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!

It's that time again. The 2007 College Football Blogger Awards are back thanks to the hard work of T. Kyle King, Orson, Brian, and Joel. Last year it was so much goddamn fun, they decided to do it again. In case you're interested, the winners from Year 1 can be found in CFBA Trophy Case. Sadly, your humble author wasn't even nominated last year. (But you can change that! Read on.)

The rules this year are a little different from last year's. As the awards are a year older, they most grow and change with the times. I will let Dawg Sports do the splainin':

One thing Kyle left out, I'm not nominating the big dogs that won last year. One of the reasons the CFBA was developed was to bring recognition to sites and writers that usually don't get the credit or traffic they so richly deserve. If we awarded these things every year based on everyone's first stops during the day, T. Kyle King, Orson, Brian, BON, and SMQ would win everything, every year. So, as a general rule, unless something they did is so far above and beyond what everyone has done, please consider them an honorary nominee and winner.

A new feature this year is bringing you, the reader, into the equation. Nominations are open to everyone blogger, commenter, or presidential candidate alike. Anyone can pick something they like and submit it on MGoBlog's tube of Nomination Interwebs. So please, go there early and often and vote for your favorite (cough, cough...me!... cough, cough) sites, posts and photoshops of the year.

Here are the categories:

Best New Blog
Best Community
Best Writing
Best Post
Funniest Blog
Best Analysis
Best Mainstream Media Blog
Best Looking Blog
The Job Award
Best Audio
Best Regular Feature
Best Photoshop
Best YouTube
Best A.C.C. Blog
Best Big East/Notre Dame Blog
Best Big Ten Blog
Best Big 12 Blog
Best Pac-10 Blog
Best S.E.C. Blog
Best Non-B.C.S. Blog
Mythical National Champion
People's Champ Award

Because of the shear volume of awards to nominate, I'm going to break this down over the next few days. I've picked out my nominees, just writing the copy for them takes a little while when you're slammed at work and have a wife who's got the flu. So, all in due time.

Take a look at the categories and feel free to comment on my choices, suggest someone new, or nominate someone yourself!

On to the Nominations!

Best New Blog - If anyone other than Black Heart Gold Pants wins this award I'm declaring an initfada on the Committee (Brian Cook from MGoBlog, T. Kyle King from Dawg Sports, Joel of Rocky Top Talk, Peter Bean of Burnt Orange Nation, and Orson at EDSBS). With no disrespect to the other fine sites that have popped up this year (Lake the Posts, Autumn Thunder, Paging Jim Shikenjanski, et al.) Jebus, Oops Pow Surprise and Hawkeye State have managed to produce one of the funniest, most relevant new sites in the college football blogosphere. When they're not getting linked by Deadspin or pissing off MgoBlog, they're going all Goulet on your ass.

My hat's off to you guys. Awesome work.

In Honor of this Tongue Bathing of BHGP, I present you with a picture J Lehman,
who reminds you any awesomeness is relative to his own.

Best Community - Well, Peter can't win it this year, so I'm nominating MGoBlog for this year's honor. Brian's comment sections often eclipse my traffic for the day. It's insane. As are most of the posters. I keed, I keed.

MGoBlog commenters await Drew Sharp's arrival at the Detroit Free Press

Best Writing - Unfortunately my favorite site on the interwebs has been dormant for most of the season. I said it last year and I'll say it again, Johnny's work at RBUAS was and is the gold standard for writing on the internet. It's a crime his schedule didn't allow for more time to post. Most people would take it as a snub that I'm gushing over a site that's been dormant for so long, except I know the guy I'm nominating feels the same way.

With that said, the best prose currently and consistently on the web is posted at Dawg Sports. Kyle sets the standard not just for quality, but for quantity. As a fellow attorney I have no idea how he manages to write so much, so well and still have time for the little things, like sleep and family. I'm not going to link to a specific post simply because I don't have to. You can go to Dawg Sports at any time and find an excellent article Kyle has penned. Hence, the nomination.

Kyle Hates Auburn

Best Post - I know this isn't supposed to be one long hand job for Orson, but the Who's Next with Tom Brady v. Galactus was one of the funniest things I have ever read. Period. When I read this I peed a little. Just a little. Flowmax is helping me with that, but you get the point. Please let me know if I missed something else. But this one stood out.

Damn you Swindle! Those were new pants!

Funniest Blog - Taking Orson completely out of the equation, there are still a plethora of excellent sites that constantly put up hysterical posts. Before I get to my nominee I have to note the great work Hey Jenny Slater, Autumn Thunder and Black Heart Gold Pants put out. I check every one of these sites every day for a laugh, and they always deliver.

However, the funniest, most consistent site on the web is MZone. No matter whom they're mocking, they're doing it right. To their credit Yost and Benny take as many shots at their alma mater as they do at Ohio State and the rest of the world. Go there. Read. Laugh. Thank me later.

Oh! The Humanity!

More up soon...