Tuesday, November 27, 2007
"THE MUFFLER"
There are at least 32 college football bowl games between December 20th and January 7th.As a sports fan, I will care about the traditional bowls, the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange, and of course, the BCS championship game.
And this year, I will have interest in something called the Meineke Car Care Bowl, in Charlotte on December 29th.
That’s what the UConn Huskies will be playing in. I’m calling it “The Muffler.”
Coach Randy Edsall says it’s a great reward for the kids on his team.
My friend Kevin Nathan tells me it’s a good recruiting tool for coaches to tell prospects, “We went to a bowl,” and the school will get a nice payday out of it (reportedly $750,000).
Good thing, because UConn committed to buying 12,500 tickets to The Muffler, worth about $650,000.
And they want to sell ‘em all, just to show bowl folks that the school “travels well,” meaning it will bring fans who will spend large amounts of money on hotels, restaurants, souvenirs and mufflers.
This is college football as big business, which it is (not counting the billions spent on illegal gambling).
A team only has to win 6 games to be “bowl eligible,” and with 32 bowls, nobody really cares who wins or loses most of them except for the teams involved, those who bet on them, and their fans.
And you can bet the business of college football will be put to the test for UConn between now and The Muffler when Randy Edsall starts getting offers from other schools. And make no mistake, he will.
He could go to a bigger program, he could go to a school close to his heart (Syracuse?), or he could cash in right where he is. Gotta strike while the iron’s hot, and despite the West Virginia game, Edsall’s hot.
That’s the business. Just look at the subject of the previous post.
Coach Houston Nutt (right) stepped down at Arkansas yesterday to save the state from “turmoil.” So he signed on at rival Mississippi LAST NIGHT!
It’s 451 miles between Fayetteville, Arkansas and Jackson, Mississippi, a 7.5 hour drive.
My friend Kevin Nathan tells me it’s a good recruiting tool for coaches to tell prospects, “We went to a bowl,” and the school will get a nice payday out of it (reportedly $750,000).
Good thing, because UConn committed to buying 12,500 tickets to The Muffler, worth about $650,000.
And they want to sell ‘em all, just to show bowl folks that the school “travels well,” meaning it will bring fans who will spend large amounts of money on hotels, restaurants, souvenirs and mufflers.
This is college football as big business, which it is (not counting the billions spent on illegal gambling).
A team only has to win 6 games to be “bowl eligible,” and with 32 bowls, nobody really cares who wins or loses most of them except for the teams involved, those who bet on them, and their fans.
And you can bet the business of college football will be put to the test for UConn between now and The Muffler when Randy Edsall starts getting offers from other schools. And make no mistake, he will.
He could go to a bigger program, he could go to a school close to his heart (Syracuse?), or he could cash in right where he is. Gotta strike while the iron’s hot, and despite the West Virginia game, Edsall’s hot.
That’s the business. Just look at the subject of the previous post.
Coach Houston Nutt (right) stepped down at Arkansas yesterday to save the state from “turmoil.” So he signed on at rival Mississippi LAST NIGHT!
It’s 451 miles between Fayetteville, Arkansas and Jackson, Mississippi, a 7.5 hour drive.
And you know, a guy could blow a muffler on the way.
Posted at 9:53 PM by Gerry
2 Comments:
Gerry, does that mean we have to listen to George Foreman doing the play by play?
He was a great foil for the rope-a-dope, but.....
Good memory! I forgot he was the pitchman for Meineke.
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