Column about bowls on the money

To the editor:
I read with great interest Chris Schanz’s column on bowl games and I’m in complete accordance with him.
I’m sure that if Chris was asked the reason for so many so-so bowl games, he would come to the swift conclusion that money was the root cause; gobs and gobs of money.
There are, at best, about a half dozen bowl games that really matter to anyone and they’ll earn the lion’s share of the millions being doled out so liberally to teams who really don’t need it. The rest trickles down to the 50-50 record teams who would (and do) sell their collective souls for a few bucks to further their exposure.
There is one inescapable negative fact that manifests itself as a result of so many bowl games — injuries, career ending and even life-threatening injuries.
In a study done in the late ’50s or early ’60s it was determined that the average college player took eight days to fully recuperate after a game. Couple that with the fact that now they play two to four games a season more than they did then and it’s a wonder there aren’t more injuries of the season- or career-ending variety. Even the pros then played only a 12-game season and only one championship game.
However, king buck rules, and little, or nothing, will be done to stem the concussions and related injuries to players who are already physically depleted.
Does anyone really care? Certainly not the media.
It doesn’t seem like the participating schools do, and the players need the exposure to enhance their draft ability.
So sit back and enjoy some really mediocre bowl games at your leisure and pray no one is hurt and don’t spill your Gatorade or liquid refreshment of choice.
All this being said, I would like to propose one more bowl game. By consensus, the two worst teams available should play in a game in Kohler, Wisconsin, the home of American Standard Plumbing Supplies. The game: the “Toilet Bowl” of course.
Larry Chittum
Portland