Travesty.

Take a look at this bowl schedule. Nevermind the sheer number of bowl games, or the product tie-ins and sponsorships, and cast your eyes towards the bottom of the schedule. Anything pop out at you? Look out of place?

THERE ARE NO GAMES ON NEW YEAR'S DAY!!!!

Yes I know that New Year's falls on a Sunday, but that's never stopped things before; I distinctly remember the Rose Bowl being played on a Sunday while the Tournament of Roses parade was held on Monday a few years back. For the life of me I cannot understand what is happening here; it was bad enough when they decided to make the national championship game on 2 Jan. instead of the First of the year, just to bump up the ratings. Then it was 3 Jan., then 4 Jan., then last year the Humanitarian Bowl was played after the BCS title game.

The best idea I ever heard for college football was to make the regular season end on the first Sat. in December with the conference title games and Army-Navy. The next weekend you start an eight-team tournament at the sites of the higher-seeded schools, with the losers in those games slotted into the Sugar and Fiesta Bowls while the winners went to neutral NFL sites (such as Giants Stadium or Arrowhead) for the national semifinals the next weekend. (And while we're on the subject, is there not a cooler term in all of sports than 'national semifinal'? I consider it one of the reasons why the NCAA basketball tournament is so very special, but I digress.) The two teams that lose in the semis would then play in the Orange Bowl, while the national championship would be in the Rose Bowl, every year, starting at 4pm PST on New Year's Day.

Would it be perfect? Hell no. But in the California sunshine, after that glorious parade, who the hell would care?