Since SD crapped out last week and no playoff spots of any consequence are still in doubt, I'm not paying much attention to the NFL this weekend. There are some fun college bowl games going on, though with those I very seldom care who wins; I just enjoy watching the action. I taped Fresno State vs. Tulsa this morning just in the hopes that it would be high scoring and entertaining. And it was,
apparently.
I didn't actually see it, since we're having huge storms here this weekend, and the power and cable have been knocked out several times. The lights flickered and flickered and then went dead this morning around 8. That was my signal to finally get the hell into bed, and when they came back on around 9 and I was still trying to get to sleep, I remembered to get up and set the VCR to start taping at 10 for the Fresno/Tulsa game. It taped until early in the 2nd half, when the cable went out. Well, it kept taping after that, but I didn't choose to watch the static.
Tulsa ended up winning in not very special fashion, but that's okay, since they've got a funny name. Malaya and I enjoy saying "Tulsa," but it's sort of a long story why. There's a legendary story about ex-QB Troy Aikman; supposedly he was knocked silly during a Cowboys' game in his pro career, and when they got him to the sidelines and gave him the "how many fingers am I holding up" routine, he answered, "T.. Tul... Tulsa." when they asked him where he was. It's funny since the game was in Dallas, which isn't anywhere near Tulsa, and in fact Troy hadn't been there since high school. When he was probably knocked the hell out a few times.
We (Malaya and me) conflate this story with the amusing jock stereotype character in
the hilarious Coen Brothers remake of The Ladykillers, whose only dialogue was to say, "Coach? C.. c.... c... coach?" Hence when someone gets knocked out, we often start saying, "T... T... Tulsa?"
Anyway, there was a bowl game on earlier that morning, and one on later in the afternoon, but I didn't watch or attempt to tape either of them. San Diego hosted Denver in an afternoon football game too, but I didn't care about that with the result meaning nothing, and it was over before I woke up anyway. Denver rubbed the floor with SD, apparently. And now the NYG@Raiders game is on... but not here. The local listings say it should be on Channel 5 and on ESPN as well, but 5's got news and filler, and ESPN is just showing the ESPN news channel for 3 solid hours. Got to love those diehard Raiders fans making sure the game is a sell out so it's on free local TV, eh?
So Saturday's games, 3 college, 2 pro: 1 bad college game, 2 good ones the cable was out during, 1 bad NFL game I slept through, 1 NFL game blacked out here and nowhere else in the country.
As for Sunday's offerings, they're pretty blah. Early game we get Carolina@Atlanta, which is actually one of the better games on all day. Later we get Houston@SF, in the Reggie Bush bowl. And that's it. Only 2 games, and while I can accept that the local 49ers game isn't on against another game, I have no idea why there's only 1 early game on. I also have no idea how the 49ers keep selling out their games while Oakland can't, since I've seen like 2 49ers bumper stickers in my entire 2.5 years living here, compared to about 50000 Raider Nation stickers, signs, etc. Every mall has a Raiders Store, no malls have 49ers stores, I see Raiders jackets and hats on people every day while never seeing any 49ers stuff, etc. True, I'm closer to Oakland than SF, but I've never seen any 49ers bumper stickers or merch when in The City either.
Fortunately for my football needs, Monday has six good bowl games, and then there are good ones Tuesday and Wednesday night as well, as the bowl season closes out. And then next weekend the NFL playoffs begin, marking T-minus one month until the end of any good sports on TV until next fall.
