New Leader!!!!

Margaret Key is leading at 8 and 4. Last year, she had a very elaborate strategy of picking teams connected to the Big 10 or teams with the most liberal lean. While I think she still supports the Big 10, I think she has reversed her earlier strategy. And it seems to be working. Nebraska and Idaho's victories put her on top.

By the way the Humanitarian Bowl was the best game of the bowl season so far. I hope you got to see the 43-42 shootout.

Traveling today and tomorrow so no previews. Too many games, too little time.

Out.

Holiday Bowl

Arizona Wildcats
v.

The Children of the Corn
(Nebraska Cornhuskers)

Can you say Ndamukong? Ndamukong Suh is the all universe defensive lineman for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He almost single handedly beat Texas in the Big XII title game. He will try to take down the mighty Wildcats of John McCain's Arizona tonight at 8 p.m. in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Historically this has been the most exciting bowl game of the season so don't miss it. Nebraska fans are Will, Kathy, Margaret, Joe, Tim, and Monique. Arizona fans are Patricia, RC, Matt, Ana, Chris, Kirsten, and Emeline.

Humanitarian Bowl

Bowling Green
Falcons
v.

Idaho Vandals

This is the blue turf bowl played in Boise, Idaho. Did you know that when they first laid down the blue turf, before they painted the stripes and logos, that birds confused it with a body of water and would hurtle themselves to death? Sounds like an urban legend doesn't it? Those of us like me who have picked Bowling Green, hope the Falcons do not end up road kill on the blue turf of Boise State. Bowling Green fans: Will, Patricia, RC, Kathy, and Joe. Idaho Vandal fans include Ms. Idaho (pictured above), Margaret, Matt, Ana, Chris Ross, Kirsten, Tim, Monique, and Emeline. Kick off at 4:30 on ESPN.

He's Back!!!!

We have a sole leader finally - a familiar face for the top of the Bowl Pool: former commissioner RC Smith. The whole time we were in North Carolina, RC kept telling me he wanted someone new to win the pool. Now that he is ahead, I wonder if he is not just a little bit excited about the chance to add his name yet again to the plaque? RC is 7-3 and the rest of us are trying to catch up.

CHAMP SPORTS BOWL

Wisconsin Badgers

v.

The U (Miami)

Hurricanes

It's the cheese heads versus Donna Shalala's Hurricanes of Miami. We are split on this game. Shalala supporters include Will, Kathy, Ana, Chris Ross, Kirsten, Tim, Monique, and Emeline. Eaters of Wisconsin Cheese include Patricia, RC, Margaret, Matthew, and Joe. Good Luck!

EagleBank Bowl

Temple Owls

v.

Bill Cosby's Temple Owls are going to play UCLA at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. Two of us have picked Bill's team: Joe and Emeline. The rest of us went with the PAC 10 for some insane reason given their performance so far this bowl season. Don't worry though, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel is not in our pool. He just bets on basketball.

Update on the Standings

We have a four way tie for first: RC, Kathy, Joe, and Will. Today, Joe has an opportunity to grab the lead for himself. Stay tuned.

Independence Bowl

texas a&m
aggies
Versus

Georgia

Bulldogs

I'm not a big texas a&m fan as you can tell. After all, they refer to us as "tu" and don't have female cheerleaders (not that there's anything wrong with that). Today, they play the underwhelming Georgia Bulldogs in beautiful Shreveport, Louisiana (where Mr. Honda lives and gambles) in the Independence Bowl. If Jerod Johnson - a&m qb - can play like he did against Texas, the aggies have a chance. Otherwise, it will be a long day for the young squad from college station, and the SEC squad from Athens will dominate.

Enjoy the game. If a&m pulls off the upset win, Margaret (Candace) Key goes back in the lead. All the other leaders chose Georgia.

Logjam

Well folks, after seven games we have a logjam at the top of the standings. Five people are tied for the lead: RC Smith, Kathy Smith, Margaret or Candace Key, Joe Baker, and Will Baker. However, another five are just one game back: Patricia Baker, Analicia Baker, Kirsten Smith, Tim Smith, and Emeline Smith.

Of the three remaining - Matthew Baker, Chris Ross, and Monique Smith - Monique is only two games back at 2-5.

College Football Happenings

Are you ready for the Bowl Pool to start? Defending champion Analicia Baker is ready to defend her title here in a couple of months. Please make sure I have your current address and email.

Final Letter

This will be sent by mail, but I thought I would post it, too.

Jan. 9, 2008


To: The Family
From: The Bowl Pool Committee
RE: Results

Greetings Family! The Bowl Pool Committee is submitting its final report.

Winner: Analicia "The Fish" Baker - 15-7

Second Place: Tie - Joseph "The Laughing Conejo" Baker and RC "Gin and Tonic" Smith - 14-8

Fourth Place: Chris "The Real Deal" Ross

Fifth Place: Tie - Kathy "Coconut" Smith and Kate "Blame it on the Rain" Tiller


Should you need a detailed account of the chase for the title please see the following website: familybowlpool.blogspot.com. Check out the archives and you can see how the whole story unfolded from Kate's quick start, to RC's streak, to the Day of Reckoning that was January 2nd, and finally to the night of triumph on January 8th. We thank all of you for participating and look forward to next year.

Please keep up with family news on familybowlpool.blogspot.com throughout the year as we will be posting in the off season.

Jamestown crew, it is now your duty to engrave the plaque and send it to the victor in San Antonio so that she may display it in her room throughout the year.

To the rest of you, I wish you nothing but good fortune, happy hunting, and urge you to practice your gambling throughout the rest of the year. In fact, check out the familybowlpool.blogspot.com in March and we'll run a NCAA Tournament bracket contest.

Yours faithfully,

The Bowl Pool Committee
Will "45-35" Baker, Chairman

Analicia Wins!!!!

Congratulations Analicia. You are the winner of the 2008-9 Family Bowl Pool. Engrave the plaque and send it to San Antonio!!!!!

Overall record for the pool: 153-155. (I was wrong about us getting back to .500, but we got close.)

First Place: Analicia 15-7

Second Place: RC and Joseph 14-8

Fourth: Chris Ross 13-9

Fifth: Kate and Kathy 12-10

45-35

Let's see if Florida can beat ou by more than 10.

Tied in the Fourth

This is one reason why I miss the good ol' days when the bowls were all on Jan. 1. My daughter can't watch tonight because it's 10:11 p.m. on a school night, and she could very possibly win the whole thing. I'm watching the game by myself because everyone has to go to work or school tomorrow. No one could watch the Texas game with me as well. Like baseball is finding, it's dangerous to make it impossible for your young fans to watch your games. College football should be careful.

Percy Harvin may have been hurt. (He's down on the field right now.) But, to me, he has been the difference tonight. Watch, because of the media's obsession with quarterbacks, Tebow will get the MVP like McCoy did on Monday. Quan Cosby was the MVP of the Fiesta Bowl.

Rest of the game should be fun!

Mythical National Championship Preview

Mythical National Championship Game
Thurs. Jan 8, at Miami, FL
8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Pacific
FOX

First, let me say that FOX has horrible television coverage. They were not ready for Texas hurry-up offense and missed nine plays. They also showed the bands after every play. (Cheerleader shots, boys, CHEERLEADERS - unless it's A&M) It was bush league.

As for the championship contest, the land thieves don't have DeMarco Murray, their stud running back, but they have the Heisman Trophy thief Sam Bradford - o.k. he wasn't the thief, but Colt McCoy deserved that award. The Gators have all-everything Tim Tebow, but his best receiver Percy Harvin is hurt and should be less than 100 percent. Vegas has the Gators by five. The land thieves are underdogs.

Our pool comes down to RC supporting the oklahomans and Analicia supporting the Floridians. Most of the pool agrees with Analicia, but remember RC has picked some stunning upsets (Vandy anyone?) this year. Should be fun. To the winner goes the plaque!

YESSSSS!!!!!

Who cares if I lost the pool, Texas beat the Ohio State University. I love Quan Cosby. He should have been MVP.

Texas is Warming Up

The game has barely begun, and RC and I are in front of the TV...both rooting for Texas as hard as we can.  Wouldn't it be fun to all be watching it together?

Fiesta Bowl Preview

Mon. Jan. 5, at Tempe, AZ
8:30 p.m. Eastern, 7:30 p.m. Central, 5:30 p.m. Pacific
FOX

Nervous. Do the Longhorns have any motivation to play this game? OSU does. They seek redemption after being embarrassed in bowl games in previous year. They have Tyrell Pryor and Chris "Beanie" Wells as QB and RB respectively. They compare Pryor to Vince Young and Wells is a future pro. Texas has Colt McCoy and some tough veteran receivers. You'll love to watch Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley. They are short and too slow for the pros, but they are great in a spread offense. McCoy is our best rusher, but look out for freshman Fozzy Whitaker in the early going and senior Chris Ogbonnaya in the second half and as a receiver. OSU always has a good defense and Texas is led by Segio Kindle and Brian Orakpo. If Orakpo and Kindle get in the backfield and control Pryor, that will be a good sign for us. Let's see if Mack Brown can out-duel the sweater vest of Jim Tressel in the desert.

General Observations

We have an overall record of 133-147. If Texas and Florida win the next two games we can get over .500, but if Ohio State or oklahoma win we'll be below. The games that killed us were the Meineke Bowl (UNC), the Papajohns.com Bowl (NCSU), the Holiday Bowl (OK. St.), the Music City Bowl (BC), and the Cotton Bowl (Texas Tech). In those games, at least eleven of us chose the losing team. This stuff is hard. Plenty of BIG upsets like Ole Miss, Kentucky, Utah and Vanderbilt. There were 10 games decided by 7 points or less, 1 overtime game, and 3 games decided by 3 points or less. RC has made it by picking the Vanderbilt upset and then losing the UNC game and Texas Tech game which most everyone else lost too. Analicia also picked Vanderbilt (wouldn't a scholarship there be great) and by picking the monumental Utah upset and the Kentucky upset.

Those over .500 at this point should be congratulated. Here is the honor roll:

RC - 13-7
Analicia - 13-7
Joseph - 12-8
Chris R. - 12-8
Kate - 11-9

We have two at .500

Kathy 10-10
Crow 10-10

The rest of us are hurting.

The Photo of the Team on the Title Box

Someone finally asked about the team pictured at the top of the blog. This is the 1927 football team at Buncombe County Junior College which later became UNC-Asheville. Read about the history of UNC-Asheville here.

Down to it...

It's a disaster for our Defending Champion RC Smith. He lost all three today, and Analicia Baker stepped up with two upset picks - Utah and Kentucky - to tie him with two to play. Joseph picked Ole Miss and was briefly alive until losing the Liberty Bowl and Sugar Bowl and being eliminated by his older sister. So... we have this scenario left. Both RC and Analicia have picked Texas in the Fiesta bowl making that pick meaningless. But, in the BCS Mythical National Championship Game, RC has picked oklahoma and Analicia has picked Florida. The Family Bowl Pool rides on that contest next week.

The Fat Lady is Warming Up...

RC Smith continues his incredible run. 13 out of 14, including a streak of now 8 in a row. His picks today are Texas Tech, East Carolina (really?), and Alabama. Then he has Texas and oklahoma in the final two bowls.

Unfortunately for second place Kate, she has picked the same teams, so she has no way to catch up. Second place Joseph can force a tie. He needs Ole Miss and Florida to win. Second place Analicia can actually pull off a win if Kentucky, Utah, and Florida win. It will be tough, but they have a shot.

Here are the current standings of those still alive:

RC 13-4
Analicia 11-6
Joseph 11-6

Sugar Bowl Preview

Fri. Jan 2nd, at New Orleans, LA
8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Pacific
FOX

The Utes (12-0) face the Albama Crimson Tide (12-1) in the let down bowl. Nick Saban coaches his Alabama team after blowing the SEC championship to Florida. He's already had to suspend his best defensive player and Utah has a lot more to play for. Mainly being ignored for the championship game despite having an undefeated record. 'Bama is the 9.5 point favorite in this game and most of the pool agrees.

Liberty Bowl Preview

Fri. Jan. 2nd, at Memphis, TN
5 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Pacific
ESPN

6-6 Kentucky faces the pirates of East Carolina (9-4). East Carolina beat Virginia Tech at Blacksburg in the first game of the season. Now, the Pirates are 3 point favorites to take another bigger state university down. East Carolina features QB Pinkney and a stingy defense. Kentucky will be without their QB Cobb, and may struggle to score.

Cotton Bowl Preview

Fri. Jan. 2nd, at Dallas, TX
2 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Central, 11 a.m. Pacific
FOX

Former Texas QB Jevon Sneed transferred to Ole Miss (8-4) and led his new team to an upset of Florida at Gainesville. Texas Tech (11-1) is led by all everything receiver Michael Crabtree and QB Graham Harrell. I hate Texas Tech. Their fans are obnoxious. But, Michael Crabtree made the single greatest catch I ever saw the season before last. He is unbelievable and I hope he does well in the pros early. Tech is a 4 point favorite.

Is It Over?

RC Smith, after losing his first three, has run off 10 of 11 picks. Is it over?

Standings and Who Has What

Did you know that the Oregon St. v. Pitt game was the lowest scoring major bowl in 50 years? Unbelievable. Well, it looks like the defending champ has taken the lead and is incredibly hot, winning eight out of nine.

Here are the standings:

RC 8-4
Analicia 7-5
Kate 7-5
Crow 6-6
Kathy 6-6
Will 6-6
Joseph 6-6
Chris R. 5-7
Tim 5-7
Monique 4-8
Patricia 4-8
Matthew 4-8
Margaret 3-9
Kirsten 2-10


Today's picks:

Patricia: Iowa, Michigan St., Clemson, Penn St., Va. Tech
Analicia: Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska, Penn St., Va. Tech
Matthew: Iowa, Michigan St., Nebraska, USC, Va. Tech
Joseph: Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska, USC, Va. Tech
Will: S. Carolina, Georgia, Clemson, USC, Va. Tech
Chris R.: Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska, USC, Va. Tech
Margaret: Iowa, Michigan St., Clemson, USC, Va. Tech
Kathy: Iowa, Michigan St., Clemson, USC, Cincinnati
RC: Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska, USC, Va. Tech
Tim: S. Carolina, Georgia, Nebraska, USC, Va. Tech
Monique: S. Carolina, Michigan St., Clemson, Penn St., Va. Tech
Kirsten: S. Carolina, Michigan St., Nebraska, USC, Cincinnati
Crow: Iowa, Michigan St., Clemson, Penn St., Cincinnati
Kate: Iowa, Michigan St., Nebraska, USC, Va. Tech