Finally, the college football

post-season bowl conglomeration has come to an end.

I was sitting in front of the

television at Cape San Blas, Fla., cheering and jeering as Oklahoma and

Florida State battled for the National Championship (so-called) in the

FedEx Orange Bowl.

What's with this FedEx thing,

anyhow? I remember when the Orange Bowl was just the Orange Bowl, not

a patsy for a commercial plug for a multinational corporation. All of

the bowl games these days, it seems, have been given over to corporate

prostitution. For shame.

The mighty and once hallowed

Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and Rose Bowl all have sold out to corporate

greed and sponsorship just as surely as NASCAR has. I keep expecting to

see an STP decal on a quarterback's helmet any day now. But at least the

games are still pretty exciting.

In the Orange Bowl (I refuse

to dignify the harlotry by including the corporate sponsors) Oklahoma,

12 wins and 0 losses, tangled with last years' national champ, 11-1 Florida

State. In the Sugar Bowl, The University of Florida, 10-2, went to battle

with the University of Miami who, at 10-1, hoped to claim a portion of

the national title.

The ancient Rose Bowl featured

the 11-1 University of Washington butting heads with 8-3 Purdue. And,

with a combined total of six losses, Tennessee (8-3) fought Kansas State

(10-3) in the Cotton Bowl.

Even the Gator Bowl had two

reasonably good teams with 10-1 Virginia Tech playing 9-2 Clemson. But

from there it all went downhill in a hurry.

At least 19 (I repeat, 19!)

other so-called bowl games were a part of the end-of-season offering.

Among them were the Independence Bowl, the Citrus Bowl, the Outback Bowl,

the Holiday Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the Sun Bowl, the Liberty Bowl, the

Music City Bowl, the Blue-Gray Classic, the Las Vegas Bowl, the Oahu Bowl,

the Motor City Bowl, the Humanitarian Bowl, the Mobile Alabama Bowl, and

the Aloha Bowl (which as far as I can tell by the fans in the stands went

virtually unattended). Did any team in America NOT get to play in a bowl

game?

But what, pray tell, what in

the name of Knute Rockne is the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl? I kid you not;

there is such a bowl game. In fact, two teams who were barely over .500,

East Carolina (7-4) and Texas tech (7-5), played in this classic of a

game in Houston. Between them, these two mediocre teams lost 9 games prior

to the "bowl" game.

Then there was the Silicon

Valley Classic (the geek bowl?) featuring Fresno State (7-4) vs. Air Force

(8-3).

There was also the Insight.com

Bowl at Phoenix where Pittsburgh (7-4) encountered Iowa State (8-3).

But the real stinker of a match-up

has to be in the Micronpc.com Bowl in Miami where Minnesota, a team with

a barely winning record at six wins and five losses, met up with North

Carolina State who won seven and lost four.

What do the fans cheer in these

games? Perhaps it's, "We stink less than you! Go team!" Or maybe,

"We're number 103, we're number 103!"

Once upon a time, the really

good teams, those who were undefeated or maybe those with one, at most

two, losses, went to the post-season bowls in the hope of besting another

good team. Once upon a time, attendance at a bowl game was an honor reserved

for the best of all the major college teams. But now, a 6-5 team can meet

another not-quite-putrid team in an advertising gimmick masquerading as

a "bowl game."

Who wants to tell their grandchildren,

"Yup, I played with Raccoon State (5-5-1) in the Friends and Lovers

Massage Parlor.com Bowl in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., when we whipped the mighty

powerhouse, Green Pond Scum College (5-5-2)"? It just ain't right.

Here's my suggestion: All you

teams who lose more than two games during the regular season STAY HOME!