This evening, the college football season will come to a close at the conclusion of the BCS National Championship Game, the contest that will decide who is the best team among the handful of schools allowed to participate in a broken system.
But like it or not, either Alabama or Texas will be able to raise their collective fists and be called the last team standing. Despite the fact that we have a number of hardcore Florida Gators fans in the MTV Newsroom (including the people behind Hollywood Crush and Splash Page), we don't know a whole lot about college football. But what we do know is music, which is why we think we know exactly who is going to take the title.
Tonight isn't just about two football teams — it's about two bands that have never waged war before but really, really should. We're talking about country-rock legends Alabama and Scottish future-poppers Texas. Let's look at the tale of the tape.
Alabama
From: Alabama (duh)
Best Known For: Putting out a ton of albums and selling over 73 million copies over a 30-plus year career.
Best Identified By: All-business beards and general lack of sleeves.
Are They Difficult To Google? Not really. They wisely named their official Web site "thealabamaband.com."
Football Playing Ability: Likely high. Despite his age, lead singer Randy Owen is a pretty rugged-looking dude.
Key Video: "Touch Me When We're Dancing"
Texas Read More...
Our 
We've been subjecting a variety of artists to our 5X5 @ SWSX interrogation down here in Austin this week, and one of the most interesting answers so far comes from Pharrell Williams. Not only did he say he thought he heard some accordion in Vampire Weekend's music, but he came up with his own label for the style that the band itself calls "Upper West Side Soweto." Take a look.
Every year South by Southwest is like a big Lone Star and pulled-pork trough filled with bands to discover and write about. But it’s also the place where those of us who don’t live on a coast can go to find out what the hipsters are wearing and what we should start looking for at our local Salvation Army. Last year it was the throwback moon boot. The year before brought the onslaught of the painted-on boy jeans. 
We’ve said it before, people, but it bears repeating. Along with your sound, the second most important thing any band has to do, maybe even more important than your sound in the beginning, is choose a name that’s either: a) instantly cool and/or intriguing (Nirvana, Radiohead) or so lame it’s back to being great again (Weezer, Panic at the Disco).
There is a long-running joke in the industry about so-called "hip-hop time," which basically means that if you have an interview scheduled with a rapper, it will never, ever start on time.
Our 
So it's Friday night in Austin, you're three days into a total indulgence of bands, booze and music. You've seen Yeasayer or some other hipster band four times already, you've memorized Santogold's set, you've had too much beer at the Blender magazine building, and some weird guy is trying to coax you to his friend's band's 2 a.m. performance with free burgers. It's the end of the night and you're just looking for something ... different.