Game 4 - BYU v. Arizona
nice, the first anticipated barn burner of the season. typically a team ranked at 16 would be an obvious choice against an unranked team in a bowl game. not the case here. although Arizona had lost 3 of its last 5 going into this one, they were all close games to top 25 caliber teams, with a 7 point loss sprinkled in against USC. the mighty trojan men are always a force, even in a down offensive year losing a dog fight to them might as well count as a win. BYU on the other hand got manhandled in their only two tough games of the year, against TCU earlier in the season as well as just recently to Utah. many people thought BYU could knock Utah out of the BCS hunt, but instead laid down for a nice 38-24 stampede to allow Utah a bid into the bowl of sugar.
the sports donkey’s lady pal is a dallas cowboys fan. somehow she hasn’t ramrodded a spur up his ass since he’s an obvious redskins fan and makes sure to let her know about it every step of the way. the donkey hasn’t tomahawked her yet because she has found a way to adopt the redskins as a favorite too. and she doesn’t just root for the skins to appease me, she’s turned into a fan and is a big supporter of the rugged and colorful clinton portis - great pick. i like where this is headed. she’s also a yankees fan, as the donkey does not approve of this choice. ouch, cowboys and yankees.
not too often can you sign a guy like a.j. burnett for oodles of overpriced dollars yet that turns into back page news quicker than carl pavano fading from the pitcher’s mound. but when you are the yankees and have just actually bought all rights to c.c sabathia for life, and now you are eyeballing a ridiculous offer to teixeira then burnett quickly fades from memory. let’s throw in a possible offer for manny ramirez and we now have a world class circus rolling into town. and i’m not talking about that lovable beach ball dancing bear as your headliner, i’m talking about the coolest bear out there, a lovable white polar bear turned vicious, who knows how to command a bazooka and fires into the crowd for a few laughs.
poor guy can no longer compete with mutating polar bears taking over the marketplace
even with all of this monopoly money being thrown around to destroy the ethics and integrity of america’s pastime, the sports donkey lady and the sports donkey find a common bond. since the sports donkey despises the red sox more than the yankees (this transition took place in 2004 when fair weather donkeys all of a sudden realized that they knew someone at work who had a friend related to some guy that went to boston one time so they now believed they had a legitimate connection to become a fan) then the sports donkey lady appreciates my stance. so in that hatred, we can truly unite when it comes to baseball. i do like dustin pedroia though - that 5′6″ frame is one mean sumbitch, and plays with such a perfect blend of love and venom. pound for pound that little donkey is the epitome of never giving up - i just wish he was on one of my teams instead.
since time warner cable doesn’t contain the nfl network as an option in any package, we must flock to a local bar to see if dallas can make a statement and beat the ravens. i love watching important match ups when i despise both teams. i may prefer that one of the teams win because it helps out a third team in possible playoff positioning, but in the end if both teams suck during the game and hurt one another it’s great.
the nice bartender who forgets every food and drink order at least remembers he works at a sports bar, and uses all of his brain power towards remembering to put the bowl game on the tv next to dallas’ feeble attempt to defend texas stadium one last time. i know it’s hard to take someone’s drink order containing one drink and be expected to remember it. perhaps that is my fault, maybe i should be more sensitive and not order anything.
between the dallas cowboys v. the baltimore ed reeds and conversation with a few bar mates, i didn’t stay too involved in the college bowl game to provide any colorful commentary. BYU loses rather convincingly from what i could tell, as timely turnovers and inability to stop the big 3rd downs bury the cougars. and the donkey feels the pain, 24 points down the drain. once again, this proves that picking a good team out of a lackluster conference who was starting to look like a pretender may not be the way to go when they match up against a quality team that finishes just above the middle of the pack in a good conference. and it proves that putting 24 confidence points on a game like this only makes you look like a jackass.
but the donkey quickly comes back to life. i actually do wish the cowboys would win, because it’s better than the eagles possibly getting into the playoffs. and since i appear to genuinely root for the cowboys tonight, then those add up to solid brownie points in the eyes of the sports donkey lady. kind of like at chuck e cheese’s when you win enough tickets you can barter them into nifty prizes, like a jump rope or a kazoo - that’s what i’m working towards.
the cowboys give up timely back to back running plays of over 70+ yards, with the mcclain run officially becoming the longest opposing team run at texas stadium. what a fitting way to burn that field to the ground.
Tags: a.j. burnett, arizona, byu, c.c. sabathia, clinton portis, College Football, cougars, cowboys, dustin pedroia, manny ramirez, ravens, red sox, redskins, tcu, the sports donkey, utah, wildcats, yankees