The craziest fans in the land
Message to Ohio: my picks educated, not personal
It seems I'm not a very popular man in Columbus, Ohio, these days, which is unfortunate, because they take care of people they like there. Well, at least the car dealers do.
Last week, I had some fun at Buckeye fans' expense over their Notre Dame obsession, which generated a tremendously positive response from readers in the other 49 states, but unfortunately, created a false perception that I have some sort of vendetta against The Only University With a "The" In Its Name. I assure you, however, that it never even crossed my mind that I was lobbing some sort of insult when I made the seemingly innocent suggestion in this week's Bowl Projections that the Fiesta Bowl might choose Oregon over the Buckeyes with its at-large selection. Oh, how silly of me. You would have thought I called someone's mother ugly.
OK, sports fans, here it is, the Fiesta Bowl to end all Fiesta Bowls! Notre Dame and Oregon? OREGON? Come on, man -- the Fiesta Bowl Committee would be INSANE to select Oregon over Ohio State.
--Jeff Flinn, San Antonio
As a loyal reader of your columns, I've never disagreed with you enough to warrant an e-mail, but this is outrageous. How can you send Oregon to a BCS bowl over Ohio State?
--Jonathan Barnes, Columbus, Ohio
There are two points worth making here. One, judging by the incensed tone of some of these e-mails (like Jonathan's), it seems many of you are under the mistaken impression that I have some sort of say in the actual bowl parings. Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm just an Internet columnist making an educated guess that has a 50-50 chance of being right. While I've always had a good rapport with Fiesta Bowl CEO John Junker, even if I saved his life -- or, as Larry David does to garner goodwill with someone, intentionally crashed into his car in a parking lot, then left a note claiming responsibility -- he still wouldn't tell me ahead of time which teams his game is going to take.
Secondly, it looks like all that money Oregon spent on billboards, USA Today ads and flashy uniforms to promote itself -- or that No. 2 ranking a few years back -- didn't do a whole lot of good, because people outside the West Coast, like Jeff, still seem to view Oregon with about as much respect as they would McNeese State.
Rest assured, Buckeyes fans, I have no inside information regarding your team's postseason fate. The one thing I do know is that the Fiesta committee won't even hold its first formal meeting to discuss possible scenarios until Monday. And while this may come as a shock to some of you, it's going to be an awfully difficult decision for them.
First of all, as I've maintained for weeks, it's by no means set in stone that the Fiesta folks would take Notre Dame with their first pick. Penn State is every bit as attractive to them, in which case, the Buckeyes would have to hope the Orange wants them more than Notre Dame. Not likely. (Direct your e-mails to them, please, I'm just the messenger). If it does come down to an Oregon-OSU choice to face the Irish, there are any number of pros and cons to both.
It's no secret ABC would prefer the glamour of an OSU-Notre Dame matchup, but, contrary to popular perception, the network doesn't hold much sway in the process (if it did, do you really think we would have had a Utah-Pittsburgh game last year?). The bowl is going to do what's in its own best interest. Obviously, the game is played in a Pac-10 stadium, and there's a certain sense of loyalty to that conference, which, as you may recall, lost a second BCS berth (Cal) at the 11th hour last year. On the other hand, there are a huge amount of Midwest/Big Ten transplants in Phoenix who would eat up an ND-OSU game. Both schools have traveled well to the game in the past, so that factor probably won't come into play as much as usual. Neither will any number of irrelevant factors e-mailers have deluged me with like schedule strength, higher BCS ranking, etc. This isn't the national-title game or an NCAA tournament berth, people, it's a bowl bid. If these things went by merit, TCU wouldn't be playing in the Houston Bowl.
But don't take it from me. After reading your e-mails, I asked Fiesta Bowl media relations director and loyal Mailbag reader Shawn Schoeffler to give us an update. "We haven't made any decisions -- we really haven't," he said. "We're going to eat our turkey on Thanksgiving like everyone else, watch the rest of the regular-season games and make our decision on Dec. 4."
Never fear, Mailbag readers. When they make their announcement, I'll be sure to pass it along.
