A digression and some Rose Bowl by ST

Was reading in this morning's paper that Tiger Woods turns 34. I'm guessing his wife didn't greet him with a smile and a negligee? What a putz. How many figured he'd be at this point in his life after he walked off the 18th green at Medinah, victorious in the 2006 PGA championship. He was 31 and had just captured his 12 major win & was just 6 shy of Jack Nicklaus and well ahead of the Golden Bear's pace at that age. In the 3 plus season's since Woods has won the PGA once more and the US Open. We don't know if we'll even see him on this year's tour.
I've been hearing from many of you a tad too cocky about Friday's game in Pasadena. You do realize the opponent is Ohio State and not Ohio University or Washington. Since Jim Tressell took over they've regained their status as one of college football's elite. They have a few dozen athletes on their team, many on defense, most programs would love to have. I understand the Big 11 is down a bit, but they're the best that fairly prestigious conference has to offer the last few years. Just last January in the Fiesta Bowl, they appeared to be on the verge of getting blown out by Texas but rallied to take a 4th quarter lead before falling short 24-21. This is not the same group who failed so miserably in their previous 2 trips to a major, getting waxed by LSU & Florida in the National Title game.
Personally I don't believe there is a defense out there capable of dominating this Oregon offense. A quality unit can certainly figure out a way to slow them down, but a complete shutdown doesn't seem possible. We'll have much more on this the next 2 days on SportsTalk, tomorrow morning on our KUGN show at IHOP and from 10am until noon Friday at Sam's Place in West Eugene as part of our pre-game.
Since dropping their first two, the Pac 10 has rallied to take their last 2 Bowl games. USC crammed it down the throats of the national knuckleheads who said they would fall to Boston College because the Trojans didn't want to be in the Emerald. Same yo-yo's who each post season sing the praises of Pete Carrol and his staff for their bowl game preparation. The national spotlight starts to shine a bit brighter tonight at 5pm with Arizona and Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. The Cornhuskers might feel a bit of a letdown as they were 1 click of the clock or a missed field goal away from winning the Big 12 championship and playing in the Fiesta Bowl. The Wildcats obviously feel a level of frustration. Let's not forget the Ducks tied them with under 10 seconds left, forced overtime and eventually pulled it out. The U of A followed with victories against Arizona State and USC so the loss to Oregon cost them the Rose Bowl. I'd imagine this will be more of a defensive battle. Nebraska coach Bo Pellini made his bones on defense and has a great reputation for slowing down spread style offenses like they run in Tucson. I look for this to be one of the lowest scoring games all post season.