PMP25: Citrus Bowl Haiku

This is easily the shortest request in Pick My Post history. I'm glad that all of these PMP articles are free and unlocked because there's no way I could put up the paywall when there's just a three line poem behind the paywall. But that's the request here. Here's exactly what David K. wrote:

Please write a haiku on the 2025 Cheez It Bowl.

First off, I want to continue my campaign of refusing to call it the Cheez It Bowl. It's a bowl with enough panache to add a sponsor but also refuse to remove the bowl name. The sponsor will change over the years – it's been Capital One, Buffalo Wild Wings, VRBO, and Cheez-Its in the last 10 years – but the "Citrus Bowl" name remains.

So while the Hall Of Fame Bowl might eventually lose its name and just become the Outback Bowl (and now the ReliaQuest Bowl), the Citrus is one of those that will always be the Citrus Bowl. And that remains whether it's the Capital One Citrus Bowl, the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl, or the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. It's clearly #7 on the bowl chart (the six playoff bowls and then that one) so I'm committed to keeping the word "Citrus" involved.

(I have no idea why I shared any of that. Probably because this request is just for one haiku and I need some words here.)

Actually, let me share a few more words before I get to the requested haiku. I already shared this story on Slack but I'll share it here as well.

On the 4th of July, my wife and I were in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Do you say "in" the upper peninsula or "on" the upper peninsula? At? However you say it, we were yoopin'. We were on a hike at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along Lake Superior.

I was wearing my Citrus Bowl shirt. It's not a "Citrus Bowl Champs" shirt - it's one you could buy before or after the game. Just has the date and the name of the game and the two helmets. So, really, when I'm wearing it, no one knows if I'm an Illinois fan or a South Carolina fan. I do wear my Redbox Bowl shirt with both helmets even though we lost, so yes, fans wear bowl shirts even after their team lost the game. Or at least I do.

ANYWAY, a couple walks past us from the other direction. She's wearing a green shirt with a tiny Spartan logo so I'm assuming they were Michigan State fans. The guy sees my shirt, points at it, and says "now THAT was a great game." I was able to think quick on my feet and respond soon after they passed us with "it was even better in person" as they headed south and we headed north.

And then I floated around Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore for the next ten minutes. How many times before the Citrus Bowl did I write "all I've ever wanted was for Illinois to be in a big time bowl so that the entire country pays attention"? This entire post the week before the game was focused on how long I had waited to watch us play football in Tampa or Orlando again. A quick reminder of how long we waited:

1993: Penn State (Orlando), Michigan (Tampa)
1994: Ohio State (Orlando), Wisconsin (Tampa)
1995: Ohio State (Orlando), Penn State (Tampa)
1996: Northwestern (Orlando), Michigan (Tampa)
1997: Penn State (Orlando), Wisconsin (Tampa)
1998: Michigan (Orlando), Penn State (Tampa)
1999: Michigan State (Orlando), Purdue (Tampa)
2000: Michigan (Orlando), Ohio State (Tampa)
2001: Michigan (Orlando), Ohio State (Tampa)
2002: Penn State (Orlando), Michigan (Tampa)
2003: Purdue (Orlando), Iowa (Tampa)
2004: Iowa (Orlando), Wisconsin (Tampa)
2005: Wisconsin (Orlando), Iowa (Tampa)
2006: Wisconsin (Orlando), Penn State (Tampa)
2007: Michigan (Orlando), Wisconsin (Tampa)
2008: Michigan State (Orlando), Iowa (Tampa)
2009: Penn State (Orlando), Northwestern (Tampa)
2010: Michigan State (Orlando), Penn State (Tampa)
2011: Nebraska (Orlando), Michigan State (Tampa)
2012: Nebraska (Orlando), Michigan (Tampa)
2013: Wisconsin (Orlando), Iowa (Tampa)
2014: Minnesota (Orlando), Wisconsin (Tampa)
2015: Michigan (Orlando), Northwestern (Tampa)
2016: no Big Ten participant (Orlando), Iowa (Tampa)
2017: no Big Ten participant (Orlando), Michigan (Tampa)
2018: Penn State (Orlando), Iowa (Tampa)
2019: Michigan (Orlando), Minnesota (Tampa)
2020: Northwestern (Orlando), Indiana (Tampa)
2021: Iowa (Orlando), Penn State (Tampa)
2022: Purdue (Orlando), Illinois (Tampa)
2023: Iowa (Orlando), Wisconsin (Tampa)
2024: Illinois (Orlando), Michigan (Tampa)

Sixteen years ago I wrote an article called Nose Prints where compared my son, home sick from school and watching his friends walk past our house after school on their way to the park without him, to my feeling when Illinois football is left out of the bowl picture every year (while I watch Wisconsin fans and Iowa fans debate whether they should attend their eighth consecutive bowl). That was sixteen years ago. And in the years since, when we're playing in the Kraft Fight Hunger bowl or the Zaxby's Heart Of Dallas Bowl, no one paid any attention.

This year (and in 2022), people paid attention. Our game on December 31st was the lead-in to the first playoff game on New Years Eve. The best Big Ten team to not make the playoff against the best SEC team to not make the playoff. It's the most eyes on Illini football in a generation. And we won. In a game that played out like that. I still haven't come down off the high.

So thank you, Guy Walking In Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Who Saw My Shirt And Said Something. You made my month. Yes, it was an incredible game. Won by the FIGHTING ILLINI.

For you, and for David, I hereby present this haiku:

shane beamer lost it
when he didn't understand
that we are so back