Bowl-a-Palooza

I’m definitely old school when it comes to my sporting interests.

I liked my football when there was some element of defense involved and a ‘high scoring game’ was along the lines of 28-27 (as was the final score in the famous 1981 Championship Game known as ‘The Catch’). 

I am no fan of the Designated Hitter in Major League Baseball. I much prefer the strategy and managerial maneuvering involved when pitchers are required to bat (as they do in the National League).

Oh, and I am not a fan of the modern era when any city with a stadium (and a sponsor) can be granted a college football bowl and any team with at least six wins can be rewarded with a bid to play in the (Insert Name of Sponsor) Bowl. 

Maybe that explains why I am more interested in watching the outdoors NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.

Once upon a time, I could tell you – with fairly good accuracy – the names of all the bowls and their various conference affiliations. That went out the window with this modern era. Now, I can’t tell you the names of half of the bowls. And really, that could be because there are so many of them. 

I think there are just too many bowls.

I’m afraid I’m in the minority on this topic. Or, as they say, the toothpaste is out of the tube (and lots of money to be made with tons of sponsored games ON the tube).

I may be one of the few fans around who’d love the feeling of that one day marathon of college football postseason games. You could also count on the fact that most of the games were the highlight of New Year’s Day – at least the major ones. Occasionally, there were a few bowls in the days leading up to New Year’s and maybe one or two the day after.

Not so now. The games started sometime in mid December (I think) and I guess they keep going well past this weekend into next week). Somewhere in there, we’ll pause for the first round of NFL Playoff games but then we go back to the Bowl-a-Palooza.

To make all of this work out, some years ago college teams started to add  a twelfth regular season game. This, presumably gave us the opportunity to enjoy more college football. 

What I think it really did was give marginal big-time teams an extra chance to win the pivotal sixth game. Never mind that Game 12 is most often scheduled against an opponent the home team can easily beat. And yet, big time college programs ask “Where are all the fans?” as they observe partially-empty stadiums on that Saturday when Cupcake U. comes to town.

I guess I’ve never been sold on the practice.

But just like my view on these extraneous bowl games, I’m a lone voice in the chorus. These games are here to stay. So are the additional bowl games.

Hey, pass the remote. It’s almost time for kickoff of the (INSERT NAME) Bowl!

JG

Originally posted 12/1/2014