Up Against It

I have, many times since the Texas Longhorns won the college football national championship at the Rose Bowl some 10 months ago, called 2006 the greatest sports year ever. Shortly after the 'Horns took home the crystal football, the Pittsburgh Steelers, my favorite NFL team, won a surprising 5th Super Bowl. The year was rolling. Since then, great teams have met with success, but not championships. Teams like the Memphis Tigers and Texas Longhorns basketball teams, both of whom had a legitimate shot at going all the way, but were knocked out in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA tournament. (For the record, a run to the Elite 8 is outstanding. It was only disappointing because it didn't have to end there and because it wasn't supposed to, as this is the greatest sports year ever.)

Next came Longhorn Baseball, a perennial threat to win the College World Series. The bat-swingin' 'Horns spent some time ranked at the top this season and had the look of a potential champion. They did not make the College World Series. But, I thought, this is supposed to be the greatest sports year ever! Still, two championships is pretty great.

But now, what have you done for me lately, sports year? Nine months since a championship. But things can get back on track today. Texas plays Oklahoma. That, in any sports year, is huge to me. (See "Red River Rockin' and Rollin'" post from October of 2005) That's not all, though. My best chance for a third favorite team to win a championship* rests with the New York Yankees, a powerhouse of baseball team picked by many to win it all. Today, they face elimination in their Divisional Series against the pesky, upstart** Detroit Tigers. The Yankees, and their batting order of nine players who've all been all-stars must come through today to save their season, and mine where baseball is concerned.

It's going to be a great day! I'm off to eat orange and get ready to cheer on the Longhorns. Hook 'em!

* Right behind the Yankees, as a preferred team to win it all, is the Michigan Wolverines football team. Undefeated so far, they have a chance to win the championship that Texas won last season. Make no mistake, I want Texas to be the national champion... every year. But if they can't (they still can, but it's shaky), Michigan is option #2, which brings us to a bit of poor scheduling by my friends at the television networks. Texas plays Oklahoma at 2:30. The Yankees play the Tigers at 3:00, and Michigan plays Michigan State at 3:30. If each game were 30 minutes long, that would be perfect. They are not.

** There is no more annoying way to hear your genuinely good team referred to than as pesky upstarts. It's like when you're mad at something as a kid and seemingly every adult present looks at you, cocks his head and says to others as though you can't hear, "Somebody's tired." Man, that used to piss me off. And I'm not just saying that because I'm tired! Sorry Tiger fans. (I'm not really sorry.)