Bowl Daze

Does anyone out there really care about Mississippi State vs Central Florida?  Or Wake Forest vs UConn?  Any given year, Alabama vs Colorado might be a good game.  But this year they both finished 6-6.  And they met in a Bowl Game?  No one outside of Fresno or Atlanta knew that the Bulldogs and the Yellowjackets played in a bowl this year.  And no one in Boise showed up in the 25 degree weather to watch them play on the smurf turf.  

Put simply, no one would disagree that there are too many bowl games.  Somehow, the system that legitimately rewarded worthy teams of a post-season bonus has ballooned into a travesty of unrealistic expectations.  When leagues are getting 7 or 8 teams into the post season, something is wrong.  When 7-5 teams are considered to have a decent record  and 6-6 qualifies, something is wrong.  When two 6-6 teams play each other, something is seriously wrong!

I blame ESPN and the Capitol One Financial Group for enabling this atrocity.  ESPN provides the broadcast media and Capitol One provides the money for their "Bowl Week": seven miserable days of really bad bowl games.  The growth in cable television has created this monster.  The games are put on for the television audience, not for the local residents and vacationing fans.  Don't believe me?  Did you see the stands at the Papjohns.com bowl?  Or the Autozone Liberty bowl? (remember when that was actually a respectable bowl?)  Or the aforementioned Humanitarian Bowl?  What a joke!

As the bowl system began to blossom a few years back, I had faith in the free market system.  A lack of local support and a lack of TV ratings for a useless bowl would kill it.  But then ESPN stepped in, found the deep pockets of Capitol One, and has thrown endless stacks of money at the Meineke Car Care Bowl, Texas Bowl, Emerald Bowl, etc.  So this begs the question: what bowls are worth keeping?  Which are ones that you watch year to year?

Obviously the BCS bowls.  And the Cotton Bowl is often good (except this year).  Why is this bowl with a much longer tradition than the Fiesta Bowl not part of the BCS?  Becuase Dallas is a miserable place to be on New Years Day!  I find myself frequently watching the Citrus Bowl . . er . . . Capitol One Bowl (why can't they be satisfied with just sponsoring that one bowl?)  I also enjoy the Alamo and Holday Bowls, even though they are played during the dreaded Capitol Bowl Week.  What do all these bowls have in common?  They involve the 2nd or 3rd place team in their respective tied-in leagues.  This translates to higher-ranked match-ups, higher profile teams, and a higher quality of play.  In short, the games we want to watch.

And speaking of good match-ups, the Rose Bowl committee really blew it by inviting Illinois.  Sure, the Illini's first Rose Bowl in 25 years generated epic buzz in Champaign and Chicago, but we all knew they had no chance against the Trojans.  USC proved that they are one of the best teams in the country by blowing the Illini out of the Arroyo.  Georgia ended Colt Brennan's fairy tale later that night by destroying the Warriors in the Sugar Bowl.  But the Rose Bowl could have had USC play Georgia.  What a game that would have been!  And, after Oklahoma got blown out by West Virginia, the Rose Bowl winner would have a had a shot at the AP national championship and a split title with LSU (that would have really pissed off the Tiger fans!)

Oh well.  Woulda', Coulda', Shoulda'. . . 

Fight On,

Hans

PS: I ran into Rick Neuheisel outside the Rose Bowl before the game and wished him luck in the upcoming season.  Its  a good hire for UCLA with one really big IF: If he can stay clean and not get the program into trouble.  With the Reggie Bush NCAA investigation looming soon, USC may

 face sanctions.  So which LA program will face a scandal first?  The race is on . . .