Wednesday, December 06, 2006
A Couple More Bowl Thoughts
I don't remember ever seeing a guy catch so much grief for doing the right thing as Jim Tressel..
Say what you want about loyalty to conference, dislike for a bitter rival, or creating bulletin board material for an opponent -- the bottom line is that Tressel absolutely faced a conflict of interest with his ballot, and could easily have voted for whichever school he felt his Buckeyes would match up with better. And as close as the voting was expected to be, he could have expected his vote to make a difference.
Jim Mandich, the former tight end for the Dolphins who is now a sportscaster, called Tressel a "weenie." Of course, it should be noted that Mandich played his college ball at Michigan, so Mad Dog is hardly impartial, even if Michigan hadn't been one of the teams involved. He's about as likely to praise an OSU coach as Woody Hayes would be to put on a maize and blue cheerleader outfit and start singing "Hail to the Victors."
There is now a possibility that Tressel will be dropped from the poll. If so, he'll be on the voting sidelines with Florida coach Urban Meyer, who has consistently opted not to be part of the voting throughout his career.
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On a more positive note, one of the best stories of the bowl season isn't about a team, but about a city. Last year's Sugar Bowl was moved to Atlanta because of the damage Katrina caused to the Superdome, which at the time was believed to be beyond repair. Not only is the game back in the Superdome, but New Orleans got what might be the best possible matchup in terms of bringing people back to the Big Easy. LSU will be making a relatively short trip from Baton Rouge, and as the de facto home team will surely bring a lot of fans. I have been in New Orleans at Sugar Bowl time, and it's a huge party for several days, from New Year's Eve until the morning after the game, so even people without tickets will come for the atmosphere.
LSU's opponent will be Notre Dame, which, as they say, "travels well." The Irish would probably bring a large contingent of fans if they played a bowl game on Saturn. Any Sugar Bowl would give New Orleans a huge boost in its rebuilding efforts, but the city couldn't have asked for a better draw than this.
Say what you want about loyalty to conference, dislike for a bitter rival, or creating bulletin board material for an opponent -- the bottom line is that Tressel absolutely faced a conflict of interest with his ballot, and could easily have voted for whichever school he felt his Buckeyes would match up with better. And as close as the voting was expected to be, he could have expected his vote to make a difference.
Jim Mandich, the former tight end for the Dolphins who is now a sportscaster, called Tressel a "weenie." Of course, it should be noted that Mandich played his college ball at Michigan, so Mad Dog is hardly impartial, even if Michigan hadn't been one of the teams involved. He's about as likely to praise an OSU coach as Woody Hayes would be to put on a maize and blue cheerleader outfit and start singing "Hail to the Victors."
There is now a possibility that Tressel will be dropped from the poll. If so, he'll be on the voting sidelines with Florida coach Urban Meyer, who has consistently opted not to be part of the voting throughout his career.
======================
On a more positive note, one of the best stories of the bowl season isn't about a team, but about a city. Last year's Sugar Bowl was moved to Atlanta because of the damage Katrina caused to the Superdome, which at the time was believed to be beyond repair. Not only is the game back in the Superdome, but New Orleans got what might be the best possible matchup in terms of bringing people back to the Big Easy. LSU will be making a relatively short trip from Baton Rouge, and as the de facto home team will surely bring a lot of fans. I have been in New Orleans at Sugar Bowl time, and it's a huge party for several days, from New Year's Eve until the morning after the game, so even people without tickets will come for the atmosphere.
LSU's opponent will be Notre Dame, which, as they say, "travels well." The Irish would probably bring a large contingent of fans if they played a bowl game on Saturn. Any Sugar Bowl would give New Orleans a huge boost in its rebuilding efforts, but the city couldn't have asked for a better draw than this.
