Originally posted 1/5/2013….

You’re here so you can keep up with the sports fan in your life…boss, coworkers, or yo’ man (sure ok, maybe yo’ lady). Or, maybe you’re here ‘cause you’re my friend (thanks). Either way, here are this week’s top five (and a half) chat worthy sports happenings…

• It’s College Football Bowl Season. Surely your sports fan (YSF) is up to his eye bowls, in college footballs (see what I did there). If YSF’s team is in a bowl game, you need to find out if they won. If YSF is yo’ man, ask him. He’ll love it. If it’s your boss, just hush up and figure it out… http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/scoreboard . It’s a great accomplishment for a team to qualify for a bowl game. Different bowls carry different levels of distinction and a team’s record determines which one they qualify for. Most of the bowls have goofy names (ex. GoDaddy.com Bowl) because we are a capitalistic society that will likely have corporations sponsoring each square of our toilet paper sometime in the near future….but I digress. My two teams (YSF may insist you can’t have two teams, but if you hold your ground on your reasoning he’ll back off… unless it’s because you like the uniforms.) So, my two teams are NCSU (hometown fan, I grew up rooting for them) and my alma mater, UGA. It’s fun being a UGA football fan. They dominated Nebraska in an exciting win, 45-31, in the Capital One Bowl. Here’s a play that sums up how the game went: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/01/georgia-nebraska-capital-one-bowl-murray_n_2393395.html . NC State did not have the same good fortune. They lost to Vanderbilt 24-38 in the Music City Bowl. Here’s a play that sums up how their game went: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8796113 . The biggest, baddest, bowl in the land is the BCS Bowl, excuse me, the Discover BCS Bowl. It will be played on January 7^th and will determine which of these top ranked teams, Notre Dame or Alabama, is this year’s National Champ!

• Men’s College basketball season is underway. My favorite! Like any collegiate sport, it’s all about the conference. I grew up in ACC country (http://www.theacc.com/) which is known for elite basketball. Our neighbor, Duke University, is currently ranked #1 the country. NCSU is 11-2 but regular conference play starts this weekend and that’s when games really matter (for the record, the two games NCSU lost were to Top 25 teams). If none of this is doing it for you, think about this…basketball games are always inside, basketball games are short, and basketball games do not consume an entire day with tailgating. In other words, consider yourself lucky if YSF is a basketball fanatic. Find YSF’s team’s record here: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/standings

• NFL “regular season” ended last weekend. Post season games start this weekend to determine who will make it to the playoffs. This will all culminate at the Superbowl (http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/47) on February 3, 2013. Currently the two top teams (http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings/_/type/playoffs) are the Denver Broncos (my team!) as the AFC Champs, and the Atlanta Falcons as the NFC Champs. One team from each division will end playing each other on the big day. Go Broncos!

• Seven NFL coaches were fired on January 31^st (Happy New Year, Coach). One of the most controversial was Chicago Bears head coach, Lovie Smith. It must be hard to fire a guy named Lovie. Lovie wasn’t feeling the lovie (I lovie his name, btw)…ok, I’ll stop. He had a good season and the ‘da Bears only missed playoffs by one game, but that doesn’t matter. Lovie has not gotten his team to the playoffs in five of the last six seasons. So, he’s out. There’s no loyalty in the NFL. You either get wins, or get fired. There is a lot of shuffling around of coaches and players in between each season and it always feels wrong to me. I don’t want to be reminded that it’s a business; I want the romance of pulling for a team I love. It’s like switching out the actors in your favorite TV show every season. Remember when they replaced Darren on Bewitched? (I’m old) Like I said, the shuffling can be disheartening…Wait, What? The Colts released Peyton Manning? What? He’s going to Denver? Can I get a what-what!? I’m ok with that kind of shuffling.

• If YSF loves hockey, you might actually be enjoying this NHL season. The players have been locked out; Yet another reminder that professional sports can be an ugly business. It has something to do with revenue sharing. The owners of the teams want to reduce the player’s piece of the pie. While they figure all this out, season ticket holders and little kids across USA just have to wait. When the topic comes up, just throw out the terms “lockout” and “revenue sharing,” and you’ll have instant sports-cred. The season may start sometime this month, but it’s all still up in the air.