Posted on 12/27/2021 5:02:36 AM PST by Zakeet
The news comes out tonight the University of Miami will be unable to play in this year’s Sun Bowl. Originally, the plan was for UM to face Washington State. ... The team has said a significant number of players testing positive for COVID, but they initially planned to withhold from any of the ritual pre-game events in the days ahead. Despite hopes that enough players could be cleared by the New Year’s Eve kickoff, the school tonight declared this would not be a feasible goal.
[Snip]
An irony now arises, as more teams are technically eligible but there are fewer bowls becoming available. The big announcement came earlier this week when Texas A&M had to pull out of its appearance in the Gator Bowl, due to COVID causing a severe lack of players. Already affected by injuries and some transfers, the outbreak on the Aggies’ roster meant 40 players would not be available. Organizers had just enough time to scramble, and as a result, the game to be played against Wake Forest will now see that NCAA stipulation allowing for Rutgers to now participate in the game on December 31.
But now a mounting list of teams being similarly affected at such a late notice means outright cancellations are now happening. The December 27 Military Bowl has been scrapped, after Boston College announced it, too, has 40 players unable to play. The inaugural Fenway Bowl on the 29th is canceled, as the participating University of Virginia has been affected, meaning the rejuvenated program at SMU sees its second consecutive bowl appearance negated. Additionally, we recently saw the Hawaii Bowl get scrubbed on the 23rd, less than 24 hours before kickoff, as the home state university had to cancel and Memphis, as a result, is rewarded with a free tropical vacation.
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
Looks like those clot shots work !!
When big sports suffers in a big way, relief from the fearmongering will be on its way.
bump
We aren’t being told the truth... Again. These bowl games mean diddly squat to the seniors wrho are looking at the NFL draft in the very near future and don’t want to risk injury in a game that means pretty much nada. COVID might play a role in this, but opt-out, transfers and injuries play a way bigger part. You won’t see Michigan, Cincinnati, Georgia or ‘Bama cancel this for dang sure.
The real story is using COVID as a cover because of losses to the Transfer Portal, players opting out, and low interest from the fan bases for many of these bowls.
Hope the committees remember this next year when these teams are begging to be invited to a Bowl Game.
Tony could be one bored feline this Friday. He's had a forgettable stretch run of 2021 - first the Kellogg's strike (now over) and now maybe no Sun Bowl. This is not grrreat.
ff
Odd the non-playoff bowls and are seeing this. A&M players would have been recovered by now.
Would anyone care if they cancelled the NIT in college basketball? That’s pretty much how I feel about college bowl games these days.
“We aren’t being told the truth”
Probly something to that. We have Monoclonal antibody treatments in Florida. It’s Avery effective treatment...why didn’t the Miami team get that for at risk players.
Yep, I agree. Not that any of the bowls so far really matter, but when I tuned in a little the stands were nearly empty. It just looks bad, and if they're not selling tickets to fans what's the point.
And I think there are far too many bowls -- they've really watered down the enthusiasm with so many. Who wants to watch a bunch of 6-6 teams play each other?! They should cut 'em in half, at a minimum, and fill the New Years weekend with good games.
Meanwhile, they keep trying to come up with more ways to build resentment for those bad jab avoidant types. In MA, supposed Covid-related hospitalizations are right now at 55% of their peak a year ago: https://healthdata.gov/Hospital/COVID-US-Adult-Hospitalizations-by-state-/6ps2-ifta
Yet, MA has instituted a statewide suspension of all “non-essential, non-urgent surgeries”:
The heyday of the minor bowl games were the days when really solid teams would square off in an exciting bowl game in the weeks before the big New Year's Day bowls. Sometimes it was a rare opportunity for college football fans across the country to see military academies and minor conference champions on the field. Some of my favorite times as a football fan were those days in the 1980s and early 1990s watching the Liberty Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Peach Bowl, etc. on a weeknight when we could stay up late because school was on the Christmas break.
I remember when the Big Ten only allowed the conference champion to play in a post-season bowl game.
I think given the costs of the schools to send their players, cheerleaders etc. to the games, schools lose money on these bowl games.
Face it........ bowls are/were the professionalization of college sports.
Bowls were exclusively held to generate TV and ticket sales that went to the college athletic programs
Blame it all on ESPN.
What is ESPN?
For most teams, that might mean one or two players. For the rest of the seniors, it's the final game they will ever play.
‘...low interest from the fan bases for many of these bowls.’
there’s the real reason; the people that ‘run’ college football need to rethink the entire model, as currently a spate of televised games showing stadia filled to 1/3 capacity at best is a terrible look...to say nothing about lackluster matchups of what are essentially average teams...
when I become the head of the NCAA, I will make changes, though what those changes actually are is a work in progress; stay tuned...
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