College Football Friday: Bowl Game Edition

After a week plus of relatively mediocre bowl games, we're entering the homestretch for college football season. By this time next week the mythical National Champion will be crowned. The big time bowl games start in earnest today, with a day long slate of worthwhile match-ups to help you while your hangover away.

Outback Bowl: Northwestern vs. Auburn, 11 AM ESPN - Northwestern had a nice season for themselves at 8-4, but the Big Ten hasn't fared too well against the SEC in recent years. Either way, both these teams are probably better than the Sunday tenant of Raymond James Stadium.

Capital One Bowl: #12 LSU vs. #13 Penn State, 1 PM ABC - Probably the best non-BCS game remaining on the bowl slate. Joe Paterno ushers in his 86th New Year's Day on the face of the planet by taking on a very tough LSU team. And, just in case you're interested, Erin Andrews will be covering this game.

Gator Bowl: Florida State vs. #16 West Virginia, 1 PM CBS - Speaking of ancient football coaches, this will be the final game for FSU head coach Bobby Bowden. It's a shame that the legendary coach is being forced out in this way, but his time has clearly passed him by. As a consolation prize, FSU vaulted over more deserving teams (Clemson, BC, Miami, UNC), and received the Gator Bowl nod. Hopefully it'll be a nice send off for Bowden, as he gets to coach his final game in Florida and against the school where he spent ten years prior to getting the FSU job.

Rose Bowl: #8 Ohio State vs. #7 Oregon, 4:30 PM ABC - The Granddaddy of Them All. This one just isn't the same without Keith Jackson calling it. The Buckeye seniors have not won a bowl game in their collegiate careers. This is their final chance, but they'll have to beat a very good Oregon team that managed to take the wild wacky PAC-10.

Sugar Bowl: #3 Cincinnati vs. #5 Florida, 8:30 PM FOX - Does anyone want to coach this game? Cincy head coach Brian Kelly left to take the Notre Dame job last month. The Bearcats will be led by offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn, but this will be his last game on the Cincy sideline as he will be Buffalo's head coach next year. On the other sideline Urban Meyer resigned last Saturday, then un-resigned Sunday saying he would take a leave of absence instead - except no one knows how long that will last. In the interim, offensive coordinator Steve Addazio will lead the program. Addazio's last head coaching experience came more than 15 years ago at the Connecticut high school that Brad Ausmus and Brian Leetch once attended. Addazio got the nod by default, as Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong will depart to take the head coaching job at Louisville following the Sugar Bowl.

That aside, we get the treat of listening to Thom Brennaman call this one. As you may recall, Brennaman paid an inordinate amount of lip service to Tim Tebow during last year's BCS Championship Game. I can only imagine what he has in store for Tebow's final collegiate game.

Enjoy the games Fackers.

Off Night News, Notes, And Links

Another Yankee-less Thursday night is upon us. Here's stuff to ponder, read, and watch in the meantime:

Lost in the hoopla of the Jorge Posada-Jesse Carlson suspensions was that Shelley Duncan also received three games for his role in the melee. Shelley was certainly right in the thick of things, but I don't understand how he winds up with a sentence as lengthy as the chief participants. And what separates him from the other 60+ players who were involved in some way or another? Duncan is appealing.

The Save Gate 2 movement is losing traction. Craig from Circling the Bases has a good idea as to how it could be helped.

A.J. Burnett apparently has completed a class at the Joba Chamberlain School of Public Relations.

I wish Ken Rosenthal would go away. Joe Posnanski finds a dimpomatic way to dismiss him. Rob Neyer weighs in as well.

If Ken Davidoff thinks coke is a performance enhancer, he clearly wasn't watching the Yankee bullpen last month. (h/t IIATMS)

The Yanks and Cowboys may have collaborated to create Legends Hospitality Management, but the Yankees failed to impart to the Cowboys that you shouldn't sell the standing room only tickets until all the seats are sold out.

Former Yankee Nick Green is having quite a time for himself up in Boston. Not only did he get the benefit of the call on not one, but two bordeline strike threes last night before driving in the tying run, he's also banging Heidi Watney. Even Erin Andrews thinks Watney is hot. Green should go buy himself a lottery ticket before this lucky streak runs out.

I've spent my fair share of time here bitching about Michael Kay, John Sterling, and Suzyn Waldman. On the opposite end of the announcing spectrum is the Detroit Tigers' longtime voice Ernie Harwell. Harwell is 91 and announced last week that he has inoperable cancer. He was given a night of honor at Comerica Park last night. Jason at IIATMS has a look at it.

These pictures have nothing to do with the Yankees or sports at all, but I find them awesome. I'd post some of the pictures here, but our whole black and white thing wouldn't do it justice. Give them a look, and tell me the inroductory one doesn't remind you of the Wizard of Oz.

YES will be airing this Yankees Classic tonight, back from when A.J. Burnett was untouchable.

No NFL games this Thursday, but ESPN has college football. It'll be #20 Miami hosting #14 Georgia Tech in a big early season ACC match-up. Mark Teixiera will be pulling for the Yellow Jackets, A-Rod for The U. Who you got?

This will be the Hurricanes' second game of the year, both big prime time contests on ESPN. It's also the second consecutive ESPN Thursday night game for the Ramblin' Wreck. Meanwhile, my alma-mater will be on ESPN360 for each of the season's first four weeks. And I don't have access to ESPN360, so screw you ESPN and screw you Cablevision.

If you don't tune in for the game, do yourself a favor and tune it at halftime for the sublime "Ask Dr. Lou" segment with Lou Holtz. It's crazy old man comedy at its finest.

NHL pre-season contests have started. Both the Rangers and Devils are off tonight after facing each other last night. The Islanders play in Calgary tonight in an untelevised game. Meanwhile, my local team hasn't played in twelve years.

If you need an off night from sports, the incredible It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns to FX at 10 PM. Watch out for Green Man.

See you in the morning.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Good morning Fackers. I've got a little extra hop in my step this morning, and it's not just because the Yankees continue to roll along about as well as we could imagine.

Tonight marks the return of college football. No sport will ever replace baseball when it comes to capturing my attention, but with the autumn-like weather that's settled in over the past few days, I've been anxiously awaiting the return of pigskin. It's been 238 days since God's own quarterback dispensed with Oklahoma and gave Florida their second National Championship in three years. The Gators were a record-setting, overwhelming, pre-season number one in the AP poll, and are the favorites to capture a third National Championship in four seasons.

ESPN has a doubleheader tonight. In the opener, The Old Ballcoach and his Cocks travel to Raleigh to face the Wolfpack, led by former BC coach Tom O'Brien. These same two teams kicked off last season. While the match-up itself isn't all that compelling, the game will be interesting in that it will mark Erin Andrews' return to work. Perhaps you've heard that America's Sideline Princess was the victim of a serious violation of privacy over the summer. Understandably, she's kept a low profile since then, and this will be her first public appearance outside of her tell-all at an Oprah taping last week.

The night cap features a much better match-up as the #16 Oregon Ducks visit the #14 Boise St. Broncos. It'll be the ugly uniforms against the ugly field. I'll likely have the CFB games on the tube with the Yanks game streaming on the laptop. Cut me some slack; it's opening night.

In an effort to somehow tie this back to the Yankees, I'll mention that much to my surprise and even more to my chagrin, I caught a commerical on YES earlier this week indicating that all Notre Dame home games will be replayed on YES Mondays this fall. I researched this a bit. Turns out it's a multiyear deal and includes the showing of other ND content on YES.

/vomits

As you may recall, I'm not particularly fond of Notre Dame, nor is Big Willie Style. The best thing that come of this deal as far as I'm concerned is that it allow me a second chance to watch BC's seventh consecutive victory against The Irish.

Certain teams, usually the ones that have been highly successful, are generally despised outside of their own bases. The Yankees. The Cowboys. The Lakers. Duke basketball. Notre Dame football. The Yankees have now had content sharing agreements with Manchester United and Notre Dame. They established Legends Hospitality Management in conjunction with the Cowboys in order to service their two new stadiums. They're certainly making it easier for the average fan to consolidate his vitriol to a few choice locations.

Okay, I promise: that's my only football post today. If you need a little help getting excited for the season, check out this post from a couple weeks back. Now back to baseball.

What To Do Tonight...

The Yankees aren't on, and we are all lost... I know. Here are some options:

• Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee - ABC, 8-10PM - Bathe in the social awkwardness, bask in Erin Andrewsocity. If that's too boring, watch Cheap Seats make fun of a bunch of them from the mid 90's.
  
  
• Game 5 of the Cavs vs. Magic series - TBS, 8:30 - 11-ish - Do or die for Lebron, should make for some interesting television.
  
  
• Jeff Beck: Live At Ronnie Scotts - Palladia HD, 7-9 - Oh, it's almost over? Get lost in his clips on YouTube. There's an hour and a half special on the legendary 1967 Monterey Pop Festival on immedately following as well. The movie Woodstock is on from 8-12 on VH1 Classic if that doesn't suit your fancy. 
  
  
• REAL Sports - HBO 9-10 - Interview with a rep from the NFLPA, a piece on some afeminte bull riding brothers form Spain. You might want to turn off before the horse slaughtering part at the end, though.
   
• Dodgers vs. Cubs - MLBHD, 8 - 11-ish - Two great franchises squaring off at Wrigley and... aw, fuck. Bob Costas calling the game? Nevermind. 
  
  
• An hour long re-run of The Office - NBC, 10 - 11 - Hey, it's better than a first run of 90% of the other bullshit that's on TV.
  
  
• Hit some golf balls at Randall's Island - That's where I'm headed, anyway. See you tomorrow, bright and early.