It’s December, that time of year when there’s a cool crisp in the air. People are busy preparing, getting ready for that event that brings family and friends together in joyous celebration as nothing else can.

That’s right, it’s college bowl season.

Like the gladiatorial games of old, college bowl season promises two weeks of unparalleled gridiron glory, culminating in the Jan. 8 National Championship. We watch from our homes or in the stand as men run, throw, catch, and get tackled for our amusement.

It truly captures the spirit of the season.

While we are familiar with the two biggest, the Rose and Sugar Bowls, both of which determines who plays in the National Championship game, there are many fine matches to appease the fan of the almighty pigskin. There is the DXL Frisco Bowl, the Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl, and the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl. And who can forget such classics as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and the Dollar General Bowl?

Admittedly, I had never heard of the last five until looking them up for the purposes of this article.

This year, there are 41 bowl games being played. 41! Now, I enjoy college football, but to me that’s overkill.

Many of these bowl games are meaningless. Who is going to tell their grandchildren about the time they watched North Carolina A&T beat Grambling in the Celebration Bowl? Who is going to brag about how Georgia State won the AutoNation Cure Bowl and expect anyone to care? Who would purchase tickets to the Bahamas simply to watch UAB play Ohio in the Bahamas Bowl?

Not to mention quite a few teams, such as Temple, Duke, and Western Kentucky among others, only won half of the games they played this season, leading one to ponder how they even qualified for a bowl game.

Is it because of the “everyone gets a trophy” mentality? Is it because ESPN, who airs most of these games, pushes for them in an effort to boost ratings?

Or, maybe it’s because people are willing to watch and pay for tickets, in which case let them pay.

Since we have so many bowl games, here are a few that I would like to see in the future:

• Meaningless Bowl – Formerly known as the GILDAN New Mexico Bowl. May also be applied to any bowl game played before Dec. 28.
• “It” Bowl – This game, played in Stephen King’s home town of Bangor, Maine, will require the losing team be chased off the field by clowns.
• Beano Stomach Gas Prevention Bowl – Don’t think it will never happen. If Belk can get a bowl game, so can Beano.
• Complete and Utter Disappointment Bowl – Finally, a bowl game for Nebraska and Illinois.
• IKEA Bowl – Both teams will be responsible for constructing the stadium using only pictorial directions and tiny screws that look like they have no business supporting any weight.
• Taco Bell Bowl – Both teams will have to eat Taco Bell before the game. The winner will be the team with the least members that had to suddenly run to the restroom before half time.
• The Indifference Bowl – No one cares who wins this one.
• Hallmark Channel’s Family-Friendly Romance Bowl – Although the tension will be palpable and obvious, it will take both teams the entire game to realize that true love was there the whole time.