The nearest thing to Professional golf's silly season has to be the NCAA Division I Bowl Season. This year there are 34 recognized Bowl games (not counting the 36th Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl where the Division III champion is actually decided on the field).

Thirty-four games - 68 teams…all of whom managed at least 6 wins.  Consider that there are only 119 teams playing Division I football and you have a hint at the madness of it all.  Obviously more than a few “out of division” games help some programs get to the magic “Bowl eligible number.”

It would seem to appear that the number of bowl games depends on how many teams get to 6 wins.  Thus the mania for creating such eye-popping bowls as The New Mexico Bowl, The Eaglebank Bowl, The MagicJack St. Petersburg Bowl, The Texas Bowl.  The list goes on and on and on.

I did notice that the four games played yesterday drew huge crowds…sort of.  It seems that roughly half of each stadium was populated by fans masquerading as empty seats. (Credit for that observation goes to pioneering broadcast great Harry Wismer).  I hope the sponsors deemed each game a success and the organizers didn’t lose too much money what with team guarantees, expenses, etc.  Some may survive for a year or two, but not to worry, there will always be sponsors willing to create another new bowl.

For me the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls were the football feast that culminated the season on January 1st.  I’ve seen a lot of them going all the way back to Illinois ripping UCLA to shreds 45 - 14 in the first game of the Big Ten-Pac-10 contract on New Year’s Day 1947.  A footnote note on that game:  UCLA’s disdain for the Fighting Illini was evident long before the game.  The Bruins wanted to play a “competitive team” and lobbied for Army a powerhouse of the era. Oops!!!!

Nevertheless, college football’s bowl season is always great fun, but whatever happened to the Tangerine Bowl and the Raisin Bowl or the… (Fill in your favorite discontinued bowl here).