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Sports Watch
SO much for the 12 hours of Christmas or Merry Groundhog Day. No more historic college football doubleheaders. No more two games, two national anthems and two halftime shows that made for the longest day of Christmas. Split bowls still
double delightAfter watching both the Jeep Oahu and Aloha Bowl games on Christmas Day at Aloha Stadium the past two years, fans can now see them on back-to-back days for the price of one ticket. Albeit, a pricey one.
First up is the Oahu Bowl between No. 19 Georgia and Virginia.
They'll be meeting for the 19th time and if their last matchup is any indication -- the Bulldogs won, 35-33 in the 1998 Peach Bowl -- tomorrow's game should be worth watching.
For one thing, both teams will be trying to win for their departing coaches -- Jim Donnan, fired after five years with the Bulldogs, and Cavaliers' George Welsh, who announced his retirement.
Then on Christmas morning, the Aloha Bowl will feature Arizona State and Boston College in their first-ever meeting.
Arizona State is the first to play back-to-back Aloha Bowls since Washington, which played in the first two (1982-83).
This time, ASU coach Bruce Snyder, who was also fired at the end of the season, hopes for a better result.
His Sun Devils lost to Wake Forest, 23-3, last year and having 10 players, including three starters, come down with food poisoning the day before game didn't help. Snyder has been keeping tabs on what they eat this time around.
Fortunately for ASU, no one paid much attention as the Aloha Bowl was completely overshadowed by the Oahu Bowl game that followed between Hawaii and Oregon State.
Last year's doubleheader drew a come-and-go attendance of 40,974. About 32,000 came to watch the Rainbows finish off the Beavers and a remarkable turnaround season.
Accommodating television dictated that the two games be played on separate days. With no late NFL game, ESPN wanted to air the Oahu Bowl in that time slot on Christmas Eve.
With a captive audience, the game could draw decent ratings if Virginia and Georgia can put on a good show. Also, by then, the NFL's games ending the regular season will be over.
The ASU-Boston College game on Christmas Day will be televised by ABC (live on the mainland), so it'll be a good lead-in to Monday Night Football's final game of the season.
Despite the MNF game being an apparent mismatch, the Tennessee Titans can clinch homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs by beating the Dallas Cowboys.
WHETHER this holiday's TV blip will lead to the two Hawaii bowl games being played on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day again next year remains to be seen. Christmas will fall on Tuesday in 2001.
Fritz Rohlfing, the games' executive director, sees advantages in playing the bowl games on separate days. But, really, it's ABC-TV's call. And TV pays most of the freight.
Both are made-for-television games, but they still need fan support to keep them here. They contribute a lot to the state's economy, so are definitely worth keeping. Besides, it's a great Christmas package for Hawaii's football fans.
So it was downright embarrassing to see a nearly empty stadium when ASU and Wake Forest took the field in last year's Aloha Bowl.
True, UH was the main draw that day and the stands filled up for the Oahu Bowl. Unfortunately, Hawaii isn't going to be bowl eligible as often as we all would like.
Just win seven times, baby. That would do to earn UH a Christmas bonus in 2001.
Alohabowl.net
Bill Kwon has been writing about
sports for the Star-Bulletin since 1959.
