MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 24, 2000

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, it’s time for the silly season.

No, not the post Thanksgiving holiday shopping rush where everybody gets to the stores at 5 a.m. To get the hot toy of the season (but if any familymembers want to buy me a PlayStation 2, I’m not going to complain.) And notthe post-Tour Championship money-grabbing rush on the PGA Tour where every format known to man is used.

No, I’m referring to the Bowl Championship Series and bowl system in Division I-A football. The season only Bill Gates and Southeastern Conferencecommissioner Roy Kramer would love. Them and every company whosponsors a bowl game.

It starts next weekend with the SEC, Big 12 and MAC championship games.

Now, how is it fair that national title contender Oklahoma has to play an extra game against a Top 15 opponent (Kansas State) and Miami and Florida State, in the Big East and ACC, respectively, do not? Then comes the bowls, seemingly more numerous than Santas in a shopping mall. This year, there are 26 bowls, not counting the various all-star games.Of those, 25 involve Division I-A teams (the Heritage Bowl is between two Division I-AA teams). That means 50 of a possible 115 teams are still alive.It all begins in Mobile, Ala. Dec. 20 with, what else?, the Mobile Alabama Bowl(brought to you by the same people who brought you the Ballpark in Arlington, probably.) Then it’s the Electronic Arts Las Vegas Bowl. If thatgame is as high scoring as the ones on the computer, it should be quite a game.

Next up are two bowl games in Hawaii, the Jeep Oahu and Jeep Aloha. Myfavorite example of how screwed up the bowl system came in 1996 when Army beat Navy in the final game of the season. Navy went to Honolulu forthe Aloha while Army went to Shreveport for the Independence Bowl. Now,who was the real winner here? There is seemingly more dot-com bowls this year (Galleryfurniture, Crucial, Insight) than there are dot-coms on the NASDAQ. Crucial.com sponsors theHumanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho Dec. 28. Boise? In late December? What’sso humanitarian about that? If the bowls held promotions based on their sponsors, this year you could buy a car (Jeep Oahu and Aloha, Toyota Gator), purchase a computer game (EA Sports Las Vegas), get electric supplies (Sylvania Alamo), get insurance or bank (Wells Fargo Sun, AXA/Equitable Liberty), make a phone call (Southwestern Bell Cotton, the Rose Bowl Game sponsored by AT&T, Nokia Sugar), mail a package (FedEx Orange), get soft water (Culligan Holiday) or go out to eat (Chick-Fil-A Peach, Outback, Florida Citrus, Tostitos Fiesta.)There could be even more bowls based on current situations. How about theRetirement Bowl between out-going head coaches LaVell Edwards of BYU and Don Nehlen of West Virginia. Or the Unemployment Line Bowl between formercoaches of the year Mike DuBose of Alabama and Bruce Snyder of Arizona State. Or the Draino Bowl between teams whose seasons went down the drain- (many to choose from – Alabama, Penn State, USC, UCLA).

The silly season ends with the Orange Bowl, this year’s BCS title game. Ordoes it? For the first time in its short history, the BCS may not work this year. Just ask the good folks in Miami what they think about it if they getbeaten out by Florida State, a team they beat earlier this year but that they trail in the BCS standings. Or Washington, which is ranked behind Miamidespite getting a win over the Hurricanes in September. But then again,Oregon defeated Washington and is not even in the top 10. The Ducks lost toOregon State which lost to Washington. It’s sort of like the six degrees ofKevin Bacon.

Who thought of the BCS anyway, the descendants of those who came up with the electoral college? You thought the Florida election ballot was confusing? Try adding up strength of schedule, the polls and the computer rankings.

Where’s a Y2K bug when you need one? While the good folks of the BCS try to sort the whole mess out, the rest of the free world (or at least the rest of the NCAA) is holding, gasp, a playoff.

That’s right, no sponsors, no computer formulas (how unimaginative.) Justsettling it the old-fashioned way, on the field.

So, as you are busy running around shopping and flipping channels between the bowl games, take time to catch a couple of these playoff games. In mostcases, they are filled with student-athletes who can score a 1,500 on their SATs as well as run for 1,500 yards.

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