It's in The Way You Say It

I may be to touchy when it comes to some things but it’s the fine details that seem to drive me the craziest.

These are a few things that when I read them, something irks me and I just can’t help but comment on them.

The Orange Bowl and the Big East

Yes they used to be affiliated but they aren’t now and have not been since 2005. Since 2005, the Big East champ has not appeared in the Orange Bowl in consecutive years. Cincinnati played in the Orange Bowl in 2009. Keep these things in mind when you make your bowl predictions.

The BCS Bowls

The BCS is five bowls: the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the BCS National Championship game.

The last one is played at one of the sites of the previous four. For the 2009 season the BCS Championship Game is being played at the site of the Rose Bowl but it is not the Rose Bowl.

Stop saying your teams goal is the Rose Bowl when you mean the National Championship Game.

Finish the Name

Why do some people feel it is OK to leave off part of the school name? I don’t know how many times I read Ohio when people were talking about Ohio State. Sure, not many people even realize there is actually and Ohio University, but there is. If you want to talk about Ohio State say Ohio State.

Acronyms and Mascots

Along those lines of names, when starting a conversation, char, article, whatever remember that many schools use the same acronym and mascots and clarify who you are talking about. OSU is used by Ohio State, Oklahoma State, and Oregon State. UT is used by Texas, Tennessee, and Toledo. How many schools use Bulldogs, Huskies, and Wildcats. I don’t know how many times something has read funny because I didn’t know exactly what school was being talked about till I was a little ways in to the story.

Bowl Selection

When it says something like Big 10 #4 or ACC #5 it does not mean the team that finished in the finished in that place in the conference.  In the majority of cases it actually means that particular bowl has that selection of bowl eligible teams from that conference.  Maybe the fifth place team had a better overall record than the fourth so that bowl may decide to pick that team instead. 

There are a few out there that do go based on placement though such as the Pac 10 No.2 and the Holiday Bowl.