..Happy Freakin Holidays:

l p r o f e i t: i actually cried
Nap98: aww
Nap98: were the tears blue and gold?
l p r o f e i t: unfortunately, they were just regular tears
l p r o f e i t: i just cried about football
l p r o f e i t: that's impressive
Nap98: its okay, go seek comfort at the JT alter

Holiday Bowl. All right, no Roses. This hurts. Bad.

More than the Kerry loss. Just kidding.

...wait, no. I'm not. (Yes, my priorities are screwed up)

Cal got shafted, BIG time. We've won 10(!) games, and our only loss was to the number one team in the country at THEIR home, and by only a touch down. We're #4 in the country according to both human polls, but we're locked out of all four of the championship bowls.

Why?

Because of weird BCS computer formulas and contractual obligations that bumped us out and Texas into the Rose Bowl.

Because the Texas coach whined his way out of the position we are now in and pleaded for people to vote his team ahead of Cal.

Because our Coach Tedford showed some class by not stooping to that level, and also by not running up the score last night at Southern Miss (he had QB Aaron Rodgers kneel and let the clock run down when we could've scored at the end of the game). Tedford is, a god.

Because a score of 26-16 isn't enough to defeat the East Coast Bias of college sports.

Because sometimes, shit happens. Especially, it seems, to the Pac10 and to Cal.

Meanwhile, less than stellar teams ranked lower than us like Utah (#6), Virginia Tech (#8), Michigan (#13) and even lowly Pittsburgh (#21) get bids to the major bowls because of contractual obligations. Yeah, that's right. Out of the 8 teams playing in the four BCS bowls, half are ranked lower than us. Five if you count Texas, which remains lower than us in the AP polls. How special.

I just hope Cal doesn't have to wait another 40 something years to get into the Rose Bowl. Word is within 10 days we'll have a stadium and Tedford contract announcement . Only good news from that department could take some of the sting off of this terrible turn of events. It would mean that Coach Tedford stays, and that Cal will have plenty more oppurtunities to go to the Rose Bowl, or the National Championship.

So it looks like December 30th, I'll be in San Diego at the Holiday Bowl. I'll make the most of it and have a fun time with my friends down there. It'll probably be our last road trip together, our last chance to root for Cal as students together. I'll cheer my heart out for one of Cal's best teams and one of the best in the country to smash Texas Tech.

The BCS can take the Rose Bowl away, but that damn system can't take away the magic that was the season of 2004.

Go Bears!