Orange Bowl fever - catch it!

I'm surprised that Boise State was able to beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, although the Horned Frog D did their job well enough to win. At least there was some buzz for that game, with a pair of undefeated "Cinderella" teams. Find me a soul outside of the two school fanbases excited about tonight's Orange Bowl between Georgia Tech and Iowa and I'll be impressed. I am pleased that this is the last time I'll ever see FOX's band obsessed production of a BCS bowl game with announcers who know nothing about college football (Dick Stockton on play by play tonight - SERIOUSLY?!) again. This kind of impressive attention to detail on the graphics can't be undervalued though.

I meant to mention this yesterday and forgot - the Capital One Bowl was played under inexcusable conditions. Mike Bianchi is absolutely right when he says they need to either fix up their stadium in Orlando or stop having bowls. Graig Cooper of Miami may have lost his shot at any pro football future during the Champs Sports Bowl on Orlando's field when he wrecked his knee. The Orlando bowl people get by on their city's natural tourist appeal, but they do a horrible job putting on their event. Before covering the Papa John's Bowl this past weekeend, the unquestioned single worst bowl I had ever experienced was covering UF and Michigan in Orlando two years ago. When a game is supposed to be the best non BCS bowl out there, the fact I had to debate whether it was actually worse to cover than the game between two mediocre teams at a rotting stadium in Birmingham's ghetto speaks volumes. The SEC needs to make it clear to Orlando - fix the problems or we're not renewing our contract after 2013. No team should be put in the position LSU and Penn State were again.

Tampa Bay's owners either couldn't get Bill Cowher to take their job or were so impressed by Raheem Morris's 3-13 season that they didn't bother to try. Regardless, the incompetent rookie head coach will get the chance to be a marginal second year head coach. Hiring staffers should be tons of fun after Morris canned both of his original coordinators before either one even made it two thirds of the way through the year. Quality assistants are going to be lining up to work for a guy who's on thin ice from the start of the season and has shown zero reluctance to use guys as scapegoats. Oh well, there's always 2011.

Annie Leibovitz has made a career of convincing the famous subjects of her photography to take their shirts off. Word she has another image like that on the cover of Ferbruary's Vanity Fair wouldn't make much of a ripple ordinarily, but this time it's of Tiger Woods. Of course these were taken before the Thanksgiving night episode that sent this story into high gear, but they're still going to be fresh fuel to keep the saga in the press while waiting for more bimbos to emerge or Elin to file for divorce. Given what we now know of Tiger's people trading a cover appearance and interview to American Media in return for them keeping a lid on another potential scandal story, it's fair to wonder what Vanity Fair or a sister publication had on the guy.

Periodically I highlight items here on the blog for their sheer stupidity. This is one of those times. The Washington Redskins did what everyone has known they were going to for months when they fired Jim Zorn as head coach yesterday. Zorn had been a ridiculous hire from the beginning - a guy who'd never even been an offensive coordinator that the Skins hired and then suddenly shoved into the head coaching job when no one competent would take Redskins owner Daniel Snyder's money. Washington Post political columnist Jo-Ann Armao tries to turn the fact Zorn will be paid for the remaining time on his deal into a commentary about there being "no incentive to produce results" in America now. She doesn't understand how Zorn can feel he deserves the money when he "failed to produce the desired results for his organization". Details like Zorn having been put in a job he was unprepared for with an organization that prevents anyone from achieving the "desired results" through incompetence are lost on her. Odds are pretty good that no one in the Post's sports department will be writing a commentary on whether Harry Reid deserves to be reelected. The same concept should apply to the political folks if this is the best they can come up with to say about sports.