There is much conjecture these days about the quality and quantity of football bowl games.  Sometimes it seems they are running out of names there are so many.  Like most  things, there are several ways to look at the whole phenomenon.

What are some of the perspectives?  If I am the coach,  of course I would want to have my team play in the post season if we can qualify,  Here are some of the advantages:

-Additional exposure for the program

-Keep my job

-More revenue (if we dont spend it all just being there)

-A treat for the rabid fans

-Keep my job (did I say that?)

-Some bragging rights (gets less as there are more games)

-More revenue (oh, I said that already)

-Could help recruiting efforts

-Keep my job(duh)

-More revenue (oops)

College Athletic Director

-Please pick from the Coachs list

College President

-See the Athletic Directors List

And the beat goes on.

The real reason for all those bowl games is that television wants them.  Live events on TV are more desirable than  the alternatives.  More drama around a bowl game than lot of regular season games.

We live in a œMade-for-TV Athletic World.   I am not being critical nor advocating things should be different one way or the other.  Just getting to whats so.  I am questioning whether or not we are paying attention to what is really important.

The experience of athletic competition is a great place for young people to learn some extremely valuable lessons.  Working with a purpose.  Doing it in concert with others.  Appreciating our competitors for challenging us.  Learning what it takes to bounce back from disappointment.  Loyalty.  Persistence.  Courage.   Commitment.

Also available in TV Land is the opportunity for greed, selfishness and  dishonesty to be learned.  Coaches now with winning records get fired because they didnt win enough.  Coaches die or have failing health or œburn out in their prime.  The stress of win or go is killing good people.

Everybody loves to win, including yours truly.  It just isnt everything.  In every competition at least 50% of the competitors are going to lose.  Out in life the very best have failed and often.   They just refuse to be stopped by their failures.  Is that what we are teaching?

Or, are we teaching slick and cool and self-promotion and, most of all, œlooking good.   I loved every moment of my competitive experience with only a few exceptions.  A lot went unnoticed by others.  Are we training our young people to see that someone is always watching and what responsibility they need to take?  The principles for living are as old as time.  Living them is still the job.

Keep your eyes open for my latest book called œThe Art of Losing,  Coaching Athletics and Thriving in a Made-for-TV World.  It will be on-line at lulu.com and YouPublish.com