Role models

The stupid, man. It burns sometimes.

Read the other day that in Alabama, congress critter Marjorie Something Crazypants applauded the state's Bastard Plague vaccination rate, but not because it was the nation's highest. Because it was the lowest.

People actually applauded and cheered, like it was the greatest thing they'd ever heard.

Elsewhere in Alabama, of course, medical personnel are being overwhelmed with Delta variant patients. And the top health official in the state said they had to throw out 65,000 expired vaccines because, well, the state's apparently also infested with kooky anti-vaxxers and schmucks who listen to people like Rep. Crazypants.

Then there's what's going on in Tuscaloosa.

Over there, at the University of Alabama, Nick Saban's Crimson Tide football team is closing in on a 90 percent vaccination rate. And over in Oxford, Miss., another state crawling with kooky anti-vaxxers, Lane Kiffin reports that his Ole Miss football team is now 100 percent vaccinated.

Which led Donovan Dooley of Deadspin to post this observation.

It makes an excellent point. What better role model for responsible behavior in the Deep South than college football, the resident secular faith? Hey, if the vaccine is good for the Tide, or good for the Rebels or Tigers or Bulldogs or Vols, why wouldn't it be good for everyone else?

After all, how many national titles has Rep. Crazypants won?

Not as many as Saint Nick, I bet. And you for damn sure will never hear him encouraging folks to shoot anyone who comes to their doors with vaccine info, the way Rep. Crazypants did the other day. Everyone laughed in delight at the thought.

The stupid. It burns bad.