I Hate Terrible Bowl Games

On a typical night, I peruse the usual channels (ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, ABC, TNT) in search of a mildly entertaining college or professional game, assuming one of my teams is not playing. In the summer, a meaningless baseball game is usually the winner since the WNBA does not peak my interest, despite Diana Taurasi's recently exposed steroid use. Actually, I'm not sure if it was steroids. But because Women's basketball is about as satisfying as a Bill Belichick press conference, I don't even care enough to check. Anyway, back to the point I was trying to make. Now that college basketball, football, the NHL and NBA are in mid-season form (i.e. I'll watch select games because the beginning-of-the-season hype has died and my interest will only reemerge towards the end of the season/playoffs), college football in particular has the opportunity to pounce. We're talking Brad Pitt on Angelina Jolie, Rome on the Mediterranean pouncing. But they do not. They spread out their Bowl games over a month, lessening interest in college football and turning fans away.

Of these previously mentioned sports, only college football matters mid-season. It is the only sport in which a win or loss will continue or destroy a team's season. A playoff system would obviously clear up the issue, but this path has been explored at length. Since eliminating Bowl games is ultimately out of the question, maybe a little rearranging is not.

On Sunday night, the headline on ESPN.com was about the FIU vs. Toledo Little Caesar's Bowl (I know Sunday Night Football would normally be there had the game been played). This, in itself, is a problem for sports junkies. No one cares about FIU or Toledo unless a specific rooting interest exists. In fact, no one really cares about any Bowl game before January 1st. But the geniuses of college football arranged the Bowl schedule like this. As you'll notice, the Bowl season begins with one game a day, then morphs into two, then to three by the time January 1st rolls around. But should we not have the opposite schedule? The less well known teams usually compete in the less well known bowl games. So shouldn't these games be packed together, with the better games separated on different days?

Besides the obvious flaws in the BCS and current bowl game system, college football fails at the most crucial aspect of promoting a sport: maintaining interest. In the NFL, every game has an increasing importance, ultimately leading to the most important game, the Super Bowl. College football, despite its flawed system, perpetuates the same idea. With each successive week, the games carry greater weight. There's a reason why "Lost" and "24" became cult television shows (of which I am a part). Each week built on the next, culminating in a satisfying ending (in the case of Lost, I thought the ending was great. I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority in that) or a completely wrap-it-up/tie-up-all-loose-ends ending. The BCS has the same opportunity. The meaningless bowl games can be simply scrunched into one week. And by meaningless, I mean the first 28 games. Four games a day with the first starting at 12:00 P.M. EST, the second at 3:00, the third at 6:00 and the final one at 9:00. This way, there's no overlap and fans do not have to wait to satisfy their college football thirst.

Some would say that the prolonged delay between the important bowl games and regular season builds up interest. In reality, it kills it. The two weeks between the conference championship and the Super Bowl are just long enough to heighten suspense. College football, on the other hand, uses a less effective technique. It's like comparing the effectiveness of Phil Jackson vs. Vinny Del Negro. After the regular season ended, the Oregon/Auburn/TCU chatter was at its peak. Everyone could not wait until the bowl season. But now, the interest is nowhere to be found. Instead, mid-season NBA and college basketball have taken over, transferring everyone's interest away from college football. Once the bowl games roll around, true fans will refocus their interest because they're true fans. No matter what the college football does, these guys will never disappear. But the casual fan is more likely to step away from college football and not return. The chatter dies, and so does the interest. (Saying this feels a little Gregg Easterbrookesque, but my personal experience has proven this to me countless times. But it's also entirely possible that my personal experiences does not represent the millions of other examples. So even if you think I'm off here, at least you can differentiate me from Gregg.) The college football national championship game could be a semi-national holiday as the Super Bowl is. But it's not (it happening on a Monday does not help.)

In week two of the bowl games, Monday would have the two biggest non-BCS games (biggest by program/interest, not bowl game reputation). The rest of the week, leading up to the culmination on Saturday (the National Championship game) would happen on individual days.

The point of this, ultimately, is the title of this post. I hate terrible bowl games. Most people hate the Little Caesar's Bowl and the like as well. So let's get through them as quickly as possible and get to the games that matter.