Greetings once again. I wanted for this entry to talk about the upcoming college football bowl season (which actually starts in a few hours), but there is a much more pressing issue that needs attention that's affecting not only the sports world, but everything in general. Of course, I'm talking about the seemingly never-ending COVID pandemic.
The newest outbreak concerns the omicron variant of the virus, and it's spreading like wildfire. Think back to last March/April when things started closing down, everybody panic-bought toilet tissue and Clorox, and work had to be done from home. Well, thanks to this recent outbreak, we're headed back to square one.
Sports are completely being affected. In Montreal, last night's Flyers-Canadiens NHL game was played without fans. The NBA's Sacramento Kings canceled practice on Thursday because of possible COVID cases within that organization. The Rams and Browns football teams are dealing with their own COVID outbreaks, just to name a few. And that's not including the countless college programs dealing with this outbreak.
This begs to question: will we have to go to another bubble like in 2020 for both the NHL and NBA? Will March Madness be canceled...again? What will happen to soccer leagues throughout Europe? And germane to the topic of this entry, what will happen with all the bowl games? Right now (as of 2AM EST), all forty-one(!) bowl games are still on.
When I was little, I knew of the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the local bowl game that was played in Orlando, the Tangerine Bowl. Nowadays, the Orange Bowl still exists, but the stadium does not (it's now Marlins Park). The Cotton Bowl doesn't play in the stadium of the same name. Every bowl game has a sponsor and almost all of them were created by ESPN, some of these sponsorships as you'll see are suspect at best. Anyway, here's all forty-one of them.
Bahamas Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. (Holy) Toledo. Popeye's Fried Chicken used to be the sponsor of this game, but the Bahamian government couldn't promise spinach (or chicken sandwiches), so they pulled the sponsorship.
Cure Bowl: Coastal (COVID) Carolina vs. Northern Illinois. This is Coastal's second straight appearance in said game. In last year's game, they were ranked in the Top Ten and lost to Libbity Bibbity. This year, I'm pulling for NIU, why Dave Chapelle?
Boca Raton Bowl: Western Kentucky vs. Appalachian State. I'm tempted to make a joke and call this the Hillbilly Bowl, but that would involve moving the game to West Virginia and in light of current events, I don't think that should be necessary. However, the sponsor of this game, Roofclaim.com, is a rather awkward coincidence if you think about it.
New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State vs. UTEP. I wonder how many fans from El Paso will make the trip to Albuquerque, and will they remember to make that right turn there? Or will they take a hot-air balloon?
Independence Bowl: UAB vs. BYU. one of the older bowl games, having been around 1976. Given the alphabet soup matchup, I guess it's fitting that this game will be broadcast by ABC.
Lending Tree Bowl: Eastern Michigan vs. Liberty. Formerly the Mobile Bowl, it's been around since 1999. As for Liberty, I loathe that school, Jerry Falwell, and almost everything about it (even NASCAR driver William Byron by proxy). Too bad their opponent isn't Mars Hill College so that could be called the 700 Club Televangelist Bowl, but I digress.
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl: Utah State vs. Oregon State. Every time I hear "Utah State," I think of the iconic early 90's rave song "Something Good" by Utah Saints. Kinda surprised this is actually being played at SoFi and not in Carson.
New Orleans Bowl: Louisiana vs. Marshall. This game used to kick off bowl season.
Myrtle Beach Bowl: Old Dominion vs. Tulsa. Add this to the list of bowl games that shouldn't exist. First, the game isn't even in Myrtle Beach; it's in Conway, some twenty miles away. Second, there should be a law that bans bowl games that are played on a discolored field (except for the Potato Bowl below); Brooks Stadium has a teal-colored field to match the colors of Coastal Carolina University.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Wyoming vs. Kent State. This used to be called the Humanitarian Bowl and was once sponsored by Crucial.com, which meant at one time this was a crucial game on the bowl schedule. Now, it's just filler content for ESPN.
Frisco Bowl: UTSA vs. San Diego State. Formerly the Miami Beach Bowl, which was played in Marlins Park.
Armed Forces Bowl: Army vs. Missouri. Presenting sponsor is Lockheed Martin, very much on brand.
Frisco Football Classic: Miami, OH vs. North Texas. Wait, didn't I just talk about Frisco? Like I said, there are too many bowl games.
Gasparilla Bowl: Florida vs. UCF. Finally, a bowl game I have a slight interest in. This was the St. Pete Bowl until ESPN realized nobody likes Tropicana Field and moved it to RayJay. I like both schools, but Florida had the controversy surrounding our bum-ass governor this year, and UCF is full of themselves; no, your "natty" from 2017 doesn't count to anybody outside of Orlando, and no, RayJay isn't "Bounce House West." That said, chomp on, I guess.
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Memphis. I guess until a new stadium is built in Honolulu, I don't honestly see how this game will survive.
That's all for now. Come next week, I'll probably go over the rest of the games including the best (Rose, Sugar,etc), the not so good, and the one that should be canceled, COVID or not.
CT
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