how i actually watched a bowl game that wasn't meaningless

okay, in reality, they're all meaningless. i don't give a shit if wisconsin beats auburn, or that usc won the rose bowl, or wondering if the third best acc team can beat the 4th best sec team. a bowl game is an excuse to get fans and alumni to travel, party and spend money on merchandise. the games are basically irrelevant.

and i'm counting the bcs championship game too. that's a shameful way to decide a champion.

but i'm watching the fiesta bowl between oklahoma and boise state, and there's a ton in the balance for this game. can david beat goliath? can little boise state from a no-name conference prove itself against a tradition-dripping powerhouse? are they really big time? you see, there's something truly at stake here, so much so that the new governor of idaho just flew in for the game, just hours after he was sworn in. this game means something.

and it's been a great game, with boise building a big lead, oklahoma coming back, tying the game with a minute left, taking the lead on an interception return one play later. and, just 53 seconds later, boise ties the game at the end of regulation with - get this - a lateral. yep, they tied the game with the good ol' hook and ladder with no time left on the clock.

awesome.

now we're in overtime and oklahoma quickly scores on a td, and boise state's backup qb throws a touchdown pass to tie it. why was the backup in? because they had the starting quarterback in motion on the play!

did i mention they called this play on fourth down?

and, on the two point conversion, going for the win instead of the tie, boise state's qb fakes a throw to the right, where they overloaded, and instead quickly hands it off - behind his back - to the tailback on his left, who scampers in, untouched. yep, the statue of liberty play.

balls aplenty.

an entire state celebrates.

questions answered.

cinderella justified.

it's a good thing there's no playoffs in college football. who'd want to see a bunch of these games with everything on the line?

btw, i'm now rooting for ohio state to lose to florida, leaving boise state as the only unbeaten team in college football with a big win on their register. i'd like to see the reasoning behind them not being a national champion instead of a team with a loss. explain that to me.

that would also take balls aplenty.

UPDATE: as the star running back of boise state, after the biggest win of his career on his game-winning two-point conversion run, was being interviewed, he proposes to his girlfriend, the head cheerleader, on live television.

balls aplenty all over.