Binging on the possible reasons for Iowa's party school ranking

So the University of Iowa is the national champion of partying, according to the Princeton Review's annual survey of students.

This was greeted as good news by students and other drunken rabble lurking on the Twitter, etc. It was bad news for  hand-wringers in the ivory towers of the university's administration, where officials were just certain they had finally begun to make headway on the tough task of confining binge drinking to big donor luxury boxes at Kinnick.

Alas, their university still ranks high for "lots of hard liquor" and "lots of beer." Illinois, Wisconsin and Penn State also made the top 10.

The university has, by all accounts, done a much better job of informing its students of the dangers of demon liquor, the Bud Light partnership fiasco notwithstanding. The 21-only law apparently has reduced the amount of underage drinking in downtown Iowa City. Various statistics show progress on reducing high-risk drinking. It could be said that once you've informed young scholars of the risks, reminded everyone that the drinking age is 21, and reserved drinking establishments for those who can legally drink, you've done a lot of your duty. The rest is up to the students.

It may also be that the Princeton survey is a lagging indicator. Or, like a lot of other kinds of media bait rankings, it should be taken with a grain of margarita salt.

But that's not usually how Iowa City rolls. There's got to be am initiative or government program or a new restrictive law that can be implemented to solve this. If we only knew why young adults who are living away from home for the first time while eagerly testing the bounds of their new-found freedom make questionable choices. Why? Oh why?

Iowa City's own John Deeth has ideas:

I agree with Deeth on the drinking age. But as long as the legal drinking age is 21, and as long as bars are for drinking, I think only folks over 21 should be allowed in. I hope the latest effort to toss out the 21-only law fails in November. I think it probably will.

So young adults wanting to have adult fun? Hmmm. Seems possible. But it's got to be something else driving up the ranking. Something far less simple and plausible.

Hey, just for fun, let's recklessly speculate. Here are six possible reasons, which, when combined, count as a binge.

City of Literature -- All those budding Fitzgeralds, Hammetts and Hemmingways running around town, tanked, may be to blame.

Climate change -- Drink faster. The beer is getting warm.

NSA Surveillance -- Erratic staggering often can thwart tracking drones.

Obama -- Entitled kids figure they'll get a free liver from Obamacare.

The national debt -- Fiscally conscious students are over-drinking to protest Congress' continued over-spending.

Cultural obligation -- Where would our popular culture be without stereotypical, drunken college kids? A place with far fewer vomit jokes, that's where.  Which also begs the question, was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Mind you, these are only silly, ridiculous theories, with no evidence whatsoever to back them up. Still, I think they should be taken very seriously.

Now, I could really go for some pancakes.