New Year's Day: A View From the Couch

Here are a couple of observations and realizations made from a nice 13-hour stint on the couch, in no particular order:

Watching USC predictably dismantle Illinois and then sitting through most of Georgia’s annihilation of Hawaii made me wonder: Why didn’t Georgia play USC?

And why does it take me a half hour to come up with that while the people who actually get paid to do it can’t come up with it at all?

I’m sick of watching Pete Carroll smile through another joke of a bowl game. Everyone said Illinois had no business in that game and they ended up proving it. USC toyed with them for about two and a half quarters then put the hammer down in the third.

Now all the USC people will be talking about being number one because they beat the crap out of another fraud Big Ten team. And predictably they will all forget about that loss to 41-point underdog Stanford.

Hawaii should be another lesson to every so-called pollster out there. Teams from half-assed conferences (the WAC for instance) get waxed against teams from good conferences, let alone teams from the SEC. And they shouldn’t be in big bowl games.

Georgia out-everythinged a team many were saying should be number one. They never had a chance and neither did we the viewers. Instead of a quality bowl game, I was left trolling through the TV channels praying to come across a Rocky Marathon or 18 hours of Eastwood.

And June Jones looks weird without that moustache.

Michigan beating Florida was shocking on many levels.

First off, a Big Ten team beating an SEC team in a bowl game is cause enough to be looking over your shoulder for the apocalypse. But losing the turnover battle (Michigan 4, Florida 0) and still winning is just flat unbelievable.

Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin tried, but Michigan won one for their beloved outgoing coach Lloyd Carr. A guy they loved so much they let a 1-AA team beat them in their season opener...At home.

It was good to see Urban Meyer not smile on the sideline during another joke of a bowl game.

And finally, hockey. Specifically, outdoor hockey played in Buffalo. Just fantastic. I have seen how the NHL will be saved and it will be by taking it outside. This needs to happen more often and for bigger games, possibly their All-Star Game.

Hockey has been homogenized for too long in cookie-cutter corporate arenas. It happened to baseball in the 70’s with their astro-turf, multi-use, concrete toilet bowl stadiums. And going retro (see: Yards, Camden) started a resurgence that they are still riding.

Going outdoors not only makes it look more interesting looking, especially on HD, it makes it a more interesting game. Weather becomes a part of the strategy, in game and during the season. It could be an advantage for certain teams, like in football, where everyone is afraid of going to Green Bay for a playoff game.

Warm weather teams will obviously have to stay indoors or the NHL could get smart and just fold ridiculous franchises like Nashville, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay, among others. Hockey will always be a regional game. Get over it an embrace it.

Thankfully I didn’t watch any NBA.