New Year's Day Sports at Its Finest

From about 10:30 am, local time New Year's Day, until the start of the Rose Bowl, I endured what one could call, sports heaven. I put my remote to the ultimate test yesterday with all the games a guy can handle. For starters, the Cotton Bowl game between Missouri and Arkansas was a great game, especially if you were pulling for Mizzou. Sorry Hogs fans, my burnt Orange blood was a little too thick to root for you yesterday. Then at 12pm, the game of the day came on from Orchard Park, New York. Eh, what?! Yes, you heard me, I watched the Pittsburgh Penguins versus Buffalo Sabres game played outside in the elements.

What a wonderful concept. Though I didn't catch the first time the NHL played an outdoor game a few years back, I made a point to watch this one. First of all, it the game was played in front of 73,000+ plus fans. Secondly and more importantly, they played in the snow. The lake effect snow machine was in full force, okay, I exaggerate, but it snowed for most of the game. If you didn't see the game, you missed something special.

During and after this game were too equally intriguing bowl games, Michigan vs Florida and Virginia vs Texas Tech. Although I could have had a split loyalty for each team in the first set of games, my rooting for Michigan superceded any small allegiance I had for Florida. What a way to send off outgoing headcoach Lloyd Carr. In what was one of the biggest upsets of the day, Big Blue sent the cocky Gators on a long drive up the interstate from Orlando to Gainesville.

Texas Tech spent most of their game playing catch-up with Virginia. But thanks to heroics by their stud quarterback Graham Harrell and his offense, Tech was able to surpass the Cavaliers with a game-winning field goal with a couple seconds left.

(On a related note, I don't know about you, but I think the Big 12 will have a great season next year. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas Tech among others will return most of their starting line-ups. Can't wait for that!)

If it wasn't for the two blowouts in the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl, New Year's Day 2008 could've been a perfect way to start the sports year.