series. That will run Monday and we'll go from there.

Happy 4th of July.

Apologies for the lack of content today; day job emergencies and deadlines have gobbled up all my time. Join me tonight for EDSBS LIVE (8 p.m. CDT), with regular posting resuming tomorrow. Greg Davis review continues Thursday with a look at the Texas offense under John Mackovic.

A brief aside from Longhorn commentary, following some very unsettling news from our colleagues at Black Heart Gold Pants. You may know the Iowa bloggers for their comedy gold. And you've undoubtedly heard about their home state in the news as it deals with a flooding crisis of enormous proportions.

With entire cities under water, billions of dollars in damage, and a frightening number of injuries and deaths, the recent flooding has been devastating. Though the BHGP crew has been spared any personal loss thus far, their concern for their fellow Hawkeye state citizens led them to post this story on the flood and how people can assist those in need.

To help show the magnitude of the flood, BHGP went to the Des Moines Register online video vault, found an appropriate video of the flooding damage, selected the newspaper-provided embed code, and posted the clip along with their story. To what end? Urging readers to donate to the Red Cross or other organizations helping flood victims.

The problem? Today they received a cease and desist letter from the newspaper, telling them to remove the video within 24 hours or face a lawsuit.

This is not a trademark issue, where non-enforcement could lead to the loss of legal protection. This is a copyright issue, meaning the paper has discretion what copyrights it will litigate.

And yet - despite providing the embed code itself - they choose to threaten BHGP for posting a video... of flooding. In a post urging readers to help victims of the tragedy.

1) Let my disgust be noted on the record. I'll never be reading or linking to the paper again. I would urge other bloggers to follow suit. If you're so inclined, Des Moines Register contact information is here.

2) I'd urge everyone to make a donation to help their fellow citizens in need right now. BHGP has details on how you can help.

[UPDATE: The DMR here and elsewhere apologizes, explaining that their policies were not updated along with their technologies. Much better.]

As was mentioned yesterday, EDSBS is hosting a charity contest to raise money for victims of the tornadoes in Georgia and Oklahoma, and the cyclone in Burma. Yesterday, an earthquake rocked China, as well, so the need to assist relief agencies is as strong as ever.

And if the soft spot in your heart isn't moved to action, maybe the burnt orange spot in your heart will be: The current charity standings show the Oklahoma Sooners ahead of the Texas Longhorns. Today is the last day of EDSBS' donation drive.

Even if your budget has room only for a $10 donation, make it happen. I just gave to the American Red Cross, but you can give to any of the three agencies the drive is aiming to support. Details on how to donate are here.

[Note by billyzane, 05/13/08 5:24 PM EDT ] As of late this afternoon, Texas has skyrocketed to 4th place, but we're still a long ways out of third.  Keep the donations coming.

[Note by PB @ BON, 05/13/08 6:25 PM EDT ] Billyzane beat me to it, but it's worth mention again: We've got the big Mo! Give-give-give-give! You can write it off your taxes and help people! And shame the rest of the Big 12 with our generawesomeness. You have no excuse. Even a $10 donation is appreciated by these organizations.

It's a time honored tradition: claiming ESPN is biased against your favorite team.  Members of this community indulge in this on a regular basis.  For instance, there's the "ESPN is biased against Texas" sentiment, frequently accompanied by the more severe "ESPN hates Texas" accusation, occasionally complimented backhandedly with the "I'm surprised at how unbiased ESPN is being" comment, all supplemented by the rare but endlessly amusing, batshit insane charge, such as "the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll is biased simply by virtue of being associated with ESPN even though no one from ESPN has any vote whatsoever."  That one's my favorite.

But not only is it absurd to claim bias against Texas of all schools, it's just not true to claim any bias whatsoever for or against any team.  ESPN is not biased against your favorite team.  This isn't to absolve ESPN of its sins, which are myriad; it is just to say that ESPN cares about nothing but its bottom line.  This focus on the business aspect of its sports empire sometimes seeps into the entertainment and news aspects of the ESPN operation, which is not a good thing, but claims of bias are ridiculous, as today's endless hyping of the OJ Mayo/USC violations demonstrates pretty clearly.

The thrust of the "ESPN is biased against Texas" sentiment stems from the lead-up to the Rose Bowl between USC and Texas during which ESPN held its infamous "Is USC the greatest team of all time?" online poll/fodder for talking heads shows.  Undoubtedly, this was a terrible idea to which Texas fans rightfully took offense and from which the team gained strength.  But it also lead to a lot of dumb "ESPN is biased in favor of USC" comments as well.  These persist to this day, and they're just as dumb today as they were then.

But if that was true, would the network and accompanying website be hammering this "OJ Mayo took benefits while at USC" story nearly as much as it has, including Pat Forde's incendiary column?  Hell, the ESPN show "Outside the Lines" is the group that did all the investigatory work to unearth this story.  They're the ones that broke it.  And that feeds into my point.  ESPN is hyping this story to no end precisely because they're the ones behind it.  They have no over-arching reverence for USC, just as they have no bias against Texas.  If they did have some editorial bias in favor of USC, they would be burying the story to minimize its impact.  They wouldn't have even investigated the story in the first place.  But their only bias is in favor of ratings.  And what gets ratings?  Big names, sensational stories, and exclusive content, particularly if those things occur in large media markets.

ESPN focuses a lot of attention on USC because they're hugely successful, have a lot of stars, and are located in the second largest TV market in the country.  ESPN focused a lot of attention on Rutgers in their undefeated run 2 years ago not because they have an East Coast bias, but because it was a rags to riches story of a terrible program going on a magical run, combined with the fact that nearby NYC is a largely untapped market for college football and the fact that Rutgers played a lot of games on ESPN that year.  Talking a lot about Rutgers and hyping it as a good story had nothing to do with an East Coast bias.  It had everything to do with increasing ratings for their broadcasts and hits on ESPN.com.  This is the same reason they hype Red Sox/Yankees so much, often to the exclusion of attention to other teams.  And lest we forget that when Kevin Durant was here, the Texas basketball team got much more positive attention than such a mediocre team deserved simply by virtue of having a star player with a great story.

Ideally, ESPN would keep its News, Entertainment and Business operations separate, primarily so that the latter two would not affect the editorial decisions made by the News division.  That they don't do this adequately enough is the sin of ESPN, not that they have a bias against your favorite team.  Can we please place a moratorium on these absurd claims?  Talking about how sports is covered is sometimes just as much fun and interesting as talking about the sports themselves, but let's try to do it intelligently.  Let's talk about why a story is being reported one way rather than wildly accusing people and organizations of bias every time they disagree with you.  Deal?

My exams conclude today with Con Law (BON study guide here), which means I'll finally be back in the saddle and writing again. Or at least hanging on by the horn - there is still the football annual which must be sent to press by next Friday.

I'm back! Sort of!

As grinding on my fun-loving soul as the past few weeks have been, there's been little to nothing in Longhorns news anyway. I suppose the stretch run for the baseball team should be exciting this year, considering it's fighting for its postseason life. Beyond that, expect the usual - some statistical queries, wild speculation about events in September, and the like - but also perhaps a few more off topic digressions. We've got a long summer in front of us.

Just when you thought you had enough to worry about – gas prices, global warming, guards defecting to the NBA – now we get this news report out of Africa where police in the Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Considering the barrage of emails I receive daily from enterprising entities promising to help me “unleash the  monster in my boxers” through pharmaceutical means, I actually found it refreshing to read about some guys offering to shrink your dink for free.

Not that I’d ever advocate penile theft, but given the ridiculous amounts of money being made in the name of penile enlargement, not to mention the rather extreme and inconvenient side-effects which may occur should your erection last longer than 4 hours, I think these “sorcerer” guys could be on to something. They’re not bad guys, no, they just need a better agent and some decent marketing, maybe even a catchy jingle, something like...

If there's something strange
Going on with your wood
Who ya gonna call?
DICK BUSTERS

If it’s hard for 4 hours
and it don't look good
Who ya gonna call?
DICK BUSTERS

Even better, chances are good these weenie wizards won’t need an unlicensed nuclear particle accelerator to exorcise your dick-demon and with no need for proton pack or storage overhead, they’ll be able help your head for less. So when someone questions the veracity of the statement: “Everything was fine until Dickless here popped a little blue pill,” you can confidently reply, “yes, it’s true, this man has no dick, thanks to Dickbusters."

Okay, now that I have you at attention and now that basketball season is officially over and baseball is in the toilet, let’s get down to the real reason for this post. It’s time to decide...

THE OFF-SEASON THEME

Last year I waged a merciless propaganda campaign to raise awareness for the often misunderstood business of beauty pageants by infusing every story, diary, and comment I posted with rhetoric revealing bits and pieces of the pageant underworld. Sure I knew nothing about duct taping boobs or putting vaseline on your teeth and yeah, it was a thinly veiled cry for relief from the torment and anxiety of another insufferable off-season awaiting the much anticipated return of my true passion, sweet-sweet clean college football, but I got through it damn it and so did you.

I know there were some hiccups, like the time Ms. South Carolina failed miserably trying to expound upon Americans’ lack of geographic awareness. Hey these things happen. And where did you turn when you needed a place to vent your frustrations and fears about propagating contestant stereotypes and pageant backlash, that’s right, the BON. The BON was there for you and now you need to be there for the BON (well at least of the 54BON anyway)...

So I put it to you BONers, we need an off-season posting theme and we need one now.

A few thought starters to get you started:

1) Fortune Telling 
2) Internet Dating 
3) Bee Keeping

Really it can be any topic provided it’s broad enough that we can find a wealth of background information about it to paint ourselves as pseudo-experts on the subject and correspond coherently, well semi-coherently anyway. Topics like "Dick Shrinking Sorcery" and "Midget Cover Bands" would be fun, but there just isn't enough material to last us until the fall. Or is there? I don't know, so let's hear some themes.

Anyway you’re all welcome to join my attempt to make it to August 30 having included some reference to our chosen theme in every story, diary, or comment I post. Think of at as the BON's version of a loyalty program where only the most frequent patrons of this site are in on the chirade. And you won't even have to wear Members Only jackets to be in the club, though that would be awesome. PB, we need jackets, STAT.

If we get a lot of great theme ideas, we'll put it to a vote.

That's it for now, theme me.

--54b--

As hard as it looks.

"What is Peter Bean's life, April 1 - May 15, 2008?"

"Correct. Pick again."

"Let's stick with 'Six Weeks Of Hell' and go for $500, Alex."

I just got a terribly discomforting email from the house editor at Maple Street Press informing me that this year's production deadline for The Eyes of Texas 2008 is totally inflexible. On the off chance that you've ever put together an edited book, you know that wrangling finished chapters from contributors on time is a lot like herding cats. At every turn, there's a new fire to put out. Pretty soon, you're tired, behind schedule, and mixing metaphors.

Toss in the not insignificant fact that law school final exams coincide exactly with the deadline for sending this book to press and I've got myself six obscenely busy weeks in front of me.

The upshot? My contributions around these parts will be sparse. Morning Coffee will take a hiatus, and my posting will be limited to here-and-there thoughts as time permits. I'm more grateful than ever to have the 40 Acre Sports guys rockin' the baseball coverage. AW, 54b, Horn Brain, and BZ will certainly jump in as they're able, as well.

In the meantime, keep the good stuff coming in the Diaries. I may not be able to sit down and write much, but I'm refreshing the site as frequently as you are, and always appreciate all the stories and opinions you guys contribute.

--PB--

So I was thinking about how busy I am right now, and I thought, "Oh what a relief Summer will be!"  Then I thought, "Oh, crap!  Summer means no sports!  No baseball, basketball, or even... anything!"  That's where you guys come in...

In an effort to reduce offseason-fever, and thus save countless lives, consider this post your Offseason Stat-Dump Wishlist.  Anything you've always wondered about but never had the time (or geekiness) to crunch the numbers on?  Well, that's like my job, man, so dream your little hearts out.

Don't limit yourselves, here.  When the last Longhorn is tagged out (or hopefully crosses the plate, but, whatever), you're going to be licking the pages of last year's Eyes of Texas or your favorite lucky T-shirt for that last ounce of sports-talk like Amy Winehouse after a two song set at the Grammys.  Every suggestion you bring forth here is potentially ten to twenty more minutes of talking about the Longhorns, or just sports in general, before the dog days of July and August set in, and you start forming plots on Bill Little's life.

Give me all the particulars on your suggestions:  What stats you want, over what time period, what teams you want analyzed, and what info you hope to drag out of the numbers, etc.  The more you tell me, the less I have to come up with, which for me, like 54b, is always a good thing.

Go crazy now, or you'll go crazy later!

--Horn Brain--

I'm still under the weather, though improved from yesterday. A few things do need to be written today, and will. The schedule:

12:30 - Best Big 12 Blog award presentation
1:00 - Best MSM Blog award presentation
4:00 - Nebraska Preview
6:30 - Nebraska Open Thread

--PB--