Tag Archives: Football

A Touchdown-like Score

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Two field goals and a safety == two touchdowns + two kicked extra points.

All hail the Mighty Chieves! 14-6 winners of the Hapless Bowl against the Washington Redskins. Iff’en ya’ can’t score touchdowns, make the score look like ya’ did.

All this slobbering blogging about the Chieves springs in part from that we probably won’t get to see them play again this year, at least on our local teevee outlets.

And, I’m an AFC West fan. Today, a rare treat. The Raiders and the Eagles matchup is deemed fit to watch in our local market. I know Chieves’ fans aren’t supposed to give Oakland the time of day, but man, you just can’t deny the sharpness of Silver and Black.

-k-

The Comedy of Errors

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You are really scraping the bottom of the NFL Football Barrel when you watch the Washington Redskins and the Kansas City Chieves play in the Hapless Bowl, and the game is interrupted because of “technical difficulties”, after which the local CBS affiliate switches to Baltimore/Minnesota.

At least, the concept of a touchdown is known and practiced by the Ravens and Vikes. A TD would win the game for either Hapless Bowl participant who can score one.

Still, they may suck, this may be an off year, following on several off years. But dammit, it’s the Chieves, and they’re from back home. Hope springs eternal, etc…

-k-

Flyin’ the Colors Early

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No doubt about it this year; the Pittsburgh Steelers are my choice in the Super Bowl. It’s no secret that I’m an AFC fan, so the Steelers get a +1 right out of the gate.

Still, this is the used-to-be-hapless Arizona Cardinals’ first shot at the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they were to win.

On the plus side, there’s no one from New England or New York in this year’s big game.

And that alone makes it seem like a victory already.

Yeah, team!

-k-

The Faulkneresque Bowl Lives!

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And in another secular holiday tradition, the 4th annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl is on ESPN tonight. Boise State vs TCU. Post-season bowls evidently ring cash registers for advertisers, colleges, and a host of others.

I blogged about this game before; last year, I was in reduced blogging Twitter purgatory, and made a few half-assed tweets about the game.

I don’t knock either team; Boise State, at least, deserved a better bowl. But, man, saying the full name of this game is a mouthful.

-k-

Outstanding State-Line Performance

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Two of the best NCAA football games I’ve seen in a while were played today and yesterday, in what ESPN calls Rivalry Weekend. Last night, in a nail-biter if there ever was one, Nebraska prevailed:

One rarely sees a 57-yard field goal in the NFL, let alone the NCAA. But that’s actually what the Huskers’ Alex Henery accomplished. My little bride was supremely confident he’d make it; my view was that of all the low-probability options the Big Red had, this was the longest shot of all. Henery made it look easy.

And, in gridiron news from my native Kansas, this final:

The game was played in Arrowhead Stadium, the Jayhawks’ home away from home.

Man, against Mizzou! In the days of old, if Kansas beat K-State and Missouri in a single season, that season was a success. This isn’t even my father’s Jayhawk football; it’s not even my KU football like I remember it for years. This was an edge of the seat game, where the final outcome pretty much went to which team had the ball last.

My only regret about KU/Mizzou was that I thought the game was to be played tonight; when I found out it was in progress, with about 4:00 to go, there was remote control pushing like I haven’t done in a long time. Finally, I found the game on Comcast Sports Net, the only free one we get with DirecTV. But those last 4 minutes rendered some of the most intense action I’ve seen in a long time. KU pulled out the win with an incredible, amazing pass play, recapped here via the Lawrence Journal-World:

Reesing somehow wiggles his way out of a heavy pass rush, then lofts the ball high in the air toward the end zone. Meier runs under it perfectly, scoring a TD with 27 seconds left. What a play and throw by Reesing. Unbelievable.

I hope I didn’t disturb the neighbors; I can cheer enthusiastically on occasion. This was such a time.

-k-

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My State-line Roots Grow Deep

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On the teevee now: Nebraska/Colorado Football.

My Kansas/Nebraska growin’ up roots say:

Go Big Red!

And tomorrow, the KU/Mizzou border war. Two words define my sentiments there:

Rock Chalk!

I sincerely hope that everyone’s Thanksgiving is as joyful for them as mine as been for me.

-k-

Update: Even as the Huskers appear to be doing everything to hand the game to Colorado, my old loyalty to them persists. Suck it up, Huskers. Play like you’re capable of playing.

Another The Game

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I meant to blog this yesterday; the laptop upgrade intervened. In what is The Game for Kansans, expatriate Kansans, and fans of intrastate rivalries in general:

Kansans realize that this is The Game; back in the day, it might be the only game either team would win all season. Both programs have experienced an upturn in their football fortunes in recent times. Whatever the level of the teams, KU vs KSU is still The Game.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
-k-

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I Remember when it was The Game

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I’m watching the NASCAR race on ESPN, and the NCAA football scroll says that tonight is the Nebraska/Oklahoma football game.

I grew up on the Kansas/Nebraska border, on the Kansas side. We got more teevee from Nebraska-based stations than from Kansas ones, back in the day. So, it’s natural that I bleed a bit of Cornhusker Red from time to time. Except during basketball season, of course. I’ve often said that living close to a state line was the best of all possible worlds; I could be a Cornhusker during football season, and a Jayhawk come roundball time1.

Then, the Big 82 championship and the accompanying Bowl Bid, went to the winner of this game. And both Nebraska and Oklahoma won their share. I still remember the Game of the Century, in 1971. Thanksgiving Day, it was. My parents and Carl and Clara Herman traded hosting Thanksgiving dinners. In ’71, it was Carl and Clara’s turn. They lived in the country. By country, I mean not the suburbs. I mean on a real farm, where dirt and gravel roads went to the two-lane US-36 highway. We went to church that morning, and then to Carl and Clara’s place to eat. Even on Thanksgiving Day, in the Midwest Universe, you eat at noon sharp. And we did. After we ate, Dad, Carl, and I repaired to the living room, to watch the huge #1 vs #2 gridiron spectacle. This being 1971, rural dwellers had no cable and no satellite for TV reception. A rooftop antenna and sheer hope met your need for TV. This year, neither cooperated, and Carl looked at Dad, Dad looked back at Carl and said “You wanna’ go to our place and watch the game on cable?”. The three of us thanked Clara and Mom for a delicious feast, piled into Carl’s Ford pickup, and barrelled down those dirt roads into Norton, and fired up the folks’ TV just in time for the kickoff. And what a game it was, made all the better, at least to me, by a 35-31 Nebraska victory that day.

I loved this little memory lane stroll. Both teams’ fortunes have waxed and waned over the years. This year, it looks like a mortal lock for the Sooners. For all the great memories of games past, and for my love of Nebraska, I’ll watch tonight, remember the past victories, and maybe break into a chorus of:

There is no place like Nebraska
Dear old Nebraska U.
Where the girls are the fairest,
The boys are the squarest,
Of any old place that you knew.
There is no place like Nebraska,
Where they’re all true blue,
We’ll all stick together in all kinds of weather,
For dear old Nebraska U.
GO HUSKERS!

Until basketball season, that is.

-k-

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1 The intervening years have seen a massive resurgence of KU’s football fortunes; I bleed a lot more Crimson and Blue now.

2 Yep, the Big 8 it was then.