Bowl season just ain't what it used to be

I miss the old days when pre-New Year's bowl games weren't all (or at least 95%) on ESPN, but when many of them were scattered throughout the dial at random times. Did they mean more then? Yeah, it seemed like they did. But they also meant nothing, and that was part of what was cool about the experience. It was just more football, and you often had no idea when or why it was on a given channel.

Here are some old promos for bowl games that were syndicated:

I mean, don't you miss the days when a bowl game could be on "Channel 46"?

And my beloved Channel 11 got in the game, too.  After the New Year's Run portion of this clip, hear the sounds of "Dancing in the Dark" as WPIX hypes the upcoming "Blue Bonnet Bowl."  And, man, when was the last time anyone on TV referred to TCU as "Texas Christian"?

Finally today, I posted this before, but I love it so much I am sharing it again. Hugo Faces, the great account that gave us that WPIX video, uploaded this clip from 1984. I didn't remember WOR being a major college football player, but they had the Aloha Bowl! I wonder if they ever had the short-lived Garden State Bowl.

Promo Theatre: Y'all ready for some football?

 This 1985 college football promo just doesn't feel like TBS...until halfway through:

Yes, veteran broadcaster Lindsay Nelson shows up and I think, "Ah, yes, this feels like TBS." It's SUPER Football Saturday Night! "I'm Lindsay Nelson, and I'm part of it!" "All riiiight."

It's easy to forget the Superstation showed college football games in the 1980s, but in fact it was the first cable outlet to show games on a national basis, even beating ESPN. it was a limited package, but it was football! Then TBS began showing SEC games in 1984, but as you can see from this promo, it also showed key intersectional match-ups like...Boston College vs. Army.

(For more about TBS, check out our episode about the Superstation here!)

In case you're curious, Army crushed the Eagles 45-14. B.C. was coming off a great season culminating in a Cotton Bowl win but had lost star QB Doug Flutie to the USFL. Army would go on to finish 9-3 (but with a loss to Navy!), including a narrow victory over Illinois in an exciting Peach Bowl. 

Here's a glimpse of the B.C.-Army match-up . Notice that Harry Kalas leads off the highlights by mentioning the national television audience: