Friday, January 9, 2009

National Championship blowout!

Well, the national championship came and went. Florida won the game, and in-depth analysis is for losers who get paid to write. So let's review the practically unreviewable (because everyone else beat me to it...)

The most enigmatic play of the whole game, for me at least, was early in the 4th Quarter, when Tim Tebow ran back to pass, and stopped because he heard a whistle. While this has happened before, it's interesting to note to whom it happened. You see, normally when there's a fake whistle, there's confusion amongst, oh, half the players on the field. In this episode, there was one player who was confused, and that was Tebow! The saddest part of this little affair: the commentators took his side, and not that of the other 21 guys on the field!

Since we're talking Tebow, what was up with that taunting penalty at the end of the game? I mean, he's intense and all, and that's great, but there's a HUGE problem with making the Gator chomp at someone. Especially since Timmy's the golden child of college football. Does this action make him a bad guy? No. But we must avoid talking about how wonderful anyone is, lest we turn him into some sort of mini-god. Think I'm overreacting? The following is an actual quote from the Fox announcer: "I think that might be the first think Tim Tebow's ever done wrong!" Watch it, now. That's Matt Ryan's turf.

Networks that handle college football should be the ones broadcasting it. Now, since ESPN is still not in every house in America (dang Amish...), this leaves us with ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox as our networks of choice. Problem is, NBC has an agreement with Notre Dame and no one else, so they're out. Fox doesn't broadcast college football, so they should be out. That leaves CBS and ABC, both networks with experienced college football analysts. Sure, they have their problems, but they at least know what the heck is going on (exception made for Lee Corso...). So who broadcasts four of the five most important games in college football? You guessed it: Fox! Thank you, amateur and (theoretically) unpaid college athletes! Your hard work has earned you massive ratings, which will be auctioned to the highest bidder!

As for the name of the game....why did we have to hear that it was the FedEx National Championship Game presented in High Definition by DirecTV a subsidiary of Pepsi-Cola Corporation, property of Wal-Mart? Seriously, corporate sponsorship kills the fun of things.

And while we're on the subject of corporate sponsorship, what the heck is up with those ads for the "Angry Whopper?" I'm not sure if I should be frightened by this sandwich, or simply freaked out by the bizarre ad campaign/name of the food. Who wants to eat something called an "Angry Whopper"? What's next, black-dyed, ketchup filled, emo fries? Slogan: "Emo fries: They cut themselves and bleed ketchup because no one understands them. Now available at Burger King. Free if you go cry in the corner."

Props to Percy Harvin, Florida's defense, OU's defense (The top 2 teams in the country in scoring finished 24-14. Both sides did well), and Bob Stoops. Stoops, boys and girls, is an excellent coach who doesn't deserve the "big game choker" reputation. That is a stupid label to put on a coach. A player might get nervous and fumble a ball. A coach will not get nervous and punt on 2nd down, and I don't recall seeing anything else particularly egregious from Oklahoma. Other than that stupid wagon, and that's not Stoops' fault.

Finally, a hearty congrats to Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators for being the National Champions. Before the whining begins, know this: Texas and USC are both excellent football programs. Both of their conferences agreed to the current arrangement, and USC profited from this system during the 2004 season when they had to play undefeated Oklahoma instead of undefeated Auburn. Utah has a legitimate gripe as the little man being shut out. They're not in the title picture because when this system was put in place, Utah was not a top-tier team, and thus has no shot at playing in the title unless every other team loses at least 2 games while they go undefeated! Which (cue music) is why we need a playoff!


Side note:
As the purpose of this blog (see title of blog) has ended until, like, September, we'll be dabbling in basketball, baseball, pro football, hockey, and potentially poking in on the filthiest part of college football: recruiting.

So keep in touch! All 2 of you!

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