This isn’t about Iowa. This isn’t about the Big Ten championship. This isn’t about the Rose Bowl.

This is about the stupid-ass sportswriter’s cliche I used in the headline above.

The hackneyed piece of garbage has become so commonplace that it gets by editors who should know better. That, of course, is not much of a surprise. These days, too few writers can write and too few editors can edit. Neither seem to give half a rat’s ass about the quality of writing out there.

When was the last time you read a sports article that was well written and engaging — one that didn’t read like the spew that comes out of Jim Rome’s mouth? But I digress.

No one — no one — controls his own destiny. I’ve said it, so it must be true.