College Football - Where the $$$ Is

Obama ought to be looking at Big Time College Football for a source of tax revenue.  If he wants to soak the rich, that'd be a great place to start.

Time for my annual rant against the money in college football.  Here's a list of the 35 bowl games we are going to be subjected to this season:

Gildjan New Mexico Bowl
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl
R-L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Maaco Las Vegas Bowl
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl
Military Bowl Presented by Northrup-Grumman
Belk Bowl
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl
Advocare V100 Independence Bowl
Russell Athletic Bowl
Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
New Era Pinstripe Bowl
Valero Alamo Bowl
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
Hyundai Sun Bowl
Autozone Liberty Bowl
Chick-Fil-A Bowl
Heart of Dallas Bowl
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl
Capital One Bowl
OUtback Bowl
Rose Bowl Presented by Visio
Discover Orange Bowl
Allstate Sugar Bowl
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
AT&T Cotton Bowl
BBVA Compass Bowl
Godaddy.com Bowl
Discover BCS National Championship

Notice that EVERY single one of them has sold the naming rights to their 'bowl' to a corporation.  Big money in those rights, to be certain.  There are many of these bowls that would not, could not exist if it were not for those named sponsors. 

I remember back when any bowl game that wasn't played on Jan. 1 was a sideshow, not to be taken seriously.  There weren't many of them, maybe one around Christmas day, and one or two on Dec. 31 - but you never watched them unless your team happened to be unlucky enough to be stuck in one.  Now, there are so many of them it is impossible to keep up.  35 games, 70 teams.  That's right 70 teams are playing in bowls this year. 12 of those teams had .500 records, and one even had a losing record!

It's all about money, of course.  The individuals who put on the bowls want to get rich.  The colleges want to bring in money for their football programs (and rest assured, all of it will go into the football program, and nowhere else).  The host cities for the bowls are counting on the local economy getting an influx of money from the schumcks coming in to see the game.


And as a related, parting shot, I have to mention the winner of the 'Weasel of the Year' Award, sponsored by a major feminine hygeiene product.  That distinguished person is Tommy Tuberville, who took millions of dollars to 'coach' the Texas Tech Red Raiders over the past 3 years.  Tommy Tuberville, whose coaching philosophy was '2 yard run right ... 2 yard run left ... 2 yard run up the middle ... punt'.  Tommy Tuberville, whose biggest moment in Lubbock was getting caught on national TV slapping one of his student coordinators on the sideline.  Tommy Tuberville, whose departure from Tech occurred not in a news conference, where he would have thanked the University and the people of Lubbock for their wonderful support, BUT INSTEAD chose to excuse himself for a bathroom break in the middle of a dinner being held for football recruits, and was never to be seen in Lubbock again.  Way to go, douchebag!  Way to be a professional!  Sure hope you have a really successful run in Cincinnatti!  (Man, I sure feel sorry for the people of Ohio ...)




And, (with apologies for the obvious) Mack Brown, leader of the mighty TU Steers, reacts to the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury as Tech's new Head Coach ...





Related topic - There is a never ending discussion regarding whether college football players should be paid to play.  The arguments pretty much center around how much money they make for the football program (note, I did not say the university).  Well, they do get paid - at least those who receive a scholarship.  A 4 year free ride in exchange for playing football could be worth anywhere from $50,000 to $400,000, depending on the school and state residence status of the student.  That's a pretty good salary for someone in their late 'teens. 

Now, if the student athlete wastes that free ride, and gets a degree in pottery, or no degree at all, that's their fault for wasting the money and the opportunity.

Related topic - big school college football coashes are paid too damn much money.  When I read that Mack Brown gets 6-7 million a year for standing on TU's sideline, it steams me.  Why does a SCHOOL need to waste that kind of money on a FOOTBALL COACH?

Update - Figures just released show that schools who are in the BCS spend an average of more than $100,000 per student athlete for their 4 year 'education'.  This is 6 to 12 times what is spent on normal students.  The biggest variance is in, surpriuse, the schools of the SEC, which spends an average of $163,000 per athlete, while only spending $13,390 for students.