Reusse: Think the Quick Lane Bowl is absurd? The Gophers' first bowl game had its oddities, too

[BleedGopher]

Per Pat:

There was research done this week to discover why an extreme veteran of Minnesota newspapering can't shake the feeling that a college football world with 39 bowl games, plus a four-team playoff, is the most asinine occurrence through all our decades of puffed-up sports postseasons.

I mean, how could anything get more asinine than this:

The Gophers didn't attain that feeble standard of winning half of their games (including nonconference patsies) to be "bowl eligible," but they are playing in one of these abominations anyway:

Gophers (5-7, 3-6 in Big Ten) vs. Bowling Green (7-5, 5-3 in the Mid-American), Quick Lane Bowl, 1 p.m. Dec. 26, in Detroit. Attendance estimates: Announced — 28,000. Actual — 7,500.

Most every entity in sports inflates attendance. None inflates as outrageously as promoters of third- and fourth-rate bowl games.

Come on, you old grouch, it's a reward for the "kids."

Day after Christmas, against an MAC team, in Detroit, in a game named after an oil change company. Yes, those kids will jump around joyously after winning this one, but know this:

Think Quick Lane Bowl is absurd? Gophers' first bowl game had oddities too

The Gophers' appearance in the Quick Lane Bowl with a losing record sent columnist Patrick Reusse to the newspaper archives, looking for tales of their first bowl game.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Gophergrandpa]

I don’t think any post-season bowl is absurd. I remember coaching youth hockey tourneys. When the two-loss teams met in the “toilet bowl” they played their hearts out and the parents and fans appreciated every minute. Every game played is a chance to compete, and a reward for the work the players and coaches put in. Go Gophers.

 

[Ope3]

Interesting that the Gophers landed in Burbank on Dec 18, almost 2 full weeks before the game. I suppose practice options were pretty limited around MSP in late December 1960.

Some pretty cool tidbits of what the team did in SoCal.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

column is worth a read. most of the column involves stories of how the 1960 Gopher football team spent its time preparing for the Rose Bowl - based on items from old Sid Hartman stories and columns.

it's also worth pointing out that this happened in an era when there were only 8 Bowl Games. and B1G teams could only go to a Bowl game by winning the Conference title. So it really was a major event.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

My uncle used to tell me tales of driving down for the game with a car full of buddies (this was either one or two years after they graduated IIRC) in a mid-50s era sedan on mid-50s era tires and obviously in the middle of winter, which was probably a bit more of an adventure than it is now.