Bob Dunning: A car-sharing business in which the cars are shared

ZIPPING ALONG … now that Avis has gobbled up Zipcar – city of Davis contract and all – some folks are searching for other ways to “share” their cars … Daniel writes to ask if I’ve heard of “RelayRides,” which he says is exactly what Zipcar should have been all along …

“Car owners list their vehicles online to be rented at an hourly rate that the car owners themselves specify,” Daniel explains … “The company pays for a million dollars of insurance, verifies the identity of the renter and takes 40 percent of the rate for their trouble. The car owner takes the rest. No annual fee, no contract and — most importantly — no city government handouts. The cheapest one in Davis is ‘Peter’s Nissan,’ going for $7 per hour or $35 per day. Check it out.” …

Forget Peter’s Nissan, Daniel … how about the Dunning Family Honda Odyssey, which comes equipped with Chicken McNuggets under the rear seats, curly fries under the middle seats and two half-full cans of Diet Pepsi in the front seat cupholders … at five bucks an hour, it’s a steal … forget the gas, just replace the McNuggets before you bring it back …

ALL IS CHIPPER IN EUGENE … the best news to come out of all the college football bowl games is that Oregon coach Chip Kelly has decided not to take his considerable talents to the NFL … I did have to question his sanity as he played footsie with the Cleveland Browns, which, last time I checked, are still located in Cleveland …

Here’s a guy living in Eugene, right smack in the heart of God’s country, making $4 million a year with crazy Duck fans worshipping the very artificial turf he walks on … and he was considering moving to Cleveland where fans will start throwing batteries at you if you don’t win immediately, which is highly unlikely …

Kelly’s problem is that he doesn’t have a wife and kids to tell him “we don’t want to live in Cleveland, we love it here in Eugene.” … the fact he finally figured it out on his own is good for the Univ. of Oregon, good for the Pac-12 and good for college football in general … no one has shaken up the collegiate football landscape the way he has …

Given that Oregon may yet face NCAA sanctions, it was also honorable for Kelly to stay put and face whatever music may play …

SPEAKING OF THE DUCKS … after Oregon drilled Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl, I received a kind note from my friend Vernette, who says “You must be one happy Ducks’ fan and alumnus. Congrats to the team.” … while I am happy for the Ducks, I’m actually a fan and alumnus of that other Oregon school with a water-based mascot, the Oregon State Beavers …

Reminds me of the time when another Dunning in town, unrelated to the Above-Pictured Columnist, had a talented daughter who was running up all kinds of awards upon graduation from the local high school … a kind reader sent me a wonderful card, citing this unrelated Dunning daughter’s many accomplishments and assuring me I must be a great dad and very proud and all the rest of it …

Rather than get into a long explanation that might embarrass the sender of the card, I merely replied with a thank you note of my own and said I was, indeed, very proud … had she included a check with her card, I would have cashed it …

EVEN MORE FOOTBALL … after watching Alabama demolish Notre Dame to claim the national collegiate football championship for the third time in four years — not to mention the Southeastern Conference’s seventh straight national title — it’s time for the NCAA to get serious about its many levels of competition …

Division I-AA (FCS to some), where UC Davis competes, will become I-AAAA … Division I-A (FBS to some) will include all major college football powers except members of the Southeastern Conference and will be known as I-AAA … members of the SEC will compete only against each other another step up at the I-AA level …

And finally, the champion of the top level, I-A, will be determined each spring by the winner of the annual Alabama intrasquad game …

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net