Championship Week

The college football championships. The best teams of each conference square off for a chance to be the best, number one. It's not very often that you can say that your number one in something especially on the football field so these teams put their heart and souls out on the line. The power five conferences are the Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC, and ACC, and all have a conference title game besides the Big 12 because they have a round robin system in the regular season with all of the teams. The conference title games are the next greatest thing to the national championship, and raises excitement for all people involved. The championship games also have bowl implications based on who wins, and how close some of the games are. All the winners will most likely be in the BCS playoffs besides one team who wins their title game will be left out. Regardless if you're a conference champion then your bowl will be very good and well deserving.

This year while watching the conference championships, I watched them through a different pair of glasses, a new perspective. I was able to compare these teams to my team. My team was able to make it to the state championship game this past year and in comparison to other sports that's like the national championship or Super Bowl in football terms. Even though we didn't have a conference championship game like these college teams do, I'm still able to understand what they are going through because I lived a similar situation. The press is on your team 24/7, the crowds are bigger than ever thought imaginable, and the stakes are higher than ever thought possible. This year the Iowa Hawkeyes made the Big Ten conference championship which hasn't happened in a quarter century. Even though I'm an Iowa State Cyclone fan I wanted them to win badly because they are representing our state on a national level, and that's a great feeling. Unfortunately the Hawkeyes lost to Michigan State this year and we runner-ups in the Big Ten. That is what really made the connection for me. My team unfortunately was unable to get in down in the championship game as well, giving us the honor of being runner-ups. When I watched those players walk off the field with tears in their eyes I could feel their emotion inside myself; I did the same thing. When you're on the opposite sideline and all you can do is look at the trophy in the other teams hands, it stings. When you walk into the locker room and the only noise you can hear is the other team partying in the other locker room. It's one of the toughest feelings to take in and can't be described unless it has happened to you. And for the first time this year I was able to relate what it's like to be so close to a championship and fall short. I'm never going to be able to watch a championship again the same way without thinking about how the losers are feeling, it's a feeling that lasts with you forever. One thing the Hawkeyes are able to do that we weren't though is they have a bowl game left to play, and a big one at that. The Rose Bowl, the granddaddy of them all. I hope they finish their season on a strong note and are proud of their season because even though they didn't accomplish everything they wanted to, they can still accomplish something that would forever be remembered in their school history, just as we had done.