Tim's Two Cents-January 8

Alabama Wins BCS National Championship.  It was the game we've been waiting for the last 32 days and let me tell you, it ended up being worth the hype.  It didn't look like it would be that way at the start however. 

The big story that developed in the beginning was the shoulder injury that Texas's Colt McCoy suffered on their first offensive possession.  Alabama also got off to a shaky start with a failed fake punt play and a fumbled punt recovered by Texas.

Once Alabama was able to calm their nerves, it was clear they were the better team on the field, regardless of whether Colt McCoy was in the game.  I realize that it could have been different if he hadn't suffered an injury.  The bottom line is Alabama had an amazing all around game throughout.  Mark Ingram got into a groove after a slow start.  From what I saw, he is a beast.  He is a hard man to tackle as Texas defenders were struggling to bring Ingram down once he settled into a groove. 

As far as Texas, they deserve some credit in defeat as Freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert played very well in place of Colt McCoy, granted it took him a little time to find a groove as well.

So congratulations to head coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide on the win.  For Saban, it is his second National Championship to go with 2003 at LSU. Nick Saban can finally relax a little and hopefully enjoy the moment.  That looked like a pretty good Gatorade bath.     

Tim's Two Cents-December 20

Yesterday while I was flipping through my television channels, I came across a college basketball game between the Texas Longhorns and North Carolina Tarheels in Texas.  Texas was victorious over North Carolina 103 to 90, but that's not why this game was so noteworthy.  The theme of this was all about location, location, location.  Yes indeed.  That's because it was played at the big behemoth that is Cowboys Stadium.  You heard correctly.  Cowboys Stadium!

Try to picture a basketball court underneath THAT video monitor!

Now I'm used to seeing the Final Four each year at a domed stadium throughout the country, but not a measily regular season contest.  The high-definition big screen videoboard in the center of the stadium towered over everything else and made the court look microscopic in size.  There didn't look to be very many, if any, people seated in the upper deck.  Now I guess the obvious reasons for doing something like this would be to have more people attend the game as well as create more buzz for the new stadium.  God knows they need it with the joke of a team the Cowboys are these days.  For a regular season game, however, I don't think something like this is worth it when I can just watch it from the comfort of my own couch.

Photo coutesy: Wikimedia Commons and Mahanga under the GNU Free Documentation License