Sports is/are this big, goofy, fun contrivance that (from the non-participant’s standpoint) exist(s) solely for our entertainment. It’s not a referendum on us as a people or a culture or a species if the fourth- and fifth-place teams play for the championship of something. We’re not going to get blown to bits by aliens or al-Qaida if a non-first-place team wins the playoffs, or even if there are playoffs at all. Paul Gardner can watch the freaking games and enjoy them for what they are – 22 guys kicking a frigging ball, sometimes entertainingly – or he can ascribe huge cosmic significance to the identities of the participants and the process used to determine them. He’s chosen the latter course. He has that right, just like I have the right to tell him – and the other fanboys who can’t handle it emotionally when their team doesn’t get to call themselves right and true and just champions – to get the hell over it.

Oh, no, you’re not a racist at all. Thanks for clearing that up. That’s just one of the missives from the enlightened coming out of last night.

Long, long way to go.

EDIT: Ms. Marks has apparently deleted her Twitter account. You know, the one that we all were just misunderstanding, because she’s not a racist.

Final Canadian Football League attendance numbers for 2012:

H/T to Twelve Men On the Field.

Old and Busted: Greg Schiano, October 16, 2012, after cornerback Aqib Talib was suspended for four games by the NFL: ”He’s going to be back with us. You’ve got to just trust us on this one.”

New Hotness: Yeah, he’s not going to be back with us.