Nate called out of nowhere yesterday to talk bowl bids. I was at the gym, and Chloe figured it was some guy wanting money or selling magazines or whatever, until Nate convinced her otherwise. Then I was off to Rhode Island for the afternoon’s piano group soiree, so no sooner was I back and sat down to dinner than he called again! Then he had to cut me off because Rich was calling him, so he called a third time. That’s three times in one day, which is three more times than in the last five years probably.

Anyway, the Cats finished the season at 8-4 so we knew we were bowl-bound, but the prospects looked best for either a return trip to the Alamo Bowl (last chance for the Big 10 this year), or else the Champs Bowl in Orlando, both a few days before New Years. But instead we actually got the bowl we should get, which hasn’t happened since 1996, and were picked for the Outback Bowl in Tampa on New Year’s Day! Go Cats! And we’re playing a 7-5 Auburn team who had a hit or miss season although they did nearly beat Alabama in their last game.

So it sounds promising, but I’m not going. I think my best bowl-attending years are behind me. The Sun Bowl was my last trip in 2005, and while it was a good trip it would have been better if I didn’t have to work around everyone’s various nap times and gastro-intestinal problems. The onset of middle age was not kind to my fellow bowl-enthusiasts, they can still handle a quick road trip for a basketball game, but that’s about it. I was up for meeting at Syracuse this past September, the Wildcats furthest journey east in at least 15 years, but it conflicted with Rosh Hashanah, so that was that (just as well, we lost in embarrassing fashion, sort of like our typical bowl performance).

Plus its at least $450 to fly to Florida around that time, which just seems wrong. Plenty of cheap hotels, though. I’ll still be there in spirit and will be tuning in for sure. We’ll see if I can find a suitable venue from which to watch the game, maybe Tony has moved back to Connecticut without telling me again.