Mega Cold

TigerBlog went outside this morning in shorts and a t-shirt.

While it was only to take the garbage can to the curb, TB was outside long enough to figure out it was a tad chilly.

Actually, it was garbage can and recycling day, which meant bringing the two recycling cans out as well. TB would have done it last night, except the wind would have blown the stuff all over the neighborhood.

That's sort of what happened anyway, as TB's driveway was littered with other people's recycling, something that forced TB to "co-mingle" with his neighbors, as it were. He's not sure what he had a bigger problem with - the fact that it was beyond freezing or that he was picking up other people's pizza boxes and soda bottles.

The temperature at the time was one degree. It's actually gone up three times that in the last two hours.

Of course, given the way the weather has been around here lately, it's not astonishing that it's also 57 degrees colder than it was at this time yesterday. Or that it's 54 degrees colder than it will be Saturday.

It's not just the fact that it's near zero around here now. The wind chill is at about 20-below, which makes it the coldest it's been in this area in more than 20 years, apparently.

At least that's what TB heard on the radio this morning. He also heard Don Imus hilariously mock the coverage of the weather, including the part where people are told to bundle up and dress in layers and all that, as if, as Imus put it, "we've all had a traumatic brain injury today and forgot."

Talk of the weather managed to supplant talk of the BCS championship game from last night.

In case you missed it, Florida State beat Auburn 34-31 on a touchdown pass with 13 seconds left after rallying from an early 21-3 deficit. It was a fairly thrilling game, even if you could care less who won.

TB supposes he was rooting for Auburn, though it's hard to consider Auburn as an underdog Cinderella team. It was already a win for TB anyway, as the game wasn't Alabama vs. Ohio State, or Alabama vs. anyone, for that matter.

Even with how exciting the game was, the real story wasn't Florida State's win over Auburn as much as it was ESPN's Megacast of the event.

ESPN had the game. ESPN2 had something called "Title Talk." ESPN Classic had the game feed minus the announcers, with just sideline noise and the PA announcer. ESPN News had the "Film Room," with several college coaches who had a running talk about the game and its situations as it went on. ESPN3 had the game with each school's local broadcasters.

TB thought the Film Room was the best part. Actually, he thought any part that offered an option of not having to listen to Brent Musburger was the best part. Seriously, is there nobody at ESPN who can realize that Musburger destroys every game he does? TB cannot be the only one who cringes when Musburger comes on. In fact, Musburger can actually get TB to not watch a game, something that's hard to accomplish.

Anyway, whether or not you actually liked what ESPN did or though it was overdone, there was something for everyone. And in a world of cookie-cutter television productions, TB admires the creativity and thought that went into coming up with all of these options.

It's been done before - TB remembers it from the Duke-Carolina men's basketball game last year - though not to the extent it was last night. The Film Room alone is an idea that should stick.

The college football season is over now, except for a few all-star games.

It was a great year for Princeton football obviously, as the Tigers won an improbably Ivy League championship and earned a second-straight bonfire.

Bob Surace, the Princeton head coach, stood in TB's office yesterday, seven weeks after earning his first Ivy title as a coach (he won one as a player as well; only Dartmouth's Buddy Teevens has also won as a player and head coach).

Surace was relaxed and joking, which is how he always is, except during game days. He was talking about that commercial where the team in the Princeton uniforms is playing the team in the blue uniforms in the game where halftime gets invented, ostensibly because pretty women with Pepsi show up and interrupt the game.

It's hard to place the game in it's proper historical context.

It's clearly Princeton, with its orange and black uniforms. It's clearly not Rutgers, the team that Princeton played in the first football game.

Of course, that game was back on Nov. 6, 1869, long before cars were invented. And the players have uniform numbers, something that didn't happen until the early 1920s, at least that's what TB's memory tells him.

And who is the opponent? Columbia? There's too much brown with the blue in the uniforms.

And the field is just a field with no stands. Palmer Stadium was built in 1914.

Anyway, TB was reading too much into the commercial. And it's better that it's Princeton, without an identifiable opponent.

It does make TB wonder when halftime was actually incorporated into football games. It probably wasn't during the first Princeton-Rutgers game, but who knows? Maybe they did have a 15-minute break, for pretty girls.

Just not with Pepsi, which didn't produce its first soda until 1893.

TB's favorite Pepsi product is the Cherry Pepsi. Diet of course.

He's probably had more Coke than Pepsi in his life to this point, but that's changing.

Any product that uses Princeton football for its marketing campaign is all right with TB.

On the other hand, Coke is a sponsor of Princeton University.

Torn. Very torn.