Times Square

Happy New Year from College Chronicles! Can't wait for the Rose Bowl tomorrow. USC is gonna kick some ass.

Emerald Bowl

Friends and readers, I return to you with a new burst of energy and focus. I'm not sure whether to attribute it to the therapeutic nature of a well-deserved vacation, or rather to the fact that my college bowl pickings are becoming somewhat more respectable (I'm currently 10-7, including today's bowl games). Regardless, I have new resolve for the future of this project, as well as a slew of new ideas, so stay tuned and I promise you'll be impressed.

In other news, since the New Year is approaching quickly, I have decided to trash the final comic in the Christmas series. I'll pick it up again next year - just pretend it's like an unfinished symphony.

Thirdly, I would like to extend congratulations to our 2008 California Golden Bears, as well as to the other Pac-10 Conference schools competing in bowls this postseason (Arizona, Oregon, Oregon St., and USC). After Oregon's victory over Oklahoma St. in today's Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, the Pac-10 is 3-0 with only USC and the team that beat USC (Oregon St.) left to play - and I do not foresee them losing. Indeed a very good season for the conference, despite including the one team in the nation that failed to win a single game (Washington), and another team that has just closed the book on its seventh consecutive losing season (Stanford, of course).

Lastly, I shall introduce tomorrow's bowl games and my picks:

 - the Armed Forces Bowl: Houston vs. Air Force (my pick: Houston)

 - the Sun Bowl: Oregon St. vs. Pittsburgh (my pick: Oregon St.)

 - the Music City Bowl: Boston College vs. Vanderbilt (my pick: Boston College)

 - the Insight Bowl: Kansas vs. Minnesota (my pick: Minnesota)

 - the Chick-fil-A Bowl: LSU vs. Georgia Tech (my pick: Georgia Tech)

Apologies

I got nothing by ways of comic today. I planned to get up early to finish up the Christmas saga, but ended up sleeping until noon (again) and then going shopping with Brandon and his sister. 

More bad news (for readers, not for me): I'm headed down to Los Angeles tomorrow and won't be back until Tuesday. Probably won't get internet in our room unless we pay extra, so no updates until I get back. I am so very sorry for this, but I promise I will work on some new ones while I'm away, so tune in Tuesday for the thrilling conclusion of the Christmas trilogy (just pretend that it is one of those weird Christmas movies that always gets released on Thanksgiving - wait, that was a horrible analogy). The good news is that my college bowl picks are FINALLY back on the winning track, thanks to Florida Atlantic beating out Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl earlier today. That moves me up to 3-5!

Anyway, just so I don't ruin a perfectly good post with bad news, I've taken the liberty of introducing this weekend's matchups in both college and pro football (the important ones, at least):

Saturday - Meineke Bowl: West Virginia vs. UNC (my pick: UNC)

                 - Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Florida St. (my pick: Florida St.)

                 - Emerald Bowl: Miami vs. our very own California Golden Bears (my pick: should be obvious)

Sunday - Independence Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech (my pick: Louisiana Tech)

              - New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills (Pats for the win)

              - Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers (can ANY team be as bad as the '76 Bucs? Packers for the win)

              - Chicago Bears at Houston Texans (Bears for the win)

              - New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings (Giants for the win)

              - Oakland Raiders at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (I can't believe I'm saying this, but Raiders for the win)

              - Baltimore Ravens at Jacksonville Jaguars (Ravens for the win)

              - Miami Dolphins at New York Jets (Jets for the win)

              - Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles (Eagles for the win)

              - Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers (Chargers for the win)

Christmas, Part 2: Scrooged

Merry Christmas from your friends at College Chronicles! I hope Santa brings you some cool stuff, and doesn't rob you like he did in that Ice Cube movie. Tune in tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion of the Christmas epicomic trilogy!

Christmas, Part 1: The Meaning of Christmas

It took me about 3 hours to come up with this one, mainly because I couldn't decide which Christmas story to rip off. I was stuck between "Miracle on 34th Street" and "A Christmas Story," and in the end I decided to make my very own.

Now, this is the first of a series of three. Which beloved tale will I rip off for tomorrow? I think it's alluded to in this one.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl today, Hawaii vs. Notre Dame. I honestly don't know how Notre Dame got into the postseason this year - they haven't been very good at all. So I'm rooting for Hawaii.

Whoops, looks like the holiday season is coming up, meaning that I'm going to take a break from the character introductions and launch a three-part Christmas epicomic over the next couple of days. Tune in for some holiday cheer!

Other news, Boise St. faces off against TCU in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl today! Two of the best football teams in the country face off and, this is the punch line, they AREN'T playing for the national title! They aren't even playing for a BCS bowl title! 

Anyone else think this is unfair? Well, I'm not going to waste your time by ranting about what I think about the flawed BCS system. Let's just say I don't like it at all. Let's just say I think it's full of shit. Let's just say it won't be changing anytime soon, so I'll stop bitching.

Anyway, let's see if Boise St. can pull off a perfect season. I'm rooting for them.

Josh

Sorry for the late post, folks. I got held up at work. MAN I hate that place.

I actually really miss this kid Josh. I hope I get to see him again, but he alternates between Seoul and Ithaca, while I'm stuck between Orinda and Berkeley.

Chris

Now for some musings:

College Football: New Orleans Bowl today! Southern Miss vs. Troy. I'm rooting for Troy.

NFL: The good, the bad and the "holy shit." 

The good: San Diego won and Denver lost. All San Diego needs to do is beat Denver next week to clinch the AFC West. New England won and New York Jets lost. All New England needs to do is win next week (at Buffalo) and have New York beat Miami to clinch the AFC East. 

The bad: Philadelphia lost, so it needs some big help from some bad teams to get to the playoffs.

The "holy shit": Both San Francisco and Oakland won today. Not so surprising with regards to San Francisco, since they were playing St. Louis, but pretty shocking with regards to Oakland, considering they were playing the all-around better Houston Texans.

Movies: Went to see "Seven Pounds" today, the new Will Smith movie. The guy's a hell of an actor, and it doesn't hurt that the story isn't half bad (unlike "I Am Legend"). Rosario Dawson puts in a fine performance as well. I highly recommend it.

Brandon

Speaking of college football, bowl week starts today! As of this post, I'm 1-1 in my picks (Wake Forest won, Fresno St. lost). For the St. Pete's Bowl I picked USF and for the Las Vegas Bowl I picked BYU.

Paul

Day 2 of character introductions! I wonder who my new roommate will be come next semester... I'm sure he'll be a cool dude. Can't replace Paul though...

Kiet

Just a note about these next few comics. I'm taking the time to introduce some of the supporting cast for the next couple of days, so treat these next few as sort of the role call. Let me know if you want to join the cast and I'll emulate you to the best of my artistic ability (you'll basically be a stick figure recognizable only by hair style and hair color).

Also a note about updates in general. I will try to post the day's update by at least 8:00 PM PST - usually earlier but rarely later. 

That's all for now! Tune in again tomorrow!

Introductions