THE CRIMSON PIGSKIN e-LETTER
BECOMING CHRISTMAS
Christmas time is known around the globe as the season of giving. This year, CPEL encourages its readers to give at individual levels of ability. This means over the next two weeks, look for opportunities to give what you have to give to others.
If there is a favorite charity or the best Church in the world and someone can afford a sizable donation, give it. Sometimes the best memorials for those missed over these holidays are donations in memory of a loved one.
If making dreams come true is a priority and there's a chance to make the wish of a disabled child come true this Christmas, make it happen. If taking children to buy gifts for an underprivileged young person at a local Angel Tree is best, take them and make it Christmas for someone else. If there's a coat or blanket in the closet which isn't needed where it is, find a local shelter and give them. If a busy schedule only allows a gift of a kind word or even a smile, for the next two weeks, give them.
At the end of the two weeks, which falls nicely at New Year's, find a moment to reflect on the gifts offered this year to those unknowns. What did Christmas become for those helped by the generosity of strangers? What has Christmas become for the giver? Who has the giver become this Christmas? Merry Christmas.
CHAMPION 3-D SHIP
A company out of Los Angeles, California (Where else when entertainment is involved?) called 3ality Digital has reportedly been given permission to broadcast the BCmeSs national championship game to 80 theaters across America in 3-D. 3ality has been testing the new 3-D sports technology on a couple of recent NFL games. Viewer reviews were positive with the exception of the satellite connection encountering difficulty and some near motion sickness setting in when the movement on the screen nearly scrambled onlookers brains.
Now fans across the nation will be able to watch Oklahoma and Florida battle it out for college football supremacy while they duck and dodge what appear to be players and cheerleaders leaping out of the screen. Ironically, the only theater 3ality has listed in the state of Oklahoma to show the Sooners' effort to get championship number 8 is located in Stillwater. FoxNews.com posts ticket price ranges between $18 and $22. Please keep 3-D glasses on at all times to deflect gridiron blood, sweat and tears.
HOW HEISMAN CAN YOU GO?
Last Thursday night in Orlando, Florida it appeared Florida Gator quarterback Tim Tebow was on his way to his second Heisman Trophy. The ESPNU awards crew interviewed Tebow's older brothers, Tebow's parents and others in regards to the 2007 Heisman recipient's winning attitude and his team leadership. There was footage of Tebow visiting an orphanage in Africa run by his father, sharing the Gospel, which makes the holiday season possible, and indoctrinating small African children to say "Go Gators!".
Tebow's mother said her physician had recommended she have an abortion when she was pregnant with Florida's future quarterback. After being told by professionals her child would likely not live if she was allowed to go to term, fighting Timmy Tebow grew to become a great young role model, the heart and soul of the Florida Gators and the recipient of the greatest college football honor, the Heisman Trophy. The man is as tough as nails.
Flash forward and back simultaneously. There were two other outstanding quarterbacks nominated for the Heisman this season. One was a tough little quarterback from Texas and the other was the leading man in a scoring machine the likes of which college football hasn't seen in decades. When a program is as successful as the Longhorns' has been, it is difficult to separate honest to goodness ability from commercial-like hype. Everything's bigger in Texas, including the legends.
Some, not all, universities have conducted publicity campaigns to get players nominated and awarded so when a high profile school like Texas sends a Heisman candidate to New York, it's almost unfair because someone will be under the impression the player is all hype. UT's quarterback Colt is the real "McCoy". It's a shame the trophy couldn't be sawed into three pieces and chunk awarded to each of the stars.
In the end, the most down-to-earth, steady field general of what seemed to be an unstoppable offense ended up with the hardware. Giving the Heisman Trophy a wedgie of sorts, Sam Bradford lifted the bronze trophy with his uninjured right hand. His left hand was healing in a crimson cast after a post-season surgery. In Bradford's acceptance speech, he thanked God. He thanked his family. He thanked Boren, Castiglione, Dasher, Dancer, Santa, and a frog he kept in a shoebox as a boy among others. A little digression there.
Main point is: Bradford, role model and hero of the great Cherokee Tribe, was grateful and humble. McCoy or Tebow would have been grateful as well but one can't help wondering what's in store for Texas' and Florida's opponents in the upcoming bowl match-ups. Judging from the looks on their faces as the bright lights shone on Bradford, it's not going to be pretty. OU may get a toothy 3-dimensional surprise on January 8th in Miami.
TULSA
The party started and ran until there was approximately a minute and a half remaining Saturday afternoon, December 6th in Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane was hosting East Carolina and as many teams find out, when the coach on the other sideline is named Holtz, they can never be counted out. Such was the case in a 27-24 loss to the Pirates in front of a predominantly home crowd. The loss dropped Tulsa to a 10-3 record and relegated them to ConferenceUSA runner-up. CPEL predicted an 11-3 finish for TU. Winning the first Tulsa football game of 2009 would make this prediction stick!
Then there was talk of TU's coach, Todd Graham, jumping ship, ala Steve Kragthorpe when Auburn University called. That story turned out to be a false alarm as Iowa State's Gene Chizik will take on the task of coaching a team which can compete with Alabama. He was a defensive coordinator for the national champ Texas Longhorns in 2005 so he may be able to win with the kind of talent which can be lured to scenic Auburn. Unless a young man's a wrestler, it's difficult to understand what charms Ames, Iowa holds and now Chizik won't have to paint that picture.
Since this section is about Tulsa Football, here goes. TU has been invited to the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. The game is played on January 6th. This bowl is the site of the miraculous come-from-behind win Marshall pulled off over, you guessed it, East Carolina in 2001. Tulsa's lucky opponent is the 12-1 Ball State Cardinals. The Redbirds lost to Buffalo in the Mid-American Conference Championship. That loss is the only blemish on the BSU record.
Wonder if TU will get air time on David Letterman since the show's host is a Ball State graduate, fan and benefactor? The campus in Muncie, Indiana opened the $21 million David Letterman Communication and Media Building opened in 2007. A true BSU follower, Letterman has made many jokes about Ball State over the years on his late night comedy show. The Cardinals have borrowed Letterman's repetitive comedic strategy by winning this season, over and over and over again. This will be a tough game for TU but is winnable with the right kind of mindset. Prediction later.
ARKANSAS
CPEL predicted a "6-6ish Independence Bowl kind of record". Arkansas finished the season with their 5th win over conference rival Louisiana State, rounding out a 5-7 mark. Other than the fact the Hogs won't be participating in post-season play, that's a close prediction.
TENNESSEE
CPEL predicted a 10-4 (good buddy!) record for the Volunteers. This stinker of a prognostication fell victim to an anemic Tennessee offense that left its defense hanging out to dry while its coach became a mid-season lame duck. UT completed the season with an unheard of 5-7 record. Tennessee will not be participating in post-season play due to lacking enough wins to reach a bowl game. The 109,000 fans which fill Neyland Cathedral for home games can be guaranteed better days are ahead. The Sooner, the better.
OKLAHOMA STATE
The Cowboys aren't just a bunch of kids riding around on horses hoping John Wayne can stay in the saddle long enough to go out in a blaze of glory. The Wild West isn't just a hokey western program on the tele (British for television) either. The Cowboys are orange clad warriors of the football field and the Wild West is the new west end zone at newly expanded T. Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
As exciting as all the new toys at OSU are, a trip to San Diego, California to represent the Big 12 Conference against the Oregon Ducks of the PAC-10 Conference is a fantastic reward for a good team which has just wrapped up a great 9-3 regular season. While finishing 4th in the Southern Division of the Big 12, the Pokes won all their non-conference games and could be considered Big 12 Northern Division champs by virtue of defeating all three north teams on the schedule. The Cowboys exceeded the 7-6 preseason expectations of the CPEL.
As for the Cowboys' opponents, hopefully, the Ducks won't be bringing a notorious PAC-10 officiating crew to oversee the festivities. Otherwise, yellow hankies will hit the turf at the "Murph" and Oregon will surf away with a controversial win as they've been known to do. Another request is for Oregon to wear the color-shifting blue, green, blue helmets and to ditch the white ones and the yellow ones. It's tough enough looking at uniforms that look like a pro wrestlers wardrobe for four quarters without being subjected to two teams in solid white helmets months after Labor Day.
Pistol Pete takes a break from hunting wabbit and gives Duck hunting a whirl. Advice to OSU,…DUCK! Prediction later.
OKLAHOMA
Big 12 Conference Commissioner Dan Beebe shed some light on how OU sailed into the BCmeSs championship game during an interview at the Big 12 Championship game on December 6th, a game which Oklahoma won over Missouri 62-21. The Sooners made it look easy against an outclassed Mizzou squad quarterbacked by perennial Hypeman Trophy candidate Chase Daniel. It was Oklahoma's third Big 12 Conference Championship win in a row.
Beebe stated the conference uses BCmeSs rankings as a divisional championship tie-breaker so a Big 12 team will not be eliminated from a chance to have enough points in the BCmeSs to make it to the national title game. And the Big 12 cashes in again courtesy of the Sooners. Cha-ching! SUCCESS! CPEL picked Oklahoma to finish the year 11-3. Oopsey!
History would argue the BCmeSs title game is not winnable for OU. This time, Bradford is hauling Heisman honors into Miami and facing a defense which is better than anyone in the Big 12 with the exception of the Longhorns. The Sooner roster is sporting a total of four All-Americans.
Florida's offense is powered by Tebow who makes opportunities in the running game whether the Gator's passing game is effective or not. Then there's the what have you done for me lately media who has ruled out any chance of Bob Stoops winning another BCmeSs game this century. Somehow a 12-1 record and another title game appearance doesn't appear to be jeopardizing Stoops' future. There are approximately 115 teams which won't be playing that night. Most of them, along with members of the media, will be burping pizza juice on their respective sofas.
Another line of thinking is with two more than excellent coaching staffs and great athletes at nearly every position on the field, anything can happen. The good news for Sooner fans is there are Cuban cafés along South Beach which stay open into the wee small hours in case the game takes a turn for the worse early. Not that that's ever happened before or would again this January. Prediction later.
THE PERCENTAGES
Tulsa's loss and Oklahoma's win brings CPEL's season totals to 42-13. That's 76% for all you regifters out there. Order a lump of coal suitable for placement in any stocking online today!
Thanks for reading and have a very Merry Christmas!
Carlos
www.crimsonpigskin.com
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