USC bashing aside, let's talk about what's really important

Things are bad.

How bad?

Well, not only are a number of USC fans still upset about my Gator-gloating column of last week, now I find out that the world is about to end!

If you require proof of this, one need look no further than a recent Newsday article stating that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and a coalition of scientific evangelical Christians have joined together to urge "fundamental changes in values, lifestyles and public policies required to address these worsening problems before it is too late."

For once, the worsening problems mentioned do not include same sex marriage, sex education or witchcraft. No, this is mostly about global warming. Which is bad enough to cause the atomic scientists in question to advance the hands on their famous Doomsday Clock to 11:55 p.m., with midnight being the figurative end of civilization.

This, by the way, is the first time since 1947 that the clock keepers have added the threat of climate change to the still unresolved issue of nuclear weaponry.

The American Scientific Affiliation, a fellowship of Christians in scientific disciplines, more or less united the two often at-odds camps with one statement: "Representatives of both groups have come together to rally around a common passion: the need to preserve God's creation."

Carl Safina of the Blue Ocean Institute in Cold Harbor, N.Y., added, "... The intensity of the problems that we face are becoming too big and too obvious, and they are making those differences between us look increasingly trivial. We're all in this boat together."

Which is precisely why so many readers shouldn't have taken exception to Anthony Skelly, a USC fan who in this space last week made a couple of jokes, stating that UCLA grads couldn't afford to live in the South Bay and then claiming that his e-mail was badly typed because his "secretary went to UCLA."

I, for one, believe that Mr. Skelly was joking. In fact, I too was joking when I said all those awful things about USC, which didn't stop "Troy" (possibly a made-up name) of Hermosa Beach to e-mail, "Why don't you drop dead, you Gator ..."

He then used some bad words, words suggesting that my parents were not married at the time of my birth and other such slurs that one does not expect to hear from someone who was (unlike the entire University of Florida national championship football and basketball teams and me) afforded a private college education.

An apparently miffed Teri Mascola commented, "I would like to thank Anthony Skelly, a Trojan! He just reconfirmed why I am a Bruin fan. His comments in your column are so typical of SC fans. I'm so happy to be a Bruin."

[More at www.dailybreeze.com]