November 28, 2006
It’s Official: Emerald (Fundraising) Bowl vs 6-6 Florida State
It’s official. We are playing 6-6 Florida State in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco on December 27, 2006. Woohooo!! Two storied programs scrounging in the garbage heap of bowl games for respect and revenues after horrible seasons.  Boosters, please send your money … we made it to a bowl game again!
Check out the type of marketing the Emerald Bowl people are resorting to …
“The Bruins bring great tradition and the nation’s second-largest media market. To be able to match UCLA against Florida State in the first year of our ACC vs. Pac-10 match-up is a dream come true for our game.”
Huh?! We bring “the nation’s second-largest media market?!” Damn we’re good. The “great tradition” they refer to is that we are “another of the premier programs in the country” and that we are one of “the nation’s best bowl teams.” It’s tough to hype two 6-6 teams so you can’t fault their marketing staff … it’s the bowl system that tries to squeeze as much out of alumni as they can by making sure there are enough bowl games so that every average team can get in on the action.
They continue with their marketing of UCLA by praising KD because he was a member of 5 teams that won bowl games. Yeah, imagine an ad for that on TV. Are they serious?? They are also hyping the fact that UCLA became “bowl eligible” with an “impressive victory” over ASU, another “bowl eligible” team. What was impressive about that game?? Worse yet, they are hyping the fact that we “took Notre Dame to the wire.”Â
Allow schools to exploit their loyal and passionate fans by setting up these ridiculous fundraising and marketing events masquarading as football games between 6-6 powerhouses and this is what you get. And it builds on itself - they are even praising the fact that KD has taken UCLA to four bowls in four seasons. 2 of those seasons were 6-7 and 6-6, and we are about to have a third 6-6. Name one other sport that parades million-dollar-plus a year failed coaches in this way?? Â
Look, what Bruin fan doesn’t like the idea of playing Florida State in a bowl game?! It sounds good because of the history of FSU. But this game is still between two 6-6 teams (we are sticking with our prediction for Saturday but want to be proven wrong), and if it weren’t for us being one of them you would not watch it. Sorry, we think it’s stupid. We will watch it like we watch a car wreck, morbid fascination.
On another note … Maybe we are missing something, but why do they have a picture of Marshawn Lynch of Cal on the front page of the bowl website?? Did someone screw up?
1 Comment on It’s Official: Emerald (Fundraising) Bowl vs 6-6 Florida State
November 29, 2006
Scott Bilo @ 6:30 pm:
I have been a Bruin fan for most of my life. I have been disgusted for going on 2 decades now. This program has shown a commitment to mediocrity when it comes to football. Simply making a bowl game just does not cut it in the BCS world. If your conference raises the bar by helping to create a monster such as the BCS, you are forced by the nature of your environment to raise the bar as well. UCLA football has not done this.
I remember when Terry Donahue was our coach, and the talk every year was about simply winning the conference and playing in the Rose Bowl. That was enough. I always wondered why there was never any talk of taking it up a notch to talk about competing for a national title. That talk has always existed at USC.
This program is light years away. Until Dan Guerrero, whom I think has done a very good job overall, starts treating this team with the respect that basketball has regained after years of mistreatment, the team will never rise to the competition.
We might as well get more used to being mentioned in the circles of Rice, Wyoming, or Utah State. That is becoming the quality of our program. It’s pathetic.
I won’t be watching the USC debacle. I won’t be paying attention to the Emerald joke. I am done. I am finished. Until someone can be hired to make an impact at UCLA, and they stop hiring these clowns to nurse along the commitment to mediocrity, I have nothing left to give, no time left to commit. almost 30 years of my life is just too much.
Thank God for UCLA basketball.