How Well Do You Know Your Bowls?
Published on 9-Dec-2014 by Alan Adamsson
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Never underestimate the lure of wearing the blazer and holding the drink.
It's now bowl season, and beyond the hype of the big-brand fest that is the College Football Playoffs, there's a legion of self-perceived VIPs and wannabes out there who have succumbed to the temptation.
35 sets of them, in fact, not counting the Rose and Sugar semi-final events and the marble-grabber on Mon 12 Jan.
Who'da thought that all this ersatz prestige would arise from such humble beginnings?
OK, so this footage was actually from an ersatz bowl, a 1950 flakefest featuring Ohio State and Michigan in their version of the Snow Bowl. Despite completing no passes and converting no first downs -- there were 45 punts in all -- the Wolverines prevailed, 9-3, which was good enough to get the Buckeye coach fired, whereupon they then hired some dude from Miami of Ohio named Woody Hayes.
While that one only highlighted a necessary culture of shovels, bowls have grown into a focal point for attracting tourist dosh and, of course, commercial benefactors. However, with such a large menu -- and many of them side dishes -- the supply of national sponsors can't possibly cover them all.
So the call goes out to local and obscure outfits that may be enticed by their moment in a nationwide spotlight but are enthralled to be lionized by the crowd that wears the blazer and holds the drink.
This results in a brace of funky names for bowl games, which in turn gives fans a shot at showing they can tell which are real and which should be real. Give it a go by clicking below:
Scoring:
- 20-21 correct ... You must either be media or unemployed and living in someone's basement
- 17-20 correct ... You must not power down on the nachos and wings and/or appreciate the local talent at nearby tables during the commercial breaks.
- 14-16 correct ... You have downloaded more apps than you know what to do with.
- 11-13 correct ... You will never, ever be a designated driver.
- 10 or less correct ... Welcome to the USA. We hope you have come in peace.
Click on a photo to enlarge.
