The Prestige

The sheer number of bowl games has begun to wear on me. Don't get me wrong, I'll be doing my very best to watch every moment of the best and most most exciting, but I'm still feeling like there is no way for me to keep up.
I should preface this by acknowledging that the two college football teams that I follow most closely, Cal and Colorado, finished their seasons with the same record: six wins and six losses. Cal's year ended as a major letdown to what had once been hopes for a national championship. Colorado exceeded expectations, and even managed to pull off a couple of impressive upsets, beating the dreaded red teams of Oklahoma and Nebraska. Meanwhile, Cal finished with a loss to their arch rival and red-clad Stanford. They won as many as they lost. Pretty good, right?
Okay, they did pretty good. But did they deserve a bowl game? The discussion at the end of the season is all about becoming "bowl eligible". What about "bowl worthy"? There are thirty-two college bowl games this year, and there are one hundred and twenty Division 1 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams. That means that sixty-four (more than half) of the teams in Division 1 FBS will play in a bowl game. This nominal reward has become more of an obligatory extra game for all but the lowest of the low. The prestige is on a par of getting an invitation to the class Valentine's Day party. Didn't everybody?
It's not a playoff system, though many would love to see this wrinkle added to the computer-based and still mostly objective Bowl Championship Series. The rewards for playing pretty well can be great big checks for your university, plus national television exposure for some teams who can usually only be found on your AM radio dial. That and a nice patch on your jersey that says "Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl". Again, for the record, Colorado lost the Petro Sun Independence Bowl to Alabama 24-30, and Cal won Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl defeating Air Force (the team, not the actual armed service) 42-36. That was a couple of days ago. the last bowl game will take place on Monday night, featuring two teams, with three losses between them, for the elusive and speculative National Championship. Will I be watching? I'm not sure I could look away.