A Bowl by Any Other Name

I am a big football fan though I'm not the type who would abandon my spouse for the sake of the game. I enjoy watching my favorite team, as frustrating as they are, the Washington Redskins. I probably got into football a great deal more a few years ago, well before their current decline. It was exciting as we entered December because the race for the Super Bowl was coming closer and closer and it capped off January with the ever-exciting playoffs and finally the big game itself. When other teams play I still watch with a passing interest, but there's nothing quite like watching the home team go to the big game and win. Sadly I haven't experienced that in over fifteen years, but I keep on with my Redskins rallying cry which is, "Maybe next year." The best thing about the NFL is that at the end, you know who is on top, and you know who the best team is. For a year at least, that team will remain the champion of the league and no one will be able to deny it.

Contrast that with college football. December and January is also the time during which the college football teams have their bowl games. In years past there were always the usual suspects when it came to the championships, namely the big games like the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and such. As time went on it appeared that it wasn't enough and in the age of corporate sponsor ship, all of these games now have corporate sponsors at the beginning of their names. This was all still fine since it meant that the best teams still had the chance to come to the top and make a name for themselves and be called true champions of the game.

These days there seems to be a new trend which is to generate new bowl games. I guess the way it goes is that if you'r a corporation willing to spend money to sponsor such a game (and have your name bandied about) then you'll definitely get some teams to qualify and play for the championship of your particular bowl. I guess part of the appeal in this is that you get to see other teams playing a championship game as opposed to the usual group of teams that may be playing in the original bowl game year in and year out. It's refreshing to see other teams out there, the ones you may not ordinarily see. You can't deny the records of the better teams out there and you can't penalize them for being consistent in their winning any more than you could keep them from going to the game.

So I understand the need for newer bowl games in the championship series, but do we really need so many? I can already feel the popcorn and cups of beer being thrown in my direction, but honestly; we now have so many bowl games that ESPN should move their ultimate couch potato competition to coincide with the bowl games. They are nearly all in order and on almost continuously. Every football fan is entitled to one last hurrah before the end of the seasons but honestly, I feel it diminishes from the term champion. 'Didn't make it to the Tostito's Fiesta Bowl? Not to worry, the Raytheon Patriot Bowl or UPS Brown Bowl could always be a possibility.' Pretty soon we'll have a bowl game for every team out there. It will mean that between the two teams, at least one of them is the champion. Oh wait, we already do have that kind of set up. It's called the regular season.