2008 started with a bang. Literally. As I sat in my apartment in Southwest Philly alone, because my wife was back in Nebraska, and watched the crazies celebrate a new day (and year I guess) in Times Square I was startled by numerous gunshots filtering the air in my neighborhood. Turns out that there wasn't any type of crime, just people firing into the midnight sky.
This New Year also brings a lot of hope and new resolutions for many many people. I have never been big on making resolutions, probably because I've never had any weight to lose and probably because I just can't think of creative things to change. Supertones, the late great Christian ska band, had a song called "Resolution" which talked about today, making a resolution for a change of life. I think that I probably rally around the theme of not necessarily making a resolution for the whole year, but desiring to daily make a resolution of living a Christ-like life. At any rate, I did make one 'New Year's resolution' that I would like to try for the whole year, mainly just to see if I can do it and to see how much $ I would actually save. So my resolution is, drum roll please, to withstand from purchasing a coffee or any other item from Starbucks. I know it's not that big of a deal but I figured that it is at least possible.
I would also really enjoy celebrating a championship of some sort this year, which is something that I have never been able to do in my lifetime, or at least that I can remember. KU lifted my spirits on Thursday night with their Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech but it wasn't a championship. The Jayhawk basketball team is looking mighty nice this year so far, as are a number of other teams, and I am really looking forward to March Madness. Hopefully the Jayhawks can cut down the nets this coming year, and not just the nets for the Big 12 Championship, or the Regional Championship, but the National Championship! Hey, I can at least hope right, because that is what the New Year is all about.
The Bowl games this year haven't been all that great. I did enjoy, however, watching Florida fall to Michigan and seeing Lloyd Carr go out a winner. Well, actually I just really took pleasure in watching the Gators lose and Tim Tebow (who scores all his touchdowns rushing from the 2 yard line) lose. I also enjoyed the good showing that the Big 12 put on during this bowl season. I know Oklahoma was a let down but there were some nice victories by the other schools. I have also changed my views on the whole strength of schedule thing. Probably because that was KU's knock all year. "Well, they just haven't played anybody worth anything all year and the one team that they did play that was good, MIZZOU, they lost". Now, I think that you have to play teams that challenge you. So I wasn't disagreeing with those doubters that KU had an easy schedule, but you have to give them credit that they won all those games, and they won in convincing fashion. They just didn't have those losses to a Stanford, or a Pittsburgh, or an Illinois. And when their big time bowl game came around, they showed up and outplayed their opponent. I'm not sure if KU is going to be a football powerhouse, but they at least had a great year, a BCS bowl bid, and an Orange Bowl trophy to show for it. Cake schedule or not, you still have to win your games, and you have to prove yourself when you get the chance. The Jayhawks did that this year and we'll see how the Mangino's make their return in '08.
1 comment:
I think the schedule strength thing is a crock. I liked it when Wisconsin used to play a weak "pre-season" because unless you are one of 4 teams - you have to be undefeated to get national champ talk. For teams like UW or KU, winning them all in a conference like the Big Ten or Big 12 is their only hope. SO I say they should have easier pre-conference schedules and then focus on winning all their conf games. Anway, the Big Ten stunk this bowl season and they REALLY need not only the bye week they approved for next year, but also the 12th team and a conf championship game. If we have learned anything from the last two BCBS games it is that we need to do what the other conferences do.
Post a Comment