Ridiculous Bowl Season
Dear editor:
I’ve always been a college football fan. I went to Georgia Tech which not only is one of the world’s top engineering and science schools (rated #4 in the US and in the top 12 worldwide) but also has had a pretty good football history, which includes coaches with the likes of John Heisman and Bobby Dodd, and a few national championships. But today I have to ask a question which continues to bother me and many other people I speak to. And that is, “Is money completely corrupting college football?” What especially brings this up now is the bowl season, which has grown to a ridiculous size and in no way represents only America’s top college football schools.
During earlier years there were four bowls. That’s right, not major bowls but the only bowls. Competition was great to be one of the top eight teams in the nation to play in the Rose, Cotton, Sugar or Orange Bowls. All four were played on New Year’s Day and it was a time for parties with at least three TV sets going so you did not miss any of the action. In the late 50’s the Gator Bowl was added as a “secondary bowl.” Let’s face it, you had to be excellent to get invited to one of these games and the team had to have at least a 7-3 record (schools only played 10 regular season games in those days.) Today if you have a ridiculously poor record against no nothing teams you get invited to a bowl. Why? For the money.
You can’t even recognize who or what these so-called bowls are. And their names are nothing more than advertising gigs. Look at them…Eagle Bank Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Chick Filet Bowl, GMAC Bowl, Citi Bowl, Papa John’s Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Insight Bowl, Little Caesar’s Bowl, Outback Bowl etc, etc. Makes you wonder if next year there will be a Joe’s Hardware and Towing Bowl.
Money? There are hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars being spent to sponsor these games (plus the TV money) and the schools are grabbing it up in an effort to pay those ridiculous salaries paid to head coaches and the facilities they build. Just look at the Florida coach who gave up a $4 million contract, but now will be back next year. Any major school pays the head football coach more than the school’s president and more than the governor of the state or even the President of the United States.
And while a number of these athletes are excellent students total teams do not deserve to be called “student athletes.” NCAA football teams are just the minor leagues of the NFL. I know this will upset many well meaning college football fans and alumni, but we have to face the truth. If this direction of money continues the game of college football is in danger somewhere down the line.
I’ve always been a college football fan. I went to Georgia Tech which not only is one of the world’s top engineering and science schools (rated #4 in the US and in the top 12 worldwide) but also has had a pretty good football history, which includes coaches with the likes of John Heisman and Bobby Dodd, and a few national championships. But today I have to ask a question which continues to bother me and many other people I speak to. And that is, “Is money completely corrupting college football?” What especially brings this up now is the bowl season, which has grown to a ridiculous size and in no way represents only America’s top college football schools.
During earlier years there were four bowls. That’s right, not major bowls but the only bowls. Competition was great to be one of the top eight teams in the nation to play in the Rose, Cotton, Sugar or Orange Bowls. All four were played on New Year’s Day and it was a time for parties with at least three TV sets going so you did not miss any of the action. In the late 50’s the Gator Bowl was added as a “secondary bowl.” Let’s face it, you had to be excellent to get invited to one of these games and the team had to have at least a 7-3 record (schools only played 10 regular season games in those days.) Today if you have a ridiculously poor record against no nothing teams you get invited to a bowl. Why? For the money.
You can’t even recognize who or what these so-called bowls are. And their names are nothing more than advertising gigs. Look at them…Eagle Bank Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Chick Filet Bowl, GMAC Bowl, Citi Bowl, Papa John’s Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Insight Bowl, Little Caesar’s Bowl, Outback Bowl etc, etc. Makes you wonder if next year there will be a Joe’s Hardware and Towing Bowl.
Money? There are hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars being spent to sponsor these games (plus the TV money) and the schools are grabbing it up in an effort to pay those ridiculous salaries paid to head coaches and the facilities they build. Just look at the Florida coach who gave up a $4 million contract, but now will be back next year. Any major school pays the head football coach more than the school’s president and more than the governor of the state or even the President of the United States.
And while a number of these athletes are excellent students total teams do not deserve to be called “student athletes.” NCAA football teams are just the minor leagues of the NFL. I know this will upset many well meaning college football fans and alumni, but we have to face the truth. If this direction of money continues the game of college football is in danger somewhere down the line.
posted by Sam Schoolsky | 7:10 PM
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