Bowl-a-mania

The College Football season is coming into the "most exciting" part of the season. Why the quotes? I don't find the bowl season that great. A game every night starting on December 18th may sound like a blast. I would be all for it if they weren't absolutely meaningless. From the incredible New Mexico bowl to start us off to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl the night before the National Championship, they all mean nothing. We watch because regular TV sucks and because we love sports. The truth is college football is celebrating mediocrity with all this nonsense.

You have a child and you are an ultra competitive father hoping your child will become a great athlete, receive a fat contract from a major sports team so you can retire early. Man that sounds great. Instead, your child came in 5th in a 40 yard dash and his high school football team won one game in his entire high school career and he was the starting quarterback. Now, I'm not saying your child isn't important if that is your child. What I'm saying is don't look for your bank account to become filled with riches because he's not going to be the next Tom Brady. We all have high expectations (to high in sports) but winning is everything and losing stinks. They give out 5th place ribbons so everyone feels good. I know I was one of those kids. I finished the damn race, now give me my ribbon and a Mountain Dew. In reality, that ribbon means nothing.

We don't celebrate the almosts, the should have beens and the if only we had done this wins. If only my team would have played better. Well they didn't and that's why they lost. We question everything our team does and wish things were different. It's okay though because you get to spend big money to fly to luxurious Birmingham, AL for a 6 nights stay to watch one game that won't change a damn thing for what happened in the rest of the season. I know you want to finish with a win to build momentum. How do you do that when a lot of your roster graduates or ducks out early to the NFL? The next year is a different squad.

You can talk about recruiting and how finishing with a win helps bring in better recruits. I will listen to that argument. I won't buy it. Kids buy into the system, coach, scenery and wins over a rival program. If Oklahoma beat UT every year and lost in every BCS bowl game appearance (which they almost always do), the win over UT means more to the kids choosing which college to play for.

The Bowls do bring interesting match ups and some of them are fun to watch. The system also screws out the little guys like Boise State. Boise blew it a few weeks ago losing to Nevada. I agree to a certain point they didn't deserve a BCS bowl game. I hear people say that every week College Football is like a playoff game. If you lose, you are out. Tell that to TCU. Arkansas has 2 losses and Boise has 1. You can go back and forth on which loss looks worse. All I'm saying is TCU is undefeated and we will never know if they could beat Oregon or Auburn. The system works.

The whole bowl-a-rama is about money. You know it is and so does everyone else. Die hard fans continue to take a short vacation to where ever their respective team goes. They spend their Christmas vacation on the road in Arizona, Florida or California. I don't blame college kids for getting the experience. It's a one of a kind experience. I went to college and loved going to every game I could. Things will never change because of this reason. We scream for playoffs and continue to hear kids can't have that much time away from school. Okay, basketball players don't need to be in class for an entire month but during the vacation time football players need to be on campus. Again, the system works.

The College bowl season is starting in a matter of days. We will see over 35 games in less than 30 days. It's fun but means nothing. Go on enjoy the bowl season. Spend the money for a ticket and flight to some beautiful part of the country. I don't blame you one bit. Just don't complain when TCU and Auburn are undefeated and you wish you had a playoff system. You might realize that all this BCS system does is create controversy which is exactly what it wants. The system works if you never want a true champion. Congratulations on winning the Hyundai Sun Bowl. It's going to really impress a lot of fans.

J Call