Late Again

Sorry folks. Family commitments and all in eastern New Mexico. The Peach Bowl has started. The behemoth Alabama versus the Washington Huskies. I watched Washington lose to Arizona State live last year when I was visiting Matt in Tempe. Man, was that a beautiful day. Washington led at first, but then Arizona State ran away with the game in the second half. That is why I thought there was no way they could hang with Alabama today. Chris Peterson though has turned the Husky program around and they face Nick Saban's Alabama today in the semi-finals of the College Football Playoff. Right now it is 10 to 7.  Check that. 16 - 7 as Washington just threw a pick six interception.

Recently deceased Harper Lee went to Alabama. Man, there have been a rash of major celebrity deaths this year. I bet most of us in this pool had to read To Kill a Mockingbird at some point in our school careers. Great book. I have not read the recently released sequel.

Did you know Bruce Lee went to Washington? How about that? The famous martial arts actor who has a cult following like no other is a Husky. Tim and I used to do a bit about Bruce Lee being able to "go through your stomach, grab your heart, pull it out, and show it to you before you died." I personally haven't seen many of his films. The one I remember is The Game of Death because it co-starred Kareem Abdul Jabaar.

I think the Tide will continue to roll in the second half.

The Fiesta Bowl features our other semi-final. I will be celebrating the New Year and probably not watch much of this game. The CFP big shots have really screwed this thing up by putting games on New Year's Eve. New Year's Day should be reserved for such things. Idiots.

Clemson faces Ohio State. Clemson won the ACC and have Deshaun Watson at quarterback. Ohio State did NOT win the Big Ten and has JT Barrett at quarterback. I do not think Ohio State should be in the tournament. Frankly, Oklahoma should be in. Urban Meyer, Ohio State's coach, is a stud though. He may be the difference. Personally, I think Clemson should win given the strong ACC performance this year.

Of course Clemson versus Ohio State is a famous match-up. Remember Woody Hayes? I think I've written about this before. But, as a young man, I vividly remember the Ohio State coach punching a Clemson kid in the mouth on the sidelines as his Buckeyes were going down to defeat. It just goes to show you that we revere a lot of people as being great on the surface, but at their cores they can be sorry SOBs. All of us are human. A lot of us are just jerks as well.

It's hard to find famous Clemson alums that are not sports related. Do you know this guy? Robert Brooks?

He founded Hooters... Well, I guess we now know why Hooters uses Clemson orange. (Not that I've ever been to Hooters.)

Speaking of wealthy entrepreneurs, this is Yang Huiyan.

She went to Ohio State and is the majority stock holder in a Chinese company called Country Garden Holdings. This company is a property development corporation in mainland China. It has made Yang Huiyan the youngest female billionaire in China. (She is in her twenties.) She is the wealthiest woman in Asia. So enjoy your wings and exploit your waitresses all you want Robert. Yang here could probably buy you out pretty easily.

We take New Year's Day off since it is on a Sunday and belongs to the NFL (which will sadly feature a bunch of meaningless games - ugghh).  See you Monday for more bowl action!

Sorry I'm Late

I'm writing in the Mountain Time Zone and staying at my in-law's house so I could not get started writing before the two early games went off this morning. We have news within the Pool though. Joe has collapsed and Marvetta (no picture) and Kirsten are now tied for the lead. Tim Smith is also climbing up the standings after a poor start.

In other words, the Charlotte contingent is coming strong. What are our bowl games today? Well we have four: Taxslayer, Citrus, Peach, and Fiesta. The Peach and Fiesta go tonight and are the semi-finals of the playoff. I hate the playoff and prefer the old bowl system. Tournaments do no better determining the best team than the bowl system. There is always controversy. The bowl system is what makes college football different. Why do people want college football to be like every other American sport and decide their champion with a tournament? I hate the pundits (who all went to Syracuse and Northwestern for the most part) who continually call for a playoff. For instance, this year, at this moment USC is the best team in the country. But it took them half a season to figure it out. Therefore they should not have a chance to be the national champion. So have a tournament and let them prove it critics say. The problem is to get USC in a tournament you would need a 16 team field. That would be 4 weeks at a minimum of extra football. And I doubt fan bases can travel 4 weeks to follow their teams through a tournament. Just wouldn't happen. Stick to the bowls and argue about who is the best. What's so wrong with that? In the old system, Washington would be playing Penn State in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. We could all see them play on a big stage and would be able to tell through our eye test if they were the best. 

But let's get to the games themselves. I'm watching the Taxslayer Bowl at the moment. Georgia Tech with their beautiful triple option is beating Kentucky 10-0. The SEC just isn't as good as advertised and hats off to you ACC folks. You guys can play some football. 

Kentucky superfan and alum Ashley Judd is probably not at the game. She is really a basketball fan. She's been in tons of movies and was married to race car driver Dario Franchitti. Meh, but my other choice was Mitch McConnell.

John Brock went to Georgia Tech. Who is John Brock? He is the CEO of Coca-Cola. So drink up. Enjoy some empty calories and caffeine and watch the Yellow Jackets hopefully win.

LSU and Louisville are in the Citrus Bowl right now. LSU is up 6 - 3. LSU fired their coach midway through the season, but really like the replacement Ed Orgeron. He has led them to a strong finish. They are fighting against one of the seediest coaches in all of football, Bobby Petrino. Petrino has had many the scandal in his coaching career - from tawdry affairs to quitting on his team in the pros. He fits in nicely with basketball coach Rick Pitino. Louisville has the Heisman winner Lamar Jackson at quarterback, but lost games to teams like Houston during the year which makes me question their true talent. LSU was the 3 point favorite.

Let's go journalism for famous alumni. LSU was the home to CNN anchor Don Lemon. MSNBC contributor and Huffington Post editor Howard Fineman went to Louisville at some point. At least that's what the Google says.

I'll preview the semi-finals in another post.

Joe Still Leads

Four games today on the Bowl Pool menu. (We did not consider the Arizona Bowl.) We have the Liberty, Sun, Music City, and Orange Bowls. Joe finally lost a couple of games, but he still leads by one game over a handful of players. Biggest movers yesterday were Kathy and RC who won all three match-ups.

The Liberty Bowl matches TCU and Georgia. Texas Christian is led by the great Gary Patterson who can coach up some football. His quarterback play, the A&M transfer Kenny Hill, has been inconsistent. Georgia is led by coach Kirby Smart. He was the hotshot coaching prospect this year but disappointed. Look for running back Nick Chubb in this game. Georgia is a slight favorite and we are pretty much split on this game. Our leader Joe has TCU.

Famous alumni, you ask? How about Hello.. Newman... That's right, Wayne Knight went to Georgia.

Bob Schieffer, the CBS newsman who has a journalism school bearing his name at TCU, is our famous horned frog...

Give me Wayne Knight... comedy genius.

The Sun Bowl is of major interest to a large part of this bowl pool as the North Carolina Tar Heels face off against the Stanford Cardinal. I will let RC and Tim provide any game tidbits as they will be much more educated on the particulars of this match-up than I am. Despite the Stanford running back sitting out this game to prepare for the NFL draft (sheesh), the Cardinal are still a 3 point favorite (but the Pac 12 has stunk so far and the ACC has been kicking a...)

Famous alumni?  Well North Carolina had this famous author...

Stanford alumni? How about MSNBC's Rachel Maddow?

No contest here. Give me former Durham Sun movie reviewer RC SMITH!!! Go HEEELS!!!

The Music City Bowl has Nebraska playing Tennessee. These former powerhouses are trying to recapture some glory. Nebraska seems to be having problems with a hamstring injury to their quarterback Tommy Armstrong. Tennessee is dealing with trying to save the SEC from further embarrassment this bowl season. Vols are 3.5 point favorites.

Nebraska has produced many a famous writer. Do you recognize the name Willa Cather?

She wrote books like O' Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark. She is considered the peer of writers like Faulkner and Hemingway.

Speaking of writers, have you ever read Slaughterhouse 5? The great Kurt Vonnegut went to Tennessee. 

"Poo-tee-weet?" Battle of Literature in the Music City Bowl.

The Orange Bowl features two traditional powerhouses. Florida State takes on Michigan. Both teams feature studs on both sides of the ball. Jim Harbaugh the Michigan head coach attracts a lot of attention. Jimbo Fisher the Florida State head coach replaced a legend. Good players and coaches should lead to a good game. There was talk Michigan would reach the Playoff and lost a controversial game to Ohio State (I think they were robbed) which in the end kept them out. Michigan is the 7.5 point favorite. Should be a good game.

James Earl Jones the voice of Darth Vader went to Michigan. Oh that voice is so great. Have you seen Rogue One yet?

I think this former Family Bowl Pool champion Kathy Smith did a semester at Florida State. But does that make her an alumnus? I don't know. Faye Dunaway evidently is an alumnus. So we will dub the Orange Bowl the battle of Hollywood.

Sorry for the abbreviated discussion. I'm on the road and some people are hungry.

Last Year's Winner is Perfect so Far

Two of our last three winners are in first and second place. Joe Baker is 6 - 0 and Kirsten Smith is 5 - 1. Joe hates pretty much all athletic competition. I know secretly the fact that he is undefeated at this moment is making him highly amused. I don't know Kirsten's feelings about football, or sports in general. I know she can't hate sports more than Joe Baker.

We have three bowls today: the Birmingham Bowl, the Belk Bowl, and the Alamo Bowl. Sometimes I actually go to the Alamo Bowl, but not this year. We will be traveling.

The Birmingham Bowl is interesting. It features two teams that will employ former Texas Longhorn coaches next year. South Florida will be the home of Charlie Strong next year. His predecessor at South Florida I believe is headed to Oregon. As we have fired Charlie, South Florida offered him a job. South Florida won 10 games this year and are 10 point favorites tonight. South Carolina is coached by Will Muschamp, who was head coach in waiting at Texas under Mack Brown. He left before Mack would step aside (in a huff it is rumored) and went to Florida. He flopped at Florida, went back to Auburn as defensive coordinator, and then wound up at South Carolina as head coach. His team finished 6 - 6 this year. (Not good for a SEC team.) I imagine Will cannot have too many years at 6 - 6 and stay employed in South Carolina.

Did you know the Gerber baby went to South Florida? Mystery novelist Ann Turner Cook was also the Gerber baby and a South Florida alumni.

Darius Rucker, singer, went to South Carolina. Remember Hootie and the Blowfish? Now the man has gone country. He has a song called "Wagon Wheel" that is corny but it reminds me of North Carolina because it talks about a girl in Raliegh. It's fun to dance to. Patricia humors me and lets me twirl her around the dance floor while I sing it out loud. Good times. I picked South Florida, but I'm way behind so go Fighting Darius Ruckers!

The Belk Bowl features Arkansas and Virginia Tech. Arkansas coach Bielema is a real jerk. He coaches a smash mouth running style. Virginia Tech has a new coach, Justin Fuente, who led them to nine wins. They only lost by seven to Clemson in the ACC Championship game. Tech is the seven point favorite.

This egomaniac went to Arkansas. Enough said. (You better win the Superbowl this year, Jerry. Worst GM in sports and just plain lucky this year.)

This liar went to Virginia Tech. Enough said. I hope this game ends in cancellation. Do NOT WATCH this game. I wish I had not included it in the contest.

Thankfully, there is another game. It's the ALAMO bowl. It features the Oklahoma State Cowboys versus the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado came out of nowhere to have a great 10 win season in the tough Pac 12. They got blown out by Washington in the Pac 12 Title game. Their quarterback was hurt in that game but he returns tonight. Colorado has a potent offense. Oklahoma State can play offense as well. And... they have this guy and his wonderful haircut...

Look at that mullet sported by head coach Mike Gundy. Isn't it wonderful? The Buffaloes are 3 point favorites, but the Alamo Bowl is always wild. Enjoy it!

The first woman of Indian descent in space went to Colorado, Kalpana Chawla. Colorado has produced several astronauts. Getting high in Boulder. No. Not that kind of high. Get your mind out of the gu... well, wait a minute. It is "legal" there.

Speaking of getting high. Have you ever watched the show I'm with Busey? It was a short lived show on Comedy Central that featured a straight man following Gary Busey around in a sort of documentary style. One episode featured a "date" at a miniature golf course if memory serves correct. It was comedy gold. Gary Busey is crazy, but he was great in The Buddy Holly Story. What a great love story. He went to Oklahoma State. High versus Crazy tonight. 

Four Big Bowls

So it's our first real big day of bowls. Four bowls go off today: Pinstripe, Russell Athletic, Foster Farms, and the TEXAS Bowl. Starting at 2 PM Eastern and well into the night, you can watch yourself some football.

The Pinstripe features Northwestern and Pitt. We are split on this bowl. We do have an alumnus from Northwestern in our pool - Margaret (Candace) Key!!!! There are so many famous people who went to Northwestern. From Julia Louise Dreyfus to Charlton Heston. William Jennings Bryan to George McGovern. Warren Beatty to Ann Margaret. We could have a film festival instead of the bowl game. But do you know who went to Pitt (besides the great Tony Dorsett)?

This guy:

How can you root against Mr. Rogers? Mr. Rogers is probably the nicest person ever. And he went to Pitt. That neighborhood he would sing about? Who knew it was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? Onward Panthers! 

The Russell Athletic Bowl matches West Virginia and Miami. Most of us picked 10-win West Virginia to win this. The Hurricanes are the three point favorites and seem to have momentum as they had a great November. I thoroughly loathe West Virginia head coach Dana Holgersen, but he can coach. Look at the turnovers in this match. The team that gets more TOs wins. 

This guy went to Miami:

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Is Miami where he learned how to adore Ayn Rand? Is it where he learned that he wanted to privatize Social Security and Medicare? Boo Miami.

Freaking Don Knotts went to West Virginia. Protecting Mayberry since the 1950s. Old people, sick people, drunks, weirdos (I'm looking at you Floyd the Barber), Gomer Pyle, and children like Opie all owe their safety to Don Knotts. So go away Paul Ryan, support Don Knotts. Go Mountaineers!

The Foster Farms (Chicken!) Bowl features Indiana and Utah. Most of us have the Utes over the Hoosiers. Utah is 9-1 in its last 10 bowl games. In that streak they have never lost to a Power 5 conference team. Indiana, on the other hand, has not won a bowl game since 1991. Yikes. Utah is a touchdown favorite. 

Martha Raddatz went to Utah. The famous ABC reporter who moderated a Trump v Clinton debate. The one that Trump razzed for tearing up on election night. You're OK with me Martha...

Speaking of journalists the great Ernie Pyle went to Indiana University. If you don't know who Ernie Pyle is, go read some about journalists during World War II. He was one of the best ever. 

The TEXAS Bowl is next. The Fighting Texas A&M Aggies battle the best coach in all of the land and his Kansas State Wildcats. Bill Snyder must be 108 years old but he can coach. His team started 3-3 but then got hot and ended 8-4. Kevin Sumlin, the A&M coach, on the other hand started 6-0 and stumbled to 8-4. Sumlin is on the hot seat. The Aggie faithful are tired of late season collapses. This should be a high scoring affair featuring a lot of passing. Aggies are favored and most of us like them.

Erin Brockovich, environmental badass and inspiration for the eponymous movie, went to Kansas State. Go Erin!

There are no famous Texas A&M alumni. Sorry about that Aggies...

No, I'm kidding. The Aggies have some famous people who went to their community college. Look at this guy for instance:

His name is Bruce McCarl and he is an environmental super badass. He actually teaches at A&M and won the Nobel Prize with Al Gore for pointing out to the world that there is such a thing as MAN MADE CLIMATE CHANGE. He's been warning his state of Texas for years that we should pay attention to this problem since our state is a big part of the PROBLEM. So screw the TEXAS Bowl. Rename the damn thing the McCarl Bowl and power the lights with some solar panels you oil baron idiots. Sorry, I got carried away.

Go Kansas State. I hate A&M. I went to Texas.

Holiday Bowl

Ahhh the Pirate. That would be Washington State coach Mike Leach. I used to like Mike Leach. He was different and had a famous run-in with Craig James' son while head coach at Texas Tech. He ruffled a lot of feathers with his unapologetic stance towards his relationships with players and their parents. That was refreshing. But... this year he wore his politics on his shoulder, and I wasn't too pleased with that. He complained about the Pullman, Washington, police department for harassing his players this year as well. Then complained about his players not caring enough. Just not things I was too wild about. But he can coach football. His Washington State Cougars posted eight wins this year and head to one of my favorite bowl games: the Holiday Bowl.

They play the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This team almost refused to play over an ugly sexual assault incident. Ten players were suspended because of the alleged incident. The whole team reacted by boycotting bowl preparations for two days. The conflict was resolved and the players relented to travel and play in the bowl, but what will the repercussions be?

Did you know THE voice of college football Keith Jackson is a Washington State alum? I can still here him saying, "Going for the corner!" as Vince Young ran into the end zone to give Texas the National Championship in 2005-6. I'm tearing up now just writing about it.

Minnesota was the college of the great Bob Dylan. I have a friend who pretty much stalks Bob Dylan across the country. Dylan just won the Nobel Prize for literature this year. Is that a good omen for the Gophers tonight? Probably not, but Dylan man. Wow. I bet a lot of gophers smoke pot and listen to Dylan tunes and say, "I go to the same freaking college as Bob Dylan went to man." And then one of their classmates say, "Who's Bob Dylan?"

We are pretty much split on this game. Eight for Washington State and seven for Minnesota. Enjoy!

Let's get this started...

Well, most everyone has submitted a form except Margaret and Chris. We start today with the Independence Bowl. This features NC State and Vanderbilt. NC State is the 5.5 point favorite according to Las Vegas. So far, only Will, Pat and RC have picked the underdogs from the Southeastern Conference. So many bowls pit the ACC vs. the SEC. It will be interesting to see which conference actually is the strongest. I will begin posting the standings tonight after the first game. Good luck, people. And boy do we need luck.

By the way, when I think NC State, I often remember the great Chris Washburn... If you drive through Hickory, NC, you can see the former Golden State Warrior and Wolfpack basketball player running his Wing restaurant... Tim, can you pick me up a dozen?

Vanderbilt is the home to the great Dan Reschly. He was one of the fathers of Response to Intervention. In a way, since I am an RTI Director, I owe Dan a load of thanks for my current employment... Wings only last you a few hours. A job let's you raise a family. Go Vandy!

Our Champion

Joseph Timothy Baker

He hates football. Pure and simple. He really hates sports in general (although I wonder). He likes winning though. See that smile? That's the smile of a winner. And, winners get their names on a plaque. It's already been sent to the engravers. Congratulations Joseph Baker. You are the winner, in overtime. I knew I shouldn't have let you listen to that championship preview before we picked. But I did. And you won.

The Tie Breaker

I'm sorry this is late. The game has started, I know. But, you know, life, work, etc. (insert excuse here).  But, for those of you who are interested. I have Alabama and 45 points and Joe has Alabama and 52 points. So basically, 48 and below total points, I win; 49 points or above, Joe wins.

It's a Tie

Joseph Baker and Will Baker will fight it out on the 11th. Stay tuned for the picks.

Final Day Drama

By my count we have at least five folks still alive going into the last day. The first two games will be crucial. The last game of the day is meaningless. The SEC is a monster league (except for Texas A&M, Ha ha). They dominate bowl games like, well, Ole Miss is tonight as I write this. Can Penn State bring some pride back to the Big 10? Moriah sure hopes so. This is the key game for Charlotte's best picker. Georgia is the 6 point favorite.

Bay Area pickers Chris Ross and Margaret/Candace Key are hoping Oregon comes through against TCU in San Antonio's Alamo Bowl. BIG NEWS for this game. TCU's stud quarterback Trevone Boykin was arrested two nights ago for allegedly assaulting a police officer in a downtown San Antonio bar, Pat O'Brien's. I've been in Pat O'Brien's. Evidently, that has been the hangout for TCU players this week. Twitter rumor indicates several drunken events have taken place culminating in Boykin's idiocy. He was sent home obviously suspended for the game. Can Coach Patterson rely on his coaching prowess to stick with Oregon's famous offensive attack without his best player. Highly doubtful. If I could change my pick I would. Advantage west coast. Oregon is favored by a touchdown.

 Matt Baker's college Arizona State gets another home game as they play in Phoenix against West Virginia. Despite having a worse record, only one person picked against the Sun Devils - Tim Smith. Unfortunately, because of a brutal early bowl record, the Charlotte Attorney is out of the running and his contrary pick, while maybe correct, looks to be meaningless. Look for Arizona State to attack West Virginia with my favorite running back Kalen Ballage. He's a sophomore and doesn't get the press of the senior that plays in front of him or the senior quarterback, but I love to watch the kid run. I spent a great Saturday afternoon in 70 degree weather with Matt in the south endzone student section watching Mr. Ballage run all over a Washington defense in a second half comeback in early November. What a great day that was. West Virginia usually has creative offense. Vegas likes the visitors by 2 points.

I will be traveling tomorrow. But I will try to let everyone know official results by the end of the day. I'm pretty sure we will have a tie between two or more folks, and we will have to go to the Championship game tie breaker.

New Year's Day Bowls

Northwestern has a horrible bowl record, but Alumnus Margaret/Candace Key is hopeful. Tennessee trying to return to relevance.

Michigan and their head coach Jim Harbaugh try to return to glory against a Florida team that surprised many by competing this year for an SEC title. Florida has struggled since losing their stud quarterback towards the end of the season.

Notre Dame has returned to the national spotlight, but can they beat the great Ohio State athlete factory run by Urban Meyer? I don't think so.

Surprising Iowa versus the powerhouse program from the Bay area, Stanford. Can the Hawkeyes pull an upset?

Oklahoma State versus an Ole Miss team that beat Alabama. Ole Miss had some off the field drama leading up to this game. We'll see if it affects the outcome.