This is one of the favorite times of year for the Designated Writers. It’s both Christmas and bowl season.

Both are all encompassing events. You can live your life around either or both during the second half of the December. LSU is going west, Louisiana Tech is going really west and there are all sorts of bowl games with names we’ve never heard of.

Both Teddy Allen and myself have definitive plans during the upcoming days and weeks, but I was struck as to how different they are shaping up to be.

I get to fight the ridiculous holiday traffic that is out of control in southeast Shreveport this time of year. You sometimes have to wait for three or four rotations of green lights just to get through an intersection. Every driver is in a bad mood and it is often an every-man-for-himself situation. I’ll be right in the middle of it which trying to keep my middle finger in proper alignment.

Meanwhile, Teddy is going to Hawaii.

I’ll be trying to figure out what present to buy because nobody seems to want to give me an accurate list of what they’d like for Christmas. I’m an awful shopper, often just grabbing the first thing I see and reminding myself that “it’s the thought that counts.” I don’t like shopping and the mere thought of having to do it bothers me to no end.

And Teddy is going to Hawaii.

I’ll watch game after game after game. I love them all. I’ll watch the Bahamas Bowl like it’s the Super Bowl, but the games are often boring, even though I have $10 riding on it,  because I can’t name one player on either team. After awhile, the games start to run together and you either get cross-eyed or numb watching them.

Teddy will be in Hawaii.

The weather is no bargain around here either. Leaves are piling up, gutters need to be cleaned and there’s no shortage of stuff that needs to be done. But who wants to get outside when it wet, cold and windy? That’s no day at the beach.

Except that Teddy will be having a day at the beach. In Hawaii.

I’m thrilled that half of the DW staff will be there as the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs take on Hawaii on Dec. 22 in the aptly named Hawaii Bowl. What time does the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl start?