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!