Itrsquos about eight consecutive nights of surprise

It’s what makes the Buffalo sort-of-but-not-but-sort-of ethnicity so similar to being Jewish. We are bonded not only by our common roots, but to the ritual. Watching the Bills or the Sabres is like going to Temple for Yom Kippur We have this common ritual of atonement. Atonement for what In a way, for being Buffalonians!We’re like Rodney We don’t get no respect. Our homeland is often reviled as Cleveland’s ugly stepsister Queen City Not unless it’s Drag Queen And we’ve done a lot of this to ourselves. Especially in the past.Buffalonians who’re old enough, remember Stan Roberts (who is Jewish) on WKBW Radio giving the weather report on “Lake D-reeeear-y.”Like the Jews, we’ve wandered in the wilderness for generations awaiting deliverance. We await the coming Messiah, having endured many false prophets.

We thought it would be O.J., then Kelly and company, then Dominick Hasek for the Sabres. We thought the second coming of the Mighty Marv might finally lead the Bills, with us, to the promised land.People who have not lived elsewhere for an extended period of time might not be aware of this that once one leaves Buffalo, one realizes that there is something unique about the experience of growing up here, being from here, and then going elsewhere, that is not the same as if we were from someplace like Miami or Denver or Columbus, for instance. It may be similar coming from certain other Rustbelt towns.Cleveland, for instance I’m not sure. But the point is that there is a sense in which being Buffalonian has more meaning than where someone lives or lived once, or grew up.And I say this from a theological and a theologian’s perspective. In the theological sense, being Jewish is being a people who have experienced/endured a common history, whose identity is in a significant sense tied to a geographical location who were once slaves, delivered together from bondage, wandering in exile, and finally taking possession of the promised land, thinking they had finally arrived, that it was the end of history, only to learn that history repeats itself.And still, repeating.So, like the Jews we wander We hope We have our hopes dashed We hope again And we go to Temple The Ralph The HSBC We fast We sacrifice We sob We celebrate We wait We celebrate We curse! But we do it together As one We are the chosen people. We still don’t know what exactly we’re chosen for, but we’re chosen.Waiting is part of it, most of it really Waiting 'til next year Waiting for the next good quarterback. Waiting for the next good coach.At least now the coaching question appears due for an answer We’ve got half the answer Dick Jauron is gone.

So until his replacement is named we have that almost giddy hope, that kid before Christmas hope that one of the biggest wishes on our list will be fulfilled.But if we’re using the Jewish metaphor we have to change the Christmas imagery to Chanukah And if you think about it, that actually works better Chanukah’s all about the miracle of the lights. It’s about a small amount of oil burning night after night, vanquishing the cold, overwhelming the darkness, without being used up. It’s about eight consecutive nights of surprise.It may not be coincidental, then, that there are eight unattached coaches who have ascended the mountain and brought back the tablets, who have parted the waters and led their people to the other side: Dungy, Cowher, Holmgren, Shanahan, Billick, Gruden, Johnson, and Gibbs. With that many available, who as head coaches have won it all, the Buffalo fans will accept nothing less.“Ride a painted pony, let the spinning (spinnaker) spin.”. It was not exactly what you would call expected, but it was possible.With Auburn's loss to Alabama on Friday, the Tigers were 7-5, but were still looking at a pretty good bowl game because at least two SEC foes should finish 6-6 after South Carolina loses to Clemson and Georgia fell to Georgia Tech.But the SEC proved to be the superior conference over the ACC on Saturday when both South Carolina and Georgia upended the two teams that will play for the ACC title.And that put a few flies in the ointment when looking at the bowl picture.Here is a list of teams that are 7-5: Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee.Where does that put these five football teams come the bowl season Let's look at the overall picture and see if placing them is possible.History is the best way to place teams into bowl games.The BCS Championship game semifinals will be played Saturday with Alabama and Florida vying for a trip to Pasadena and the other settling for a Sugar Bowl trip.After that, it looks like LSU will head to the Capital One (Citrus) Bowl at 9-3.The Capital One Bowl must take the SEC team with the next best record, or a team within one win of the next best record.Ole Miss will most likely return to Dallas after falling in the Egg Bowl and finishing 8-4, seeing as the Cotton Bowl will get to pick first from the West.And now for the fun part.The first pick is the Outback Bowl and history says that either Tennessee or Georgia will make the trip to Tampa. Since the Bowl has first pick of teams from the East, they could take either team.The other team will go to Atlanta in the Chick-Fil-A (Peach) Bowl.Then the Music City Bowl gets to pick. After last season, the Kentucky Wildcats will surely be the team going to Nashville.

However, they could take Auburn as well.The Independence Bowl gets the next selection and could take Arkansas, Auburn, or South Carolina, depending on whether Arkansas or Auburn go to Memphis.The Papajohns Bowl gets last pick, but you can rest assured they will do whatever it takes to get the Tigers from Auburn into this bowl game. Can you imagine the crowd in Birmingham if Auburn were in this bowl I can. Wow!No matter how you shake it, this bowl season is going to be fun to watch before it even starts.Who will play in what bowl and what teams will they play.Can the SEC go undefeated like it has in the pastWe will not have to wait much longer to find out.. They had their sluggers, like Ryan James Howard, Rauuuuul, and Chase. They had their fair share of wheels, with J-Roll lighting up thebase paths for 31 steals and a success rate of 80 percent.Pitching wasn't exactly their strength, but their starters did a pretty good job, while the bullpen did their nightly job of screwing Philadelphia over Last but certainly not least, they had good old Charlie.