American football

[cyrano]

So the radio guys just said that tonight at the Rose Bowl Alabama will play Texas.
Which of those teams had the best record in the Pac-10?

Comments

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

I can explain!

At some point in the semi-recent past, people got annoyed at multiple undefeated teams not playing each other, and each wanting to claim to be "National Champions", leaving the final verdict up to sportswriters and not on the playing field.

So, they decided #1 and #2 in the rankings (and I'm leaving out what _that_ means out of mercy) should always play each other in a bowl game, and that game would rotate between the four big bowl games (Rose, Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar, I think), overriding the normal conference affiliations.

People liked having a national championship game, but really didn't like not having a Pac-10/Big-10 Rose Bowl (and other games had similar objections.) I think the Rose Bowl avoided not having a Pac-10 team one year only because USC was ranked #1 at the time (but they played Texas, which is not the appropriate opponent.)

So, they said, fine. The National Championship game is an _additional_ game. They get #1 and #2. So the Rose Bowl game is the best Pac-10 and Big-10 teams that aren't in the National Championship, and fans can deal with that. And the National Champtionship game is played a few days later, and rotates between sites.

Oh, and the other fact that's key: The Rose Bowl is the name of the stadium as well as the name of the classic Jan 1 game played there.

So they're playing the National Championship in the stadium called the Rose Bowl, but the Rose Bowl Game was Jan 1, where Ohio State beat the Oregon Ducks.

And that's More Than You Wanted To Know!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

You are a smart person!
Now this makes much more sense!
*hugs* by the way, and happy new year.