Are Football Bowls Worthless?

I’m going to answer yes for a variety of reasons.

1. When more than half of all Division I football teams qualify to play in a bowl; when teams that barely had a winning record get a bowl invitation; when we get treated to the likes of Houston vs. Air Force or Louisiana Tech vs. Northern Illinois, then bowl games have become worthless.
2. Except for one game - the National Championship game - bowl games mean nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  No one’s conference standings change.  For the most part they aren’t even real games.  Nothing next week, or next month, or next year depends upon the outcome.
3. There is very little interest in them.  There were 34 bowl games this year.  How many did you actually watch from beginning to end?  Even as announcers would tell of a “sold-out” game, the overhead blimp cam would reveal lots and lots of empty seats.  Even at some of the more interesting ones.
4. They foster the continued and agonizing debate over “who really deserves to be number one?”  So far I’ve already heard Tyrone Wittingham of Utah and Mack Brown of Texas say that they will be voting their own teams number one in the final poll and every on-field announcer seems to feel the need to ask every winning coach and every winning player in every BCS game who they think deserves to be number one.  [Side note to all of the Texas and Utah fans out there: Neither Texas nor Utah will be crowned National Champions at the conclusion of this bowl season.]
5. Many teams realize that the game is meaningless and simply go to the bowl destination to have a good time.  Nine times out of ten Oklahoma will beat Boise State, but not when Boise is playing for pride and Oklahoma is playing for nothing.  They simply aren’t real games.  The week heading into bowl games is not a “normal” week of preparation.  Focus is often on things other than the game.  Things like interviews.  Limo rides.  Party spots.

So, except for the National Championship game, in any given year there is only one bowl game that matters and that is the National Championship game.

These Things I Know

Ok.  The NCAA football National Championship will be played on Thursday, January 8th.  In a rare occurence the game will pit two Heisman Trophy winners against each other for the right to take home the crystal ball.  There is a lot of intrigue in this game.  Apparently Tebow felt snubbed by coming in third in Heisman voting.  His teammates have taken it personally.  And the young man has some grit to him.  He did a masterful job of motivating his team past the Mississippi loss.  He will probably have a few heart-to-hearts with his teammates both before and during the game.

I’m a little hesitant about this game given OU’s recent bowl performances.  I can still hear all of the jokes from the end of last season (thanks to all my OSU “friends”).  So, I’m not going out on any limbs to predict a Sooner victory - at least not today.  I may make a prediction before the game, and my Creskin-like abilities have been pretty good so far (note the date on that post - August, 2007).  But today I do know this: OU has plenty of its own motivation, being the underdog, all of the nay-sayers out there who don’t think they should be in the game at all, the SECers who don’t think the Big XII offenses are all that good - only that the Big XII defenses are really that bad.  I also know that Florida will not win the National Championship simply because Tim Tebow wills it so.  They will have to come out and play some really good football of their own.

Superman

This season Sam Bradford will set an NCAA record for pass efficiency. When you consider that he has thrown the ball 442 times that is a remarkable feat. I am predicting that his reward for his accomplishments will be a stiff-armed trophy bestowed upon him this Saturday night. He will deserve it. He will become the fifth Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Oklahoma. Space is reserved in Heisman Park just outside of Memorial Stadium in Norman for another statue, be it for Sam or someone in the future.  However, it is my belief that no amount of kryptonite, no Lex Luthor, no Tim Tebow, no Colt McCoy, will be able to keep young Mr. Bradford from delivering his acceptance speech at the Downtown Athletics Club in New York Saturday night. Read more

There’s Only One

Tribute

I played one year of organized football when I was in the 7th or 8th grade. I was small. In the first practice I got run over by the running back who was a good six or eight inches taller than me. I did tackle him, it’s just that I ended up at the bottom of the pile. I didn’t even have a mouthpiece yet and the coach came over to me, laughing, and said, “Son, let’s not do that again until we get you a mouthpiece. We don’t want you losing any of your teeth or biting your tongue off.”

Though I didn’t play much - if you hadn’t played before you got to spend the first year sitting on the bench; it was just an unwritten rule - we never lost a game. I think we only got scored on once. But I was proud to be a part of that team.

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We Now Bring You This Important Sports Announcement

I want to take a minute to pump up the Sapulpa Lady Chieftains’ basketball team today.  The Lady Chieftains have only lost one game this season and will play in the second round of the state playoffs today.  Most are picking them to win the state 6A championship for the second year in a row.  I may take a trip down to the Ford Center in OKC this afternoon to watch them play.  Go Lady Chieftains!

Interlude

We interrupt the regularly scheduled blog topics for the following sports announcement:

I was incredibly disappointed in the lack of effort I saw from my beloved Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl.  Should we ever get another invitation to the Fiesta Bowl we should flee from Arizona as fast as we can.  I’ve been pretty speechless because I simply don’t understand how we could be so dominating of Missouri in the Big XII championship game and be so flat, uninspired and dominated in the Fiesta Bowl a month later.

However, this is not a game that I am interested in analyzing.  I don’t care about what-ifs or buts.  Therefore, I have determined that my only catharsis can come from laughing at and mocking my own beloved Sooners, if but for a short time.  With that in mind I offer you the following.

What do the OU Sooners and marijuana have in common?
They both get smoked in bowls.

Why does Bob Stoops eat Cheerios from a plate?
Because if he ate them from a bowl he’d lose them.

How do you make Sooner cookies?
Put them in a big bowl and beat them for three hours.

What do evergreens and Sooners have in common?
They both get lit up around Christmas time.

Ok.  I feel better now.

My Lunch With A Sports Legend

My wife and I have had season tickets to OU football since the John Blake days when tickets were exceptionally easy to get.  We suffered through games where four different quarterbacks were used - in one series!  But that all paid off when Bob Stoops became coach of the Sooners.

That was BC - Before Children.  These days games are difficult to make.  Most fall weekends we have up to three soccer and/or basketball games the kids are in and as much as I love OU football, I love my kids more.

But when Bedlam comes to Norman I do everything in my power to make it.  I like OSU.  They’re sort of like that stray puppy hanging out in your neighborhood.  Little.  Cute.  But sometimes nasty.  And I love it when OU beats OSU not because I hate their little Pokified hearts, but because it bothers them so much.  They could go 1-10 every season and if that one win was against OU their season would be complete.  No matter their record, if they win they’ll print up T-shirts to celebrate.  God bless those little buckaroos.

So when Bedlam rolled around and game time was set at 2:30 I was going.  But it was cold, and Vera would rather watch them on TV than sit through the cold (it even snowed a little).  So I took my dad.  My dad is why I grew up an OU fan.  He graduated from OU with a degree in Electrical Engineering.  He also wrestled for them.  He wrestled behind some national champions.  When he decided his studies were more important he quit the team even though coaches tried to get him to stick with it.  And all that makes him a member of the "O" club - lettermen.

Last year I met Paul Burleson and his wife Mary before an OU game and we went to the "O" club tent for a burger.  Paul told me they had some great burgers.  They take a hot dog weiner, split it in two and slap it on top of the hamburger patty and you’ve got yourself one heckuva meal there.  Well…earlier this year at the Miami game I met up with Paul and Mary again, but this time we were told that the "O" club tent was closed to members only.  Word had gotten out about how good those burgers were and they had sold out - to the consternation of many an "O" club member.  Drats!

So at the Bedlam game I told dad about the good "O" club burgers and said that maybe they had opened it back up to the public.  Dad told me that he thought he was a lifetime member of the "O" club, but he couldn’t find his card.  But we thought we’d give it a try.  They had tables all set up in the Fieldhouse where my dad used to wrestle.  We approached the table and the young lady asked for a name.  Dad told her he thought his membership had probably expired so she after getting his name she handed him a form to fill out.  While he was filling it out she said, "Oh, here you are.  You’re already on the list."

Sweet.

Much to our delight we were not only going to get a good "O" club burger, we were going to get a free "O" club burger along with chips and a drink.  We went inside, got our food and found a table.  Scanning the room I could see a number of faces I’d seen on the jumbotron in games past…former football players.  I couldn’t remember their names, but it was confirmed several times as kids with their dads would approach one of them with a football or a ball cap to sign.  But there was one face I definitely recognized and could put a name with.  I’d just seen him on TV the week before doing an interview with one of the game crews.  It was ol’ silver shoes himself - College Football Hall of Famer Joe Washington.  Come to find out Joe is the Executive Director of the "O" club.

He milled around and had his picture taken with a number of people - even a few OSU fans who somehow got access to those sacred grounds (he did put an OU ball cap on one of the OSU fan’s little girls when they got their picture taken).  So we invited Little Joe over to eat with us and got to know him real well.  We exchanged cell phone numbers and now I’m on Joe Washington’s speed dial.  Can you believe it?!?!  Well….ok….maybe you shouldn’t.

But I still got to have lunch with a sports legend.  He’s my dad.  Not only was he a wrestler for the University of Oklahoma, he was my T-ball coach, my little league coach, my church basketball team’s coach.  We’ve gone to OU basketball games together and many OU football games as well.

With about eight minutes left in that Bedlam game the outcome was no longer in doubt.  Dad turned to me and said, "We can go whenever you want."  So we strolled back to the car and fought the traffic back to his house with another victory on the field and memories created off of it.

Friday Is For Football & Fotos

Well, football will be played again this week as the Sooners return to action.  But before we get to the impending Aggie spanking let me mention some other games of interest.

Wisconsin will have been vanquished by Ohio State by sometime around 2:00 PM.  Although this has been a freakish football year, so I’m not completely counting the Badgers out.

Then there’s Nebraska.  Ohhh Nebraska.  I’ve never been a Bill Callahan fan and I suspect that I’m now joined by a hoard of people in the Cornhusker nation.  Nebraska found a way to look decent for three quarters last week - until they gave up about 300 yards of rushing in the fourth quarter!  I would recommend that Bill update his resume, but he may just want to leave the past few years as a blank and try to convince any future football employer that he was really out selling insurance or something.  Kansas will thump the men of corn.

It also does my heart good to watch the continuing demise of the golden domers.  Every OU fan dispises Notre Dame for what they did in ending our 47 game win streak.  That they are now setting their own records of futility brings joy to my heart.  May it continue yet another week.

One of the more interesting games for the Big XII is Oklahoma State hosting Texas.  I’m still not sure we know how good either of these teams are.  OSU still has a horrible defense and they have virtually no pass rush.  But Texas has the great equalizing factor: Greg Davis.  No, Davis is not a player.  He is the offensive coordinator, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t had much of a clue for years.  It has been reported that he "stumbled" back on the famous "zone read" play in the fourth quarter last week.  They’ve also been accused of being a little soft (not that that is a new accusation, or anything).  OSU has only beaten Texas twice.  Yes, that’s right.  Twice.  Ever.  But I’ll go against the odds and take OSU at home.

LSU plays Alabama.  I always root against Les Miles.  Always.  Roll Tide, if but for one week.  Oregon will beat Arizona State and Missouri will beat Colorado.

In the headliner, the Oklahoma Sooners will wreck the wreckless crew from Texas A&M and Dennis Franchione will join Bill Callahan at the front of the unemployment line.

Now for a couple of pics:


 

Friday Is For Football & Fotos

What a meltdown by Virginia Tech last night.  They held BC to around 130 yards passing through about 50+ minutes and then gave up over 150 in the next ten to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The following are games that have some intrigue this week:

West Virginia vs. Rutgers.  The Scarlet Knights knocked off #2 last week.  Can they knock off a second top ten team in two weeks?  I’m picking them to do it again.

Colorado at Texas Tech.  Colorado has a chance only because they have a pretty good defense.  This game matches a good defense against a good offense and a bad defense against a bad offense…and it’s in Lubbock.  I’ll give gunslinger Mike Leach the advantage on this one.

USC at Oregon.  This is about a toss-up, but I’ll go with Oregon just because it’s a home game.

Nebraska at Texas.  Wow.  Could Nebraska be worse?  Actually they could.  OU fans know this.  Yes, there was a worse coach for OU than Schnelly.  Scuttlebutt on the radio suggests Nebraska could boot Callahan in favor of Turner Gill.  Texas will stomp all over Nebraska and Bill Callahan will return to Lincoln under the cloak of darkness.

Kansas travels to College Station to take on the soon-to-be-Franless Aggies.  A&M should enjoy their final day tied for first in the Big XII South because it will come to an end tomorrow at the hands of a basketball school.  My side prediction is that Mark Mangino will do his best Mr. Creosote imitation within the year.

I’ll also predict a Cal upset over Arizona State.

OU is off for the week getting ready to give Texas A&M their second straight loss next week sending the Aggie nation into a tailspin.  OSU is also off meaning that it is unlikely we’ll see Mike Gundy carried away by those nice men in white coats this week.

And now for a pic or three from our recent trip to the lake.  The first is Lake Tenkiller.  The second is a painted mural on the side of a building in Vian, OK that I thought was pretty interesting.  The third is my oldest daughter.  Ain’t she purdy?

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