Evening star., 1938-11-14
Big Teams Tired
Of Bowl Game
Racket
Post-Seoson Clashes
So Common Many
Now Go Begging
BY DREW MIDDLETON,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

NEW YORK, Nov. 14.-Now is
the time for all good men to come to
the aid of the bowls. The situation
is tense. There are too many football
bowls and not enough football teams.
You've heard of the Rose Bowl
and the Sugar Bowl and the Sun
Bowl Now the thing is getting out
of hand. We have everything from
the Poi Bowl-a Hawaiian enter
prise-to the Eastern Bowl-a new
dodge in this town-and there just
aren't enough teams.
Those sterling sportsmen, the pro-
moters, find that more and more in
stitutions are giving the bowl idea
the icy stare.
The Big Ten is out-has been for
many years. The Ivy League, which
sent Columbia out to drub Stanford
in 1884, is frigid where post-season
promotions are concerned. Pitt
turned down a bid last year and
Duke is on record as not being in
terested this season.
Started From Chariot Race.
Many of the institutions that
would like to 60 get knocked off.
Is old Dinglefoot Normal receptive
to bid to the Dust Bowl? OF course
it is, but Old Dinglefoot has been
beaten by Frog Hollow Tech. And
Frog Hollow was thumped by an OBJ
scure eleven from the bowls terri
tory.
Once, sigh the promoters, things
were different. The Rose Bowl bid,
which currently is being kicked
around like blind date, was worth
half million in cash, advertising
and prestige up to a couple OF years
ago.
The whole thing started from a
chariot race. They used to have
chariot races at Pasadena on New
Year Day in the early years of the
century. When the citizens found
that watching those chariots go
round and round was a bit too
much on January l, they turned to
football. The first team out there
was Michigan, which played a sort
of unofficial Rose Bowl game and
made the Californians just as dizzy
as the chariot race. The Wolverines
ran up and down, up and down all
afternoon.
Public Tired of Ballyhoo.
The game caught on, aided by tre-
mendous tub-thunfping. Teams with
spotless records awaited with nut
tering' eyelids and itching palms the
summons to Pasadena and a meeting
with the best the Pacific Coast Con-
ference had to offer.
Usually it was a good game, al
though sometimes it was pretty
awful But it made lots of dough.
advertised every one concerned
sumptuously and all hands we're
happy.
Business men in other sections
caught on in practically no time and
the other bowls appeared. Com
petition hasn't proved to be the life
of trade. The fanatics, finding some
very ordinary teams doomed as world
beaters, today can take their bowls
or leave them alone.
So here we are. Pitt won't go, even
if asked. Duke isn't interested. Notre
Dame plays Southern California, one
OF the coasts top teams, at Los An
geles. The Big Ten won't allow post
season games. The Ivy Leagues two
paladins, Cornell and Dartmouth,
are out. Cornell's faculty says
Study hard, children" and Dart
mouth goes out there to meet STAN
ford.
The other bowls are just as hard
up. Texas Christian probably will
play somewhere. So will Tennessee.
But after those two, who?
Maybe Wahpeton IN. Dak0 Sci
ence against San Jose (Calif.) State
Teachers. Get your winning colors!