Who Are We Rooting For Again?

Hubs and I have a few rules about Who We Root For:

1.) Cal (college) or 49'ers (pro)
2.) Bay Area teams (even the Raiders)
3.) California teams
4.) West Coast teams (or Pac-10 teams)
5.) Western teams
6.) Underdogs

There are exceptions to the above. For example, we root for Notre Dame over USC. If a relative lives in the state, often we'll root for their home team.

Our choices often confuse The Children--at least, they confused DD#2. She understood why we rooted for Cal. She sort of understood why we rooted for UCLA. But the Rose Bowl? We rooted for USC, even though we hate USC and Michigan wears blue & gold. (Okay, I wanted SC to win, but I also wanted a close game.)

And then we rooted for the Broncos last night--although we had rooted against them on Sunday. (Did anyone else notice that the school colors and mascot for Boise State looks a lot like the pro team from Denver?) Boise State was the clear underdog and Oklahoma didn't take them seriously. We also rooted for West Virginia, Auburn, and Wisconsin because we thought they were the underdogs. The games were close and didn't disappoint.

Well, maybe the Emerald Bowl did.

DS#2 wanted to go visit a friend's house. A reasonable request--except that it came during the middle of the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl! As any reasonable person who follows football living on the West Coast knows, The Rose Bowl is the New Year's Day game. Especially for alumni of schools that haven't been there in, say, 40 years.

But the Fiesta Bowl had it all: David (Boise State) and Goliath (Oklahoma). Smash mouth, hard-hitting football. A young coach who had paid his dues coming up through the system. A revered former coach sitting in the box. The governor who moved his inauguration up in order to catch a flight to Phoenix to watch the game. A school with a lot of tradition and swagger. A couple of tricky plays. The hero of the game throwing the ball to father sitting in the stands and then proposing to his cheerleader girlfriend on national T.V. (As the quarterback said, "It wouldn't have been quite so romantic if we had lost.")

Will the National Championship Game next Monday be as exciting? Will it mean any more to the fans or the team?

Will the Superbowl?