TOO MANY BOWL GAMES IN TOO MANY BORING PLACES

What in the wide wide world of sports is a Reliaquest Bowl?

For that matter, what in the heck is Reliaquest?

As it turns out, it’s actually ReliaQuest, and it’s a computer security company based in Tampa, Fla., which is where those great football powers Mississippi State and Illinois will play on January 2nd.

I suppose it could be worse, for the two teams and their fans alike. It is, after all, Florida in wintertime.

After all, there are bowls scheduled for Detroit, Boston, New York City and Boise, Idaho.

Or how about Coastal Carolina and East Carolina playing each other in Birmingham. Ala.?

I seem to recall when I was a kid there were five bowls — Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Orange and Gator.

I think all five of them were on the same day — New Year’s Day.

You had to be really good to get a bid. Now there are so many bowls you have to be really bad not to get a bid.

Of course, I wonder how much fun it would be to be a fan of San Jose State or Eastern Michigan and know you’ll be spending Dec. 20 at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on the blue artificial turf at Boise State.

Then there’s a bowl I’ve never heard of — the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl in Tucson, with one of the more misleading matchups.

Wyoming against Ohio.

I’ve actually been to a game in Laramie, Wyoming, which I think might be the highest altitude at which any Division I team plays — 7,165 feet. That’s kind of cool, but there are two sort of misleading things about their opponent.

First off, it’s Ohio University, not Ohio State.

Second, they play in Athens, Ohio, not Athens, Ga., where the defending national champs play.

Not a big-time game.

I suppose with 41 different bowl games plus the national championship game, some will have to be duds.

As for Boston, NYC and Detroit, I think Bowling Green and New Mexico State got the best of it. The Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit the day after Christmas has 1 1/2 things going for it. The half is that Bowling Green, Ohio, is near enough to Detroit for BGU fans to sleep in their own beds. The other is that it’s an indoor stadium.

We could also say it’s not Boise, Idaho, but that would be a cheap shot.

As best I can recall, I’ve only been to four bowl games at three different venues.I covered the 1983 Peach Bowl, which I remember mostly for the worst press box food in all my years as a sportswriter. Rancid barbecue left me vomiting while waiting to do postgame interviews.

In the 1990s, I covered a Holiday Bowl in San Diego and two Rose Bowls in Pasadena.

Thankfully, I never had to cover the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl or the Quick Lane Bowl. Or the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.

Life does have some small blessings.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *