So, That Happened

It has come to my attention that teams I like have done astonishingly poorly in games ending in "Bowl" since I can remember. To wit:

1985 Super Bowl: Bears win 46-10. I can apparently read the newspaper at this point in my life, but I remember nothing about this game, other than the vague reollection of people being excited, but I think that's a memory constructed from stories. That doesn't count. The last Bowl-related bright spot, and I'm 4, won't remember, and don't care. But boy, did we whup 'em.

11 years pass, while no team makes it to any bowl of any sort. Huh. At least the White Sox... oh, right. The Blackhawks went to the Stanley Cup Finals. And got waxed. And I don't think it was really on TV, but I just checked, and you can watch the whole thing on Google Video. Weird. Good news: the Bulls won three championships.

The disasters now begin post-jump.

1996 Rose Bowl: Wildcats lose, 41-32. I got a t-shirt at Christmas, and didn't even know I wanted to go there, yet. We're including it in the list, but I might as well include the 1949 Rose Bowl. And the 1963 NFL Championship... Bowl... Okay, that's not what it's called, but I didn't really care about the outcome, yet.

1997 Citrus Bowl: Wildcats lose, 48-28. Again, haven't started to care yet, but this is notable in that Peyton Manning picked Northwestern apart. Thanks, Alison, for bringing that to my attention last night. Yahoo.

2000 Alamo Bowl: Wildcats lose, 66-17. Now I care. The Mighty Zak Kustok leads Northwestern to the Big Ten title, and that's really exciting, because, as I may have mentioned, I went to high school with him. Whee. Everybody has a really good time, Northwestern "storms" out to a 10-7 lead, and then gets stomped, because Nebraska apparently is ANGRY. Also, they are good at football. Our disappointment is meted by the fact that we decide to mosey back to the hotel playing "Tarzan Boy" and whatnot in the streets of San Antonio.

2003 Motor City Bowl: Wildcats lose, 28-24. Now begins the series of games that Just Make Me Angry. The Bowling Green State University Fighting Terrible Fight Songs came back to win after being down 10, with the assistance of NU's decision to stop playing offense. I also recall being backed up into our own end zone and getting off a punt of, like, net 12 yards in the 4th quarter. You're down by 4 - snap the ball over the punter's head out of the end zone, and kick the free kick from the 30! You run no time off the clock, and you have a better chance for decent field position, if you can get the ball back. Which they did (as I recall), but with a) not enough time and b) too much field for the comeback. Gah. Meanwhile, you're in Detroit on the day after Christmas, and somebody gets knifed in your hotel. At least I took a few good photos.

2005 Sun Bowl: Wildcats lose, 50-38. Aaagghh... I thought the Motor City Bowl pissed me off. Northwestern led 22-0. 22-0! This happened while clanking two extra points, incidentally. And then missing a field goal, and replacing Joel Howells and his peg leg with Armand Villareal (okay, I had to look that part up.) Basanez helps claw them back in it, (Yay! Only down 5!) but somehow, UCLA runs an onside kick back for a touchdown (Boo! Down 13. Also - what? How does that happen?). Basanez rockets back down the field and scores! Breazell runs ANOTHER onside kick in to the end zone! WHAT? HUH? HOW? D4adfgafga$#%2sldbh AGHGGH...

By the way, I'm posting this posthumously, because I've just hung myself. I'm really glad I decided to rehash those games. WOO! Oh, wait! There's last night.

2007 Super Bowl: Bears lose, 29-17. Dammit.

By the way, we have a lot of beer left over. Also cake.