Prepare for a 'back in my day' rant

The older I get, the more I utter a similar phrase - like "I remember when" or "back in the day." Sometimes I feel like Dana Carvey's 'Grumpy Old Man' character. "In my day, the girls didn't wear underwear made of strings. They wore big, white bloomers that covered them from head to toe. And we liked it!"

For today's installment of 'remember when' I turn to college football.

Remember when the only college football bowl games were played on New Year's Day?

Now, there are way, way too many bowl games and most of them are played anywhere between Thanksgiving and like, mid-January. It used to be just the Fiesta, Orange, Sun, Cotton, Gator, Rose and Sugar Bowls. Then the bowls started to 'run out of money' so they needed sponsors to bankroll them. So, you started getting the 'Federal Express Orange Bowl' or the 'Tostitos Fiesta Bowl' and stuff like that.

That led to shit like the 'Chick-fil-A Bowl'. Never heard of Chick-fil-A? Neither have I. I think they're a fast food chain or something. Not McDonalds, or Burger King or some other established fast food chain. WTF?
Of course, there's the Outback Bowl (named after the mediocre restaurant chain).

Here are a few others, "The Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl" and the "Meineke Car Care Bowl." So do the winners of this one get coupons for free oil changes? There's the "San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl." I kid you not.

I count a little over 30 bowls this holiday season. So that also means just about every college team in the nation gets to play in a bowl game. It used to be just the best teams got in. Now, apparently all a team needs is to have an above .500 record.

Happy New Year, y'all