stupid-crap
Right: One the fruits of this week's "Virginia Tech" googlestalking.
First there was the Rose. At this point let's not pretend like this wasn't a marketing ploy because the entire point of the Rose Bowl was to prove to skeptical Easterners that it really is sunny and 70 in January in Pasadena. But at some point the marketing went from "come see our lovely town" to how much can we annoy you. This is where I come in. I carry a keyboard.
When there were fewer bowls the funny names were okay, especially when they matched the local industry. The Citrus and Tangerine and Orange and Gator screamed Florida. The Peach was very Georgia. The Liberty Bowl at least began in Philly and had a logo of the Liberty Bell. The Refrigerator Bowl was in the Refrigerator Capital of the World—if you knew where that was you could place the bowl game.
With naming rights to bowls now going for less than Pryor made in extra benefits (oh snap!) it is time to revolt.
This should have been done before a company called Mine-hickey Care Bear or some such sullied one "hallowed" bowl with that name, let alone its second (map by Hinton):
Going with this week's theme of whining about things that will never happen, here's my plea to readers and bloggers alike for dealing with the billions of bad names and barnacle-like corporate monikers affixing themselves to your bowls.
Why care? Without getting into the mercenary finances of the bowls I don't care that companies buy naming rights. I care that they are very bad at it, and that this makes the bowlscape very unhelpful. It is not my intent to restrict or confine or dictate language. I'm just tired of having to Google where the Maaco Bowl is.
Just Add 'Bowl': Rose. Orange. Sugar. Fiesta. Cotton (no need to add "classic"). Liberty. Holiday. Alamo. Gator. Sun. Poinsettia. Oh they all have title sponsors who've tried to affix their names but you can pretty safely ignore them, especially since the sponsorships almost never last more than half a decade or so.
Fine with the Sponsor: Fight Hunger (leave out Kraft, it's an image wash anyway). Outback. Y'know what, "Hall of Fame" bowl in its day never really impressed me. On the other hand Outback Steakhouse did the sponsorship thing right by not adding the extra two syllables, allowing the bowl to evoke the Aussie desert instead of a restaurant that doesn't believe anything could be over-salted. I don't know what Tampa, FL, has to do with interior Australia but for some reason this doesn't bother me at all. Board? Hall of Fame or Outback for this one?
Never Change: Peach. Tangerine. Citrus. Copper. The chicken guys are insidious. Watch this logo progression (thanks Chris Creamer):
It ate the whole peach!
The Tangerine is now called the Champs Sports Bowl and was a zillion other things too but it's easy to remember as the Tangerine because it's still the other Orlando bowl after the Citrus. As for the Citrus itself, until such time as Capital One casts Michigan State in one of their marauding commercials, then has them sack a dorm while Kirk Cousins turns to the camera and says "what's in YOUR wallet?" this should always remain the Citrus. The Copper Bowl is the one that's now in Tempe and used to be in Tucson. It's been the "Insight" for a time but I can't stand .com names.*
What Was Wrong With the Old One? Pop quiz hot-shot: where was the Aloha Bowl (1982-'00)? Oh you guessed it. It was obvious. So why is it now the Hawai'i Bowl? By the way it was the Pineapple Bowl from '39 to '51, and the Poi Bowl from '35 to '38. Amazing that this bowl's predecessors go all the way back to when the BCS bowls were starting up.
Use the City: Virtually all of the rest of them. There is no way you should be responsible for remembering what bowl is currently the Franklin American Mortgage Company Bowl. Call it Music City or Nashville. The one in Mobile is Mobile. The one in Birmingham is Birmingham. Las Vegas. Detroit (or Motor City). Boise (you can call this one Potato if you like). New Orleans II. New Mexico. Tampa II (the one they're now calling Beef 'O' Babies or something, and is in St. Petersburg. So Tampa. Tampa II. Like the defense). Charlotte (the old Continental Ire, then Mein Kitty Carb Scare Bowl, now Belk). The "Armed Forces" and "Military" Bowls are currently battling it out to see which one can be the most Captain America:
…but until that is settled you are not going to remember which one is in Ft. Worth and which one is in D.C. So they're D.C. and Fort Worth ("Dallas III" gets confusing with the Cotton Bowl and Cotton II both in the tri-city area).
Special Cases: The "Pinstripe" Bowl can be that or the Bronx Bowl, or the one they're playing in Yankee Stadium. The bowl that's moved into the old Cotton Bowl is best referred to as Cotton II (not Ticketcity)
If you're in need of non-sullied bowl logos, the following is a collection of such created by bloggers (except the Rose: a Rose is a Rose).
----------------------------------------
* Unless you guys want to take up a fund to start the MGoBlog.com Bowl. But then we'd just call it the MGoBowl. Man who do we invite? I mean after Slippery Rock.
----------------------------------------
UPDATE: Handy Chart.
| They Call It | You Call It | Started | Location | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alamo Bowl | Alamo | 1993 | San Antonio, TX | $2,250,000 |
| Armed Forces Bowl | Fort Worth | 2003 | University Park, TX | $750,000 |
| BBVA Compass Bowl | Birmingham | 2006 | Birmingham, AL | $1,000,000 |
| Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl | Tampa II | 2008 | St. Petersburg, FL | $1,000,000 |
| Belk Bowl | Charlotte | 2002 | Charlotte, NC | $1,000,000 |
| Capital One Bowl | Citrus | 1946 | Orlando, FL | $4,250,000 |
| Champs Sports Bowl | Tangerine | 1990 | Orlando, FL | $2,125,000 |
| Chick-fil-A Bowl | Peach | 1968 | Atlanta, GA | $3,350,000 |
| Cotton Bowl Classic | Cotton | 1936 | Dallas (Arlington), TX | $6,750,000 |
| Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Boise | 1997 | Boise, ID | $750,000 |
| Fiesta Bowl | Fiesta | 1971 | Glendale, AZ | $18,000,000 |
| Gator Bowl | Gator | 1945 | Jacksonville, FL | $2,500,000 |
| GoDaddy.com Bowl | Mobile | 1999 | Mobile, AL | $750,000 |
| Hawaiʻi Bowl | Hawai'i or Aloha | 2002 | Honolulu, HI | $750,000 |
| Holiday Bowl | Holiday | 1978 | San Diego, CA | $1,000,000 |
| Independence Bowl | Independence | 1976 | Shreveport, LA | $1,100,000 |
| Insight Bowl | Copper | 1989 | Tempe, AZ | $1,200,000 |
| Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl | San Fran or Fight Hunger | 2002 | San Francisco, CA | $825,000 |
| Liberty Bowl | Liberty | 1959 | Memphis, TN | $1,350,000 |
| Little Caesars Pizza Bowl | Detroit or Motor City | 1997 | Detroit, MI | $750,000 |
| Maaco Bowl Las Vegas | Las Vegas | 1992 | Las Vegas, NV | $1,000,000 |
| Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas | Houston | 2006 | Houston, TX | $1,700,000 |
| Military Bowl | D.C. | 2008 | Washington, DC | $1,000,000 |
| Music City Bowl | Music City or Nashville | 1998 | Nashville, TN | $1,700,000 |
| New Mexico Bowl | New Mexico | 2006 | Albuquerque, NM | $750,000 |
| New Orleans Bowl | New Orleans | 2001 | New Orleans, LA | $325,000 |
| Orange Bowl | Orange | 1934 | Miami Gardens, FL | $18,000,000 |
| Outback Bowl | Outback | 1986 | Tampa, FL | $3,400,000 |
| Pinstripe Bowl | Bronx | 2010 | Bronx, NY | $2,000,000 |
| Poinsettia Bowl | Poinsettia | 2005 | San Diego, CA | $750,000 |
| Rose Bowl Game | Rose | 1901 | Pasadena, CA | $18,000,000 |
| Sugar Bowl | Sugar | 1934 | New Orleans, LA | $18,000,000 |
| Sun Bowl | Sun | 1934 | El Paso, TX | $1,900,000 |
| TicketCity Bowl | Cotton II | 2010 | Dallas, TX | $1,200,000 |
93