A little politics, a lot of football

By Jeff Orvis

Today's topic is a little bit of politics and a bit more on the politics of football.

The recent news that Herman Cain is hanging it up when it comes to his bid for the presidency was certainly not surprising. Whether he committed some of the things he was accused of or was set up by someone with an ulterior motive, even the hint of infidelity is tough to overcome.

It was reported that he admitted he had a 13-year “friendship” with a woman and had also given her money over the years. He apparently kept this fact from his wife. Now, I'm certainly no expert on a good marriage relationship, but even I am smart enough to know that if you are friends with someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse, you'd better let your better half know about it.

So the Republicans no longer have a pizza mogul to kick around anymore. Someone has to fill that void. Everybody likes pizza, so if the GOP hopes to appeal to the masses, it had better act fast to replace him. I first thought of Papa John, but he's so good looking someone would probably plant rumors about him. Perhaps Papa Murphy would be a better choice. Nobody knows what he looks like. Maybe Little Caesar would be a safe choice. He looks like everybody's favorite uncle.

Given the current craziness of the our political climate, maybe the Republicans could think outside the (pizza) box and consider Ronald McDonald. I hear he's looking for work. If there is not a complete makeover of our next Congress, the idea of Ronald McDonald giving the State of the Union address in 2013 makes good sense to me.

Now back to the reality of college football, if indeed there is any true reality there. After a truly amazing Big Ten championship game this past weekend, it only seems fitting that 10 of the 12 teams in that conference received bowl bid invitations. Only three-win Minnesota and one-win Indiana were left out of the loop.

A lot of my Big 12 fan friends were upset that Alabama was chosen over Oklahoma State to play LSU for the national title. Not me. I figured if OK State had been chosen and had found a way to beat LSU, many Iowa State fans would claim that the Cyclones must be the best team in the nation, since they beat the Cowboys this season.

Iowa, Iowa State and Illinois all gained bowl bids. Iowa has the best gig, as the Hawks will travel to Arizona for the Insight Bowl to face Oklahoma. Be sure to get a nap in the afternoon. Kickoff for the game is set for 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 30. Iowa athletic officials are undoubtedly smiling all the way to the bank. The payout per team for this game is $3.35 million. Some bowls pay as little as $500,000 per team. Of course, if your team is picked for a BCS bowl, the payout is a cool $17 million per team.

The money is important to athletic programs. It goes to pay for the expenses of the traveling party and any left over is either divided among the other conference schools or is used for the department's general budget, or both.

Iowa State gets to travel to New York City earlier that same day to take on Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. Game time is 2:20 p.m. Cyclone fans better start looking at a second mortgage if they hope to go to that game. Top ticket prices are more than $120 apiece. Add in the cost of a New York hotel room for at least a couple of nights and you are starting to talk about serious coin.

The next afternoon, Illinois meets UCLA in something called the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco. Game time is 2:30 p.m. They should rename this game the See Ya Later Bowl, as both coaches for Illinois and UCLA have been fired. But it should be a good game and a good way for one of these two veteran coaches to go out.

I was glad to see that Penn State will play Houston in the Ticket City Bowl in Dallas on Jan. 2. Regardless of the scandal that plagues the Penn State program, the players who worked so hard to post a 9-3 record should be rewarded. Penn State officials have already pledged to donate the bowl proceeds to groups fighting child abuse.

The Rose Bowl on Jan. 2 is shaping up to be an awesome contest between Oregon and Wisconsin. I know I should stick with my Big Ten allegiance, especially since the Badgers are coached by former Hawkeye Brent Bielema. But Oregon is an exciting team. This should be good.

My early prediction for the national title game is that LSU should take care of business over Alabama. But I still have a few weeks to change my mind. I have both an LSU and an Alabama t-shirt in my drawer, so I might wait until that morning and pick the shirt that is clean and pull for that team.

By my count, there are 35 football bowl games this season, plus three or four all star games. The fun starts Dec. 17 and ends with the championship game on Jan. 9. So ice down the beverages, get those nachos ready and put fresh batteries in the remote. It's going to be a wild three weeks!

Before we all get geared up for the major college bowl show, there's a very important game happening Friday night. Northern Iowa is seeking a national championship. The Panthers travel to Montana to play the Grizzlies. Game time is 7 p.m. It will be shown on ESPN 2. The forecast is for cloudy skies and 17 degrees. GO PANTHERS!!!