By Donald Willis
The college football regular season came to an end on Saturday December 3, 2011 with lasting images of the blue football field at Boise State to high-stepping band at Mississippi Valley. Another season of gloom and doom, highs and lows and scandals has ended for now.
It’s been an embarrassing season with the Penn State child molestation case, the death of a Florida A&M band member due to hazing and injuries of several Oklahoma State students’ bedlam after a victory against arch rival Oklahoma. Those who really enjoy coaching the game and the fans who can’t wait for the next tailgating party will be taking a back seat for a couple of weeks until the bowl season starts.
Schools and conferences or on life support because their season is predicated on getting into a bowl game. For five weeks the payout for 36 bowls games will exceed 300 million dollars and the Wall Street sum of 48 million dollars will be going to LSU and Alabama, members of the SEC (Southeastern Athletic Conference) that have had a school in the big game for the last five years.
Yes, over 150 millions dollars for the SEC to recruit the best athletes in America and pay coaches like Alabama coach Nick Saban 5.5 million including bonuses for the 2011-2012 season and another $700,000 if he beats LSU on January 9 in New Orleans.
The pundits have been crying for a playoff system for college football and enlisted President Obama for his two cents in 2008 when three teams had viable claim to be crown number one.
The monies from the TV networks, corporate sponsors and a big recruiting tool to showcase the best high school athletes the stage they’ll be playing on. Thirty-six bowls games are on the docket and the NCAA is still accepting applications from companies who want to puts its name on a bowl game or enhance its branding image. There are few rules to enforce when teams are invited to bowl games because the teams and conferences have shined its bowling ball and put on the bowling shoes to knock down the necessary pins of millions of dollars to deposit into its program.
Even Penn State with all of its drama missed out on three bowls totaling 7 millions dollars but will receive 1.1million for playing in the Ticket City Bowl in Dallas on January 2. That’s a lot of money for a school whose head coach denied that he new anything about Jerry Sandusky molesting kids. That million dollars should me donated to a charity or organization for abused children.
The NCAA turns the other cheeks when the bowling alleys of lucrative bowls games become ATM machines for its institutions where value and integrality is supposedly taught.
You can listen to Donald ’Spider’ Willis each Sunday from 7:00pm to 9:00pm on the Fishbowl Radio Network.com. For topics or opinions you can call 469 335 6668 or email dwillisdw@yahoo.com
