Lost amid all the pomp and circumstance of storied college football bowl games -- like the St. Petersburg Bowl presented by Beef "O" Brady's and the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl -- is today's EagleBank Bowl at RFK Stadium.
Yes, in case you forgot, the District has its own bowl game, which will be televised at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN. And yes, in case you forgot, there will be two real, live college football teams taking part in the game -- UCLA and Temple.
Why subject the poor UCLA fans from sunny California to a bowl game in 30-degree weather in D.C.? It's a long story, but it has something to do with the teams that were contractually obligated for the bowl game not being eligible. Case in point: Army. The Black Knights finished the season 5-7, thanks to a crushing defeat at the hands of Navy. Five wins is one shy of bowl eligibility. Thanks for nothin', Navy!
The other team was supposed to come from the ACC, as the bowl was scheduled to get the conference's No. 8 team. But once again, the eighth seed wasn't bowl eligible, so Temple got the nod.
Bowl organizers expect attendance to be about 25,000, according to the Washington Post, which is less than the inaugural game's 28,777, who saw Navy lose to Wake Forest. But last year's game was played before the holidays (Dec. 20), so perhaps a mid-holiday playing date will lead to more walk-up sales of tickets. There is also a pre-game party (tickets needed). For more info on that, click here.
From the sounds of it, the bowl organizers have more than doubled the number of sponsors this year and are making a serious run at establishing this event as a go-to game during Bowl Week.
They've got a long way to go, but it would be nice to see it take off so D.C. can add another major sporting event to its repertoire.
Sports
Just think... a college bowl game now, and a Super Bowl down the road in a Dan Snyder-owned domed stadium... Hey, anything's possible, right?
