"Fragile, must be Italian."

Watched A Christmas Story for the first time this year. I've watched it so many times, but it's still fresh. Speaking of Italian, some of us from work ate at the Roma Cafe near downtown after work tonight. Wow, was it good! Healthy portions, to say the least. My salad was as big as my dinner plate. The tortellini went 2 deep. And my ice cream sundae was a great way to top it all off. We had a little gift exchange and I received a $10 gift certificate to Coldstone Creamery. I haven't been there in a little while, so I'm looking forward to going back.

Ok, here are my bowl game picks. Some of the reasoning is fact and football-based, and some of it isn't. So there's your warning:

• Poinsettia Bowl: Northern Illinois over TCU. Here's an example of basing my pick on things other than what took place on the football field this year. 3 years ago, Miami should've played TCU in the GMAC bowl, but because the bowl game would interfere with final exams, TCU instead decided to play in their Ft. Worth bowl (in their home stadium) vs. Boise St., which they lost. Miami had final exams that week of the game as well and still played. So I root against TCU because it appears they dodged Miami. TCU is the better team, they went 10-2, but no matter. Go Huskies!
• Las Vegas Bowl: BYU over Oregon. BYU had a good season while Oregon slipped toward the end of the year. I think BYU will stop Oregon a couple more times than Oregon will stop BYU. John Beck is a good quarterback.
• New Orleans Bowl: Rice over Troy. I know 2 things about this game: it's the first bowl game for Rice in 45 years and they have the leading receiver in the country. I know nothing about Troy, so I'll go with Rice.
• Papajohns.com Bowl: South Florida over East Carolina. South Florida played in the Big East, they won at West Virginia and almost beat Rutgers. Matt Groethe is a tough QB.
• New Mexico Bowl: New Mexico over San Jose St. Upset pick here. Game at New Mexico's stadium, I'll go with the Lobos.
• Armed Forces Bowl: Utah over Tulsa. Truthfully, I didn't see either team play this year. Utah has had the better program recently, I'll go with the Utes.
• Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii over Arizona St. ASU fired their coach. Hawaii is tough to beat at Aloha Stadium. Colt Brennan & Co. will put some points.
• Motor City Bowl: Central Michigan over Middle Tennessee St. Central has a great, young quarterback. The Chips have a lot of skill on offense. They were far and away the best team in the MAC. Plus, they'll have the crowd behind them at Ford Field.
• Emerald Bowl: UCLA over Florida St. The Bruins are riding high after beating USC. If UCLA's defense can stop USC, they should certainly be able to stop FSU's non-existant offense. I don't think the Noles will be particularly fired up to play in a non New Year's Day bowl game.
• Independence Bowl: Oklahoma St. over Alabama. Bama fired their coach, and they don't have a permanent head coach yet. OSU has a prolific offense with Bobby Reid at QB. I think they'll want to be there more.
• Texas Bowl: Rutgers over Kansas St. Rutgers was more consistent. K St. played a great game vs. Texas, then played poorly the next week at Kansas. Ray Rice will take over in the 4th quarter, and the defense will get pressure against Josh Freeman.
• Holiday Bowl: Texas A&M over California. Cal went from preseason national championship contender to the Holiday Bowl. A&M went from almost losing to Army and firing their coach to beating Texas in Austin. A&M's losses were all close games, I think they'll pull off the mild upset.
• Music City Bowl: Clemson over Kentucky. Tempted to take UK for the upset, but I can't pick against James Davis and CJ Spiller. As inconsistent as Clemson was, those two are two of the best in college football.
• Sun Bowl: Oregon St. over Missouri. Oregon St. won at Hawaii, which is tough to do. Missouri slipped toward the end of the year. Mike Riley does more with less at Oregon St.
• Liberty Bowl: South Carolina over Houston. Houston has a tricky offense and an experienced QB, but that's not enough to make me pick against Spurrier.
• Insight Bowl: Texas Tech over Minnesota. Minnesota made a bowl game? This could be ugly. As much as I don't like Tech and Mike Leach, I don't think the Gophers can stop them.
• Champs Sports Bowl: Maryland over Purdue. Maryland is more balanced on offense and has a better, faster defense.
• Meineke Car Care Bowl: Boston College over Navy. I think this will be a close game. Navy has the athletes to be able to compete with BC, but BC will pull it out in the end.
• Alamo Bowl: Texas over Iowa. Tough to pick against the Longhorns in San Antonio and considering how bad Iowa played at the end of the year. But, if Colt McCoy gets hurt, Texas has no proven backup QB since Jevan Snead transferred. Still, Horns win.
• Chick-fil-a Bowl: Georgia over Virginia Tech. I like the Dawgs in a defensive struggle.
• MPC Computers Bowl: Nevada over Miami(FL). Nevada knows where Boise is and they know what the blue turf is.
• Outback Bowl: Tennessee over Penn St. Tennessee has a better offense. They'll win 24-10. I don't see Anthony Morelli and the PSU offense doing much against UT's defense.
• Cotton Bowl: Nebraska over Auburn. Nebraska plays good defense, they'll force Brandon Cox to beat them. I didn't think Bill Callahan would be as successful as he has been in Lincoln. He's done a great job so far.
• Gator Bowl: West Virginia over Georgia Tech. I think West Virginia's offense can score on anybody. I don't think the same can be said for Georgia Tech's offense.
• Capital One Bowl: Wisconsin over Arkansas. The difference will be Wisconsin's quarterback play. As good as McFadden and Jones are, I think Wisconsin can match up in the trenches with Arkansas.
• Rose Bowl: Michigan over USC. Michigan is the 2nd best team in the country. They're physical, fast, and they'll be motivated. I don't think USC will be able to run the ball against Michigan's front 7, and John David Booty will start to hear their footsteps and become inaccurate.
• Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma over Boise St. I'll be rooting for the Broncos, but Oklahoma's offensive and defensive lines have played really well since the Texas loss. I don't think Boise St. will be able to handle them for 4 quarters.
• Orange Bowl: Louisville over Wake Forest. As great a story as Wake Forest has been, I don't think their defense has seen an offense like Louisville's.
• Sugar Bowl: LSU over Notre Dame. Notre Dame doesn't have the size, strength, and speed that LSU has. Plus, playing in the Superdome, I don't think so.
• International Bowl: Cincinnati over Western Michigan. I'd love to pick the MAC team, but UC has a great front 7 and will stop Western's run game. UC will do enough on offense to win the game, but it'll be their defense that puts them in position to win.
• GMAC Bowl: Southern Miss over Ohio. I haven't seen Southern Miss play, but they usually are a good defensive team. OU still relies heavily on the run. I don't think the Bobcats are balanced enough to hurt Southern Miss.
• National Championship: See previous post.

There are some good college hoops games tomorrow: Pitt/Wisconsin, Purdue/Butler, UK/Louisville, Texas Tech/Arkansas, Ohio St./UC just to name a few. I have to admit, I hope the OSU/UC game is televised up here so I can watch Greg Oden. I hope I can get myself to workout in the morning so I can relax and watch hoops the rest of the day.