Pardon me for being a bit slow in sharing my thoughts about the upcoming January 1 matchup with LSU. Sometimes, other priorities take over. This weekend was an intense period of grading team projects for one of my marketing classes. There were lots of marketing plans to read and lots to comment upon. A deadline looms for me this week: it’s the last week of classes. So it’s always good to return my comments on major projects before students scatter for finals week. Got more to do, but as I always tell myself this time of the year, “this too will pass…”
We did take the time for three things on Sunday. The first was the Senior Football Banquet sponsored by the State College Quarterback Club. The second was the bowl announcement show on Sunday night. The final was making travel arrangements to Orlando immediately after the bowl announcements.
I’ll talk about travel arrangements first in this post. Later this week look for some thoughts on the senior banquet and the bowl game itself. Terry and I had been hoping for a BCS bid to the Fiesta in Arizona, but we more or less expected to be in Orlando. And we’re reasonably happy about that. Iowa did really deserve a BCS bowl more than Penn State did, because they were ranked higher than us and because they beat us head-to-head. Besides, it looks like a matchup with LSU will be a very good one for us.
Whenever Penn State is chosen for a bowl game, we have two basic choices: sign up with a tour group, or travel on our own. For the possibilities this year, we had decided that for Arizona or Orlando, we would travel on our own. If we had wound up in the Orange Bowl, we would have traveled with a tour group so we could stay in a hotel on South Beach, secure tickets, and let a tour shuttle us to the stadium.
There are practical reasons for choosing a tour, and much of it has to do with ticket and hotel availability. Tickets are included, you receive bus transfers to the game and other pre-game events, and you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the experience with a bunch of other rabid Penn State fans. The tour groups that we have traveled with do a good job. It’s a hassle free way to go to a bowl game. We’ve traveled with both Collegiate Athletic Travel and Centre for Travel, local State College businesses with lots of experience and competent staff. The Penn State Alumni Association bowl tour is also well done. But if we were planning to go on a bowl tour, we’d just as soon support one of the local businesses in town, if their tour packages look good.
As mentioned before, we decided to travel on our own for this trip. When it comes to the Capital One bowl, we expect that there will be no problems acquiring two tickets directly from Penn State. Our Nittany Lion Club points are high enough to ensure that. Also, there are plenty of hotels in and around the Orlando area. We’ve also traveled on our own before in Orlando, and we’ve done it with a tour a couple of times. Either way works. It’s a matter of preference.
Our favorite Capital One Bowls (or Citrus Bowls) have been the ones where we have stayed at Disney World. Why? Disney does the holidays right. New Year’s Eve fireworks at any of their theme parks are spectacular. And if you stay at Disney, getting around the Disney complex is very easy through their system of monorails and busses and even boats. Even on New Year’s Eve after the fireworks it took a mere 20 minutes to get back to our hotel. We were very impressed with their transportation logistics on one of the most crowded nights of the year. Disney also has a plethora of great restaurant choices for New Year’s Eve, and I have already made reservations for a dining spot that night.
We went to a Penn State New Year’s Eve party in Orlando once, at the Peabody Hotel. We found it to be a strange affair. We sat next to some people who kept asking me about teaching at Smeal College, and I felt like I was working the entire time. I’d rather be anonymous on New Year’s Eve, and just enjoy myself. So Disney it will be for us. It’s much more fun to be a kid again than it is to play the role of college professor when you’re on vacation!
Within fifteen minutes of the bowl announcement, we looked at the choices for hotels at Disney. Tentatively reserved a vacation package for 12/28-1/3. Then looked at airlines. Wow. There were very expensive and lousy choices of flights from State College or Harrisburg to Orlando. Then it occurred to me. We were trying to return home on the Sunday of New Year’s weekend. I don’t have to be back to classes until 1/11. Looked at 12/29-1/4 instead. Much better choices, more reasonable airfares in and out of State College. The Disney package was also slightly less expensive. So, we booked airfare and hotel package through Disney. Then went online to ask for two tickets at the Penn State Athletics ticket site. Done by 9:30 p.m. on Sunday.
By the way, if you’re interested in both a bowl tour and Disney, there are some options available. Centre for Travel and Collegiate Athletic Travel for instance, both have tour packages that include a stay at a Disney resort, tickets to the game and bus transfers to the game, and other events/gifts. You can buy a land package and arrange your own flights, or buy an air package that includes flights. If you want to stay longer at Disney than the tour, I’m confident that either tour group can make arrangements for you.
The Penn State Alumni Association tour’s deluxe package is based at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, the Big Ten headquarters where the team is staying, while its standard package is at the Rosen Plaza in Orlando. The Peabody Orlando is a beautiful luxury hotel and features the unique Peabody Ducks, who march through the hotel lobby on a red carpet each afternoon. It’s worth seeing at least once, there’s a lot of fanfare surrounding these ducks.
Another option, for those of you who would prefer to plan your own travel and find more inexpensive hotel choices in the Orlando area, is to book a game day package through the Penn State Alumni Association website. This package includes bus transfers to and from the Peabody Orlando to the game, a pre-game BBQ lunch, and a game ticket. The package is $274 per person.
Or if you want to park yourself at the game, and have your own game tickets, but want to attend the Alumni Association’s pre-game luncheon at the stadium, that’s $65 per person and you can register for that on-line at the Alumni Association’s web-site.
So we will spend six nights at Disney World. A pretty good vacation over the holidays, and we will have enough time to enjoy all of Disney at a slower pace that works for us. And now that the bowl trip is in place, and the end of football season frees up our weekends, we can move on to other things, like winding up the semester and planning for Christmas holidays…
For now, it’s back to grading…
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
The Waiting Game for A Bowl Choice: Almost Over!
Yesterday…grading papers while watching football games on TV. Penn State’s season is over, so all we have to do is wait for the bowl selections…
What a great comeback for Cincinnati to make the score 45-44 with 00:33 left in the Cincinnati – Pittsburgh game, clinching the Big East Championship. Congratulations to the entire team and its coaching staff led by Coach Brian Kelly for a 12-0 undefeated season.
So now that bowl piece is in place. Cincinnati is heading to a BCS bowl. Pittsburgh won’t be. So the Big Ten is one step closer to an at-large bid.
Then there’s the SEC Championship game. Congratulations to Alabama on a dominant win. That was not expected, and we were impressed. I felt for Tim Tebow at the end of the game. But he handled himself well through the tears. Class act. Alabama goes to Pasadena for the national championship, Florida will likely be chosen by the Sugar Bowl for that BCS game. No impact on the Big Ten at-large bids.
Watching the Texas-Nebraska game. A very sloppy game for Texas, their offense just didn’t look good at all. Colt McCoy had a bad day. Nebraska played a brilliant defensive game. But Texas found a way to win…kicking a field goal with 1 second left to win the game 13-12. What a game!!! It was an instant classic. Congratulations to Texas for pulling out a tight one!
One second away from BCS chaos…but all the teams I wanted to win won yesterday. Clears a possible path for Penn State in a BCS Bowl…hopefully the Fiesta! Maybe the Orange. If not, Orlando and Disney here we come.
We’ll finally know tonight!
In the meantime, today is the senior football banquet sponsored by the State College Quarterback Club. So we get to thank the players in person for a great season and thank the seniors for their contributions over the last 4-5 years to Penn State football. It’s always a good event.
Then, as soon as the bowl matchups are announced, lots of plans to make, starting tonight….but for now, back to that stack of papers…
What a great comeback for Cincinnati to make the score 45-44 with 00:33 left in the Cincinnati – Pittsburgh game, clinching the Big East Championship. Congratulations to the entire team and its coaching staff led by Coach Brian Kelly for a 12-0 undefeated season.
So now that bowl piece is in place. Cincinnati is heading to a BCS bowl. Pittsburgh won’t be. So the Big Ten is one step closer to an at-large bid.
Then there’s the SEC Championship game. Congratulations to Alabama on a dominant win. That was not expected, and we were impressed. I felt for Tim Tebow at the end of the game. But he handled himself well through the tears. Class act. Alabama goes to Pasadena for the national championship, Florida will likely be chosen by the Sugar Bowl for that BCS game. No impact on the Big Ten at-large bids.
Watching the Texas-Nebraska game. A very sloppy game for Texas, their offense just didn’t look good at all. Colt McCoy had a bad day. Nebraska played a brilliant defensive game. But Texas found a way to win…kicking a field goal with 1 second left to win the game 13-12. What a game!!! It was an instant classic. Congratulations to Texas for pulling out a tight one!
One second away from BCS chaos…but all the teams I wanted to win won yesterday. Clears a possible path for Penn State in a BCS Bowl…hopefully the Fiesta! Maybe the Orange. If not, Orlando and Disney here we come.
We’ll finally know tonight!
In the meantime, today is the senior football banquet sponsored by the State College Quarterback Club. So we get to thank the players in person for a great season and thank the seniors for their contributions over the last 4-5 years to Penn State football. It’s always a good event.
Then, as soon as the bowl matchups are announced, lots of plans to make, starting tonight….but for now, back to that stack of papers…
Saturday, November 28, 2009
What If the BCS Considered Graduation Rates in Bowl Selections?
Move over, Florida. Alabama is now #1, you’re #2. Sorry, Texas, Cincinnati and TCU are now ranked ahead of you and closer to a national championship pick. Sorry Iowa. Penn State is the best team for a BCS bowl. Why? As part of the BCS ranking formula, I gave some consideration in the final bowl selection picks to the NCAA reported graduation rates of college football players.
The NCAA report just came out, and a few days ago Tony Mancuso of Official Sports Reports published an article of how the AP Top 25 would stand in the graduation rankings. To see that article, click on the link on the right side of my blog (if you’re reading this in the CDT, go to the blog roll, click on see this blog with pictures then click on the link to the right). You will need to subscribe. But it’s free, and the reporting is quite good. The listings of the NCAA graduation success rates and federal graduation rates, and the rankings, can be found in an article published this week. Or you can go to NCAA.org and look at the graduation data for each school yourself.
So I thought I would take Tony Mancuso’s listings one step further and see what difference graduation rates would make in the overall BCS rankings. I made an adjustment to the BCS standing based on the difference between each school’s graduation rate and the average for the FBS subdvision. I looked at both the Graduation Success Rate (which tracks football players receiving financial support) and the federal graduation rate (which looks at all football players). Then I averaged the two differences.
So, for example, Alabama’s GSR is 67%, 0% difference from the FBS average of 67%. Their Federal Graduation Rate is 75%, 20 percentage points above the FBS average of 55%. I averaged those two percentages and came out with an adjustment of 10%. So I adjusted the Overall BCS Standing for Alabama by 10%. Whereas Texas’s GSR is 49%, 18 percentage points below the FBS average of 67%. And its Federal Graduation Rate is 48%, 7 percentage points below the FBS average of 55%. The mean is -13%, so I adjusted their BCS standings accordingly. I did these for all 25 teams included in the BCS standings.
What’s the new order?
RANK Team Revised BCS Points
1 Alabama 1.05754
2 Florida 0.985728
3 Cincinnati 0.8977595
4 TCU 0.895997
5 Texas 0.8105125
6 Ohio State 0.6946995
7 Boise State 0.693309
8 Pittsburgh 0.687033
9 Penn State 0.628992
10 Georgia Tech 0.597212
11 Oregon 0.584988
12 Iowa 0.5743275
13 Oklahoma State 0.500565
14 Virginia Tech 0.48667
15 LSU 0.352225
16 Miami (FL) 0.316578
17 Clemson 0.2828325
18 Oregon State 0.27789
19 USC 0.2498385
20 Brigham Young 0.238693
21 Utah 0.2247115
22 California 0.2165145
23 North Carolina 0.1623375
24 Houston 0.134412
25 Mississippi 0.08484
Looking at this order, the national championship picture would be very different. Cincinnati or TCU would be ahead of Texas to play Alabama or Florida. Penn State would be ahead of Iowa –a cool reward to Penn State achieving the #1 spot – the highest graduation rates among the BCS ranked teams. Georgia Tech would lose two spots in BCS rankings because their graduation rates are ranked #23 and #25 among the top 25 BCS teams.
Of course I’m sure there will be folks who will point out the flaws in such a reward system. Perhaps one of the NCAA graduation rates should be rated more than the other. Perhaps schools like Georgia Tech and Texas have tougher academic standards than other schools. Perhaps there should be a fine-tuning that also compares the football players’ graduation rates with the overall graduation rates of the school.
There are also anomalies in graduation rates. For example if a highly ranked football player (for example at Texas) decides to declare for the NFL draft early because they are projected to go in the 1st round rather than stay in college to finish their degree, the school takes a hit on their graduation rate. But who can blame the athlete for choosing not to stay in school when an injury could cause them to lose millions of dollars the following year?
Adding a graduation rate measure makes no less sense than some of the computer-based rankings that are a part of the BCS, and may make more sense. It at least gives some acknowledgment that academics matter in this increasingly commercial college football bowl scene.
What do you think?
The NCAA report just came out, and a few days ago Tony Mancuso of Official Sports Reports published an article of how the AP Top 25 would stand in the graduation rankings. To see that article, click on the link on the right side of my blog (if you’re reading this in the CDT, go to the blog roll, click on see this blog with pictures then click on the link to the right). You will need to subscribe. But it’s free, and the reporting is quite good. The listings of the NCAA graduation success rates and federal graduation rates, and the rankings, can be found in an article published this week. Or you can go to NCAA.org and look at the graduation data for each school yourself.
So I thought I would take Tony Mancuso’s listings one step further and see what difference graduation rates would make in the overall BCS rankings. I made an adjustment to the BCS standing based on the difference between each school’s graduation rate and the average for the FBS subdvision. I looked at both the Graduation Success Rate (which tracks football players receiving financial support) and the federal graduation rate (which looks at all football players). Then I averaged the two differences.
So, for example, Alabama’s GSR is 67%, 0% difference from the FBS average of 67%. Their Federal Graduation Rate is 75%, 20 percentage points above the FBS average of 55%. I averaged those two percentages and came out with an adjustment of 10%. So I adjusted the Overall BCS Standing for Alabama by 10%. Whereas Texas’s GSR is 49%, 18 percentage points below the FBS average of 67%. And its Federal Graduation Rate is 48%, 7 percentage points below the FBS average of 55%. The mean is -13%, so I adjusted their BCS standings accordingly. I did these for all 25 teams included in the BCS standings.
What’s the new order?
RANK Team Revised BCS Points
1 Alabama 1.05754
2 Florida 0.985728
3 Cincinnati 0.8977595
4 TCU 0.895997
5 Texas 0.8105125
6 Ohio State 0.6946995
7 Boise State 0.693309
8 Pittsburgh 0.687033
9 Penn State 0.628992
10 Georgia Tech 0.597212
11 Oregon 0.584988
12 Iowa 0.5743275
13 Oklahoma State 0.500565
14 Virginia Tech 0.48667
15 LSU 0.352225
16 Miami (FL) 0.316578
17 Clemson 0.2828325
18 Oregon State 0.27789
19 USC 0.2498385
20 Brigham Young 0.238693
21 Utah 0.2247115
22 California 0.2165145
23 North Carolina 0.1623375
24 Houston 0.134412
25 Mississippi 0.08484
Looking at this order, the national championship picture would be very different. Cincinnati or TCU would be ahead of Texas to play Alabama or Florida. Penn State would be ahead of Iowa –a cool reward to Penn State achieving the #1 spot – the highest graduation rates among the BCS ranked teams. Georgia Tech would lose two spots in BCS rankings because their graduation rates are ranked #23 and #25 among the top 25 BCS teams.
Of course I’m sure there will be folks who will point out the flaws in such a reward system. Perhaps one of the NCAA graduation rates should be rated more than the other. Perhaps schools like Georgia Tech and Texas have tougher academic standards than other schools. Perhaps there should be a fine-tuning that also compares the football players’ graduation rates with the overall graduation rates of the school.
There are also anomalies in graduation rates. For example if a highly ranked football player (for example at Texas) decides to declare for the NFL draft early because they are projected to go in the 1st round rather than stay in college to finish their degree, the school takes a hit on their graduation rate. But who can blame the athlete for choosing not to stay in school when an injury could cause them to lose millions of dollars the following year?
Adding a graduation rate measure makes no less sense than some of the computer-based rankings that are a part of the BCS, and may make more sense. It at least gives some acknowledgment that academics matter in this increasingly commercial college football bowl scene.
What do you think?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
The Waiting Game for Bowls Is Full of Suspense
We are all waiting for the decision on which bowl Penn State will go to. The two most discussed are the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, and the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida. There is also a chance that we could wind up in the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, or even the Outback Bowl, depending on what happens in games this weekend and next, and how the BCS deals with the at-large berths.
Of course, the Orange Bowl is the preferred choice for Penn State, and Orange Bowl representatives were present at Michigan State observing the game and, from what I understand, singing Penn State’s praises. It’s a BCS bowl, and Penn State’s basic argument is that we finished strong with the same 10-2 record as Iowa, we have a legendary coach who will not be around forever, the last game played at the Orange Bowl was one of the best in bowl history (and also the longest!), and Penn Staters will show up in abundance and spend lots of money to bolster the economy. Especially in this economy, the Orange Bowl may go for a sure bet with Penn State, rather than take chances on Iowa, which is further away, even though the Iowa fans also have a great history of traveling well and spending lots of money.
In fact, Iowa has asked that people order tickets for the bowl game BEFORE the bowl announcements are made – by December 4. My guess is that Iowa wants to prove that their fans will be there - for whatever BCS bowl that they are selected for. I don’t blame them for wanting to make their case.
Personally I believe that Iowa deserves a BCS bowl more than Penn State does. We have the same 10-2 record, but they beat us head-to-head and are ranked ahead of us in the Big Ten and in the BCS. Also, when you consider each of our games against Ohio State, Iowa gave OSU all they could handle even though they were playing under the leadership of a backup quarterback – moving the game into overtime before losing. Penn State lost every aspect of the game against Ohio State. We were solidly beaten.
On the other hand, Penn State could argue that we’re a better team now than when we played Iowa at the end of September. Plus, we won every game on the road. At the end of the season, Penn State’s win against Michigan State was more impressive than Iowa’s win against Minnesota, at least in terms of the score. I haven’t watched the Iowa-Minnesota game, so I don’t know how the game was played. Plus, there’s nothing about the BCS that’s inherently fair. It’s about TV ratings and the best chance to have an economically winning event.
So I’ll much prefer the Orange Bowl if it’s offered to us, even though I believe it’s unfair to Iowa, or possibly other at-large candidates. Or the Fiesta Bowl, which is really our first choice for a bowl game. The Sugar Bowl will be fun, I love New Orleans and have never been to a Sugar Bowl (Terry has), but we will have to miss a wedding. The Capitol One Bowl will be decent – we love Disney and haven’t been there for a while. The one bowl I personally wish to avoid is the Outback Bowl. It’s actually a very decent bowl, one of our favorites, but I would prefer not to have to go to Tampa, Florida.
For most of our marriage, our holiday plans have evolved around bowl games. There were three locations that were particularly important for us. The first preferred location was California for the Rose Bowl (because that meant the Big Ten championship) or Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl. Terry’s son Bob and his family live in Arizona, and we also have very good friends near Phoenix.
So if we headed out west, we looked forward to holidays with family, especially our grandchildren Miranda and Mike, and our friends Janet and Herb. Last year also, my sister and her husband from Boston joined us for the Rose Bowl, and we also had a reunion with our nephew and his family who live in Los Angeles. It was a great deal of fun to convert my family to Penn State fans!
So for this year, being with family in Arizona is a reason for rooting for the Fiesta Bowl. It’s always fun to open presents with grandchildren! Even if it’s after the New Year!
My mother lived in Florida, near Clearwater, outside of Tampa, for over two decades. So any time Penn State was in the running for a Florida bowl it was always exciting for her. She always wanted Penn State to win their games (but not too many games) so we could spend the holidays with her. During the football season she would send me any articles from the St. Petersburg Times that discussed the Joe Paterno-Bobby Bowden rivalry. And she would watch every game she could get on TV and call us after every game and congratulate or console us.
Whenever Penn State was chosen for any Florida bowl, she was so delighted when I would call her and tell her we were coming. But if we were destined elsewhere, she nevertheless said she was very happy for us, even though we knew she was disappointed. She was a wonderful mom, and always wanted the best for us.
We spent many a Christmas, or New Year’s, or both, with her when Penn State was playing anywhere in Florida - in Tampa, or Orlando, or even Miami. A stop in Tampa was always part of those trips. But beginning in November of 2007, she started having serious health problems, and she died, ironically enough, on Mother’s Day in 2008. I guess she wanted to make sure we never forgot her! She was 89 years old, and for all but the last seven months of her life, she had a very good life. We miss her tremendously.
After spending some time in Florida managing her affairs after her death, we have not yet returned to Florida. And I’m truly not sure how I would handle it if we wound up in Tampa this year. Miami or Orlando will be difficult enough because there are associations with visiting her – but they’re different environments and far enough away.
But Tampa is so strongly associated with my mother. All the places we’ve stayed in that area, the things we’ve come to know and love about the Tampa Bay area, are associated with her presence.
So we will have a decision to make. Do we confront those memories of my mother head on by staying at our favorite places in the Clearwater area, near where she used to live, or do we try to make the trip very different from the past – away from our favorite hotels, restaurants, and beaches where we shared so many precious moments with my mom? I guess you can tell from my writing that I haven’t finished grieving her loss. And frankly I just hope that we avoid the Outback Bowl for now. I’m not sure I’m ready to go back quite yet.
Our third favorite destination is the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio Texas. That’s not even a consideration for Penn State this year. But my best friend Jeanne from high school lives there. So for the two Alamo Bowl appearances, we’ve enjoyed Christmas with her, treating her and her boys to the bowl game, and a wonderful time overall on the Riverwalk. It’s a great bowl game, and I’m sorry to see that the Big Ten connection will not be as strong as in the past.
Another complication with this year’s bowl choice is a wedding we’ve been invited to that will occur on New Year’s Eve this year in State College. It’s a black tie affair at the Nittany Lion Inn. We have a lot of affection for the bride, because as a teenager she took good care of our cats for many years while we traveled to Penn State games and elsewhere. Her father, our good friend and next-door neighbor, has told us that it will be the event of the year in State College. We do believe that is true! We hate to miss the celebration.
So, having said all that, our preferences are as follows:
1. Fiesta bowl January 4– we will see family and friends near the holidays AND we can go to the New Year’s Eve wedding in State College
2. Orange bowl January 5– Miami is warm and nice and it’s a BCS bowl after all AND we can go to the New Year’s Eve wedding in State College. PLUS a regular respondent to this blog has promised us that he will treat us to the best Mojito in Miami!
3. Sugar bowl January 1– it’s a BCS bowl and I have never been to a Sugar Bowl, and we love New Orleans, but we will have to miss the wedding
4. Capitol One Bowl January 1– Disney is always fun, but we will have to miss the wedding. But we still hope to share cocktails with the blog respondent mentioned above!
5. Outback Bowl January 1– Tampa/Clearwater area is always nice as well, but we will have to miss the wedding. And am not sure how I will handle such strong memories of my mother, whose presence was so important for so many years.
Wow! Is this complicated or what? Such is the life of Penn State fans that go to EVERY game and have to wait to know their fate for the holidays! Wherever Penn State goes, however, we will be there.
We will know on December 6 and then we can make some plans. We just hope that it’s not too late to rent a tuxedo in State College. And if anyone has two seats on a private plane from State College heading toward a bowl early on January 1, please let us know!
Of course, the Orange Bowl is the preferred choice for Penn State, and Orange Bowl representatives were present at Michigan State observing the game and, from what I understand, singing Penn State’s praises. It’s a BCS bowl, and Penn State’s basic argument is that we finished strong with the same 10-2 record as Iowa, we have a legendary coach who will not be around forever, the last game played at the Orange Bowl was one of the best in bowl history (and also the longest!), and Penn Staters will show up in abundance and spend lots of money to bolster the economy. Especially in this economy, the Orange Bowl may go for a sure bet with Penn State, rather than take chances on Iowa, which is further away, even though the Iowa fans also have a great history of traveling well and spending lots of money.
In fact, Iowa has asked that people order tickets for the bowl game BEFORE the bowl announcements are made – by December 4. My guess is that Iowa wants to prove that their fans will be there - for whatever BCS bowl that they are selected for. I don’t blame them for wanting to make their case.
Personally I believe that Iowa deserves a BCS bowl more than Penn State does. We have the same 10-2 record, but they beat us head-to-head and are ranked ahead of us in the Big Ten and in the BCS. Also, when you consider each of our games against Ohio State, Iowa gave OSU all they could handle even though they were playing under the leadership of a backup quarterback – moving the game into overtime before losing. Penn State lost every aspect of the game against Ohio State. We were solidly beaten.
On the other hand, Penn State could argue that we’re a better team now than when we played Iowa at the end of September. Plus, we won every game on the road. At the end of the season, Penn State’s win against Michigan State was more impressive than Iowa’s win against Minnesota, at least in terms of the score. I haven’t watched the Iowa-Minnesota game, so I don’t know how the game was played. Plus, there’s nothing about the BCS that’s inherently fair. It’s about TV ratings and the best chance to have an economically winning event.
So I’ll much prefer the Orange Bowl if it’s offered to us, even though I believe it’s unfair to Iowa, or possibly other at-large candidates. Or the Fiesta Bowl, which is really our first choice for a bowl game. The Sugar Bowl will be fun, I love New Orleans and have never been to a Sugar Bowl (Terry has), but we will have to miss a wedding. The Capitol One Bowl will be decent – we love Disney and haven’t been there for a while. The one bowl I personally wish to avoid is the Outback Bowl. It’s actually a very decent bowl, one of our favorites, but I would prefer not to have to go to Tampa, Florida.
For most of our marriage, our holiday plans have evolved around bowl games. There were three locations that were particularly important for us. The first preferred location was California for the Rose Bowl (because that meant the Big Ten championship) or Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl. Terry’s son Bob and his family live in Arizona, and we also have very good friends near Phoenix.
So if we headed out west, we looked forward to holidays with family, especially our grandchildren Miranda and Mike, and our friends Janet and Herb. Last year also, my sister and her husband from Boston joined us for the Rose Bowl, and we also had a reunion with our nephew and his family who live in Los Angeles. It was a great deal of fun to convert my family to Penn State fans!
So for this year, being with family in Arizona is a reason for rooting for the Fiesta Bowl. It’s always fun to open presents with grandchildren! Even if it’s after the New Year!
My mother lived in Florida, near Clearwater, outside of Tampa, for over two decades. So any time Penn State was in the running for a Florida bowl it was always exciting for her. She always wanted Penn State to win their games (but not too many games) so we could spend the holidays with her. During the football season she would send me any articles from the St. Petersburg Times that discussed the Joe Paterno-Bobby Bowden rivalry. And she would watch every game she could get on TV and call us after every game and congratulate or console us.
Whenever Penn State was chosen for any Florida bowl, she was so delighted when I would call her and tell her we were coming. But if we were destined elsewhere, she nevertheless said she was very happy for us, even though we knew she was disappointed. She was a wonderful mom, and always wanted the best for us.
We spent many a Christmas, or New Year’s, or both, with her when Penn State was playing anywhere in Florida - in Tampa, or Orlando, or even Miami. A stop in Tampa was always part of those trips. But beginning in November of 2007, she started having serious health problems, and she died, ironically enough, on Mother’s Day in 2008. I guess she wanted to make sure we never forgot her! She was 89 years old, and for all but the last seven months of her life, she had a very good life. We miss her tremendously.
After spending some time in Florida managing her affairs after her death, we have not yet returned to Florida. And I’m truly not sure how I would handle it if we wound up in Tampa this year. Miami or Orlando will be difficult enough because there are associations with visiting her – but they’re different environments and far enough away.
But Tampa is so strongly associated with my mother. All the places we’ve stayed in that area, the things we’ve come to know and love about the Tampa Bay area, are associated with her presence.
So we will have a decision to make. Do we confront those memories of my mother head on by staying at our favorite places in the Clearwater area, near where she used to live, or do we try to make the trip very different from the past – away from our favorite hotels, restaurants, and beaches where we shared so many precious moments with my mom? I guess you can tell from my writing that I haven’t finished grieving her loss. And frankly I just hope that we avoid the Outback Bowl for now. I’m not sure I’m ready to go back quite yet.
Our third favorite destination is the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio Texas. That’s not even a consideration for Penn State this year. But my best friend Jeanne from high school lives there. So for the two Alamo Bowl appearances, we’ve enjoyed Christmas with her, treating her and her boys to the bowl game, and a wonderful time overall on the Riverwalk. It’s a great bowl game, and I’m sorry to see that the Big Ten connection will not be as strong as in the past.
Another complication with this year’s bowl choice is a wedding we’ve been invited to that will occur on New Year’s Eve this year in State College. It’s a black tie affair at the Nittany Lion Inn. We have a lot of affection for the bride, because as a teenager she took good care of our cats for many years while we traveled to Penn State games and elsewhere. Her father, our good friend and next-door neighbor, has told us that it will be the event of the year in State College. We do believe that is true! We hate to miss the celebration.
So, having said all that, our preferences are as follows:
1. Fiesta bowl January 4– we will see family and friends near the holidays AND we can go to the New Year’s Eve wedding in State College
2. Orange bowl January 5– Miami is warm and nice and it’s a BCS bowl after all AND we can go to the New Year’s Eve wedding in State College. PLUS a regular respondent to this blog has promised us that he will treat us to the best Mojito in Miami!
3. Sugar bowl January 1– it’s a BCS bowl and I have never been to a Sugar Bowl, and we love New Orleans, but we will have to miss the wedding
4. Capitol One Bowl January 1– Disney is always fun, but we will have to miss the wedding. But we still hope to share cocktails with the blog respondent mentioned above!
5. Outback Bowl January 1– Tampa/Clearwater area is always nice as well, but we will have to miss the wedding. And am not sure how I will handle such strong memories of my mother, whose presence was so important for so many years.
Wow! Is this complicated or what? Such is the life of Penn State fans that go to EVERY game and have to wait to know their fate for the holidays! Wherever Penn State goes, however, we will be there.
We will know on December 6 and then we can make some plans. We just hope that it’s not too late to rent a tuxedo in State College. And if anyone has two seats on a private plane from State College heading toward a bowl early on January 1, please let us know!
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