Bowl game blasphemy

Central Michigan and Troy are squaring off in the GMAC Bowl down in Mobile, Alabama as I write this. And it bugs me.

I have no issue with second and third tier bowl games, but for many decades the unwritten rule clearly stated that New Years was reserved for the upper echelon contests -- such as the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls -- while the also-rans would get their shot during mid to late December in low dollar match-ups that change corporate sponsors practically every year.

Played from December 19-27, the St. Petersburg Bowl presented by Beef 'O' Brady's, the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, and the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl are but three examples of post-season games that know their place. Yet in an apparent reach to seem more significant than they really are, the Papajohns.com, International, and GMAC bowls (played on January 2 and 6, respectively) have wedged themselves in with the big boys, and in doing so caused their bantam games to appear even more pedestrian than before.

Speaking of college football's "big boys," Forbes.com recently did a story about the 20 most valuable collegiate programs. Listed below is the ranking of each school, followed by the program's value (with profit margin in parenthesis).

1. Texas Longhorns -- $119 million ($59 million)
2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish -- $108 million ($38 million)
3. Pennsylvania State Nittany Lions -- $99 million ($50 million)
4. Nebraska Cornhuskers -- $93 million ($49 million)
5. Alabama Crimson Tide -- $92 million ($38 million)
6. Florida Gators -- $88 million ($41 million)
7. Louisiana State Tigers -- $86 million ($39 million)
8. Ohio State Buckeyes -- $85 million ($36 million)
9. Georgia Bulldogs -- $84 million ($45 million)
10. Oklahoma Sooners -- $83 million ($40 million)
11. Michigan Wolverines -- $81 million ($34 million)
12. South Carolina Gamecocks -- $80 million ($37 million)
13. Tennessee Volunteers -- $78 million ($29 million)
14. Auburn Tigers -- $70 million ($30 million)
15. Southern California Trojans -- $68 million ($33 million)
16. Michigan State Spartans -- $57 million ($28 million)
17. Arkansas Razorbacks -- $56 million ($20 million)
18. Texas A&M Aggies -- $52 million ($22 million)
19. Wisconsin Badgers -- $48 million ($17 million)
20. Oklahoma State Cowboys -- $47 million ($18 million)

Source: www.forbes.com/2009/12/22/most-vaulable-college-football-teams-business-sports-college-football.html