More content coming later but lots of SABOWL left and a lot of people have at least a sliver of a shot! The Locker Room is open.
Jimmy has been in command of the SABOWL X lead, here are the number of unique picks the rest of the contenders have (updated during Oklahoma/Clemson game):
Jimmy 20-10 Leader Emily 18-12 9 unique picks April 17-13 5 unique picks Christina 16-14 5 unique picks Michael 15-15 6 unique picks Josh 15-15 6 unique picks Danny/J 13-17 4 unique picks (out) Stephen 13-17 4 unique picks (out) Rebecca 12-18 (out) Ellen 11-19 (out) Jonathan 10-20 (out)
Greetings SABOWLers! It’s been pretty quiet on the SABOWL front for the 10th anniversary of the SABOWL. I’m growing increasingly concerned that we are seeing our first ever collective case of early onset SABOWL Syndrome. Seems like virtually everyone has given up before the SABOWL has even gotten heated up.
The good news: we’ve got plenty of time to make that right.
Currently, it’s so quiet in the locker room that it makes Mike Gundy sick and we really don’t want to make him sick. He’s a man, probably about 50 years old now.*
SABOWL X is anybody’s SABOWL at this point (with the exception of maybe Ellen, sorry)! Today will be a big day to see if we start to see any separation of the leaders from the large group in the middle of the pack.
The biggest question though…will the Sabo’s actually wake up enough to make SABOWL X worth paying attention to?
See you in the locker room!
*Sorry about the shameless Mike Gundy reference, just trying to make sure we keep up with our Mike Gundy quota.
Jimmy has maintained a lead in one of the most competitive SABOWL’s in recent history. His lead has not been massive but it has been consistent. Will this end up being a dominant performance or does a massively disappointing “you got SABOWL’d” moment await Jimmy?
By the way, how about those Yellow Jackets from Georgia Tech last night?
For the rest of the Sabo’s, most of you still have a shot with 11 games to go! Here is where you stand in relation to the current leader. Of course all of this changes should someone surpass Jimmy today. – Rebecca – 4 games behind Jimmy, 6 unique picks from Jimmy – Emily – 2 games back, 3 unique picks – Michael – 4 games back, 6 unique picks – Joe – sorry Joe, 5 games back, 4 unique picks – Jonathan – 4 games back, 5 unique picks – Ellen – 2 games back, 3 unique picks – Jim – 2 games back, 5 unique picks – Josh – 5 games back, 8 unique picks – April – 7 games back, 8 unique picks – Danny/Julian – 3 games back, 6 unique picks – Christina – 1 game back, 7 unique picks – Stephen – 6 games back, 6 unique picks
This SABOWL could still shake out a lot of different ways! Hold on to hope and prepare for massive disappointment.
We’ve got 5 bowls going on today, two of which are the first playoff games for College Football!
Before we get there, how about some highlights from last night’s exciting Orange Bowl.
Outback Bowl – Auburn favored by 6.5 over Wisconsin Auburn: pretty much everyone Wisconsin: Josh, April, Christina SABOWL ramifications: Very interesting here. A Wisconsin win gives Christina a share of the lead keeps April alive, and helps Josh maintain a little bit more of his delusional hope of winning this thing. Points of Interest: Heisman runner-up, Wisconsin RB, Melvin Gordon will be in action in this game. He is 292 yards short of Barry Sander’s single season rushing record so look for him to probably not break that record. Following an end of season butt whooping at the hands of Ohio State, Wisconsin’s coach, Gary Andersen, left to take a job at Oregon St. Wisconsin will be coached today by Athletic Director and former Wisconsin coach, Barry Alvarez. In Alvarez’ last game as a college coach he led Wisconsin to a win over Auburn in the 2005 Capital One Bowl. Auburn struggled a bit at the end of the season and as a result canned their defensive coordinator. Next year, that position will be filled by Will Muschamp who got canned by Florida this year. Two pretty powerfuloffenses here and average defenses, the end zones should see a good bit of action in this one.
And now for a special treat, two New Year’s Day posts! Believe it or not communication behind the scenes has not been the greatest this year, I blame North Korea. Today, Sabo’s and SABOWL fans everywhere win with more SABOWL commentary!
TITLE: Mike Gundy Eve
Another great day of Sabowl action is ahead of us on a very special day. You may be thinking that today is what many call New Year’s Day. In reality, it is something completely different. Today is Mike Gundy Eve as Oklahoma State gears up to play tomorrow. We would like to dedicate this post Mike Gundy and to all who have to defend a special important person in their life. It calls for courage and age. It calls for perseverance and being at least 40 years old. For a glimpse of this please see the video.
In the analysis of the current Sabowl standings, it appears that Jimmy continues to maintain his steady lead. Although I am not quite sure if that is completely accurate. If you were keeping up with Locker Room yesterday, you may noticed that there was some controversy regarding the standings and spreadsheet. The standings are now it order numerically. Some of you will be glad that is the case. The spreadsheet was actually updated as well. Prior to last night, the spreadsheet has taken a couple days off and was not giving us a good understanding of where we stood and we were going. We are thankful for that. It has given us hope. But we still feel incomplete as we wait on the update from last nights Mississippi State game. I feel like the Sabowl Spreadsheet is actually embracing the smugness that we often see in the some of the Sabowl contestants. It knows that we in need of its updates and wants us to be longing and feeling incomplete.
In other news, Georgia Tech has actually won a bowl game. You may have noticed that the Mississippi State game was referenced with this. The point of this is that if you stick if Georgia Tech year after year in bowl games, you will get a win every nine years. Bold strategy.
As we do celebrate New Year’s Day, here are some things that you can look forward to in the days to come.
The Sabowl resolves: -to hear from current champion Rebecca in a comment of significant length -to have better Locker Room participation with a post reaching 100 posts (it is acceptable if all 100 posts are from one person) -to take back the smugness from the Sabowl spreadsheet and have smugness among the participants (This really depends on us in the Locker Room of accusing each other of this. Come on everyone, you can do this.) -for the I-Team to conclude its investigation into TV Gate and begin to look into other important issues and concerns
By the way, this is a historical day for the Sabowl as we begin a new era with the playoffs. We will be bringing updates on today’s games through post updates and comments.
BACK TO POST: It’s A New Year…But Not A New SABOWL
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic – Baylor by 3.5 over Michigan State Baylor: Rebecca, Michael Michigan State: everybody else SABOWL Ramifications: Michael and Rebecca stand a chance to gain or lose a game here. Point of Interest: The QBs of these two teams are good pals. Baylor is ranked 4th and didn’t make they playoffs, I’d be pretty upset about that – they would like to make a statement here. The last time these two teams faced each other Michigan State won 28-10, that happened in 1968 so it’s completely irrelevant but might as well throw it out there.
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl Also Known As The Who Cares We All Picked Missouri Bowl Trivia Question: How many times in SABOWL history have all competitors picked the same team to win a game? SABOWL Ramifications: Missouri beating Minnesota and covering the spread would help everyone’s overall SABOWL winning percentage. ***EDIT***Danny/Juilian chose Minnesota and not Missouri, they have an opportunity to pick up a game on everyone else! Points of Interest: This game really isn’t very interesting. I’d recommend using the time after Baylor/Michigan St to take a nap and rest up for the historic playoff games to come! Alternatively, you could hang out in the Locker Room for a while.
Rose Bowl – Oregon favored by 9.5 over Florida State Oregon: Rebecca, Michael, Ellen, Jim, Josh, D/J, Christina, Stephen Florida State: Emily, Joe, Jonathan, Jimmy, April SABOWL ramifications: It’s very possible that we will start to see some more people get eliminated in these last couple games. If that doesn’t happen, things could be getting really close at the top of the leader board! Points of Interest: These are the games we’ve waited for, the first playoff game in college football history. Two powerhouses going at it! The large spread adds another element of excitement.
Sugar Bowl – Alabama favored by 9.5 over Ohio State Alabama: Rebecca, Emily, Joe, Ellen, Jim, Michael, April, D/J Ohio State: Jonathan, Jimmy, Josh, Christina, Stephen SABOWL ramifications: It’s very possible that we will start to see some more people get eliminated in these last couple games. If that doesn’t happen, things could be getting really close at the top of the leader board! Points of Interest: These are the games we’ve waited for, the first playoff game in college football history. Two powerhouses going at it! The large spread adds another element of excitement. Very original right? Anybody reading this?
Yesterday was a big day for SABOWL IX! We started out with everyone still solidly in the running (for the most part…cough, Stephen) and ended the day with a little separation between the studs and duds.
Right now we’ve got some impressive streaks going: Emily has won 6 in a row, Jimmy has won 4 in a row, and Christina is on a 3 game hot-streak. On the other end, Josh has completely blown a decent start with 5 straight losses.
With 5 bowls, the SABOWL could really start breaking some hearts and handing out false hope today! With that in mind, I’d like to introduce you to the new and improved SABOWL store over at www.sabowl.spreadshirt.com – the biggest improvement of this store over the past one is that the prices are fairly reasonable. Head over there and pick up some SABOWL goods before you get too SABOWL’d to do so.
A little preview on today’s action:
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman – Cincinnati favored by 3.5 over Virginia Tech. Cincinnati: Rebecca, Michael, Joe, Josh Virginia Tech: Emily, Jonathan, Ellen, Jimmy, Jim, April, D/J, Christina, Stephen
Hyundai Sun Bowl – Arizona favored by 8.5 over Duke Arizona: Rebecca, Emily, Michael, Jonathan, Jim, D/J, Christina, Stephen Duke: Joe, Ellen, Jimmy, Josh, April
Duck Commander Independence Bowl – Miami favored by 3.5 over South Carolina: Miami: Emily, Joe, Ellen, Josh, April, D/J, Christina, Stephen South Carolina: Rebecca, Michael, Jimmy, Jonathan, Jim
New Era Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium – Boston College favored by 2.5 over Penn State: Boston College: Rebecca, Emily, Jonathan, Jimmy, Jim, April, Stephen Penn State: Joe, Ellen, Michael, Josh, D/J, Christina
National University Holiday Bowl – Southern California favored by 6.5 over Nebraska Southern California: Rebecca, Michael, Joe, Ellen, Josh, April, Christina, D/J Nebraska: Emily, Jonathan, Jimmy, Jim, Stephen
some SABOWL art work that helps to capture the child-like joy the SABOWL brings us when we actually pick a game correctly!
Today we have two bowl games to see if anyone can get some separation from the pack:
Popeyes Bahamas Bowl – Western Kentucky favored over Central Michigan by 3.5 Western Kentucky: Rebecca, Joe, Jonathan, Ellen, Jimmy, Josh, April, Christina, D/J, Stephen Central Michigan: Emily, Michael, Jim
Hawaii Bowl – Rice favored over Fresno State by 1.5 Rice: Rebecca, Emily, Michael, Joe, Ellen, Jimmy, April, Christina Fresno State: Jim, Jonathan, Josh, D/J, Stephen
Some notes so far: – Jonathan has bounced back into contention nicely! – This is anyone’s SABOWL at this point… – Except maybe Stephen’s, yikes bud.
Update from the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl, after a terrible game it actually got really interesting at the end…
As I prepared to attempt to write a witty post about tonight’s Memphis/BYU matchup, I realized it was actually this afternoon’s match. Whoops.
This game is leaning in the direction of BYU right now which would have some interesting early SABOWL ramifications:
If BYU wins, we will have a six person tie for the SABOWL lead and Jonathan’s dark, hopeless, abysmal SABOWL effort will remain winless.
If Memphis wins, Ellen will retain her smug spot at the top of the leader board alone and Jonathan will be able to sleep tonight.
Now for some highlights from the opening “night” of the SABOWL’s locker room action.
– Jimmy won the locker room with SABOWL IX’s first locker room hashtag, first accusation of smugness, and the first dictionary addition of the year. – Michael, though a week late to the party, had some nice contributions while everyone else was sleeping and his children were in the backyard working against child labor laws. – Jonathan needs a hug. – The I-Team made its first appearance and we are still waiting for a rebuttal from current champion, Rebecca Sabo. – Ellen popped in for a quick, smug appearance.
Let’s go ahead and address the elephant in the SABOWL. During the offseason, www.sabowl.com was hacked.
The good news: no passwords or personal information were stolen by the hackers because…well, none exists on www.sabowl.com.
The bad news: this photo was splashed all over the site:
The good news that flows from the bad news: during the SABOWL offseason, the Locker Room goes virtually dormant and the site averages .00021 views per day. So none of you even noticed.
The challenge to us is very clear this SABOWL season and the stakes are higher than ever. This SABOWL season, the world is looking toward the SABOWL for hope, for perseverance in the face of tyranny, for joy, and for moments of distraction that can not be filled by a movie about potheads.
Today we march forward.
Today we fill a void our world desperately needs.
Today we SABOWL.
Let’s be real about today’s game action, with teams in action like Louisiana Lafayette, South Alabama, and Bowling Green and bowl names like the Raycom Media Cameillia Bowl – we have no clue about what is going on with these teams. What we do know is that we all picked winners and today is a huge day to see who jumps out to an early lead in the SABOWL.
Sit back and enjoy, bring the Locker Room to life, and show the world that the SABOWL will not be defeated. The world is watching Sabo’s.
The dust bowl of the 1930’s tells the story of poor awareness of our environment and the tragic consequences of environmental practices that fail to care for the environment we find ourselves in. (I’m including a wikipedia link to the Dust Bowl entry to help Rebecca do research for the Locker Room.) It’s a good thing we learned our lesson! Right?
Another example..
The Bowl Cut, popular in the 1990’s and continuing in some circles today, tells the story of people who like a consistent hair cut. Hard to find fault with a good bowl cut.
The most important question of the day however is what story will the SABOWL tell? We enter the day with 20 games remaining and all SABOWL competitors holding on to their hope of victory. Rebecca jumped out to an early lead and has shown she has no desire to relinquish it! With four games today the SABOWL could look very different by this evening.
Competitors with enough unique picks to tie or take the lead: Jonathan, Jimmy, & RJ1.
The stories of todays bowls:
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl Navy favored over Middle Tennessee by 7.5. This being the Armed Forces Bowl…its clear that organizers chose an opponent for Navy that they could beat. The question is will they be able to win by 7.5?
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl Ole Miss favored over Georgia Tech by 4.5. Georgia Tech won a SABOWL matchup last year for the first time in SABOWL history, can this become a trend? Some “Georgia Tech fans” in the SABOWL picked against Georgia Tech, are they really fans? Can you say Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl twice quickly without taking a breath? So many questions, only time will tell how this story will end.
Valero Alamo Bowl Oregon favored over Texas by 14.5. This will be the final game for Texas coach Mack Brown as the school has decided to put him out to pasture…don’t feel too badly for the fella. While it seems this pasture lacks green grass it makes up for it in the millions of green dollars covering the ground that Brown will be paid through 2020. The 14.5 point spread is one of the largest in SABOWL VIII. Will Brown’s team go out fighting for their coach or will the mighty ducks do a Flying V all over the Alamo?
National University Holiday Bowl Arizona State is favored over Texas Tech by 14.5. The second bowl game of the day with a 14.5 point spread, will the large spread come back into play here as it did when the NBC Fighting Irish took the field mere days ago?
SABOWL VIII for Kids Last but certainly not least Sabo kids will be entering the octagon that is SABOWL VIII for Kids to experience the devastation that flows from the SABOWL. Good to learn from an early age young Sabo’s, just remember…mental toughness.
We’ll talk over these unfolding stories and more in the locker room.
My wife is perfect (I knew that already but what a great first SABOWL day for her…also I’ll get no points for this statement because my wife is not a model SABOWL competitor and rarely graces the beauty that is www.SABOWL.com) and everyone (except Michael) is looking like they have a shot at winning this year.
Normally we’re all pretty positive at this point in the SABOWL but I’d like to take this opportunity to air some beefs.
(1) My beef with the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg bowl… Seriously a 2 PM EST start time on a Monday? C’mon man. I know you don’t want to compete with Monday Night Football and thought you’d have a better shot competing against Jerry Springer and crappy soap operas but this is pathetic. Mr. Beef ‘O’ Brady my recommendation is not put your name on a bowl that airs at a time that allows for 18 people to watch it nationwide.
(2) My beef with the Locker Room… Seriously people, the SABOWL starts and the Locker Room has 6 comments (MVLRC, most valuable locker room commenter, shoutout to Michael with 4 of the 6. I don’t want to call into question everyone’s SABOWL spirit but c’mon everybody.
(3) My beef with Boise State… Seriously, if you’re going to have a bright blue, headache inducing field…you should be forced to also play in blue face paint a la the Blue Men group. C’mon Boise State. – Side note to this beef: Boise State (+4.5) takes on Oregon State tonight at 8 PM EST in Hawaii. The current SABOWL leaders (Jim, Emily, & Rebecca, 4-1) all chose Boise State so there is an opportunity for Rookie Joe and Joey, who picked Oregon State to join the leadership pack .
This looks about right…
(4) My beef with Bowling Green alumni Orel Hershiser and Scott Hamilton… Seriously, Pitt’s alumni cover the costs for their students to enjoy the Little Caesar’s bowl and you guys can’t turn your figure skating and baseball earnings into tickets for Bowling Green students? C’mon Orel and Scott, I’m calling you out…tickets barely cost more than a delicious Hot-N-Ready Little Caesar’s pizza. – A SABOWL beef Did you Know: Types of beef you can get on a Little Caesar’s pizza include: none, all meat toppings are from pigs. – Side note to this beef: Bowling Green (+6.5) takes on Pitt Thursday at 6 PM EST. Commentary about impact on SABOWL standings to come…
(5) My beef with the poison Poinsettia myth… Seriously everybody, I understand that saying poison poinsettia is pretty fun (that is if you know how to pronounce poinsettia which I don’t but thats a secondary beef at this point) but the myth that poinsettia are poisonous to children and animals causes a lot of people to miss out on these beautiful plants. C’mon myth believing people (*admittedly reaching on this beef). – Side note to this beef: Northern Illinois (+2.5) takes on Utah State Thursdayat 9:30 PM EST. Commentary about impact on SABOWL standings to come…
Alright folks, I feel better having gotten these beefs off my chest. Now its your turn, lets hear your beefs in the Locker Room!
Ladies and gentleman of the SABOWL, the SABOWL spreadsheet is live, the first game is a mere hours away, and everyone is happy! Let’s enjoy these moments while we can. Look forward to seeing you all in the Locker Room later today. I’ll be the guy in front of the gold champion’s locker, wrapped in a towel of success, drinking expensive bottled tap water with a satisfied smug look on my face.
We have a world record 14 SABOWL competitors for SABOWL VIII! Rookie Joe I has returned after a tough loss in SABOWL VI and a hiatus during SABOWL VII and Stephen has reached the ripe old age of 13 making SABOWL VIII his rite of passage into SABOWLhood. Lots of story lines here…many enter, only one will win.
If you would like to get a look at how the picks break down by the numbers head on over to the SABOWL Analytics Lab.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic – Baylor by 3.5 over Michigan State
Missouri Bowl
Virginia Tech.
This game is leaning in the direction of BYU right now which would have some interesting early SABOWL ramifications:
The dust bowl of the 1930’s tells the story of poor awareness of our environment and the tragic consequences of environmental practices that fail to care for the environment we find ourselves in. (I’m including a 
The Bowl Cut, popular in the 1990’s and continuing in some circles today, tells the story of people who like 
