I'll admit that there is much to talk about in the wide world of sports right now between college basketball approaching the tourney, the NBA heating up after the trade deadline, the MLB starting spring training, and Maurice Clarett getting out-sprinted by linemen at the NFL Scouting Combine.
But I don't want to talk about any of that.
Instead, I want to hark back to a few weeks ago, when four Philly sports fans had trekked to Florida to see their football team play in the Bowl, the most prestigious stage attainable.
If you're still reading (most of you may have stopped), those fans were actually my cousin, my two brothers, and me. And they drove to Miami, not Jacksonville. And their team was the USC Trojans. And that Bowl was the Orange Bowl.
And not only did we get to see our team play in the Orange Bowl, we got to do so from the 40th row in the USC end zone of Pro Player Stadium in beautiful Miami. Talk about starting the New Year off right.
So you're probably asking yourself, "How did this whiny kid from Philadelphia get tickets to the Orange Bowl and since when does he care about some team from southern California?"
Good question.
The answer is I have an identical twin brother (surprise!) who is a freshman (obviously) at USC. And over the past few months, his loyalty to JoePa and the Nittany Lion nation has dwindled while watching the Trojans steamroll through the competition.
Can you blame him? Over the last two seasons, the Trojans boast a 25-1 record, two national titles, and a Heisman winning quarterback (Matt Leinart) who will be returning for his senior season.
Their coach, Pete Carroll (you may remember him), has the chance to be the first coach ever in college football to win three consecutive national titles. And people in southern California love this guy. Apparently some people in the sports world actually don't care what you, Mr. John Q. Patriotsfan, think about people. Go figure.
Now I'm not a huge Trojans fans. I probably never will be. But when my brother told me that he won a lottery to purchase two tickets to go the Orange Bowl (the national title game, for those of you who don't know) and that I was going, I was ecstatic. Hell, I could fake being a Yankees fan for the right price. Go A-Rod!
The marathon 24-hour drives were definitely worth a few days in Miami. I've determined that every major sporting event should be in Miami, all the time. The World Series? All seven games in Miami. The Super Bowl? Put it in Miami. Maybe I'm exaggerating the city's exploits because I was so amazed to be walking barefoot on a beach in 80-degree weather on Jan. 4. But the city is beautiful and I can't wait to go back sometime.
So after hanging out on South Beach before the game, we sat in traffic for two and a half hours on the way to Pro Player, missing the pre-game tailgate festivities. But my brother and I made it in to the game about a half hour before kickoff while my cousin and older brother parked the car and bought tickets from scalpers.
I'm not so keen on rivalries in college football. I know USC hates UCLA. I know Oklahoma hates ... somebody. But I was pretty sure USC and Oklahoma have no prior rivalry. So what was the big pre-game hype? If you ask me, it was a battle to determine what's the best shade of red: maroon or vermillion. If you watched the game, you'd know maroon won out. Watch out Harvard Crimson, you're next.
I don't know how many of you are Div. I college football fans, but there is a little more fanfare associated with those teams. Unlike Tufts football, both alumni and students actually like to watch their teams, and they show up in large numbers. Also unlike Tufts football, these athletes have a few more benefits than a powder blue jersey and a bid at DU.
And also unlike Tufts football, there wasn't a Jumbo in sight ... except for that female Oklahoma fan I saw who probably wouldn't have fit in Boomer Sooner's chuck wagon. Of course the blond bombshell crowd that made the trip from SoCal (even the alumni are gorgeous, plastic really does make it possible) more than made up for the rather homely Oklahoma faithful.
The game was sold out and the stadium was split with identifiable lines between maroon and vermillion. My brother and I had seats directly behind the tuba players in the USC marching band. During pre-game, my brother insisted I learn the Trojan fight song, "Fight On," which we heard a record 1,321 times (if my calculations are correct).
Everything about the game from the fighter jets after the national anthem to the post-game celebration was fantastic. Oklahoma went up 7-0 in the first quarter. USC countered with a 55-3 run. For some reason, Oklahoma couldn't respond to that. Their response of nine unanswered points just came up short. They probably shouldn't have turned the ball over five times ... or let Matt Leinart throw five touchdown passes ... or given up 525 yards of offense. But you know, hindsight is 20/20.
The only highlight Sooners fans had to talk about was booing Ashlee Simpson at halftime. Apparently she didn't make anybody want to "la-la." Oklahoma fans pretty much took off after half time, sensing that their team didn't have much of a chance to win after spotting USC a 38-10 cushion, leaving a few thousand celebrating Trojans fans.
So maybe it wasn't the Eagles. And maybe it wasn't the Super Bowl. But it was the Orange Bowl and we were on the winning side in beautiful Miami. This year USC, next year it's Detroit and the Eagles.
