How I do a bowl game

It all started in the year 2000 when the Oregon Ducks played the Texas Longhorns in the Holiday Bowl.  My husband, a die-hard Ducks fan (who I didn’t know at the time), made an elaborate wager with his best friend, a die-hard Texas fan. The bet involved pushups, arm slaps (they all revert to 12 year old boys) and beer.

This year at the Holiday Bowl, Texas played Cal, but my hubby tried to resurrect the wager- this time cheering for the Pac 12 team. However, my dear husband couldn’t back up his trash-talking. He had injured his shoulder a few weeks ago and was unable to do pushups.  So his wonderful wife stepped in. It was actually pretty fun. I did the pushups on the stadium steps in Qualcomm Stadium. I was challenged to do them with my feet up the stairs. By the end of the game, as Texas came close to scoring, all the fans around us would look at me in anticipation.  I think if I wasn’t wearing a Duck jersey, I might have made it up on the jumbotron.

I did 42 pushups for Texas’ 21 points (7 + 14+ 21). It actually made the game more exciting. This year’s Holiday Bowl was a bit boring—it broke the record for the most number of punts. Thank goodness the Texas coach doesn’t like running up the score.  At the end of the game, they could have scored another touchdown, but they chose to take a knee and end the game.

So when I found myself doing a little trash talking on Facebook with Erika, from MCM Mama, about the Rose Bowl on Monday, I decided to take my dear husband’s lead. Erika is a big Badgers fan and, as you know, I love my Ducks. I challenged her to a wager.  Here is what I challenged her to:

Every time the other team scores, we do pushups for every point (when Oregon scores a touchdown, you do seven pushups; when Wisconsin gets a field goal, I'll do three). To make it more interesting, we will do all the points (when Oregon scores the second touchdown, you'll do fourteen pushups).
Every time our team loses yardage (sack, penalty etc.) we will do a sit up for each lost yard (fifteen situps for facemask etc.).
The loser will run the difference in the score in the other team's colors and write about it. Let's hope it isn't a blow out!

She accepted the challenge.  It was ON.

If you watched the game, you can probably guess how things went.  Well, to clue you in, this game was the highest scoring Rose Bowl EVER. You can read her account of the challenge HERE.

I just have to say that Erika is SO cool.  She was such a great sport. I was worried that she was going to dislike me and think I was some sort of sadist.  Our text conversation reassured me that she was taking it all in stride.

I ended up doing 139 pushups.  I’m not going to lie, the last 38 pushups were pretty tough. I also did 30 situps.  I think I would have rather done 139 situps and 30 pushups!  Erika ended up doing 200 pushups! She really only had to do 192, but she rounded up to 200.  That is one tough chick!

To add insult to injury, she had to run seven miles in green and yellow.

And THAT is how tough chicks do bowl games.  How did you celebrate bowl season for college football?  Did you cheer for your favorite team?

Happy Running….