British Expatriate Network

American Football on New Years Day.

I know next to nothing about American Football, particularly regarding it's organisation into leagues etc.

However, I couldn't help but notice (by switching on the TV) that today there were a lot of college teams playing, and that everyone was playing a distant team in a game called a something bowl (e.g. sugar, cotton, fiesta, rose, citrus, outback.....) and they weren't necessarily playing in the home town of one of the teams. For example, Michigan was playing Tennessee in the Citrus bowl in Florida.

Are these all one-off games or part of a series or league? Are the bowls prizes, venues or just the names of the games and how is it decided who plays who where?

Oh yeah, and what's the tournament of the roses -is that related? The parade of the rose queen seemed to precede the start of the football on the various channels covering the football.

???

cheers

I really only know this from being the IT consultant for Oregon State's student media department but......

The college teams generally play "local" teams in their conference or division just once each season, alternating home one season and away the next (not home and away the same season like in UK footy). The top team at the end obviously wins the division but then hopes that it is deemed good enough by a selection committee to get picked to play against a big team from around the nation. The various bowls are of differing quality so the Rose Bowl I think is the best and something like the Sugar Bowl is not so good. Last year, OSU got in the Fiesta Bowl and destroyed Notre Dame which is a bit like Rochdale beating Manchester United in the League Cup. Yesterday, University of Oregon won the same bowl so it seems to belong to Oregon lately. OSU had a bad season this year so didn't make it into a bowl. The selection part is really poor - it's all politics and not just down to who deserves to be in the bowl game from their performance that season. Technically, OSU should have been in a better bow l than the Fiesta Bowl last year as they were about the 3rd or 4th best team statistically in the nation. Same could probably be said for U of O this season but Oregon is regarded as a backwater and not a football state.

The bowls are hosted in various cities around the country and it's a big day out for the teams and fans to go and play there - very much like a lot of trips to Wembley around the Christmas/New Year period. I think the bowls are actual bowls that they win - at least I think I saw the one we won last year. Confusing when some stadia are called bowls too.

Tournament of the Roses I am not so sure about but I think you are right in your guess that it is linked with the Rose Bowl game.

Well the huskers are playing in the Rose bowl tomorrow, so we'll be watching & hoping they play better than they did against Colorado. It's tough trying to understand the rules as it's so different from anything I've ever encountered in British sports. I know Nebraska almost didn't make it to the rose bowl which I couldn't understand, as they'd only been beat once.
God, I hope they win though or life as I know it around here will come to a stop. It's all that will be talked about whatever the outcome for a few weeks at least, but if they win at least people will be smiling instead of crying roll
Janet

Thanks, I'm a bit clearer now, although it may be a few years before I feel confident enough to try and explain it to someone else!

Isn't the Tournament of the Roses the parade through New York?

Dave.