(with much appreciation to Minter D. for the inspiration to change the blog to a more observatorial / philosophical experiment. You can read his great blog by clicking the link to the right...)
The College Football Bowl Season is, to use the word that is most apt: an orgy. It's a feast inside a feast. A reason in a season full of reasons to sit on the couch with remote in hand to idly flip channels and decide if you've ever cared for the East Carolina Pirates or the Gaylords Hotel Music City Bowl outcome. Providing you're not a gambler (I am not, save an occasional $20 poker game I get into when I'm home in the islands) or an alumnus of ECU, I'm guessing not. Though, to be fair, the Gaylords Hotel Music City Bowl did have major names University of Kentucky against Florida State University. Though if I told you that Kentucky won, you'd think it was a basketball game. But they did, FSU's "surprise" academic violations aside (they lost like 13 players who were caught cheating in a class...). And as you hear every year, there's 119 Division 1A teams (or whatever they've decided to call this division these days) and there are 32 bowl games and therefore 64 teams. And my good friend and sports addict (not to mention professional sports journalist) Nara would have a hard time naming all the invited teams this year. ECU? Yes! Notre Dame? No! OSU? Well, do you mean Oklahoma State (Come on Down!)? Oregon State (You're the next contestant!)? Ohio State (On the BCS Price Is Right!)? This year, it's easy to be from a football school* (*Duke need not apply) and make plans to spend your Christmas vacation in any number of wondrous holiday spots around the country.
So book a room for Nashville (Gaylords Hotel Music City Bowl) or San Diego (San Diego County Credit Union Pointsettia Bowl AND Pacific Life Holiday Bowl) or, if you're more adventurous, beautiful Mobile, Alabama (GMAC Bowl) or El Paso (Brut Sun Bowl). Don't like the sun, the humidity, or the endless brown of West Texas? How does Boise sound (Roady's Humanitarian Bowl)? Or Detroit (Motor City Bowl)? Or Toronto (International Bowl)? You can, if you're lucky or crazy, travel around the country, catching your favorite conferences. Which brings me to my point: What is the point of Bowl Games?
For starters: let's just state up front that these games somehow bring money in. There's television money, sponsorship money, ticket sales, and who knows what else. Though I beg someone to buy a PetroSun Independence Bowl t-shirt and wear it proudly. And that's one of the nicer ones. But in terms of contests, bowl games are like games in early September. You know, those "they scheduled who?" that makes you start thinking about the big games in November roughly 7 weeks too early. Cincinnati versus Southern Mississippi in the papajohns.com bowl? I think I'd rather watch sixth graders try to spell those two school names rather than watch said teams play. "Up next! Florida Atlantic, champion of the SunBelt Conference takes on Conference USA 3rd place Champion in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl!" I don't know, without looking, who R+L Carriers are (They do something that won them this accolade: "2007 Logistic Management Quest for Quality Award - Multi-Regional Carriers Category".). I'd guess that, based on said "Quest for Quality Award" that they're an overachieving junior in high school. Or a Teamster Corporation (that's correct! And they sponsor the #17 Matt Kenseth NASCAR! Which begs the question: Why do people who live in a trailer need a moving company?).
Of course, there are some good games and some good teams. Leaving aside my heavy USC leanings (49-17 over Illinois!), there were some legitimately entertaining games. Which should be the point. Bowl committees should put together the best package that 1) gets butts in the seats and on the couch, and 2) keeps them there. Which is why Michigan's win over Florida in the wanna-be BCS game Capital One Bowl will stay with me for a while, as will Oklahoma's complete lack of defense against West Virginia in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in the 3rd and 4th quarters of that game. Oklahoma (whom I still giggle about when I recall the 55 - 19 drubbing they got at the hands of USC a few years back) could not, as my brother would say, "Suck Enough." They score a touchdown late in the 3rd quarter to pull to 20 - 15. Then, the defense promptly rolled over, giving up 4 touchdowns in a grand total of 12 plays (and 5:30 of game time). It mattered not that the Sooner offense was able to score 2 more times of their own. I love games like that. Close for a good while, then the team you're rooting for decides to put the whoop-ass on and you spend the last thirty minutes laughing at how inept the losing team is. Kinda like Hawaii against Georgia in the FedEx Sugar Bowl, though I have no beef with Hawaii. Or Illinois against USC in the Rose Bowl (presented by Citi). Neither Illinois nor Hawaii deserved to be in the stadium. By my count, there were 9 games won by more than 2 touchdowns. And two complete offensive dogs (BYU beating ucla 17-16 and Mississippi State beating Central Florida 10 - 3). So 11 games, roughly one-third of the games, were nigh unwatchable unless you were (again) an alumnus or a gambler. And we still have two sure to be laughers. Kansas versus Virginia Tech? Are you joking? I'll be shocked if Kansas loses by less than 3 touchdowns (editor's note: oops! Kansas 24 - 21 VaTech...) They are the standard-bearer of "over-rated", despite Hawaii and their 41-10 to the Bulldogs. And I'll be surprised if Ohio State and LSU is competitive for very long, though I hedge here because 1) I'd like to see Ohio State win a squeaker and 2) they like to win ugly. It's just too bad that LSU, USC, Georgia, and Ohio State couldn't play each other. That'd be nice.
But the Bowl Season is what it is, and though there are nice suggestions how to improve it and/or make an honest playoff system, I understand the idea that it's hard to get fans around the country to make an honest crowd. That's why the first round of the NCAA basketball tourney is so much better. It's the only true round with rafters full of actual fans. By the Sweet16, corporate dealios are moving in and by the Final Four, they're playing in a football stadium completely devoid of that rabid excitement you get at places like the Wolf Den or Pauley or Cameron or McCarthy (Gonzaga) with ten times as many corporate dealios. So instead, I've decided to rank the conferences, based on performance in the Bowl Games. Feel Free to read on...
Thursday, January 03, 2008
A New Year, A New Direction
In an effort to become concise and relevant (aren't they the same thing?), I've decided to (partly) move away from blogging my weekly-to-monthly missives. Instead, I will, like pretty much any other media outlet around today, offer my thoughts on any number of subjects, time and space availability being my only limiting factor.
But before I begin anew, a quick explanation for my 5 month absence: I forgot my account name and password. So there. Hopefully, I'll figure out a way to link this to Facebook and thereby will exponentially increase my audience to like 4. Huzzah!
And of course, I'll try to keep up with the much-loved portion of the program known as "Shout-Outs"! So keep letting me know when your birthday is and you'll receive a shout-out when the time comes!
And Happy New Year 2008. May all the optimism of the New Year come true in your life.
--Goose
But before I begin anew, a quick explanation for my 5 month absence: I forgot my account name and password. So there. Hopefully, I'll figure out a way to link this to Facebook and thereby will exponentially increase my audience to like 4. Huzzah!
And of course, I'll try to keep up with the much-loved portion of the program known as "Shout-Outs"! So keep letting me know when your birthday is and you'll receive a shout-out when the time comes!
And Happy New Year 2008. May all the optimism of the New Year come true in your life.
--Goose
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