Bowl Season Overview: Conference USA & Sun Belt
Conference-USA
- Liberty Bowl
- Hawai'i Bowl
- Armed Forces Bowl
- Beef O'Brady's Bowl
- Military Bowl
- New Orleans Bowl
Tulsa (10-3) won the Conference USA title and the Liberty Bowl berth. The meeting is supposed to be with an SEC team, but the way the dominos fell, the Golden Hurricane ended up with 6-6 Iowa State from the Big 12.
Central Florida (9-4) was the loser in the title game, but it slipped to the fourth slot -- the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg -- probably because they figured that Central Florida fans might be located in, well, central Florida. The Knights will battle Ball State.
East Carolina (8-4) ended up in the New Orleans Bowl in (surprise!) New Orleans. The Pirates will line up against local favorite Louisiana-Lafayette.
Southern Methodist (6-6) will travel to Honolulu for a matchup with Fresno State in the Hawai’i Bowl. Perhaps the folks in islands thought the Mustangs would have a bigger traveling party.
Rice (6-6) will head to Fort Worth for the Armed Forces Bowl against Air Force.
Sun Belt
- GoDaddy.com Bowl
- New Orleans Bowl
The Sun Belt had five teams reach bowl-eligibility, but Middle Tennessee ended up being passed over. Four teams will play on, however:
Arkansas State (9-3) will participate in one of the more appealing “lesser” bowls in the GoDaddy.com Bowl against 11-2 Kent State. The Golden Flashes wanted the Orange Bowl spot that went to Northern Illinois.
Louisiana-Lafayette (8-4) got the aforementioned New Orleans Bowl bid against East Carolina.
Louisiana-Monroe (8-4) opened the year with what appeared to be a massive upset of Arkansas. Later it turned out that Arkansas was a disaster area that hadn’t been declared yet. Regardless, the Warhawks are headed to the Independence Bowl to face 8-4 Ohio.
Western Kentucky (7-5) also snagged a major upset (over Kentucky), and earned a spot in the Little Caesars Bowl in Detroit against Central Michigan.
Pop Culture Happenings: Santa Is Your UPS Man
Ken Jones wanted to let you in on a little industry secret: He is Santa. Recorded, as he so eloquently puts it, "on a scheduled break," the UPS drivers' song kicks off the Christmas season properly.
Bowl Season Overview: Mountain West & WAC
Mountain West Bowl Tie-ins
- Las Vegas Bowl
- Poinsettia Bowl
- Armed Forces Bowl
- New Mexico Bowl
- Hawai'i Bowl
The Mountain West had three teams tie for the top spot in the league, but Boise State (10-2) had the best overall record and was awarded the Las Vegas Bowl bid. A 21-19 loss to San Diego State almost certainly cost the Broncos the Orange Bowl bid that Northern Illinois grabbed under the “special rule” for non-automatic qualifier conferences under the Bowl Championship Series rules. At 11-1, you figure that bid goes to the Broncos. Boise State will take on Washington of the Pac-12.
San Diego State finished at 9-3, and will serve as the home team in the Poinsettia Bowl against Brigham Young. The Cougars were in the Mountain West until this year, but are now an independent. Interestingly, although both San Diego State and Boise State have announced intentions to bolt for the Big East (yes, “East”) … there are now reports that both schools, and, yes, Brigham Young, may revert to the Mountain West (as the Big East now looks to have no more stature in the new landscape than the Mountain West will).
Oh, yes, on the field: the Aztecs have won seven in a row after a 2-3 start.
The Armed Forces Bowl is listed as a Mountain West bid, but it goes to Air Force if the Falcons are bowl-eligible and available. As they were this year. They will play Rice, who will travel up the road from their Houston home to Fort Worth.
That dropped conference co-champs Fresno State to the Hawai’i Bowl, but that hardly seems like punishment. The Bulldogs will face Southern Methodist out of Conference USA.
Finally, Nevada heads to the New Mexico Bowl, which is the very first game of bowl season. The 7-5 Wolf Pack will face Arizona from the Pac-12 in one of the better matchups among the “lesser” bowls.
Western Athletic
1. Famous Idaho Potatoes Bowl
There’s not much left of the WAC (victim of realignment carcass-picking), and, despite three bowl-eligible teams, it only placed two into games.
Utah State went undefeated in the conference and got the bid to the Famous Idaho Potatoes Bowl in Boise. It will take to the blue turf against Toledo.
San Jose State will also take on a Mid-American Conference foe: Bowling Green, in the Military Bowl in Washington, D.C.
Louisiana Tech rolled the dice and ended up on the short end of the bowl stick. The Bulldogs were in line to go to the Independence Bowl or Liberty Bowl, but, in the process of angling for the Liberty bid, let the Independence Bowl deadline go by and ended up with neither.
Famed Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera is dead
Fans of Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera are in mourning, after the plane Rivera was in went down in Northern Mexico. Rivera was killed, along with six other people. The small plane crashed early on Sunday morning, about an hour after taking off from Monterrey.
Jenni Rivera wasn't as well known in the U.S. but believe me, she was a huge star in Mexico. The 43-year-old Rivera, who grew up in Long Beach, California, was a mother of five and one of the biggest, most popular Mexican artists in the world.
News that Jenni Rivera's plane was missing broke on Sunday afternoon. As the hours ticked by, everyone waited and prayed, hoping that Rivera and the others on board would be found alive. Sadly, that's not what happened. On Sunday evening, Rivera's father and brother confirmed her death via Telemundo.
Jenni Rivera died within hours of giving what would be her final concert in Monterrey. Her loss is immense. Not only did Rivera sell tens of millions of albums worldwide, she also starred on a very popular Telemundo reality show, I Love Jenni. She also worked as a judge on The Voice, Mexico. To say she was a superstar would be an understatement.
From the time her first single was released in 1999, Rivera had legions of loyal fans. Today, those fans are understandably devastated. My heart goes out to Jenni Rivera's family, particularly her five children.
A full investigation into the cause of the plane crash that killed Jenni Rivera is underway, and at this point, there's no official word on exactly what happened.
Bowl Season Overview: Big East
Big East Bowl Tie-ins
- Bowl Championship Series
- Russell Athletic Bowl
- Belk Bowl
- Pinstripe Bowl
- BBVA Compass Bowl
- Liberty Bowl
- Beef O'Brady's Bowl
Louisville (10-2) overcame back-to-back losses to Syracuse and Connecticut by defeating Rutgers, 20-17, and taking the Big East Bowl Championship Series slot. The Cardinals will head to the Sugar Bowl to take on SEC titan Florida. It was a bit of an ironic meeting for the Big East, given that Rutgers has announced it’s leaving for the Big Ten and Louisville is headed to the ACC, but the Big East is used to that kind of thing.
The Scarlet Knights (9-3) fall back, then, to the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando (formerly the Champ Sports Bowl, and, before that, a whole host of things, including the CarQuest Bowl). Rutgers will face ACC opponent Virginia Tech.
The Belk Bowl in Charlotte (also previously played under different names such as the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the Continental Tire Bowl) will host Cincinnati (9-3). The Bearcats will also face an ACC opponent, Duke. The Blue Devils are not known for their football following, but will be playing in their home state.
The Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium, the Bronx, will also have a home-state representative: Syracuse (7-5). Yes, Syracuse is also en route out of the Big East (to the ACC), and it will face a former Big East foe (West Virginia), which is now part of the Big XII. The Mountaineers were hoping for a lot more bowl-wise before their season fell apart about halfway through.
The BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham gets Pittsburgh (6-6), which is most notable for sending No. 1-ranked Notre Dame into triple overtime. The Panthers missed the big upset, however. They will face Ole Miss of the SEC.
The Big East didn’t fill its slots in the Liberty Bowl or Beef O’Brady’s Bowl. Connecticut needed an upset over Cincinnati to become eligible, and didn’t get it.
Bowl Season Overview: SEC
SEC Bowl Tie-ins
- Sugar Bowl
- CapitalOne Bowl
- Outback Bowl
- Cotton Bowl
- Chick-Fil-A Bowl
- Gator Bowl
- Liberty Bowl
- Music City Bowl
- BBVA Compass Bowl
- Independence Bowl
The logjam at the top of the SEC had Alabama (12-1) at the top pretty much every week, even though the Tide lost to Johnny Heisman (actually Johnny Manzeil) and Texas A&M. The main question was whether two non-SEC teams would place ahead of the SEC survivor and keep a conference squad out of the national title game. Oregon and Kansas State were on track to do it, but couldn’t quite pull it off … so Alabama returns to the Bowl Championship Series title match for the third time in five years.
Florida (11-1) lost to Georgia, but thereby got the benefit of not having to face Alabama in the conference title game. As a result, the Gators snag the Sugar Bowl berth ahead of the Bulldogs. BCS rules require a Big East team (at least until 2014), so Louisville is the opponent.
Georgia (11-2) came within a few yards of a major upset of Alabama in the SEC title game, but instead settles for the CapitalOne Bowl in Orlando. They will take on Nebraska, which was booted from the Rose Bowl after a blowout loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game.
South Carolina (10-2) got a big 35-7 win over Georgia, only to lose their next two to Florida and LSU. That dropped them to the Outback Bowl, where they face Michigan.
Heisman winner Manziel takes his 10-2 Texas A&M squad to Texas Stadium, where the surging SEC newcomers will face former Big XII foe Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. The Sooners were aced out of a BCS bid due to the “special rule” that placed Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl. But the resulting Cotton matchup is better than most of the BCS tilts.
Another one of the better non-BCS meetings is in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, where 10-2 LSU faces fellow 10-game winner Clemson.
Mississippi State takes its 8-4 record to the Gator Bowl to face Northwestern, while Vanderbilt will stay home to face N.C. State in the Music City Bowl in Nashville.
Ole Miss (6-6) snagged a trip to the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham. The Liberty Bowl opted for Iowa State of the Big XII, and the Independence Bowl slot went unfilled.
Gerard Butler's new movie bombs, but guess which movie just broke a huge record?
Did anyone head to the movie theater over the weekend? If so, what did you see? I'll tell you what you almost certainly did not see: the new romantic comedy Playing for Keeps. It seems, my fellow movie goers, that we have smarts, because Playing for Keeps just looks terrible in previews.
Another reason I think we're really smart: Skyfall, the latest installment in the James Bond movie franchise, continued to impress over the weekend. It's a fantastic film and I couldn't be happier that more and more people are seeing it. I'd hoped it wouldn't get lost in the end of the year hoopla.
Skyfall actually reclaimed it's spot at number one at the weekend box office, taking in an additional $11 million, bringing it's total to $918 million globally. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that makes Skyfall Sony Pictures' biggest grossing film release ever. As in, ever! Impressive, yes?
I'll continue to sing the praises of Skyfall because I loved it. It's a ton of fun and again, I think it's one of the best James Bond movies I've ever seen. If you love action and glitzy glamor, this is a perfect movie choice, in my opinion.
As for the rest of the weekend box office, Rise of the Guardians came in at number two, taking in $10.5 million, followed by The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dan Part 2 with $9.2 million. Lincoln and Life of Pi rounded out the top five.
That brings us to the new rom-com Playing for Keeps, starring the aforementioned Gerard Butler and the always gorgeous Jessica Biel. Even they can't save this stinker, apparently, because Playing only managed a sixth place finish. That's a terrible debut, of course, but given the stellar movie selections out right now, I'm not surprised.
We stayed away from the theater this weekend, because no, Silver Linings Playbook is STILL not playing in our area. Ugh! I fully expect to be back in the theater very soon, with the release of The Hobbit and several other Academy Award contenders (namely Zero Dark Thirty, which looks amazing). What did you see, if anything?
Visiting New Orleans this weekend? Don't miss a huge Christmas tradition.
You already know that Louisiana people love great food, and incorporate this into everything they do, including Christmas. You also know that the phrase "Making spirits bright" often means more when it's said in New Orleans.
Spirits are bright, and spirits are used for making awesome holiday drinks, too. But what you may not know, is that many NOLA and Louisiana residents like to celebrate the holidays by lighting things on fire.
Yes, I said lighting things on fire. Calm down, it's all controlled. It's part of the annual Festival of the Bonfires, held each year in Lutcher, Louisiana (located in St. James Parish, less than an hour outside of New Orleans).
Bonfires are a long-standing tradition in the area. Since the 1800s, residents have gathered around the holidays to light bonfires along the Mississippi River levees in celebration. Back in the day, many of these bonfires were lit on Christmas Eve. Now, the annual Festival of the Bonfires makes an entire weekend of it!
This year's 23rd Annual Festival of the Bonfires will be held on December 14-16, 2012, at Lutcher Recreation Park. It's a beautiful festival and again, if you're in the New Orleans area, you should try to go. It's a quick drive and you'll have a blast taking part in an ages-old Louisiana Cajun tradition.
The Festival includes beautiful bonfires, but there's much more going on. There's great food (shocking, I know), lots of wonderful hot chocolate and coffee and plenty of great live entertainment. For the kiddos, carnival rides are offered.
For more information about the 2012 Festival of the Bonfires, you can visit the official website. If you get the chance, I think you should definitely check it out, NOLA travelers!
Oh, what a year for the 42nd president
As BC-Talk predicted, former President Clinton will take spots of relaxation and decompression where he most enjoys it: on the golf course. Last Sunday, the former President challenged the links with newly re-elected President Obama at Joint Base Andrews. And according to Sports Illustrated’s Golf.com, BC has booked tee time at Trump International Scotland this summer.
Well-deserved, Mr. Clinton! After sustaining months of tireless, frenzied campaign stumping and speaking hoarse for Dems during the election cycle, as well as continuing his CGI and Clinton Foundation social work efforts, the former President certainly needs time-off to unwind and rest his body, and in particular, his larynx.
Bill Clinton News and Notes
OutdoorLife.com reports that a newly discovered species of darter fish has been named after the former POTUS. Biologists named Etheostoma Clinton after BC because of all his work on environmental issues.
Foreign Policy magazine has named both Bill and Hillary Clinton among their 100 Top Global Thinkers of 2012. The highly regarded publication saw fit to list the duo as tied for the number three spot.
The Clintons recently traveled to Ireland where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was honored, along with husband Bill who was given the title “Freeman of Limerick,” and a statue of his likeness put up at a golf course in Belfast.
In other news, President Clinton takes an important and impressive stand on the “War Against Drugs” in a new documentary that details how the failed efforts of the U.S. to combat this insufferable problem were derailed from the start. BC admits that he “got it wrong” for the most part, and narrates his segments with compelling honesty and insights. You can watch the documentary for free here: Breaking the Taboo film.
And lastly, a note and nod to the President for snagging a Grammy nomination in the Spoken Word category for his audio book recording of Back to Work.
Not sure how 2013 will be for Bill Clinton by comparison, but it's always exciting to think about.
Have your own homeschool Christmas party
Each year my daughter gets together with her two best friends, also homeschoolers, to have a Christmas party. My youngest daughter attends our local special services school and gets a Christmas party every year so why shouldn't my homeschooled daughter?
The first thing you need to decide is whether you are only going to invite a few homeschoolers or an entire co-op of homeschoolers. I prefer to stick to a smaller group. Once you know the number of kids, you can pick a date and begin planning activities.
I like to start with music because it is the easiest thing to take care of. I always get out our Chipmunks Christmas CD, but I'm sure you can find plenty of other great Christmas CDs to play in the background of your party.
After the music, I plan a little menu. Typically, we have the kids come over after lunch so the menu consists of hot chocolate with candy canes hanging out of the cup and marshmallow snowmen. Of course, a Christmas party is not complete without cookies.
Activities vary from year to year. One year when the girls were younger, we made wreaths. Last year, the kids made their own gingerbread houses. This year I plan on taking a picture of the girls together and printing a copy out for each kid. Then the girls will make their own decorative frame for putting the picture in.
At the end of the party the kids gather together in some bean bag chairs to watch a Christmas flick. They need some time to wind down after eating all that candy! Some movie options include It's a Wonderful Life, Frosty the Snowman, or Elf. Elf is probably the most requested movie in our house.