I'm ready for some football!

Here's the thing. I don't have cable.

But I don't really watch much TV, so this doesn't pose much of a problem. Except for a small number of days a year, when it poses a BIG problem. And those days are upon us.

Fortunately, my gym has ESPN on one of the TVs in the cardio room. (Don't get me started on their poor channel selection and/or terrible/non-existent-on-most-the-machines sound hook ups.) And I have friends who have cable AND want to watch football with me. (Well, I assume I do. I still need to figure out who they are.)

Saturday afternoon, I watched most of the first half of the Texas game at the gym. Then down to DC to watch the BYU/Washington game with my good friend Rachel, who was visiting from Florida.

Monday night was the Boise State/Virginia Tech game, and I was really anticipating watching this one! My solution? I got to the gym shortly after the 8:00pm kickoff and parked myself on the elliptical right in front of the ESPN TV (and it actually had working sound connections! Score!), and pedaled during the entirety of the game. Except halftime. I took a short break to walk around, stretch, lift some weights, and get some water (a lot of water). When the game resumed, I was right back on there, pedaling and watching the game.

If I keep this up this season, I may be in the best shape ever by bowl season.

A couple things:

(a) I wear a heart rate monitor when I work out. By the end, it had recorded that my max HR was 180. (Too bad it didn't tell me WHEN that happened. Probably at the end.) I usually only achieve that when running sprints on the track. And watching heart attack inducing football, apparently. I noticed that my HR also jumped several times into the 170s during intense plays. Ha! (Makes me wonder where it would have gone had it not started already elevated.)

(b) I tried to be discrete, but sometimes I couldn't help it. Especially at the end. I had several reflexive outbursts. Fortunately, at the end when BSU scored their miracle touchdown, the cardio room was pretty empty.

(c) I'm really thankful the game didn't go into overtime. I could have kept going, but the gym closed at midnight and we were already pushing it on time. I was the last person to leave the cardio room.

(d) My feet really hurt by the end.

(e) And yet, when the game was over, I still stayed there to watch the highlight reel on Sports Center. (Which was pretty long, by the way. That game had a lot of highlights!)

(f) I'm really, really happy that Boise State won. :D

(g) I think I'm going to sleep really well tonight.

(And a picture to close: me and one of my favorite football buddies, back during our Austin days!! At a Longhorns game at DKR Memorial Stadium with Shaleen!)

Ringing in 2009

Happy New Year!

I'm still working on a "2008, Year in Review" type post, but will post this one first because I have it written first.

I rang in the New Year in style by going to the YSA dance at my church. It was a "decades dance" and I dressed up as the 80s. The funny thing is, I bought everything for this outfit this week (and on sale!), except the shoes. (I just find it scary that some of these things are supposedly coming back in style.) I really wanted people to ask me if I'd "jumped ship" (like Back to the Future), but I usually beat them to the joke.

Michelle dressed up as the 60s. She was the cutest hippie there!


I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel pretty ridiculous. But hey, it was fun!

After the dance we had a few people over to our apartment and we watched Freaks and Geeks. All. Night. Long. I'm not exaggerating. I didn't sleep.

Michelle organized a sunrise party for more of our friends. We went to the top of Mt. Bonnell and watched the first sunrise of the new year. I was actually surprised at how many other groups were there.

We climbed these rafter things, and waited for the sun.

Me and Benjamin.


The first sunrise of 2009!

Here's our whole group.

After that we headed over to Kerby Lane for the first breakfast of the new year. Yay!

After not having slept all day, I crashed once I got home, about 10am. I only slept about 4 hours though. (Sheesh.) I ended up watching football and just chilling during the evening. I saw USC pummel Penn State in the Rose Bowl (well, most of it) and then got a good laugh by watching the Battle of the Mediocre Conferences (also known as the ACC and Big East) in the Sunny-D Bowl.

(We decided calling it the Orange Bowl was too generous...after debating several names from "the Mandarin Orange Bowl" to "the Tang Bowl" to "the Artificial Orange Flavoring Bowl," it was decided that "the Sunny-D Bowl" was the most appropriate.)

Happy 2009 everyone!!

Guest blogging

My friend Sarah co-writes a blog with three other women called The Apron Stage. It is delightful. Every Friday they have a guest blogger, and today's features yours truly. I wrote a piece about the BCS. It's not as extensive as the one I wrote here, and is for a different audience. However, you should still check it out. And you should read other posts on the blog. It's delightful!

http://theapronstage.com/

Another weekend of football

I don't know about the rest of you, but I will definitely be losing sleep as I impatiently await a potential BCS match up between #13 Cincinnati and #25 Virginia Tech (who have 2 and 4 losses, respectively). Oh yeah, that match up is worth the $14 million payout right there. I totally think a 4 loss team should definitely play in a BCS bowl while an undefeated team like Boise State doesn't. Yeah, that makes sense.

< / sarcasm >

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest. On a more serious note, the Florida/Alabama game totally rocked my socks. Two great teams, a pretty even match up, and just some awesome football. It was a great game. And I watched almost the entire thing at the gym as I did the elliptical machine, though I lifted weights during halftime. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Tonight I also watched (i.e., suffered through) the Big 12 championship game, though I'm not sure why, since I (like the rest of my fair city) am still feeling pretty bent-out-of-shape about the whole thing. If you don't follow the Big 12/BCS/college football, just know that even though Texas beat BOTH teams playing for the Big 12 title, they stayed home this weekend. (Again, yeah, that makes perfect sense.) OU (as expected) blew Missouri out of the water, though Mizzou did manage to score 21 points to OU's 62. OU became the first team in history to score more than 60 points in 5 consecutive games, as the commentators reminded us every 5 minutes. Obviously they're hot stuff. Just ask Bob Stoops, I'm sure he'll tell you that too.

My roommate Michelle and I stuck out watching the whole game (though admittedly, sometimes Facebook had more of our attention), and afterwards went to drown our football sorrows in ice cream. But alas, we were foiled by both Coldstone (apparently the one near our apartment just permanently closed) and Marble Slab (it had just closed for the night). So we went to HEB (the grocery store) and each bought a pint of something. Personally, I think Ben and Jerry deserve to play in a BCS bowl more than Virginia Tech.

Okay, I'm being too sarcastic for my own good in this post.

But I will say this: I'm totally on the Tebow train. Tim Tebow is Florida's QB and though he won the Heisman last year as a sophomore, the Big 12 QBs have stolen the Heisman spotlight this year. But Tebow's performance against Alabama was awesome. And you know, as much as I love my Longhorns and Colt McCoy, from one Heisman trophy winner to another, I may have to cast my vote for Tebow this year. (What? You haven't heard how I won the Heisman? It was even on Wikipedia...)

It's likely that the championship game this year will be Oklahoma vs. Florida. And I know that historically I've been known for having a strong dislike for all football teams from Florida (the ranking of dislike being Miami, Florida State, Florida), but I'll be rooting for the Gators in that match up.


P.S. Thanks for all the comments on the previous BCS post! I thought all the discussion was great!

I know what "BCS" really stands for

The BCS actually stands for the "Bowl Championship Series." In short, it's the system devised to determine the champion of college football.

I love college football. And like any true college football fan, I hate the BCS.

There are few things in this world that I would say I truly hate. But this, my friends, is one of them. I hate the BCS almost as much as I love bashing it. So buckle your seat belts because here it comes....

Football is the only college sport that doesn't have a playoff system to determine the champion. I think some kind of playoff system would be the ideal route, but realize that it will probably not happen anytime soon. So I'm not going to argue the reasons as to why it should or shouldn't happen. What I am going to argue is why the BCS is lame.

(1) Automatic conference bids. My biggest beef (and the basis for a lot of my other complaints about the BCS) is the automatic conference bids. There are 11 conferences in the NCAA, Division IA. There are six "BCS" conferences. For these 6 conferences, the conference champion gets an automatic bid to a BCS bowl, no questions asked. Many of the below points expound on why this is such a bad idea. There used to be just four BCS bowls: that meant eight possible teams could play. Do the math and that meant there were two "add large" berths, in addition to the six automatic conference bids. There are now five BCS bowls, meaning there is room enough for 10 teams. So instead of being 2 at large spots, there are now 4. But there are still six spots reserved for those "special" conference champs.

(2) The money. Everyone knows that the BCS is all about money. That's why BCS bowls are such a big deal. The "small" bowl games have payouts on the order of $500,000, even up to $1.5 million (those are very few). The "New Years Day" bowls that are a slightly bigger deal payout of a few million, but no more than $4.5 million. The BCS games pay out anywhere between $14 and $17 million EACH. (That's THREE TIMES AS MUCH MONEY as even the priciest bowl.) Automatic conference bids mean that each of the "BCS conferences" is guaranteed this much each year. That is money to be used on better facilities, better coaches, better recruiting. In other words, the rich will keep getting rich and the poor will keep getting poorer. I'm not saying that I favor football socialism, I'm just saying I'm against wealth condensation in football. If Big Deal State happens to be that good every year, sure, let them go to a big deal bowl game every year. But when Supposedly Big Deal State has a three loss season, and The University of Small Town has an undefeated season, SBDS should not get to play in a $14 million bowl game while UST is snubbed.

Though apparently the BCS conferences do believe in football socialism...as long as they're dealing with the "non-BCS conferences." The multi-million dollars awarded to a BCS buster school are actually distributed among all the non-BCS conferences.

(3) The Big East. Okay, seriously. What team in the Big East is good anymore?? The Big East was only included as a BCS conference because it was home of Virginia Tech and the University of Miami. But then the two of them jumped ship (and probably smartly) to the ACC, and we're still stuck with the Big East. Come on.... If people are still insistent on automatic conference bids to the BCS bowls, at least get rid of the Big East's bid and make it an automatic bid for whichever team in one of the "non-BCS" conferences is deemed best. There is something wrong with the team that is currently ranked #16 this year (i.e., Cincinnati) playing in a big bowl when there's debate as to whether or not undefeated Boise State can be "squeezed in."

(4) The ACC. The only thing more annoying than the Big East this year is the ACC. I'll cut them a bit of a break since they haven't been as consistently bad as the Big East. I overheard someone at the gym recently say, "No team in the ACC should be ranked right now." I wanted to high five him because I agree. Right now the battle for the ACC is between #17 Boston College (a three loss team) and #25 (though unranked last week, with FOUR losses) Virginia Tech. Whoever wins, will be in a BCS game. Again....WHAT?!

(5) Redistribution of Talent. For a long time in college football, there were good teams and there was everyone else. Upsets weren't nearly as common as they are today. It seems like upsets were really something to get excited about back when BYU beat Miami in 1990. But in recent years, there seems to be an upset or two almost every weekend. I believe the reason for this is a redistribution of talent. Instead of the best recruits going to one school and sitting on the bench for the entirety of their 4 years of NCAA eligibility, they'll go to a school where they can actually play. And play they do. There are a lot of good teams out there. Everyone is beating everyone else, even when they're not "supposed" to. The result: there's no way a computer can predict who will win and who won't with a small enough margin of error to justify the continuation of the use of that computer. Who would have thought that a couple seasons ago, when everyone was in love with Troy Smith and the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes that they'd completely choke in the title game? And that same year, little Boise State managed to bust into the BCS and play big deal Oklahoma and BEAT them in a game that was way more exciting than the OSU/UF blowout. That year BSU ended up being the only undefeated team in the country....and not only were they not awarded the national title, they didn't even get a SHOT at the title. (BYU fans take note: had the BCS been in place in 1984, I guarantee you, they would not have been awarded the national championship.) In short, there's little justification for excluding teams anymore. Just because you don't want to play with the poor kids from the wrong side of the tracks who are outside your playground clique, doesn't mean they can't kick your trash.

(5) Favoritism. The BCS is set up to favor teams in the so-called "BCS Conferences." (Have I made this point clear enough yet?) This favoritism is based largely on historical reasons: "We'll keep taking Big Name Tech seriously, despite the fact that they haven't had a winning season since 1994." This expands into the idea I expressed above that small teams are not taken seriously enough to even be allowed to play for the title.

For example: as of this writing there are 4 undefeated teams in college football: Alabama, Utah, Boise State, and Ball State. Alabama (a member of the SEC, a BCS conference) is ranked number 1. The other three are ranked 6, 9, and 12, respectively. Am I saying that even a 10-2 Ohio State or a 10-2 TCU is better than an 11-0 Ball State? I'll be honest...I don't even know where Ball State is. But I do know that if you accomplish everything that is asked of you in one season, you should be rewarded with something better than a trip to the PapaJohns.com bowl. (And I really love their garlicky butter sauce!)

Additionally: it should be noted that even if Alabama loses to Florida in the SEC title game, there is not a snowball's chance in Austin of undefeated Utah playing undefeated Boise State for the title. In fact, BSU will be considered "lucky" if they make it into the BCS at all. I mean, there are 3 loss teams to include people!! (That is, whoever wins the Big East and ACC.)

(6) Winning your Conferences vs. Playing for the National Title. I believe that if you don't win your Conference, you shouldn't be allowed to play for the national title. You may remember a few years ago when Kansas State upset Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game. K-State and their 3 losses headed to the Fiesta Bowl while Oklahoma took an at large berth (pretty much stealing a spot that would have otherwise gone to Texas) and played LSU for the title. (And lost.) Should OU have played for the title when they couldn't even win their conference? No. If you don't win your conference, you shouldn't play for the title. This, remember, was the year that USC got the royal shaft to play for the title, and ultimately it ended with LSU on top of the BCS and USC atop the AP poll...a split national championship! This was the EXACT scenario the BCS was created to avoid! Had there been a rule in place to not allow OU to play for the title because they failed to win their conference, USC would have played LSU and we would actually know who was the best football team in the country.

(7) Pandering/Politicking. Football is about a big green (or blue, if you're Boise State) field, two teams, one ball, and 4 "15-minute" quarters that really last 4 hours. It shouldn't be about pandering to the voters, politicking your team's case, coaches and players making "please pick us" speeches, blah, blah, blah. It should be about who beat who on the field. Not about whose coach is so good at making a speech that they are being recruited to write speeches and run campaigns for several congressmen.

(8) Style Points. Since when did college football become a beauty contest? I've heard the phrase "style points" more in the past few weeks than I ever have before. Apparently we're not only deciding who to crown the best football team in the nation, the running for Miss Congeniality is wide open as well. Teams have to not only win, they have to win big and they have look good doing it. A game with cool moves is more fun to watch than one without, for sure, but again, at the end of the day, all that matters is that there's another "W" on your schedule.

(9) Good Sportsmanship. A large portion of the BCS rankings are determined by a computer. The computer takes into account many things, including a team's "margin of victory." That is: "Big Deal State didn't just beat Rivalry State, they beat them by 72 points! They are therefore awesome." This idea makes sense in theory. What is the result in practice? Teams were running up the score whenever they could to impress the computers. What ever happened to being a good sport? Instead of just graciously winning a game against an apparently far inferior opponent, teams would run the score up, adding insult to injury.

To their credit, the BCS realized this was probably not a good idea and got rid of the margin of victory from their program. However, there are still "style points" to earn, if you remember. The computers may not be impressed anymore, but the humans sure will, so when you have the chance to win big, you better take it. So again, good sportsmanship loses out.

(10) The BCS Breaks When There Are More than Two "Best" Teams. The system is basically a "two team playoff," allowing the two "best" teams in the country to go head-to-head and use the field to determine who really is the best. This works at times when the question really does come down to just two "best" teams in the country (for example, USC and Texas, in 2005). They play each other and awesomeness ensues. (And even though the computers--and Matt Leinart--thought USC was the better team, Texas pulled off the win. Hence, we don't need computers to tell us who's best, we need those 22 men on the field to prove it to us.)

But what happens when there are more than two teams that equally deserve a shot at the title? The BCS lets their computers decide who's better (why bother with actually playing football when you can let a computer decide?), and you get a situation like 2004 when USC, OU, and Auburn were all undefeated at the end of the season. The BCS said OU and USC should duke it out, and Auburn was left to play Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl . The result? USC mops the field with OU, beating them by almost 40 points. Auburn also won their BCS game and we were all left wishing they'd played USC instead. Oh, and don't forget: Utah was undefeated that year too, but being a "non-BCS conference team" they should just be grateful they were given permission to ride on the bus, even if it was in the back. They destroyed Pittsburgh (the winner of the Big East and ranked #20...20!!) in the Fiesta Bowl...a match up that was insulting to non-BCS schools everywhere. (Why does the Big East have an automatic conference bid again?)

(11) Did I Mention the Automatic Conference Bids? As you can see, I believe the root of most of the problems in the BCS are the automatic conference bids. Get rid of them.


Okay, so if The Man is still adamant about not having a playoff of any kind, I would at least beg them to consider and implement this change: Get rid of automatic conference bids!! There are 10 BCS spots. Take the top 10 teams of your little BCS poll. Period. Stop letting teams that are unranked or ranked below #20 play in the BCS. Seriously. Fine, let #1 and #2 play each other for the title. (And we'll keep complaining about your choices.) But then match up the other 8 teams in some sort of logical way. (Auburn should have at LEAST played Utah in 2004...undefeated vs. undeafeated is way more satisfying than what actually happened. Especially when both teams are irritated and have something to prove.) Make teams and conferences earn their way. No more free loading! (*turns an evil eye toward the Big East*)

Of course, changes to the system would mean that commentators and fans would have a lot less to talk about come December. College football might start making sense. What would we talk about and puzzle over? The actual games that were played? That's just crazy talk.



(Please feel free to comment! I love this discussion. And if you want to have it with me in person, I'm always up for some good BCS Bashing!)