The New Year's Day that wasn't

Every New Year’s Day I have an odd habit of marveling at the “1•01” date on my watch. To me it is the symbol of a fresh year and has been a Quiet Man quirk ever since I owned my first digital Timex. The above pic is pretty bad but I am sure you get the idea. Happy 2012, everyone.

However, though the date on my watch may have read “1•01,” it did not feel like the first day of a new year. There was no snow on the ground (everything is brown and bare), the sky was mostly overcast, and it was windy as hell. I forgot it was New Year’s until I was walking up First Avenue, warming up for a run, and an older man greeted me by saying “Happy New Year.” At one point I considered today the shittiest New Year’s Day I have ever experienced. Though it may be, I felt that label was way too harsh; the day could have been much worse for many different reasons.

Regardless, today felt very awkward and unlike any New Year’s Day I can remember. And I know exactly why: there were no bowl games.

The traditional and glorious pageantry of the New Year’s Day bowl line-up, including the Rose Bowl, was bumped to tomorrow by the NFL — at least I assume. Though the NFL probably had nothing to do with it directly, I am sure the television networks, the bowl committees, and each bowl game sponsor were hyper aware of the scheduling conflict created by a Sunday New Year’s Day. January 1 bowls generate a lot of interest, audience, and money, and there is no way anyone wants to compromise that. Again, I do not know this for sure but assume this is the reason America was left waiting another day for the likes of the Outback, Capital One, and Rose Bowls. Though this is not the first time it has happened (the 1995 Rose, Fiesta, and Cotton Bowls were played January 2), it is the first time I was very aware of it. Needless to say, it affected me more than I expected.

Perhaps tomorrow will feel like New Year’s Day.