Congrats to the Stanford Cardinal for becoming the 2013 Rose Bowl Champions!

Let’s take a look how they both got here:

Wisconsin earned their third consecutive trip to beautiful Pasadena after upsetting Nebraska in the Big Ten title game. The Badgers made their ninth (3-5) Rose Bowl appearance with a pretty familiar face on the sidelines. After Bret Bielema left for Arkansas, athletic director Barry Alvarez announced he would coach the team in the bowl game. This has been his fourth Rose Bowl as head coach at Wisconsin.

Stanford, which is also in their third straight BCS bowl, played in its 14th Rose Bowl appearance — good for third all-time tying Washington and Ohio State. However, it’s last victory in the game came in the years in 1971 and 1972 over Ohio State and Michigan. The Cardinal are out searching for just their second bowl win since 1996 and coach David Shaw is looking for his first as a head coach.

These two historic programs have played five times previously with the Badgers having quite a large 4-0-1 record versus the Cardinal. The last time these two teams saw each other was the 17-9 Wisconsin win in the 2000 Rose Bowl game, in which Ron Dayne rushed for 200 yards on 34 carries. Some would say Ron Dayne was masterful!

Stanford started out the Rose Bowl beautifully. Within their first two possessions, they scored a touchdown on each, leading the Wisconsin Badgers very early on with a 14-0 lead. This had set the tone for the game, leading the Stanford Cardinal to a decisive victory over the Wisconsin Badgers.

Now that you’ve seen your team win, it’s time to gear up! Get out there and celebrate in your Stanford Cardinal Rose Bowl Champs Gear. With a great selection of Cardinal Rose Bowl Champion t-shirts, Stanford Rose Bowl hats, and jerseys – you cannot go wrong with any item you choose. Congratulations again to the Stanford Cardinal!

To say this has been a disappointing bowl season for the Big Ten would be a gross understatement. After starting the bowl season with surprise wins from Iowa and Illinois, the Big Ten entered New Year’s Day with five more chances to improve on those two wins. Unfortunately, all five teams lost on New Year’s Day.

It started with Northwestern vs. Texas Tech in the early game. After spotting Texas Tech a big first half lead, the Wildcats struggled to catch up, ultimately losing 45-38 to the Red Raiders. That was the first loss of the day for the Big Ten, and the first bowl loss of the season. The situation would not get any better.

Penn St couldn’t hold off Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators, blowing a 24-17 third quarter lead, and losing by a final score of 37-24. A “pick six” sealed the game for the Gators late in the fourth quarter.

The two Michigan schools failed to represent the Big Ten very well at all. Amazingly, they lost by a combined 101-21! Michigan State laid an egg against Alabama, with a tough Crimson Tide team that jumped on the Spartans from the opening kickoff and didn’t let up. Michigan played as if they would like to see Rich Rodriguez fired, getting crushed by the #24 Mississippi State Bulldogs.

The final Big Ten team to play on New Year’s Day was the Wisconsin Badgers. Arguably the hottest team in the nation coming into the bowl game, Wisconsin was matched up in the Rose Bowl against an undefeated TCU team that earned an at large BCS birth. TCU played for “all the small schools” across the nation, and went toe to toe against the Badgers. When Wisconsin missed a game-tying 2 point conversion late in the game, TCU just had to run out the clock to hang on for a win. David beat Goliath to put the Big Ten out of their New Year’s Day misery.

Ohio State has yet to play their bowl game, but even with a win, the Big Ten would end the bowl season at a disappointing 3-5. Next year they add Nebraska (who also lost their bowl game), a Big Ten conference championship game, and hope for a respectable bowl showing.

It’s been an interesting week in the sports world. The boxing match we’ve eagerly awaited, Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr., finally looks set. The return of “The Answer” is no longer in question. And the best athlete at his position in the world made headlines for a vehicular incident…

Shame on you, Adrian Peterson, for driving 109 mph in a 55-mph zone.

What? You thought I was going somewhere else with that…

And now, a look ahead to a glorious weekend of sports.

Conference Championship Saturday

The only championship games in college football’s Football Bowl Subdivision* that actually make sense began Thursday with the Civil War and hit full stride Saturday.

*I wrote that out instead of typing its initials (FBS) purely for you to see how ridiculous-sounding that name is.

BCS berths are still at-large for many conferences. But that doesn’t mean these games will be close. Georgia Tech, Cincinnati and Texas are all expected to hoist trophies without a fight.

Meanwhile, the rest of college football looks ahead to the match-up fans and experts have anticipated all season…

Wisconsin vs. Hawaii.

What? That doesn’t excite you? Fine.

How about the first time we’ve seen the no. 1 and 2 ranked BCS teams match-up outside the BCS championship?

Florida vs. Alabama serves as a de facto semifinal (barring unforeseen computer calculations). The winner most certainly stakes its claim as the favorite to exit the Rose Bowl, January 7th, as champion.

Will Tim Tebow leave another footprint in his quest to be the greatest quarterback in college football history? Can RB Mark Ingram make his final case for the Heisman? Who wins the Urban Meyer and Nick Saban coaching battle? What measures will CBS take to protect against a potential Verne Lundquist head explosion after Tebow scores his second touchdown?

Some answers I can wait for. But others – or other – leave me giddy.

NFL Week 13

A number of match-ups this week have significant playoff implications…and here are my thoughts:

I’m interested to see how the banged-up Atlanta Falcons (sans Matt Ryan and Michael Turner) host an Eagles team missing two big-play weapons of their own (DeSean Jackson and Brian Westbrook).

Speaking of which…has anyone noticed how seemingly contagious concussions have become? It’s nearly reached Swine Flu status.

Will Chris Johnson’s prediction (from 0-6 to 10-6) hold against the undefeated Indianapolis Colts? The Tennessee Titans have run off five straight wins since inserting Vince Young. And CJ remains on pace to break a historic record (Eric Dickerson’s 2,105 single-season rush yards) as quietly as anyone…ever.

Houston Texans v. Jacksonville Jaguars. Ehh.

The Dallas Cowboys look to avenge an early season embarrassment against the current embarrassment that is the New York Giants. Winners of one of their previous six, this is the Giants last chance to resurrect their season. The players and teams hate each other – no really – they actually don’t like each other. And as a Cowboys fan, I hate the Giants. So it should be exciting. For me at least.

At 5-6, the Miami Dolphins are playing for their playoff lives against a suddenly-human New England Patriots. The Pats ‘cloak of invisibility’ is long gone – especially on the defensive side of the ball. So why is it still so hard for me to pick against them? They even go out-flexed this week…

…by the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals. Two forty-something quarterbacks may go head-to-head this week. (I realize Kurt Warner isn’t 40 yet, but you’ve heard of “dog years?” I propose for every concussion sustained, a year is added to your age in “NFL-years”…making Warner somewhere around 52).

Anyways, this is the week the Vikings go down. Why? Because they play a legit team. Consider this: the combined record of the nine teams they’ve defeated is 39-71. Pretty staggering. It’s not that I don’t think they are good. I just don’t think they are that good.

So there are some appetizers for your football platter this weekend. And remember, with the holidays coming up, if you fall in love with the player’s wear on the sidelines, you can always buy that stuff here – at FansEdge.

What? I still have to pay the bills.