Bowling Time

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

I have no concrete plans for how much I’ll be covering bowls this year. Hell, I might not even watch Cal’s bowl game–not because I don’t want to, but I’ll probably be on a plane for the majority of the game.  I’m going to be traveling this holiday season to see old friends, and I have no interest in watching more than a handful of games during the Christmas break.

I just think that after such a fantastic regular season and the collapse of the Bears, there’s nothing I’m terribly enthused about except January 1st and the BCS bowls. Kind of a downer I know. Maybe I should put money on the games again, just to renew my interest. I will be watching most of the post-New Year’s games though, and might live blog several that look promising. If I’m up to it I’ll live-blog as many as I can. Not much else I’m doing these nights.

There are a few random thoughts that chug through my head scanning the schedule.

That week-long gap to the title game. Is this really necessary? It should always be right after the Orange Bowl. I know Friday night is a lousy TV night, so just put the Orange and Fiesta Bowls at 5 PM and 8:30 PM on Wednesday and put the title game on Thursday. No casual fan is THAT interested in either game for it to warrant a single night of buildup.

Now we’re going to get stuck meandering through bowl games in Toronto and Mobile, Alabama. How do you like your Bowling Green in 2008? Just finish LSU-Ohio State on January 3rd so we can move onto the NFL playoffs. It seems logical. Oh wait, this is college football. Never mind.

There needs to be more flexibility with these matchups. Can’t we finally have an SEC v. Pac-10 battle? Cal-Tennessee was one of the more exciting intraconference matchups this year, and next year we’ll get Georgia-Arizona State. A bowl matchup between the two best conferences would definitely draw the highest non-bowl ratings. I’d much rather see Arkansas (best running duo) duke it out with Oregon State (best running D),  Alabama vs. Cal (the battle of collapsing 6-6 teams), or even UW vs. Auburn, just because I have a sadomasochistic streak and would like to see Jake Locker meet turf some more. The matchups just work out better.

PUT THE HOLIDAY BOWL SOMEWHERE CLOSE TO NEW YEAR’S DAY ALREADY. Let’s see, on New Year’s Day the SEC has four teams, the Big Ten has three, the Big 12 has two. Guess which powerhouse conference has the Fight On Trojans as their lone representative? The Pac-10 has their two perennial collapsing teams in Oregon and Cal on New Year’s Eve, while always marooning their second best team in a game three days before Christmas.

This could be solved by putting the Holiday Bowl on New Year’s Eve, a game that always delivers and is the best game during the post-Christmas week, but that will never happen while Tom Hansen sucks giant volleyballs. Ugh. I’ve channeled all disappointment about this season into a healthy rage to fire our commissioner.

These are all exhibitions. I’ve clarified my position before. Most of these games will be fun, but the later we get into bowl season you will see sloppier defense, hideous decision-making by players and coaches alike. It’ll be like Week 3 or 4 of the regular season again. So it’ll be a glorious mess. But unlike the NFL, or college basketball, you can’t really crown a champion this way. The bowls are too far away from the season to really justify considering the winner of the BCS championship the true national title–if Hawaii beats Georgia, I might consider them worthy. You can make an argument seven ways before the bowl games play out, and you can make one seven ways after their conclusion.

So just sit back and stop getting indignant about who the champion should be this year. Because you, the fans, are the champions this year. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Any thoughts on games to watch? What are you looking forward to this bowl season?



Topics: BCS, Bowls, Pac-10

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