Buh bye, BCS!

Hey! Look, folks, another college football bowl season has ended and I'm back here at Throwing Cookies to talk some smack about sports. It's been a while, but not as long as the break I took for all of 2012 when I didn't post anything between the Ducks' Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl wins because of that darn baby. And look at that, Oregon won their bowl game again. What bowl did they play in again?

I have no excuses for my lack of sports writing. There was no torn Achilles' tendon, no newborn baby, no book tour. I just haven't written about sports aside from the occasional tweet or Facebook, or instagram post even though there was plenty to write about. We made our first trip to Dodgers Spring Training this

The family at spring training...

year and to a handful of Dodgers games. Our Emerson girls and boys flag football teams both brought home city titles. It was a great year in sports, but I didn't write about it. So, for 2014 I vow to post at least once a month, maybe even more. Yep. I know all of my 10 readers just gave me a virtual high five.

So, tonight I watched the final BCS championship game between Florida State and Auburn. If both could have lost, that would have been awesome, but at least it was an entertaining game. No SEC field-goal contest like in 2011. But Oregon's last loss in a bowl was to Auburn. I don't like Auburn and I don't like the SEC. So, yeah, how does it feel, Auburn. War damn eagle, family all in.

But what a great game to finish on: SEC loses in a great FSU comeback. But 2010 Auburn team that beat us and this FSU team were both led by Heisman winning quarterbacks who made and make me cringe. I'll take some Marcus Mariota for another year. Oh, and that Seminole chant is terrible. It was terrible when the Dodgers were beating the Braves in the playoffs and it was painful to hear it through the whole game tonight.

So long BCS. I can't wait for 2015 to see how this playoff thing works...

And until then, go Dodgers! Go Ducks basketball, baseball, and softball. And go Niners! Yep, I'm still on the Kaepernick bandwagon which I wrote about last January when all that Manti Te'o drama was unfolding and the college hoops season was just underway. I even got that Oregon run in the tourney that I hoped for.

So, here's to another great year in sports. 

March Madness! Go Ducks!

Finally! The Oregon Ducks Win the Grandaddy of Them All!

2012 has already started off so much better than 2011. Last year there was the nasty taste of the Natty loss in Arizona and that Cam Newton smile. This year victory was finally ours. And what a game. I mean, really, that was a great game with all those lead and momentum changes, big plays and big hits. It was stressful, for reals, but winning the big game is so much better than losing and Oregon knows from their last two BCS Bowl games how much losing hurts. 

But after the dust settled around the game, and I looked back at the fan experience I must say the beautiful Rose Bowl is a far superior venue to the cement-covered stadium in Phoenix. The tailgating and the Southern California weather make for a perfect game day. The thing I'm not sure about though is why I liked the Wisconsin fans better than the Auburn or Ohio State fans. Maybe it's because we beat them or maybe they actually are nicer. The Ohio State fans at the Rose Bowl two years ago were pompous. The Auburn fans at the National Championship game represented the SEC well with their loafers and their, "You know, football, it's a way of life down here" mentality. But the Wisconsin fans were pretty nice. They didn't talk smack. They cheered appropriately. They lost with dignity.

To my surprise, the people who drove me crazy at this year's Rose Bowl were not the Badgers. It was the SC fans. I know some nice USC fans. I know they exist. But ever since Oregon lost to SC some of the more obnoxious SC fans have NOT SHUT UP. They insist they are so much better than the Ducks and they are the real Pac 12 champs. I know you beat us, Tommy Trojans, but you also lost to Stanford and Arizona State. And sorry, guys, but you actually have to win the Conference Championship Game to claim this. I would have loved a rematch up at Autzen with SC in the inaugural PAC 12 Championship game. That would have been awesome. But instead we got the Bruins. So please, take your "Fight On" to some other bowl game. This year the Rose Bowl belonged to the Ducks!

PAC 12 > SEC In My Humble Opinion

I know the powers that be, so many sportswriters, pollsters, pundits etc... have a love affair with the SEC. I know they've won so many BCS titles... but after the past two weeks of football (in particular) I'll take the PAC 12 any day.

Yes, I'm an Oregon Duck fan and I've never pretended to be neutral or unbiased, but the SEC game of the season, LSU v. Alabama, ended 9-6 in OT with the favored team winning. BORING. Our game of the season, Stanford v. Oregon, ended in an exciting 53 - 30 upset.

They can take their Roll Tide/ War Eagle. I'll take the Oregon/Oregon State Civil War, "Fight On" from SC fans, a tree mascot, barking from those Dawgs at UW, and even that silly pitchfork from ASU.

Besides, I think I smell roses
again...