The End For Now
Most of you probably thought you had a free and clear path to the blog without stumbling on another football post until August or so. But you would be the same people who have know idea we are in the bowl season right now. But, I promise this will be the end of it….for now.
Through most of the history of college football (oh, no…he’s going into history!) January 1st would have been the end of it all, with a series of bowl games being played between Christmas and New Year’s Day. But these days, bowl games begin about a week before Christmas and continue until one week after New year’s Day. And it used to be that a team would be selected National Champions based on performance in he bowl games. But this year, a new feature has been added: a national Championship game that is not a bowl game (although played at one of the bowl game sites. And that is happening next Monday, one week after New Year’s Day.
You’re going to be shocked to hear/read me say this, but we have too much post-season college football now. By the end of it all, there will have been 34 bowl games this season. That means 68 Division I teams played in a bowl somewhere.
And bowl games are everywhere. You can’t shake the piss off your dick without getting it on a bowl game. Because these days, bowls are less and less about football and more and more about corporations slapping their names on the games. Some companies tie their names to the traditional name of the bowl (i.e., Nokia Sugar Bowl). Some completely drop the traditional name and use only the corporate. (Chik-fil-A has removed the Peach from the Peach Bowl). And other companies simply start their own bowls. Anyone for a slice of the PapaJohns.com Bowl? (And that’s not a joke, unfortunately).
With so many games now, the importance of the bowls is being destroyed. What used to be a reward for finishing the season with a strong win-loss record is now practically one step away from the “everybody gets a trophy” method of handing out honors.
You know what I’m talking about. It where kids are supposedly taught self esteem by getting a trophy or ribbon in a competition, not by winning, but by merely participating. All they are really taught is if you at least roll out of bed and show up, you’ll get a prize. No need to make and effort. No need to actually compete. No need to spin the big wheel for the Showcase Showdown.
Before long, Oprah will be invite all the coaches onto her show where she will tell them to look under their seats. “You’re getting a bowl game! And you’re getting a bowl game! And you! And you! And you!“). Already, to get a bowl game, all you have to do is not suck.
Last year, Tennessee did suck, and they didn’t get a bowl game. This year, they turned things around quite a bit and went to the Outback (Steakhouse) Bowl where they lost to Penn State (lucky for you, because I had fully intended to have “Rocky Top” blasting on the page if we had won). It was even a New Year’s Day game. It used to mean something to actually play on the 1st. That’s when the more prestigious games were. And for the most part that is still true. But the trophies are starting to feel a little tarnished and lack a bit of luster. But what can you expect with everybody getting their fingerprints all over it?
January 2nd, 2007 at 9:03 am
You are right on the mark with this post. The harder one has to work for a goal, the more meaningful it is. When half or more of the teams in each conference are playing in bowl games, mediocrity becomes acceptable and further diminishes the BCS Championship Game that already faces enough questions about is selection process.
January 2nd, 2007 at 10:10 am
And here I thought bowl referred to a game with a 3 fingered ball, pins and funny shoes.
Sorry, you didn’t win.
I’m so with you about the “let’s take the competition out of being competitive because we’re all special thing” thing. So wrong.
January 2nd, 2007 at 11:10 am
I still want to hear Rocky Top on your blog because I have never heard it. Sad but true.
LMAO - “an you won a bowl, and you, and you, and you….”
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Back in the days when new years day was devoted to hangovers and bowl games, NBC had a triple feature of the sugar, rose, and orange bowls. They were very proud of this.
So it came to pass that NBC sent a delegation to the International Olympic Committee. They thought they could televise the next edition of the Olympics, and make lots of money, so they could buy lots of peacock feed for its symbol.
They wisemen at NBC gave a presentation to the IOC, and they talked long and hard about their sports coverage. They were especially proud of their New Years Day triple header, three bowl games back to back to back.
Another network got the bid.
One of the officials with the IOC told one of the officials from NBC ” We felt that your boasting about the bowel games was in very bad taste”
January 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 pm
If they played and dressed like in the photo I would watch football more.
January 2nd, 2007 at 11:07 pm
You are so right. Generation Y (my gen, fortunately/unfortunately) for the most part (not me or my immediate age group) has been taught this entitled method of living. They’re going to have a rough time out there. College teams making it to a bowl game just for showing up? What’s next? Expanded NFL championship games? Sigh.
January 4th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
And here I was hoping to organize the LT Oatmeal Bowl. To be played in the nude. Oh well, I’ll just have to concentrate on baseball.
January 6th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I agree as well. It seems like when I was young, there were only a handful of bowls.. and I always assumed that the bowl games were a means of deciding the National Champions. Now it seems that bowl games are everywhere, it’s hard to keep track! Hell, we even have one here in Honolulu, which I completely don’t understand. Sure we’ve had it for like 20 years, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the general bowl circuit. And these days, I think it’s basically just a way for UH to have a post-season game against someone outside of the WAC. And although we did wipe the floor with Arizona State, I don’t know if UH is deserving of a “bowl game”.