The Bowl Shake Down

Well we are now just one game away from being done with college football for several months. And within a few weeks the Super Bowl will be over. What a drag!!

Well I have been keeping a close eye on the BCS for years and like most loyal football fans completely hate the system. When an undefeated team is over looked to play in a National Championship because of fan support. Come on give up on the money game and play fair isn't that why the BCS was brought in, to be fair. When a computer is picking teams to play a game there is something wrong. Numbers and gibberish have never been my thing so mixing that with football is like biscuits and turkey gravy it just doesn't work. (and I've had biscuits and turkey gravy)

So Utah got screwed and served it up good to Alabama 31-17 so now the law is stepping in.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-bcs-utahlawsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns

But look back on the past Florida didn't even beat Alabama that sound and it took all 4 quarters. Utah had the thing wrapped up in the 1st. First off I am a huge underdog fan and a loyal supporter of Notre Dame even on 7-6 years or 3-9 years. I am all for giving the young small team the chance to take on the Sooners or the Gators and if they get killed hell they learned their lesson and they can't hang with the big boys. Bob Stoops can't hang with the big boys when it comes to big bowl games either. OU's last NC came 8 years ago with an 11 point win against a 30 year old QB in Winkie. And they've had their ups and downs in recent years getting the crap shocked out of them by BOISE STATE. OU got drubbed on in 2003 going perfect until that cold night in KC, MO when K State shut the Sooners down and then LSU showed them even the biggest programs don't always belong in BCS games.

I will even go as far as talking about Notre Dame playing Ohio State in 2005 and LSU in 2006. ND didn't stand a chance but of course they have a huge fan base and will fill those money seats. So I agree let the kids play and if you add a playoff system keep the bowl games leading up to. Everyone loves bowl season, I've played bowl pick em since high school with my friends making a quick 100 bucks.

So I've come up with my scenario my opinion to what should happen. First off screw this crap of "conference champ auto bid" that's a joke because Ohio State, Texas, and Alabama did not win their conference so why should they be an automatic bid teams with better records could have been in. Ohio State out Boise State in. Then get rid of teams with crappy standings a 6-6 team should not be in. I know Notre Dame wouldn't have made it to Hawaii but still you gotta set your standards a little higher. Nobody wanted to take the fat girl to prom.

The top 2 teams will get first round byes of course and there will only need to be 2 extra games on a schedule at the most. So you will need to add a few new BCS games first off the Cotton Bowl, it will be played at THE newest stadium in the nation "Boss Hog Bowl" so why not make it a top game. Then add the Gator, Outback and Capitol One games. Here's how it should play out fairly. You will have each top 10 team minus the top 2 play in the first round adding the additional bowls then go into each round you don't have to create new bowls or anything worst issue is extending the season by 2 weeks. Big deal we all love football.

First Round January 1st

Cotton Bowl

Texas vs Texas Tech (what a game talk about selling out)

Gator Bowl

Alabama vs Penn State

Outback Bowl

Boise State vs Ohio State

Capitol One Bowl

Utah vs USC

Second Round January 8th

Fiesta Bowl

Texas vs Penn State

Rose Bowl

Utah vs Ohio State

Third Round Semi Finals January 15th

Sugar Bowl

Penn State vs OU

Orange Bowl

Utah vs Florida

BCS National Championship January 22nd

Utah vs OU

My pick Utah!

My pick tomorrow night .... OU 38 Florida 42 ..... GO Gators!!

Unique fan support lifts Gainesville State players’ spirits BY DAVID THOMAS

I thought this was a great feel good story and shows how sports and pride can change some of the darkest souls.

The Gainesville State School Tornadoes' spirit line stretched halfway across the end zone. The players — all 14 of them — ripped through the paper sign that read "GSS Go Tornadoes" as the line turned toward the playing field, then extended past the 30-yard line. The Tornadoes sprinted through the tunnel of 300 cheering fans. The players' black and white uniforms contrasted with the fans' red sweatshirts and T-shirts that read "FAITH LIONS." Gainesville State.. coach Mark Williams jogged outside of the spirit line. He raised his hands head-high and clapped. "Thank you,thank you," he said to anyone who could hear him. Then Faith's fans began making their way to the stands. Half went to the home side, half to the visitors' side.
Gainesville State is a maximum-security correctional facility with a population of about 290 males ages 12-19. Every game is a road game for the Tornadoes, and their only fans are the ones they bring with them. Friday night at Faith Christian School in Grapevine, for their season finale, they brought 20 faculty members and staff. Faith coach and athletic director Kris Hogan wanted his school to show support for the Gainesville State players, who had earned their spots on the team by serving at least half of their sentence, passing their classes and committing no behavior incidents. Hogan e-mailed Faith parents during the week requesting that they form a spirit line for their opponents, then asking for some to sit in the Gainesville State stands during the game and cheer the Tornadoes as though they were their team.
Hogan said he wanted to "make sure the kids knew that there were more people on their side than just their faculty at Gainesville State School." About 200 Faith fans — possibly more than were seated on the home side — stood and cheered the Tornadoes when their kickoff return team took the field to start the game. When No. 80 (players are not named in this article because of the school's confidentiality policies) was tackled on the return and the offense took possession, Faith's junior high cheerleaders started a "Way to go, Tornadoes, way to go!" chant from the Gainesville State sideline. Faith fans on the visitors side groaned when Gainesville State fumbled the ball away on its first possession. They groaned again when their Lions scored a touchdown four plays later. "Let's get a drive going!" a Faith father yelled from atop the bleachers when the Tornadoes' offense returned to the field. "Hey, come on guys! Let's go!" another added.
On the first play, Gainesville State fumbled again. Faith converted the turnover into another touchdown for a 13-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. "Block that kick!" a fan yelled. The Tornadoes did, and the Faith fans on their sideline cheered. It was that way all night, with Faith parents encouraging players they knew only by their jersey numbers to tackle their own sons, and with teachers and administrators rooting for the team playing against their students. Karen Bates, Gainesville State's recreation director, has been with the football program since it began in the early 1990s. She said many schools through the years have presented gifts and meals to players. But never, she said, had a school gone so far as to provide this many fans. Gwan Hawthorne, the school's superintendent, talked from her seat about the players' excitement she could see throughout the game, and about how she appreciated Faith Christian making it possible for the team, for one game, to feel like any other high school football team. She was interrupted by a touchdown. It was the Tornadoes' second touchdown of the night. They had scored two all season before this game. But a day after three of their teammates had been released to return home, and after trailing 33-0 at halftime, the Tornadoes had reached the end zone twice.
Their fans for a night cheered. Players looked toward their stands as they came off the field and raised their index fingers. They may not have been No. 1, but they felt like they were. The Lions won 33-14. With an 8-2 record, they'll start the playoffs next week. Gainesville State's season ended at 0-9. But this loss felt nothing like the others. After the teams met at midfield for a postgame prayer and returned to their separate sides, Tornadoes players grabbed Gatorade squirt bottles filled with water and gave their coach a postgame shower. Williams ducked, but he didn't run. Just as he had when he turned to the visitors' side after the first touchdown and "raised the roof," just as he had when he high-fived the Faith junior high cheerleaders after the prayer, just as he had when he exchanged greetings and shoulder pats with Faith parents leaving the field, Williams wanted to soak it all in. His players, Williams said, were "one step from heaven." "A lot of these kids don't have hope because they've taken a wrong path, somebody's told them that they're going to be negative," he said. "They're not negative. They were very positive tonight. They were just like the other kids." Outside the locker room, the team's quarterback — "No. 7," many Faith fans had called him throughout the game — reflected on the last game of his high school football career. His sentence at Gainesville State is about up, and he plans to attend college. He hopes one will give him a chance to play football. Whether or not he plays another game, he'll never forget the night the other team's fans provided him a spirit line to run through. "I couldn't really believe people cared about us that much," he said.
When the Gainesville State players were ready to leave an hour after the game had ended, they boarded their bus in groups of five under the close watch of guards. Their hosts were sending them back to Gainesville with a postgame meal and a bag of goodies that included homemade cookies, a handwritten letter from a Faith player, a Bible and a devotional. A dozen or so Faith fans waved goodbye. Gainesville State players crossed the aisle on the bus to fill just about every available spot in the windows facing the fans. They were smiling and waving. As the bus pulled away from the fieldhouse, one player near the back motioned to the fans with his right hand, as if to say, "Come with us."

The First of Many (well hopefully)

So I can tell you I know maybe 2 people who will read this on a regular basis and others may drag along in the far out future so lets see where we can take it!

You should find a wide range of items on my blog. From sports to religion to politics. I think I've seen enough and done enough to know a little about the world we live in. And hell if not isn't that what Blogs are for.. Free Speech right? Well maybe in your world but I'm pretty sure its making its way out like the Dallas Cowboys.

I was reading today where a Muslim man was asked to remove his shirt with Arabic writing before boarding an airplane. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090106/ts_alt_afp/ustransportairsecuritymuslimsrights_090106002219
He of course like any good hot coffee spilling American would do, sue the hell out of the Airline. And was awarded 240,000 for his cotton tirade.

So I will take you on a little trip of my own, a few months back I wore a Barack Obama shirt to my former career as a glorified receptionist (as I like to call it, I was the PR rep and Event Coordinator but answered more phones than "ma bell") So I come in wearing my shirt for our future President, supporting America and my right to vote and my right to what? Freedom of Speech? "Oh no not here Mr. Larkin you need to change, remove that shirt at once. You can't have an opinion or a voice" But I will tell you this fellow "Changers" if I would have been wearing a McCain shirt I would have been carried around the office considering my boss had her Elephant pinned high and proud. (Did I mentioned I had already put my two weeks notice in and was already leaving for another job)  

So could I have received my 240,000 dollar check as well? I guess I will just keep my mouth shut and respect my own decisions considering I knew what I was doing when I got dressed that morning. I'm a proud American and hadn't been that proud to vote in well since I was eighteen when I helped elect Bush.. What a mistake I made. I was young and influential!!

My blog begins I hope you do find it amusing at the very least.