Getting back into it

Hey all, sorry for the down-time on the blog - between the holidays, work and so forth, it's been a bit of a busy time. That being said, we're going to try to get the flow back. Therefore, here are some of my thoughts in the past week or so of sports:

The Bowl Season has not been too impressive, especially the two BCS bowls so far. Illinois showed that while it had a nice bounce-back season, they were not BCS bowl ready. It would have been nice to see another team match up with a strong USC team. And Hawaii did not challenge Georgia at all. Although they were a feel good story that by going undefeated deserved a BCS bowl bid, the only thing that Hawaii impressed me with was the number of fans the school brought to New Orleans. It's just hard to really get fired up about these games when they are occurring a month after the regular season ended. With such a long layoff, college football almost becomes an afterthought by now.

The Outdoor Hockey game in Buffalo was outstanding on a day of somewhat boring football (excluding the Michigan-Florida game and UVA-Texas Tech game). Granted, I only watched some of the game, but what a spectacle. Packing in 71,000 fans into Ralph Wilson was great to see. I went up there early in the NFL season to see the Jets play the Bills, and while I'm not sure I can say too much about the city as a whole, those Buffalonians sure can tailgate. And they were at it again in the snow for a hockey game.

The Patriots are just infuriating. It looked like they weren't going to be perfect this season several times. But they just always find a way to squeak out games. While the Giants lost a tough game, by going toe-to-toe with the Pats should give them confidence that they can get through a mediocre NFC playoff field. As for the Pats, it looks as if teams are finding ways to get to them. But it probably doesn't mean anything. They'll just tease teams into thinking they have a chance and then will beat those teams.

College Basketball is starting to get going for real, as conference play is starting. My squad, Syracuse, faces St. John's tonight. Although the NFL will steal most of the spotlight for the next few weeks, this should be a great basketball season. There are several great teams, including Memphis, UNC, Kansas, UCLA and so forth. Each seem as if they could be number one teams in years past. And with a fabulous freshmen class, I really think this is going to be one of the wilder and more intriguing college basketall seasons of recent years.

-Pat

Photos: si.com