I went to Kroger prior to the Bengals-Texans playoff game in search of supplies for Jill’s nachos recipe. The trip took longer than planned because I couldn’t find the Velveeta. Seriously, every story should have an entire aisle of Velveeta, with strobe lights showing the way. I did finally find it; it wasn’t with the other cheese. Yes, Velveeta is cheese and it is just as good for you as the stuff Packers fans wear on their heads.

I rang in 2013 by watching 12 hours of football on New Year’s Day. It was glorious. I saw some good (Northwestern showed spunk), some bad (Wisconsin’s offense) and some ugly (I think Nebraska uses eight guys on defense). By the end of the Rose Bowl, I think “jet sweep” had surpassed “fiscal cliff” as the most-used term on the week.

The college football season concludes Monday night when Notre Dame tries to shut up Alabama and the Southeastern Conference. But why couldn’t the BCS championship game be played Saturday night? Move the NFL wildcard games up a few hours and you’d have one tremendous day of football.

Oregon could be the best team in college football. Or maybe Texas A&M. If Alabama beats No. 1 Notre Dame in a snoozer, the Ducks — who made robotic Heisman finalist Collin Klein look awful in the Fiesta Bowl — should get a look from The Associated Press voters. The AP isn’t locked into crowning the Tide or Irish. Open minds, folks.

Stanford coach David Shaw attempted to blow off his postgame interview at the Rose Bowl. Awesome. But even a powerful guy like Shaw was no match for ESPN and he eventually fielded the “how do you feel” questions. If Congress doesn’t have the backbone to tackle our national debt, maybe it can at least ban sideline reporters.

A co-worker tried to buy advance tickets to today’s Dunbar-Marshall boys basketball blockbuster at Trent Arena. He went to Dunbar, then Fairmont, but he was swatted away. No advance sales. Huh!?! Turns out the only way to get tickets is to stand in what will be a huge line today at Trent. Tickets go on sale at 3 p.m. for the 5:30 game. Don’t forget your hand-warmers.