The Chick Fila Peach Bowl

I texted my friend on December 27th and kept it simple:

“Do you want to come over at 1pm on the 1st for ASU Texas”

I don’t remember the response, but the plan was locked in. That was the game that was soft circled. I still have loyalty to the legacy Pac-12 conference. I grew up in it and you can’t undo things that were attached to you for the better part of twenty years.

Even if I was never a fan of ASU before, now that they are long gone from the Pac-10, I pay tribute.

My friend showed up at 1:15. Alex and I ordered Chick-Fila at 3:15. You could show me a multiple-choice question of the right way to spell Chick Fil-A and I would get it wrong every time. It doesn’t matter. Their cows sell chicken and their chicken is delicious. I only get to have fries once a month, but those chicken nuggies are better than any other nuggie out there.

Back to the game. We stayed true to the channel. No surfing to Below Deck on Bravo. I had to, multiple times, come back from changing Miles and request a rewind. Just when you thought the game was over, something weird happened. A safety. A running back throwing a 55 yard touchdown pass on 4th and 2. Shit got crazy at the end. And there are too many plays to go through. But it went into overtime and Texas prevailed.

In this new era of college football, the “playoff” was starting to get wildly underwhelming. And at 24-8 in the 4th quarter in Hotlanta (in a 55% capacity stadium), it was continuing down a slippery slope. But then craziness happened and an instant classic was in the making.

I can’t tell you how they come up with these nicknames. Most game names are regional (Peach, Rose, Cotton), some are branded (Cheez-It, Pop-Tart) and some are just random as could be (Sun, Holiday, TaxSlayer Gator).

The Peach Bowl won the day on the first day of 2025.

…

The Sugar Bowl did not win the day. The Sugar bowl did not go on as planned. Because at 3:15am in the morning (only three hours in 2025), a man drove through people on Bourbon Street, and shot many more. It was an act of terror. Something that twenty plus years ago (when the Pac-10 was still intact), meant something. It stopped traffic. It made you stay at home. It made you talk about it with teachers, parents, friends, etc. We moved on a day later. We moved on an hour later.

We are immune from feeling the deep darkness that was caused by that man killing 15 innocent people and sending twenty to the hospital. I don’t know why we are immune. There is something else to get to? Because it happens so often? Because assassinations are cool? And back?

These are the questions you have to ask yourself.

Because as some of us reigned in the new year watching ASU Texas, eating Chick-Fil-A and being covered in Desitin, others didn’t have a chance to even enjoy the 1st of January. And you cannot just go about your day with that being another headline. Another story. It’s a big fucking deal. And it’s a tragic happenstance that should be remembered, taught, and learned from.