The Much-Hyped Tampa II Bowl
For anyone who needs a football game tonight and is forced to settle with this one. Florida International versus Marshall....yeah, I know....Thundering Herd and Panthers. It's a natural combination.
Incidentally, Craig James was supposed to do this game, but his run for the Senate has intervened, I believe...or finding more hookers to kill. It's one of these.
ADDENDUM: Thanks for the title edit, mod gods. Apologies for the length.
December 20th, 2011 at 7:55 PM ^
Are they in the same conference yet? I feel like next year I will be reading some of the lineups midseason and think I'm reading about bowl games. Yes, San Diego State vs. UConn really matches up some old foes with geographic and academic rivalries to boot!
December 20th, 2011 at 7:58 PM ^
I live some what close to Marshall so I pull for them sometimes. A great party school but jeebus Huntington has went to shit over the last 10 years!
December 20th, 2011 at 7:57 PM ^
Tuesday night mid-December bowl games . . . the sludge at the bottom of the barrel.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:01 PM ^
Yeah but at least there are 150,000 people at the game, allowing each team to rake in over $10 million dollars, supporting not only the entire athletic department, but also funding academic scholarships and changing lives in the process.
....wait, why would you agree to play in a bowl game who's name sounds like a crappy 70s porno and you''ll probably lose money? Thank Gawsh Dave Brandon was a CEO and understands this complicated "profit/loss" idea better than the majority of bowl eligible schools.
December 20th, 2011 at 7:58 PM ^
I'll be watching Mission Impossible 4 instead. The next two days have some fairly decent games though. TCU and Boise, teams I love to root against so I'll have have some rooting interest at least.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:00 PM ^
Doesn't Boise play ASU or someone like that? I'm not sure rooting against BSU will do much good, they'll probably slaughter Arizona State.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:28 PM ^
I can still have hope though, right?
December 21st, 2011 at 1:43 AM ^
The classic example was the 1999 Kansas State team. Going into the B12 Championship game, KSU was undefeated and likely heading to the BCS Natl Champ game. But they lost 36-33, and because the KSU fan base is tiny, they fell all the way to the Alamo Bowl.
Where they were upset by a happy-to-be-there unranked Purdue team.
December 20th, 2011 at 7:59 PM ^
I'm not sure what's worse - the fact that there's a bowl called the Beef O'Brady's Bowl or that a 6-6 Conference USA team makes a bowl. Man has this gotten way outta hand.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:02 PM ^
I created it for the game, but there's also the overarching point of why .500 teams are in bowl games that are clearly created for the also-rans so that they don't feel so bad about themselves....
December 20th, 2011 at 8:05 PM ^
It's a symptom of the "Participation Award Generation." Everyone needs to feel special and be reminded they are a princess who deserves better at least twelve times a day.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:08 PM ^
Did something unfortunate happen in your childhood?
December 20th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^
No.
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Just kidding MGoBlog community, all in good fun.
Not talking to you Diabeetusss, I poured 53 Pixie Sticks into your dinner earlier tonight.
December 21st, 2011 at 1:13 AM ^
I think the bowls are not actually a symptom of the participation generation; they are a symptom of people wanting to make money. People being those putting on the bowls, their sponsors, etc. The NCAA didn't mind; teams didn't mind for awhile- hey, the coach could say "we went to a bowl game," etc. But yeah, it's really just about money at this point, and a lot of the schools lose it, but the host city and usually connected people see tangible financial benefit. The Fiesta Bowl is most egregious example (I think) of this last point.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:25 PM ^
This isn't true at all. The bowls don't exist to "make kids feel special." They exist because people are willing to watch them so they make money.
December 20th, 2011 at 10:03 PM ^
"Everyone needs to feel special and be reminded they are a princess who deserves better at least twelve times a day."
I see you've met my daughter.
December 20th, 2011 at 10:07 PM ^
Mine is only five years old, but somehow, all discussions lead towards the acquisition of something (typically these Bamboletta dolls from Canada that my wife loves).
December 21st, 2011 at 1:45 AM ^
We got a standardized achievement test to either take or calibrate practically every year when I went to school. One year we were rewarded for calibrating the test by getting to not take one of our final exams. It was good practice for taking college and standardized exams.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:03 PM ^
I'm still waiting for the Cotton Bowl, brought to you by Maxi Pads.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:03 PM ^
The correct answer is Option C: the fact that a team that went 5-3 in the Sun Belt has to be dug up because a supposed autobid high-major conference couldn't even fill six bowl spots.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:01 PM ^
I'm pulling for FIU because they are my team to start dynasties with in NCAA. Ty Hilton should be fun to watch tho.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^
Try Wyoming or Idaho, much more difficult without the "Florida Pipeline" thing.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:30 PM ^
I have tried those teams in other years of the game. Me and my friend will play online dynasties and we try to make even teams. I had Wyoming and he had Idaho last yr. in this yrs game I was FIU and he was FAU.
December 20th, 2011 at 9:57 PM ^
Question: How is a suggestion about a video game flamebait? I might speak my mind at times and people might not like what I have to say, but to corrupt the community standards to attack a poster, rather than a post is childish and I would expect more of Michigan Men.
December 21st, 2011 at 1:15 AM ^
Chill, Chet. Chill. . . Chet. People can be childish- it's the internet.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:16 PM ^
This is the first time since the 2003 version of NCAA that I didn't buy it. I found myself playing less and less the last couple games, so I took a break this time. I will get 2013 though. Denard is going to be even better and Michigan overall will be better.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:22 PM ^
At this point I don't think it's worth it to buy it more than every other year.
December 20th, 2011 at 9:35 PM ^
I will probably do that going forward. Instead of buying NCAA last Summer, I bought Tiger Woods 12 and NHL 11. I played those quite a bit for a few months, but haven't played much lately. I am more into games like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed. Sports games are fun, but not as good as COD or AC (and many others).
December 20th, 2011 at 11:14 PM ^
Denard and Co. will be the team to play with in that game. He is going to be unstoppable and Toussaint will be much higher rated than this years game.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:02 PM ^
it was the Beef O' Lloyd Brady Bowl.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^
TY GoodBye
December 20th, 2011 at 8:05 PM ^
I will gamble on it and watch it like the Super Bowl. FIU -4.5
(Anything - Craig James) >>>>
December 20th, 2011 at 8:14 PM ^
This is why I wish I could gamble. I'm always interested in watching college games, but I'm sure having money on games makes it even more fun. I just don't have the balls to gamble and I fear I would do it a lot if I get into doing it on a normal basis.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:07 PM ^
Pulling for Marshall because they win one of my tiebreakers between teams I don't care about: they're the old-school-er team.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:17 PM ^
I'm not going to post this.
Oh, the hell I'm not!
Hmmm, embed fail, so http://www.twitpic.com/7t6s9k/full
December 20th, 2011 at 8:10 PM ^
This game is going to be worse than the food at Beef O' Brady's
December 20th, 2011 at 8:11 PM ^
This is more people than I have EVER seen at a Rays game, and the Rays have played games that sort of mattered.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:12 PM ^
I'll take college football any way I can and will definitely watch this. You never know, as it could be entertaining.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:13 PM ^
a bowl game would let "Beef O Brady" sponsor it. We should seriously look into how much it would cost to have mgoblog sponsor a bowl game.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^
towards making that happen.
December 20th, 2011 at 9:24 PM ^
It would be Slippery Rock vs. SEC #6
December 20th, 2011 at 8:13 PM ^
If I have this right, Beef O'Brady's is a less fun (no hard liquor) version of Bennigan's? I don't think I've even been to a Bennigan's...
December 20th, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^
So wait, Beef O'Brady's is a restaurant? Where? Nowhere I've ever been to, I guess. When I saw that bowl I wondered what a Beef O'Brady's was. I also didn't know a Bennigan's could get less fun.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:29 PM ^
It's primarily in the Southeast. I had to look it up myself. No hard liquor. The menu is very generic American, just the decor is Irish. There are so many things wrong with this chain.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:31 PM ^
There is one in Shelby Township, somewhere along 23 Mile.
The one I went to was in North Carolina. Decent beer selection. The food...well, Charlotte has a few Wendy's drive-ins too.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^
It's best described as a poor man's BW3
December 20th, 2011 at 8:33 PM ^
When the food looks bad even on the website, it does not bode well for the food you'll be served at the restaurant.
December 20th, 2011 at 8:34 PM ^
Wow, so we now have a less-fun Bennigan's that is also a poor-man's BW3. All I need to here now is that it's a chintzier Applebee's and I'm there. This is like anti-Fred Jacksoning.
December 20th, 2011 at 9:57 PM ^
This restaurant neatly summarizes all the reasons I only eat at hole-in-the-wall places.