Monday, December 31, 2007

The Rose Bowl & Tradition

In his most recent biased opinion, Golden objects to language used by Brent Mush-burger in promo for the upcoming USC slaughter of Illinois: "The Rose Bowl. The way it was meant to be. Pac 10. Big 10".
To Golden this promo, which he surmises was written by the Tournament of Roses people, is a slap in the face to all other football fans:

"...the Rose Bowl apparently believes that only Pac-10 and Big Ten teams and fans can appreciate the pageantry of the Rose Parade and the beauty of the area. Yokels from Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, or Missouri need not apply."


First off, he should know better than to take any bowl hype seriously. This game has few selling points other than tradition, so ABC is trying to play up that angle. Secondly, there are plenty of fans who remember the old days of the bowl system with some fondness (myself included). Doesn't mean we don't appreciate different match ups, or want a real postseason, it's just that there is something special about Big Ten/Pac Ten Rose Bowls. It's the same with the Sugar Bowl and the SEC. Was Georgia the best at-large team? If the Sugar had selected West Virginia or Virginia Tech, don't you think that the SEC slappies would have been howling? The bowl system is imperfect, and outside of the championship game, each of the bowls has to do whatever they can to market their match up. Appealing to people's fondness for yesteryear is one way to do that.