BigDaddyCool

The winning Touchdown - Deja Blue all over again!!!

OK, first of all I have to apologize for being down for the past few days. But as you can see, I’m back up and running and ready to blog for a new year. So, here’s what happened…

My blog host just so happens to be located in the United Kingdom, and at present they are experiencing the worst cold snap in the last 30 years. I know for a fact that cold can effect just how effectively information can travel over the Internet, and in some cases it can cause servers to crash and sites to go down. That was apparently what happened to me as I have been unable to access this place for a few days now. When I first found out that I was down I sort of panicked as I thought that I would have to start everything all over again. But the I thought that that wouldn’t be so bad as it was a new year, which could mean everything could be new again.

Well I didn’t quite have to go that far as I am now back up, and I have backed up my database to my computer so if this ever happens again I can pick up where I left off. I was even contemplating a move to GoDaddy.com as a host, but since I am back up that doesn’t have to happen. Besides, right now I wouldn’t be able to afford to make that kind of a switch, monetarily speaking. In any case, I’m back to doing what I love to do.

So to that end…

How many of you caught the Fiesta Bowl on Monday?

I can guarantee you that every flat screen here in Boise was tuned into their local FOX affiliate on Monday night watching the Broncos take on the TCU Horned Frogs, and pretty much shut them down for a 17-10 win. Needless to say everyone here in Boise is ecstatic about the result, and I can imagine how bummed everyone in Fort Worth is about it. The game was actually what I expected and hoped for. I was hoping that no matter who won, that both teams would put on a good show for everyone. The last thing we would need would have been a blowout one way or the other, because that would have invited a lot of criticism for some of the “experts” who insist that neither team belongs in the BCS because of their “soft schedule” or because they play in the wrong conference.

The game was actually a great defensive effort by both teams. Sure there were times when their high-powered offenses sputtered and coughed, but that was only a testament to how good their defenses were playing – particularly Boise State, whose defensive unit had been hearing about their lackluster effort in last year’s Poinsettia Bowl for over a year now. To say that the Bronco D was playing with a chip on it’s shoulder is something of an understatement. They completely shut down the Horned Frogs offense for most of the game and frustrated them to the point that they began to commit stupid penalties as a result. However TCU got their act together and kept their heads in the game, and nearly tied it with a few seconds left, so give TCU their due – they played a hell of a game.

Not that you would have known that from some of the critics…

How do I say this nicely? Boise’s 17-10 victory against TCU was as exciting as watching someone watch paint dry. The game didn’t lay an egg; it laid an omelet. – Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com

How do I say this nicely? Hey Wojciechowski, what game were you watching Monday night? Did you even open your eyes, or did you nap through the entire game? Because that’s the only explanation I can come up with for how you could make such a stupid comment like that! Did you even watch the game on Monday, or did you catch the highlights on ESPNNews and get a critique of the game from Mark May?

They probably loved it back in Idaho, but there’s a gnawing feeling that the TV ratings are going to show that America wasn’t impressed with this first-ever BCS meeting of non-automatic qualifiers. – Texas Columnist Gil Lebreton

You can relax Gil, because the numbers are better than anyone expected. The game on Monday night drew the second-highest TV rating of any BCS game featuring a team from a non-BCS conference. The game drew an 8.2 rating, that’s 13.8 million viewers. Now true it was the eighth-lowest rating in the 50-game history of the BCS, but it was still a higher rated game then last year’s Sugar Bowl when Utah walloped Alabama and drew a 7.8 rating. The lowest rated BCS game was the 2009 Orange Bowl between Cincinnati and West Virginia, and that drew a 5.4 rating. The BSU-TCU match-up outdrew the past three Orange Bowls and the 2008 Fiesta Bowl (Oklahoma-West Virginia). Now BSU was part of the highest-rated BCS game involving a non-BCS team when they beat Oklahoma back in 2007, back then they drew an 8.4. So it’s safe to say that some people in America are, and were impressed with the Broncos.

Now, as to the “soft schedule” crap that keeps being flung about…

That is exactly what it is – crap!!!

Back in the 70′s and early 80′s powerhouse schools like Nebraska, Oklahoma and Alabama used to have “soft schedules” where they had Division I-AA schools along with Division II and III schools on their schedule, and nobody blinked an eye. Fast forward to 2010 and all of a sudden it’s a federal offense when schools begin ducking Boise State because they are afraid to play them even in their own house.

Schools like Michigan, for example.

Boise State tried to get a game with Michigan on their schedule for 2011, even going so far as to offer to play the Wolverines in “The Big House”, and Michigan turned them down!!! So how is it that BCS-honks like Mark May can justify saying that Boise State never plays anybody when the teams that guys like May says they should be playing are ducking them? When you try to get a program like Michigan on your schedule and they turn you down, and then you turn around and criticize that school for never playing anyone of consequence it makes you look like a moron who doesn’t know what he is talking about. At least that is how Mark May looks to everyone in Boise right now.

For all of you out there who say that the Broncos never play anyone powerful like the schools you attend or root for, I say this: put up or shut up. Agree to play the Broncos at your place, or even better – have the balls to come to Boise and play them on the Blue Turf. Don’t come up with some lame excuse like “we wouldn’t lower ourselves” or “it’s not worth it to make the trip” because then you just look like a pussy! If you are so much better than us then sack up and prove it on the field – until then, you’re all talk.

And now, onto “Cowbell Girl”…

Just how stupid do some of you feel right now about the lame-ass comments you have been making about her? Just how dumb do you feel after discovering that she had such a serious expression on her face because she was so concentrated on what she was doing because she was nearly blind? How moronic do you feel right now knowing that you were picking on someone who is disabled?

Seriously, how stupid do you feel right now?

You should be feeling like a total putz, and if you’re not – what the fuck is wrong with you?!?!?

If you Google “Cowbell Girl” you get 327,000 hits, and the second one you find is the YouTube video which I will not lower myself to link to here. Apparently even though it is now known that she is nearly blind, people are still trying to have some fun at her expense.

Like I said – what the fuck is wrong withyou that you have to get pleasure out of picking on someone with a disability?!?!? What’s next, are you going to push a kid in a wheelchair out into traffic so you can watch a life-size version of “Frogger”?

The longer this goes on, the dumber you all look. Do yourselves a favor – back away from the keyboards before you embarrass yourselves even more. Trust me, the only damage you will be doing from now on will be to yourselves, because no one thinks that making fun of someone who is disabled is funny.

Now about the game tonight…

Yeah I’ll be watching while Wifey and I are packing, and I will be wondering yet again why we don’t have an 8 or 16-team playoff to determine a National Champion in College Football. Yeah I know the University presidents all say that it would exploit the student athlete – but that is what is going on right now. Student athletes are being exploited by colleges and universities now, so what would be the difference?

And to all of you protecting your oh-so precious Bowl System – did you see all of those empty seats at your games?!? Back in the day everyone knew that there were only four bowl games that really mattered – The Rose, Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls that were played on January 1st. Now we have a grand total of 34 Bowl Games, and that includes the BCS so-called-Championship Game!!! Seriously folks, do we really need that many Bowl Games from December 19th to January 7th?!? Wouldn’t everyone be better served and wouldn’t the parties involved make more money with a 16-team playoff?

And yeah, I hear you purists working it right now – “But what about the sanctity of the Bowl system? What about the tradition of going to a Bowl Game?” What, you think that a 6-6 team going to the Not One Of The Big Boys But We’re Sponsored By AIG Bowl is something to brag about?!? Seriously, what the hell are you guys protecting?!? 34 games that most people are not going to watch until we get closer to New Year’s anyway, let alone buy a ticket for!!!

We would do a whole lot better if we simply installed a 16-team playoff and cut out at least half of those Bowl Games so that going to a Bowl would have some meaning again, because right now it doesn’t. Any team with a pulse can go to a Bowl Game these days, and when that happens it cheapens the whole process!!! You want to protect the Bowl system? Then drop some of them. Here I’ll make you a list…

Let’s get rid of the Bowl Games that don’t have much of a tradition to begin with, in other words, the newest of the new which means that the St. Petersburg Bowl, the EagleBank Bowl, the International Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl, and the Papajohns.com Bowl are out. Let’s also kick out any bowl game that is played in the same stadium as an older, more established game. So that eliminates the Poinsettia Bowl and the New Orleans Bowl. Let’s also cut out any Bowl Game that can’t find an actual Football Stadium to play in. Sorry Emerald Bowl, but playing in a Baseball Park doesn’t make you an actual Bowl Game. Next let’s kick out (with some exceptions) any Bowl Game that doesn’t pay out at least $1 million, so say good bye to the Little Ceasers Pizza Bowl, the GMAC Bowl, the Texas Bowl, and the Armed Forces Bowl. We’ll hang onto the Humanitarian Bowl here in Boise just to see the Blue Turf, and we’ll keep the Hawaii Bowl because…well…its Hawaii.

Texas doesn’t need that many Bowl Games so we’re going to eliminate the Alamo Bowl. Tennessee has a game with a lot more tradition than the Music City Bowl, so that one’s out too. So that leaves us with 15 Bowl Games, which means we have to eliminate 2 more to get down to the magic number of 17. Let’s eliminate the Meinekie Car Care Bowl and the Insight Bowl because neither one of them pays as much as the Champs Sports Bowl or the Citrus Bowl. Yeah I know both of those are in Florida and keeping them would give Florida a grand total of 5 Bowl Games. But you know what? The weather is perfect there for Bowl Games and all of those schools can take day trips to Disney World as another Bowl perk.

So that leaves us with the Hawaii Bowl, Humanitarian Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Outback Bowl, Independence Bowl, Chick-fil-A Bowl (please can someone change their name back to the Peach Bowl for the love of God?!?), Liberty Bowl, Capital One Bowl (they may want to change back to the Florida Citrus Bowl until the economy rebounds and people stop hating banks), Gator Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sun Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl, plus the 16-team playoff that would make everyone a shitload of money. You’ve brought the honor and respect back into the Bowl system, plus you’ve given the country a true National Championship when it is all said and done.

What is wrong with that? 

Until we get that kind of a system in we will never have a true National Champion in College Football, and the only way that Boise State will meet the winner of Texas/Alabama will be if I play those teams in Madden.

Come to think of it…I can. I’ll tell you the results later.

Until next time…