Tigers SMASH the Ducks....not so much

There is so much going on, a lot of it negative, that I just had to take another pause from my usual ranting.  The pause is so that I can rant about the Tigers and the Ducks.  You, know, the Tigers are the undisputed National College Football Champs!  Er...well, at LEAST they had more points at the end of the game than did the Ducks.  That makes them the winner. Right.

Early in the NCAA season it was clear that Auburn was on their way to a bowl.  Across the country, the Ducks were doing their own thing out west.  Myself,  being the astute statistician, I predicted the winners of the BCS Championship Game would be the Auburn Tigers, and by a one-sided score of 35-14.  As it happened, the Tigers indeed won the game, but the score didn't really impress me.  Both defenses played well, but the Tigers offense tried their best to hand the game to the Ducks almost every time the Tigers entered the "red zone."  Dang those Ducks, they just would not cooperate. Then, what did the Ducks do (I am sure at the direction of one of the coaches, maybe THE COACH)?  They went for a touchdown against the iron-hard Tigers defense in a goal-line stand. 

Now I appreciate gutsy calls as much as the next guy, but go for the touchdown at the critical time against the Tigers?!!  What were they THINKING?  Actually, I am glad they thought it, but objectively, it was a critical, indeed fatal call.  Had they gone for the tie, the Ducks would have at least had a chance in OT.  Missing the touch down left them nothing but a few seconds on the clock...oh, and THE LOSS OF THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!

Oh well, it is only football. There is always next year. (Insert your own platitude here if you desire.) 

I did enjoy the game...that is, I WOULD HAVE ENJOYED the game IF my cable service had not suddenly gone on the fritz!  Never mind, I just turned on the computer and watched the game on ESPN.com/go.  Hold on, Class.  It was not to be that easy!  The streaming feed for some reason (I think because some technician had to work and was not able to view the game) ALSO went on the fritz.  The ESPN feed would work perfectly until any given crucial moment in the game.  Then the picture would suddenly freeze, the audio would die, and there I was, just  left hanging, and falling off my chair. 

This happened every time either team was about to make the touchdown.  The runner or receiver got the ball, ran down the field...the announcer yelling "he's at the twenty, fifteen, ten, five, now the two...and he m.............(frozen frame, no audio, and me cursing so loud my wife yelled at from the other room to be quiet because "it's a football game, for crying out loud!").  Then there was the final, crucial, all important, game-winning Auburn field goal.  The announcer said, "There's the snap.  The snap is good and the ball is in place.  Here comes the kick!  The ball is up and he has the distance!  He has the angle!  The kick looks.......... (the frame freezes, the audio dies, and once again my wife yells "I said it's only a GAME!  FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!"

I was yelling too loud to hear Sweetie at that point.  I was so desperate that I posted onto my Facebook page, "Anyone who knows the score, tell me!  Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" 

Do you know that not a single person, not one of my 135 "Friends" bothered to answer.  That is right!  Not one of my closest buddies filled me in.  No one even LIED about the score to me.  It was as if no one was on Facebook at all.  I knew there were people on, because I had been posting my comments on other people's comments for the entire game.  But don't worry.  I did not take it personally, my "Friends."

But do you know how I FINALLY learned the score?

I had to go to My Yahoo and then pull up my sports pages.

So the Tigers won by two points.  I felt this was a little anticlimactic in light of the importance of this game, and the failure of not one, but two different mediums that kept me from seeing the end of the game.  Yes, a somewhat disappointing outcome for the much touted National Championship Game.  What did we learn?  Only what we already knew:  You can't trust your Internet provider during a crucial football game!