Every so often something terrible happens in the world. You know. The kind of thing that turns your stomach just enough to make you feel ill as you witness the carnage mother nature has wrought on what used to be a town, a city, or a pristine island paradise. You cringe for a moment, allowing your brain to assess the damage, and then instinct takes over, you change the channel. Your brain registers what happened and realizes simply, if you were to know the extent of the damage, it's not sure how you would react.

Thankfully, we as human beings have the power to overcome these natural instincts and have the ability to switch back to that channel, take in what happened, and move to help those in need.

Along those lines, Every Day Should Be Saturday and Fanblogs have instituted the "Charity Bowl" in an effort to raise relief money for the victims of the tornadoes in Oklahoma and Georgia and the cyclone in Burma. The Charity Bowl is a wonderful way to show not only the depth of your generosity to others, but to show a little school spirit as well.

The particulars:

1) Make a donation online to the American Red Cross, CARE, or the International Rescue Committee.

2) Email the donation confirmation to kevin@fanblogs.com and state your team affiliation by 8pm EDT on Wednesday, May 14th.

3) Results will be displayed at Every Day Should Be Saturday and Fanblogs throughout the week, with the final results shown by Thursday, May 15th.

4) The winning school will have its colors displayed at EDSBS and logo/mascot shown on every page at Fanblogs.

The competition is already a day in and here are the standings:

Money raised to date:   $3,095.00

Team Donation Standings:
1) Michigan - $1,000
2) Florida - $500
3t) Auburn - $130
3t) Alabama - $130
4t) LSU - $125
4t) Ohio State - $125
4t) Ole Miss - $125
4t) Nebraska - $125
5t) South Carolina - $100
5t) Oklahoma - $100
5t) Mississippi State - $100

Lurking: Michigan State, FSU, Georgia

Conference Donation Standings:
1) SEC - $1,315
2) Big 10 - $1,175
3) Big 12 - $225
4) ACC - $200
5t) Pac10 - $0
5t) Big East - $0

Michigan's total will be increased by $100 from yours truly, but the competition is far from over and the needs of the people displaced or injured by these natural disasters is nowhere close to being met. So dig deep people. $10 in Burma goes a long way. $25 buys a lot of sterile bandages and other medical needs. If you've only got a little to give, trust me, anything is better than nothing where disasters of this magnitude are involved.

So take a minute out of your day and click one the links to the charities above. Donate a little, donate a lot, donate something. Not only will it help others, it'll make you feel good that you helped someone less fortunate and remind everyone that Michigan students, alumni and fans are not just the Champions of the West, but are truly the Leaders and the Best.

Oh, and Florida's second. If you pretend your generosity is a Michigan receiver and whatever is in the way of you donating is a Florida DB, there's no way Michigan or the people in need can lose!