the tradition continues

Mizzou managed to hold onto its second-ever No. 1 ranking just as long as its first No. 1 ranking - a week. We went to the official MU alumni watch party out in Virginia, and got there about an hour and a half early - just in time to snag one of the last seats. A few friends who showed up right before game time had to wait in line outside the bar. When people packed in, there were probably 100-150 people there to watch the Big 12 Championship in the Mizzou section, including a table of Ohio State fans and a pair of Oklahoma fans who were obviously cheering opposite everyone else.

The crowd was loud through the first half, but started to thin out as the second half wore on. By the end of the game, enough pitchers of beer had passed across my table I wasn't perfectly attuned to everything happening around me, but long before the game ended I was having debates about who would be in the Championship.

I haven't been particularly impressed by either Ohio State or LSU most of this season, but I think it's the right match up - there's no one else I can reasonably say should be ahead of either of them.

I'm also amused by the people who are fuming at Kansas getting picked ahead of Missouri for the Orange Bowl. The BCS keeps giving people the impression it's supposed to put the best teams in the big-money bowls. It's not. It's supposed to put the best two teams in the National Championship game (which it has done with only a small amount of success) and then give the other BCS bowls a pool of eligible teams to choose from, with several restrictions. Bowls pick teams who are likely to sell tickets, fill seats and make money. In every case but the top one. I'm not sure Kansas would travel better than Missouri, but apparently the Orange Bowl was.