From early December, as soon as the bowl invitations were extended, My father would make out the family bowl pool. No spreads, just pick a winner. There was no matrix to follow. No over/under. No transfers or opt outs to factor in. Just pick a winner. He would mail it out to the entire family. Had an Aunt that rarely watched TV let alone football. She won it twice. Made for good conversation during the Christmas get together. Each game meant something to all of us in some shape or form.
New Year's Day as a slightly hungover mom and dad made breakfast, we would watch all the parades. By that afternoon we would have people over or go to some other party to watch all the games. Once in a while we had a couple of large screen TV's ( and by large I mean they may have been 36") where we could watch the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl at the same time. And I wondered then, would Clemson ever be good enough to play in a big time bowl game on New Years day. In 1977, the Tigers played in the Gator Bowl. The first bowl game since the 1959 Sugar Bowl. I remember being in Clemson prior to that bowl. I remember being in the Bookstore watching Marvin Sims dancing to the Brothers Johnson "Ain't No Stoppin Us Now" I remember him yelling, "Aint no stoppin us now baby!" And we were on our way.
And then, by the end of New year's night, all the games would be over. Who is the national champion? we didn't know really. We had to wait until the polls came out. Were they correct? Sometimes yes. Sometimes it was debatable. And it was, the entire off season. And we couldn't wait for the next season to start it all over again.
Then somewhere along the line, some people thought they could improve on all that.....and here we are.
This is what I think about when someone says college football is dead. Not what it means to the sport itself. But what it means to me and those that have similar memories.
Sorry, didn't intend for that to come off so maudlin. But there it is.