College bowl season is here! As you know, that’s fake enthusiasm on my part. The ridiculously unnecessary number of bowls is one of the primary reasons why I hate college football so much. Consider: there are 34 bowl games, which means 68 teams go to a bowl. That’s the same number that go to the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Well, this week’s NFL games have certainly taken a little bit of a turn, haven’t they? To call the news about Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher “shocking” would be quite an understatement. Until the tragedy, which will put a very dark cloud over all of Sunday’s games, we were positioned for a pretty good Sunday of December football.

The Baseball Hall of Fame ballot was mailed out today, and this year’s vote is going to be one of the most interesting in recent memory. That’s because Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are eligible for the first time. The Steroid Era players are going to complicate the vote and probably lead to a very crowded ballot for years to come.