Before I get off this football kick I\u2019ve been on lately, I thought we should talk a little more about\u00a0bowl games. I remember as a kid, looking forward to the bowl games. A trip to a bowl game was \u201cearned,\u201d as a reward for a good season. And back then, it was a big deal for the fans to attend the bowl game that their favorite team was playing in. The fans usually made it a \u201cvacation\u201d of sorts and planned on spending at least a few days in the city that hosted the game. The games were all in cities with good weather around the first of the year, so that made it all the more enticing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rose Bowl was, and still is, I think, the \u201cgranddaddy of them all.\u201d Everyone wanted to play in the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl game started to be played annually in 1916 and before long, other cities throughout the country began to see the promotional value of such a game in promoting tourism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 1940, there were five major bowl games, although I only remember hearing mostly about four. The Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl all began playing in 1935 \u2014 the Cotton Bowl began in 1937. I don\u2019t remember hearing so much about the Sun Bowl when I was growing up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the bowls first started, commercial air travel was pretty much non-existent so enough time had to be given for fans and family to travel to the games. When football season ended in late November or early December, several weeks were allowed for travel and bowl games were played on, or near, New Year\u2019s Day. In fact, up until the 1950s all bowl games were played on New Year\u2019s Day. By 1990 there were 19 bowl games and only the \u201cmajor\u201d bowls were played on New Year\u2019s Day. I read that there are now 35 bowl games which begin play in mid-December and continue through early January.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The University of Alabama has played in the most (57) bowl games and Nebraska holds the record for the longest consecutive streak of bowl game appearances with 35 straight from 1969 to 2005. Oklahoma is the only team that has appeared in all five of the BCS bowl games.
So that\u2019s it for college football for this year \u2014 on to the Super Bowl.\u00a0
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before I get off this football kick I\u2019ve been on lately, I thought we should talk a little more about\u00a0bowl games. I remember as a kid, looking forward to the bowl games. A trip to a bowl game was \u201cearned,\u201d … Continue reading