I don't just follow the American code of football in the States.
I follow it in places beyond North America that embrace this
game. I have a precept in my family: if more countries around
the world participate in the development of American football,
I'm gonna be dying man when I'm in my 80's (if I get that far).
One of those countries is Japan. And a team that I am mystified
by is a semi-professional side called the Panasonic Electric
Works Impulse. They are a corporate-sponsored team hailing from
Osaka (the home of Panasonic), and they compete in the Japan
X-League, their equivalent to the NFL here in the US.  One of
the interesting wrinkles to the postseason is the fact that not
only are there collegiate and professional championships, but
there is a championship that pits the best of these two
together.  On Saturday, January 3, the Impulse, who are based in
Tokyo, will be taking on the Panthers of Ritsumeikan University,
from Kyoto, in the Rice Bowl.  That's the name of the game. The
Rice Bowl. No joke, e