Bowl Game Name Ridiculousness

So every year some of the college bowl game names seem to get more and more ridiculous with the sponsor names added to the name of the bowl game.  I think my favorite one from when they started to get more ridiculous was the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl. 

My sister makes fun of them every year. Her birthday falls on December 29, so she even has made up a bowl game name for her birthday before. 

These are some of the more notable and ridiculous bowl game names for this year: Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl, Quick Lane Bowl, Walk-On's Independence Bowl, Camping World Bowl, San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl, NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl, and the TaxSlayer Bowl. 

The bowl games also seem to start earlier and earlier every year. This year the first game or games were played on December 16.

I remember when the Hall of Fame Bowl game in Tampa started back in the late 80s, I thought it was early on December 23. But then it got moved to New Year's Day. 

And bowl games didn't go past New Year's Day, but now the National Championship game is played on January 8. 

It's a different era and ridiculousness of the bowl game names will always abound. 

It's been a long while, since I last wrote, and what a week in Tampa Bay sports it has been. And now sports with the death of Dick Enberg today. I always enjoyed him on NBC Sports football broadcasts back in the 80s and then for the French Open and Wimbledon and then on CBS for the U.S. Open.

But back to Tampa Bay sports. Monday night saw the induction of Jon Gruden into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor during Monday Night Football. Unfortunately that all coincided with the game, in which Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston played one of his best games, but the Bucs lost the game on a missed field goal in the final seconds of the game to the Atlanta Falcons.

Tuesday night brought the Tampa Bay Lightning's first matchup with new NHL team in the West the Las Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas. The Lightning scored first only for the Golden Knights to keep tying it before the Knights went up 3-2. The Lightning then tied it back up at 3-3 before the Golden Knights won it in the last seconds 4-3. I'm pretty sure all of the goals scored in the game were on the power play and if not all of them, a majority of them.

Then the devastating news happened on Wednesday with the Tampa Bay Rays trading face of the franchise Evan Longoria, 3rd baseman, drafted by the Rays, who I saw play in Durham with the Rays' AAA Durham Bulls team, before he got called up to the majors in 2008 and was 2008 AL Rookie of the Year. That was the first season the Rays made it to the playoffs and the World Series.  The loss is going to be strongly felt for a while. I know we got players from the San Francisco Giants but Spring Training doesn't start until mid-February, and I just can't be bothered right now; I'm too sad.

We were in the middle of eating popcorn, drinking red win and watching a Christmas movie at my sister's house when I found out the news about Evan Longoria. I think I kind of freaked her out by crying, saying he didn't want to leave, who's going to play third base?, what were they thinking?, etc. My brother-in-law told me the UNC-Chapel Hill was down by one point at halftime to Wofford in basketball, which cheered me up a little mainly because I found that amusing; and it was the next day when my sister and I found out that Carolina ended up losing that basketball game to Wofford.

But the Lightning made up for a lot of this week in last night's game at home against the Ottawa Senators. The Lightning went down 1-0, tied it, went down 2-1, tied it, went down 3-2, tied it, and then the game went into overtime. Nobody scored during overtime, and then it went into a shootout. Our super goalie Andrei Vasilveskiy saved both of Ottawa's attempts. Brayden Point scored his goal, Kucherov completely whiffed on his shot with his stick breaking in the process, which led to Lightning Captain Steven Stamkos scoring the game winner for the Lightning to win 4-3. Stamkos has improved in his shootout goal attempts greatly this season.

And then outside of Tampa Bay sports, Arsenal got themselves into the semi-final round of the Carabao Cup, this year's League Cup name, with a 1-0 win over West Ham on Tuesday. Then the crazy match took place on Friday at the Emirates against Liverpool. Arsenal got themselves down 2-0 around the 51st minute, but then starting around the 53rd minute, Arsenal managed to score three goals within six minutes to go up 3-2. Liverpool equalized the match in the 71st minute, and it all ended in a 3-3 draw.  So what could have been a disaster turned out to be something Arsenal got one point.

So there is my sports week from Monday to Friday. I'm looking forward to the Lightning starting another win streak with a win against Minnesota on Saturday.

Lightning need to get consistent, and Arsenal can't lose on Sunday

The other night I chose to watch the Tampa Bay Lightning play away against the Pittsburgh Penguins instead of The Oscars.

What was funny was I decided to follow what people were saying regarding The Oscars on Twitter while watching the hockey game.

I've hated the Boston Bruins, since they beat the Lightning in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Championship in 2011. 

What I did not like about this game: the Lightning lost..

What I did like about this game: Stephen Stamkos kept up his scoring streak, and the Lightning did play and not give up right up until the final whistle.

Since Sunday, they lost a ticky-tacky game against the Buffalo Sabres at home, a game they should not have lost (at least in my opinion.)  They play at the New York Rangers tonight. The Lightning have been so inconsistent, it's really hard to say how they'll play.  I'm at a loss.

Spring Training has started, and the Tampa Bay Rays are 5-1 so far. They are currently down 5-2 in the bottom of the 6th in their game today against the Detroit Tigers.  So, that's going well, though I will only feel really good about it if they have such a good start and good consistent play during the regular season. 

Sunday is the 2nd North London Derby of the 2012-2013 Premiere League season at White Hart Lane. Arsenal has won the past two derbies 5-2, but those were at The Emirates.  I feel now as if 5-2 should be the official score for the North London Derby, of course with Arsenal winning.

I will just want to crawl up in a ball and cry for the rest of the day if Arsenal lose on Sunday. 

So, today I'll remember that it was raining.

I'll remember I went to a friend's father's funeral.

I'll remember that my friend's father is now buried in the same cemetery as Ava Gardner.

I'll remember that another friend's father was in the hospital with a concussion with no real progress, so we were asked to keep praying. I have known this friend and her family my whole life. This friend was also laid off her job within the last month.

I'll remember that it was the day after my dad had knee replacement surgery.

I was at the funeral and traveling back to Durham during the Arsenal vs Bayern Munich Champions League match, so I completely missed seeing any of the match.

I think I'm completely justified in completely breaking down into tears when I saw that Arsenal has lost 1 - 3. 

I hit my breaking point.

The tears were for my team, my team's manager, who people want ousted and want to see Arsenal lose just to feel justified in wanting Arsene Wenger ousted, my friends, and Phil, who was just out walking around South Tampa as he always does and ended up in a hospital bed with a concussion.

So, I guess the Tampa Bay Lightning wanted me to feel good about one thing.

They managed a 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs for their second win in a row.  That came after losing 6 straight games after starting their season 6-1.

I know all of my teams can't win all of the time.

But, Arsenal needed this win today. We, they and me, needed that something good.

So, the Lightning won. I'm just still sad that it's only me that got that something good.