The fun thing about beginning a new year is that everything gets to start over again. So, this is not only my very first post of 2013, but also the first entry into the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and my first Tube Day Tuesday. Everything old is new again. I love how that works out.
But I know what you’re thinking: what could possibly be on TV these days worth chatting about? Isn’t everything in reruns during the holiday season? Well, yeah, pretty much. It will still be a week or two before everything is completely back to normal, but tomorrow will see a new episode of Chicago Fire, and then on Thursday, the full CBS prime-time lineup will return. I’m glad about that; I find that I miss those boys on The Big Bang Theory. And Person of Interest and Elementary. Thursday is a very good day.
But in the meantime, the television in this household is tuned to that time-honored holiday tradition: college football. 
There are, I believe, 35 bowl games these days, and while many of these match-ups wouldn’t rate airtime during the regular season, put the teams together in the post-season and it seems to become an event. And, of course, I’m married to a football-lovin’ guy, so we’ve seen just about all of them. (Thank goodness for the few games that are scheduled simultaneously!) I did have to laugh at the commentary following one of the early games, though. In the evening wrap-up segment, while showing highlights from a previous game, the commentator said something along the lines of, “You just watched a good football game. This, however, was not a good game.” LOL. I like it when the “talkers” call it like it is.
Tonight’s game of choice is the Orange Bowl, and it’s a little bit bittersweet in these parts, because it’s the game everyone thought our local team would be invited to. But, with the much-maligned BCS rankings, automatic qualifiers, etc., we got beat out of the invitation by Northern Illinois University. With my limited knowledge of the game, I would never go so far as to say any team didn’t “belong” in any game, though many of the commentators (and my husband) did say it in this instance—loudly and often. However, sitting here watching, I’ll say that they haven’t played any worse than some of the other teams I’ve seen this month, and better than quite a few. I mean, they are losing, but they’re not getting quite as thoroughly trounced as everyone seemed to believe would happen. I have a good friend who has NIU as her alma mater, so I can’t entirely wish bad things on them, but her daughter graduated from the opponent—FSU—so I figure she won’t be entirely displeased whichever team emerges with the W. And, though she doesn’t particularly follow football, she says no one was more surprised than the alumni to find the school invited to a major bowl game. Hah.
The game I want to attend some day is the Rose Bowl. I like Pasadena, the stadium seems really cool, and the weather is decent out there this time of year. And, most important, they have a spectacular parade. They don’t call it the Granddaddy of Them All for nothing. Anyway, as things stand, our team is unlikely to play in that particular game, but the National Championship will be out there next year, so cross your fingers that we get our act together and make it out there for that. I’d be more than willing to go out a week early to take in the parade.
And, speaking of the parade, I haven’t seen it this year yet. It’s on the DVR, since I was cooking and cleaning this morning for the traditional ham and black eyed peas lunch, but I’ll for sure get around to it before the week is out.
So, yes, tons of football has been on the viewing schedule for the past couple of weeks, and there’s still another week to go. Even my beloved Thursday night line up will have to wait for delayed viewing, since Brian will almost certainly be watching the Fiesta Bowl that evening. And, then, on Friday will finally be the OU bowl appearance, the Cotton Bowl. Honestly, I don’t have anything in particular against football, and it can even be fun and exciting to watch, but every year I seem to forget just how many post-season games there are, and if it were up to me, there would probably be just a few less.
* Football image courtesy of Idea go at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
