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You may have read that Louisiana Tech head football coach and athletic director Derek Dooley took me to the verbal woodshed at the Independence Bowl announcement party a little over a week ago.
Beware, coach, of the wounded commentator that gets to use an occasional pen in the hometown newspaper.
It was a great evening and the turnout of volunteers was inspiring.
In the end, that's why I love this bowl game.
As you know, I'm not a real advocate of the bowl system. But the games themselves are not to blame.
<center><p><a href="http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20081220/SPORTS/812200329/1025/SPORTS0101" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
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The Independence Bowl restores my faith in our community. It instills a sense of pride and for 33 years of its existence, it has seen great moments and endured some challenging times.
We're coming off a political season that illustrated again how polarized we've become as a nation. And we're in the throes of a recession the likes that many of us over 50 have never experienced.
The holidays are here and with that comes our Independence Bowl.
"Our" is the key word here. Much has been said and read regarding the times we're in and what the ramifications may have on the future of the bowl.
What follows are answers to questions that are often asked of me about the bowl's future.
Question: Is this the final year of the bowl?
Answer: No, and even in the worst possible scenario that wouldn't be the case.
Q: Why, we have no title sponsor and a lawsuit was filed against the last title sponsor?
A: As unfortunate as the PetroSun predicament became, the I-Bowl has a solid television partner, which in similar times, over 20 years ago, it did not have.
The I-Bowl has contracts with the two best leagues in college football — the SEC and Big 12.
Q: Then why aren't they here?
A: This was one of those incredible years where both conferences deserved having two teams in BCS bowls. While those two conferences couldn't fulfill all of their bowl obligations, a few other conferences had more than enough to tend to their postseason destinations.
If a few games in the final weeks had finished differently, we would have had a wonderful Big 12-SEC matchup as usual.
Examples: Colorado almost beat Nebraska, Auburn could have beaten Georgia, Arkansas almost beat Mississippi State. None of that happened and here we are.
Q: Why Louisiana Tech?
A: Because the I-Bowl is incredibly fortunate to have the Bulldogs. In fact, had they beaten Nevada in the final week of the season they would be in Boise, Idaho, at the Humanitarian Bowl.
Thank heavens for Louisiana Polytechnic Institute.
Q: Why Northern Illinois and why not ULL?
A: Your question ought to be: How did N.C. State wind up at the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., when they pick after the Independence Bowl in the slotting for SEC bids?
That said, Northern Illinois is a six-win team with juice — a first-year coach in Jerry Kill who turned around a team that was 2-10 last year and DeKalb, Ill., is a short drive from Chicago, a media mecca where many of NIU's alums reside.
ESPN's concerns had to be with the number of interested viewers for the time slot on Dec. 28.
With apologies to south Louisiana legislators, this was a television decision. Had ULL been 7-5 and not 6-6, the Ragin Cajuns may have had a legitimate argument. They didn't and they don't.
Q: OK, why isn't a BCS team here to play Louisiana Tech?
A: This gets back to my original point about this being our game. Not many people realize it, but it's true that ESPN is the kingpin of the college football bowl business.
Fox has the BCS, but not for long. ESPN just agreed to pay a half-billion dollars for the four BCS bowls beginning in 2010 and it already owns the right to the Rose Bowl.
The real issue here is ownership. ESPN also owns a half-dozen bowls including the one in Fort Worth, Texas, the one in Hawaii — where Notre Dame is playing — and, yes, the one in Birmingham.
There are title sponsors on the names of these bowls but make no doubt, they are owned by the World Wide Leader.
The Papajohns.com Bowl has Rutgers and N.C. State and the Wolfpack would have been a perfect fit here at the I-Bowl.
Now understand, ESPN has done a great deal of good for college football. And I have a lot of friends there. I hope the I-Bowl TV partnership lasts a long, long time with ESPN.
Partnership? Yes. Ownership? No.
In Friday's USA Today, an ESPN programmer was quoted to have said that ESPN's bowls don't get preferential scheduling treatment. Well, they certainly get preferential placement treatment.
Q: Are you saying ...?
A: Yes, I am saying. There's going to be a bowl game here but it should be ours. The worse-case scenario, if the I-Bowl doesn't get a title sponsor, ESPN is likely to try to swoop in and try to buy the bowl away.
Q: So what do we do?
A: Let's not concern ourselves with credit, but let's step up and agressively pursue a sponsor. This time it has to be one that is interested in investing in our area of the country. Our economy, even now, is better than many other parts of the country.
The health care industry and the oil and natural gas industry are certainly a source of stability. If not in that area, then we'll have to turn up the intensity to secure our holiday right to always have what's always been ours — the Independence Bowl.
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