Goals & Bowls (games)

What a light weight way to begin the New Year, dear Reader, but I didn’t want to risk any of those anguished posts about resolutions that you’d hold me to for the next 365 days.

In fact, I had a draft of something called Absolute, Resolute Resolutions which sounded very firm and sincere but I didn’t get past the Absolute bit (spelled Absolut without the “e” as in the vodka) on New Year’s eve day when the on-rushing wave of bowl games overtook my resolve. For a few pathetic and hapless hours on the 31st I actually considered getting through the evening on milk and cookies.

Alas, common sense prevailed and we saw out 2007 in a proper manner.

The American college football season ends with a flurry of games featuring the best teams in the country. These are called bowl games, which as I understand goes back to 1902 in California when two good teams played in the Rose Bowl. The “bowl” part comes in the design of the stadium which looks more like an amphitheatre than a standard oval or boxed arena.

Growing up in the 1960s there used to be (if I remember correctly) just a handful of year ending bowls all played in late December and on New Year’s Day. The classic four were the Cotton, Sugar, Rose and Orange Bowls. There were a few others which conjured up warm southern venues such as the Citrus, Gator and Sun Bowls. As a boy in frosty New England, watching the bowl games over the Christmas break was part of the Great Ritual of Growing Up.

This season, in the American way of marketing saturation and overkill, there are 32 bowl games. That's correct: 3-2. Now teams with mediocre records such as 6 wins and 6 losses are invited to play. There are so many bowls games that organizers are running out of clever names. This past week saw the Humanitarian Bowl, the Poinsettia Bowl and the Insight Bowl (honestly). Some of these games should be labeled the Hopeless Bowl or Second Chance Bowl. With further expansion – it’s inevitable – we’ll be able to watch the Tuesday Afternoon Bowl and the Give-it-a-Name-Bowl.

Well, let’s not get too serious so early in the New Year. After all, there are still several more bowls between now and January 7 when the championship game will be played.

Have a safe and healthy 2008 from the Clermont Blogger!