tlyle said:
Here is a topic for discussion for you sports fans in broadcasting:
College Football Bowl Games
1. Names of College Bowl Games (Orange, Fiesta, etc)?
Now let's discuss.
The 1971 (just before 1972) Fiesta Bowl I remember by heart! I was all set for an afternoon of Speed Racer, Kimba, Yogi Bear, Batman (Adam West), Gilligan, Lost In Space, Lucy (the original) and The Flintstones (not necessarily in that order) on WKBG/56 (now WLVI) when Mizlou (what happened to that company? I know - ESPN!) came on with their syndicated package of the Fiesta Bowl starring Arizona State (whose home stadium that was - I understood that even as a 9-year-old) with Florida State (a few years before Bobby Bowden). I was dragged away from the TV set twice - once to eat dinner and the other time to go on a long road trip to the country (East Bridgewater, MA, which
was the country back then) - but I still caught most of that game and saw the Sun Devils win in Sun Devil Stadium in a high scoring affair. The first nationally televised Fiesta Bowl was played the day after Christmas in 1975 on CBS between a PO'd Nebraska team (which felt that it should be in another major bowl) and Arizona State, with the Sun Devils upsetting Nebraska and putting the Fiesta Bowl on the map. Had Nebraska beaten Oklahoma, the Fiesta Bowl would never have aired on TV at all because Oklahoma's no-TV probation didn't expire until New Year's Day 1976.
Other memorable Fiesta Bowls:
-The Christmas Day tie (on NBC) between Terry Donahue's UCLA and - who did they tie anyway?
-a proud Louisville team, happy to finally have national exposure, went out to spank Alabama in 1991 or so (also NBC). That was around the time that colleges were boycotting the state of Arizona because it wouldn't recognize MLK Day (what PC BS IMHO)
-the 1987 title game between heavily-favored Miami and Joe Pa's Penn State, the latter which ultimately won the title (NBC)
-the (relatively) recent title game between heavily-favored Miami and Ohio State, the latter which ultimately won the title after McGahee blew out his knee (ABC)
Other bowls:
Sugar - always NBC until the early 1970s, then ABC until last year, now Fox
Rose - NBC through 1988, then ABC from that point on
Orange - NBC through sometime in the 1990s, then ABC until last year, now Fox
Cotton - CBS through most of my life, NBC for a year or two in the 1990s (I think), then Fox since 1996
Gator - all over the board on this one: ABC mid-1960s, NBC late-1960s to about 1971, ABC early-1970s to early-1980s, CBS early-1980s to mid-1990s, NBC mid-1990s to last year, and now CBS
Sun - always CBS
Capital One/Citrus/Tangerine - Mizlou syndication (especially the Miami of Ohio years) until the late 1980s, when ABC took over
Outback/Hall Of Fame - Mizlou/USA first year (1987 - BC won), then NBC in 1988, then ESPN the last several years
Hope that helps!
