Okay. .. I confess I didn’t actually have a bash. But we DID make queso dip and hot wings.

And even though this is a basketball site, I’ve gotta salute the Super Bowl. What kind of un-patriotic, non-red-blooded, un-American would I be if I didn’t pay homage to our nation’s NUMBER 1 quasi-religious sporting event?

That’s right — it’s Super Bowl Sunday. The biggest snacking day of the year. And the culmination of FOOTBALL SEASON. That’s true-blue, home-grown, U-S-of-A football, by the way. As in the National Football League. Not to be confused with “football,” otherwise known, in countries with lower testosterone levels, as soccer.

And on Super Bowl Sunday, there’s the Super Bowl. An advertising and media extravaganza interrupted at times by an actual football game.

This time, the game held “historical significance,” as the New England Patriots aimed at becoming the first team in NFL history to have a perfect 19-0 season.

The great thing about sports is that, outside of two rules, you can love or hate a team for any reason whatsoever. The only rules you really need to follow are 1) root for your home team (eg. Go Jayhawks!) and 2) hate with a passion your traditional rivals (eg. Grrrrr — KState Wildcats and Mizzou Tigers!). Otherwise, anything goes. And here in Kansas, given the sorry state of the Kansas City Chiefs, we have the whole NFL to love or hate at will.

So. . . for no rational reason, no one in this family was pulling for the Patriots. At least that was the case until the middle of the first quarter, when my daughter Quent piped up with “Hey, Number 12 is Hot!” My sons looked at her as if she’d just sprouted horns.

“Do you know who that is?” an incredulous Snacky asked her.

Well, no. Of course she didn’t know “who that is.” Or which team he’s on. Or which position he plays. Because despite the fact that her father both played football AND coaches football; on top of the fact that BOTH of her brothers play football; ALONG WITH the fact that she’s watched (or so we thought!) many football games, the little darling has evidently picked up absolutely no football knowledge along the way. Bless her innocent little self.

Lack of football knowledge aside, she had rave reviews for Tom Brady. By the second quarter, she had her next Halloween costume picked out: A form-fitting women’s Brady jersey, navy soffee shorts, long football socks and black paint under the eyes.

My sons, who nurse an irrational hatred of the Patriots, were horrified.

Regardless of her discovery of Tom Brady, though, Quent didn’t last past the first half. Off she went to her room for her nightly phone marathon.

The rest of us watched the game, though, and I have to say that the seasoned analyst in me pretty much had her mind made up that there was no way the Patriots would lose this game. After all, they were going to make history and set the new standard for future uber-teams to strive for. How do you stop history in the making?

But I watched the last game between the Giants and the Pats. And the football lover in me HAD A LITTLE FEELING that if anyone could beat the Pats, it was the Giants. They had certainly shown they were capable. And they had won 10 straight road games, including all of their playoff games this post-season.

So, in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter, I had the absolute pleasure of seeing balls-out football as Eli Manning and the Giants refused to believe in the Patriots manifest destiny. With 35 seconds to go in the game, Manning connected with Plaxico Burress (one of the best sports names EVER) for the winning touchdown and created historical significance for the WRONG team. Go Giants!

My sons promptly started calling every one of their friends who were rooting for the Patriots. No one was answering.

But it was a bittersweet cheer for the Bonner boys. They may soon have to relinquish their status as Patriot haters. Why? Because the Patriots have the 7th pick in the first round of the draft this year, and guess who the smart money is saying they’re gonna pick? Aqib Talib — superstar cornerback (and sometimes wide receiver and punt returner) for the Kansas Jayhawks. And here in Lawrence, we bleed red AND blue (unless you happen to be a misguided KSU Wildcat fan who’s wandered too far east).    Which matches pretty well with those Patriot uniforms, right?

In sports, it’s a thin line between love and hate.

Okay, so the Jayhawks had to return to Lawrence with their wings clipped after losing to the Wildcats of Kansas State in Bramlage Coliseum for the FIRST TIME IN 25 YEARS. Jayhawk fans had to watch a sea of purple-clad students storm the court while Wildcat Superstar Michael Beasley and Wildcat Runner-Up Superstar Bill Walker danced on the press tables and waved their jerseys in the air.

They were all doing the happy dance in the Little Apple. In fact, it wasn’t more than an hour after the victory that Ballard’s Sporting Goods, in Manhattan’s Aggieville, was selling t-shirts emblazoned with the score of the game. A regular season game, mind you.

And here in Lawrence there have been an obnoxiously larger than normal number of people sporting purple Wildcat gear around town in the last few days, daring us to sneer at them, as we usually feel quite free to do — particularly during basketball season.

Well, I didn’t like it at all, but I tried to understand and appreciate the hoopla surrounding this Wildcat victory. As a KU fan, I’ve never had to experience the humiliation of having one of our BIGGEST rivals come and beat us IN ALLEN FIELDHOUSE for 24 years straight. The Wildcat nation has, though, and there was no shame in their game as they rode the high.

To Wildcat fans, I say “Carpe Diem” (that means “seize the day,” guys). Hell, it’ll probably be ANOTHER 24 years before KState can repeat the series of questionable hires that resulted in Walker, and then the incomparable Beasley, gracing the middle of nowhere with their fleeting presences. I have to wonder if anyone in the Wildcat Nation is acknowledging THESE brutal probabilities: Michael Beasley is projected to be the #1 NBA draft pick in 2008 (translation for KStaters: he won’t be wearing a Wildcat uniform next year); Bill Walker will probably enter the NBA draft as well (projected as a mid- to late-first-round pick); the KState recruiting class of 2008-2009 is JUST THIS SIDE OF NONEXISTENT at this point in time.

But it’s still 2008, and the Wildcats have a season to finish. There are games to be played, and won, if January 30, 2008, was any indication.

As it happens, one of those games was played today. The Wildcats headed for Mizzou, hoping to carry the momentum of their HISTORIC win against the Jayhawks with them.

And . . .

They lost. To a Tiger team that was short two of their starters in the aftermath of a recent nightclub after-hours altercation. Now, that’s what I call a buzz-kill.

For Wildcat Nation.

However, it’s probably one of the few times in history that KU fans have cheered for Mizzou.

The Jayhawks, on the other hand, headed for Colorado today for a date with the Buffaloes. Not spooked by the loss that ended their streak of 20 victories, the ‘Hawks were back to their winning ways, beating the ‘Buffs 72-59.

All is now right with the world. And the Wildcats still have to face the music in Allen Fieldhouse on March 1st.

We’re heading to Springdale, Arkansas, this weekend for the 1st annual Arkansas Mustang Invitational, hosted by (guess who!) the Arkansas Mustangs, an elite boys’ basketball club. This tournament is by invitation only, and includes some of the best teams in youth basketball. Grades 3-7 will be represented.

Ant’s playing in the 5th grade division with the Kansas Players Elite, from Wichita, KS. There are nine teams in this division, divided into 3 pools of 3 teams each. In our pool, there’s us (obviously), the Oklahoma Storm, and the Texas Titans. We’ll be reporting back on all the scoops from this first ever Mustang Invitational.

Updated

I have to say that the Mustangs Invitational was very well run from an operations standpoint for a first-year tournament. Since the field of teams was relatively small, all of the games were held in the same facility. That made it easy for teams to watch each other — which always builds up the excitement in a tournament. Overall, the referees were solid, which is always a plus.

The best thing about the tournament, though, was the level of competition.

As I mentioned before, there were only 9 teams in our 5th grade division. But they were quality teams: the Texas Titans, the Kansas Players Elite (us); the Arkansas Mustangs; the Houston RYTES Warriors, and the St. Louis Majestics were all in our division. The up-and-coming KC Tarheels made their regional debut at this tournament, as well.

To begin with, on Saturday, we played pool games against the OK Storm and the Texas Titans.

We beat the Storm 41-23, but I’ve got to give big props to their big man — if you’re reading this, you know who I’m talking about. This kid is amazing — and was arguably the best big man in the 5th grade division.

Our second game was against the Texas Titans, a team pretty well known in AAU basketball circles not only for their success on the basketball court, but for the fact that they’re financed (in high style) by a billionaire. There are a lot of people who hate on the Titans for both of these reasons, but I thought they were a class act. They appear to hold themselves to a very high standard, and not only on the basketball court — players, parents and coaches are all showed great sportsmanship and were a lot of fun to be around.

Back to the game. . .

Our game against the Titans ended up being a nail-biter, despite the fact that the Titans had a 15-point lead on us at one point in the game. What could have been a boring blowout turned very exciting as we battled back and ended up tying the game i42-42 with just one minute left in the game. So, it was anybody’s game as the clock wound down. Turns out it was the Titans’ game, as they beat us 46-42 in that final minute. It was a loss we couldn’t feel too bad about though, since it could have gone either way at the end.

I didn’t realize it until after the game ended, but the game had drawn quite a crowd by the time the final buzzer sounded.

Note: Fittingly enough, both the Titans and the OK Storm were staying in the same hotel as we were. That gave some of us the opportunity to meet, hang out and get to know each other a little bit. I was impressed by the people I met from both teams. Shout-outs if you’re reading, Titans and Storm!

On Sunday, we started out playing the KC Tarheels. After beating them, 48-30, we faced the St. Louis Majestics in a tough game that was marred by some real issues with the clockkeeper, who kept playing with the score and letting time run off the clock. The constant arguing over the status of the score and clock killed momentum for both teams. The Majestics pulled out the victory, though, in a pretty ugly game.

The loss to the Majestics left us at 2-2, and unable to compete for the championship. So we played our final game against the Arkansas Tigers, in a game that meant nothing in terms of the tournament standings. I didn’t have a problem with that, though, because the Tigers are a good team, and I figured that any time we spend on the court against another good team is all good.

All good, except for the fact that we lost. To a really good team. . . but still. I hate to leave a tournament with a losing record (in this case, two wins and three losses).

However. . .
See my report on the Keys Tournament for the results of our rematch with the Tigers a month after the Mustang Invitational.

So who won the Arkansas Mustang Invitational? The Texas Titans beat the Houston RYTES Warriors in the championship. Congratulations to both for making it to the championship — and congratulations to the Titans on the championship.