Most ultra-conservatives hate Big Government. Until they use it for their own personal benefit, that is. A case in point is local attorney Chris Finney, a conservative activist whos railed against the evils of excessive governmental power and wasteful spending for years.  

The older one gets, the more college sports make the head shake. It’s not the money or the corruption. It’s not the academic compromises involved in putting on athletic shows. All of that’s been around forever, and it’s part of the guilty pleasure involved with following college sports. But the kids. You just don’t know what you’re going to get from the kids, because they don’t know what they’re up against.  

At the end of a charmed season, University of Cincinnati football officials are in the game they expected, a Jan. 1 meeting in the Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech, which automatically goes to Florida as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion.  

Another wonder of college football announces itself in the middle of town as the lords of Nippert Stadium enter November playing for their highest stakes ever. A real conference championship race has arrived.  

The phrase “Worst to First” told the tale of the 1991 baseball season, when the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins each rose from last place in their divisions to face each other in the World Series.  

Though the situation at the top is every bit as fluid as last year, college football is returning to normal. Look at the top three teams: Texas, Alabama and Penn State. It's 1970 again. By mid-December, it's always 1970, even if the mix includes a slightly different group like Ohio State, Southern California, Louisiana State and Oklahoma.  

Maybe the Bengals still have a pulse, which means they're not quite as desperate as those no-good outfits from the 1990s - but they're still 0-3, they're still going to have their hands full with the Cleveland Browns Sunday, their quarterback still is no better protected than David Klingler and the season still is a long way from hopeful.