To date, the Pac-10 is not doing too well in the bowls. The only winner so far — and it pains me to say this, it really does — is UCLA, which beat those powerhouse New Mexico Lobos 27-13 in the Las Vegas Bowl. Oregon State lost to Pittsburgh 38-13 in the Insight Bowl, Arizona State made a game of it but still lost to BCS-worthy Kansas State 34-27 in the Holiday Bowl, and Oregon just wrapped up an embarrassing 38-17 loss to Wake Forest.

That adds up to Pac-10 losses to the Big 12 (respectable), the Big East (marginal), and the ACC (terrible). Oh yeah, and we beat a team from… uh… the Mountain West.

Hopefully we’ll have better luck in our next chance against the Big 12 (Washington State vs. Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl) and against the Big 10 (Washington vs. Purdue in the Sun Bowl and, most importantly, USC vs. Iowa in the Orange Bowl).

In other USC-related news, the Cincinnati Bengals have fired their coach after finishing their NFL-worst 2-14 season with a pathetic 27-9 loss to the Bills. Why is this USC-related news? Because it’s where Carson Palmer is probably headed next year. The Bengals’ loss to the Bills wrapped up the “honor” of getting #1 pick in the draft, which goes to the league’s worst team.

My hometown paper, The Hartford Courant, took a cheap shot at Palmer yesterday by noting, “Texans quarterback David Carr has been sacked 73 times, setting an NFL record. Note to Carson Palmer: Records are made to be broken.” Of course, their real target may have been the Bengals offensive line rather than Palmer himself…

And if the Bengals don’t take Carson? Hello, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, or Da Bears.

I accidentally left my cell phone in Arizona at Becky’s house. D’oh!!! That’s why I didn’t post any updates about my flight home today. But I’m back in Newington. Hurrah!

I’ll write a Hawaii wrap-up shortly.