Musings of the (Second) best time of year
The Poinsettia Bowl.
It all starts with the Poinsettia Bowl. A clash between the Utah Utes and the Navy Midshipmen. Tonight’s clash starts the best time of the year, sans March Madness, in sports–the college football season. I will get to see two or more good college football teams clash at a neutral site for all but three days from now until January 7 of the New Year. Obviously, the highlight for all of those in the great state of Illinois will be the New Year’s Day matchup between the beloved Orange and Blue and the number six USC Trojans at the Rose Bowl. And regardless of the outcome, the pageantry and atmosphere in Pasadena should be enough to sustain the recently win-starved and now nourished Illini fans.
But my favorite part is not only getting to season my favorite team since birth in a BCS bowl, but getting to watch good college football for almost every day for almost three straight weeks. This is where the proponents of a playoff in major college football miss out. Granted, the bowl system is all about money and a playoff is not a likely scenario no matter how many dual titles are handed out by the pollsters, but the magic of the bowl system, is all about the experience, not so much the destination. And I know that the BCS may have its flaws, but you can’t replace the unforgettable postseason encounter.
The experience a college football player gets from a bowl game, win or lose, is something they take with them forever. It helps the players get real-time experience, helps for recruiting, it helps the fanbases and as seen in the C/U area already, helps stimulate the campustown economy. The bowl season also rescues sports fans from the huge empty crater that is college sports on television during finals week, not to mention the meaningless NFL games that can force even the biggest die-hard to start sawing logs on the couch. Gimme any of this season’s bowl games over Z-fests like this weekend’s Kansas City at Detroit or the Falcons visiting Arizona in Glendale.
But for all of you proponents of a playoff in college footall, I want you to watch some of the constant football action over the next couple of weeks and look at the tradition, along with the passion and wide eyes of the players and coaches involved, and think for a second if a playoff could make up for all of the pageantry and excitement brought on from the (second) best time of year.
Vince Young celebrating after perhaps the greatest bowl game of all time. Courtesy of www.austinist.com