Bowl blues

It’s Saturday night and I’ve accomplished far too little this week for my real job – the one that pays for the lights and heat in my fortress of solitude. Yet events of the day compel me to write a blog post.

Some will say I hate America because I flipped past the Gerald Ford funeral coverage. I have nothing against the man, but I don’t like funerals. Plus, when I ventured by, Dick Cheney was at the podium. Talk about the last guy I’d have deliver my eulogy! I figure I’ll just wait for Maureen Dowd’s report.

No, today was the day the undeserving Iowa Hawkeyes faced the defending national champion Texas Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl. A loyal – though not unreasonable – alumnus, I donned black and gold and nestled up next to my Sony Wega for the bloodletting.

Except the Hawks came to play, apparently. Sophomore receiver Andy Brodell had a career game for the black and gold, which somehow led most of the game. When he wasn’t bitching at his teammates, quarterback Drew Tate actually looked like he deserved to start as quarterback for a Big Ten team.

The key moment came when Tate hit tight end Scott Chandler for an apparent touchdown and 21-3 lead. Tate and Chandler, both native Texans, flashed upside down hook ‘em horns hand signals before anyone noticed the penalty flag. Chandler, it turns out, had lined up illegally and was an ineligible receiver.

A subsequent interception and Texas touchdown set the stage for an eventual 26-24 victory by the Longhorns.

The final score does not accurately portray the inevitability of the outcome, but both teams walked off winners. Texas won the game, their 10th of the year. And Iowa put on a show for the 10,000 fans who flocked to San Antonio to watch a 6-6 team lose its fourth straight game.

I was in attendance for their last win, a 24-14 showing over Northern Illinois. Iowa’s other victims (in reverse order) were Purdue, Illinois, Iowa State, Syracuse (in double overtime!) and Montana (!!).

Iowa played like a bowl team today, but no team that finishes 2-6 in its conference deserves a bowl bid. But, apparently, money talks. And bullshit watches the game on TV.

Bring on the Packers-Bears already!