Rest in Peace, Peach Bowl

So this trend wherein bowl games drop their traditional titles like Peach or Tangerine or whatever and call themselves solely by the name of their sponsor is the biggest issue I have with college football. Forget the BCS or a playoff or even how Greg Blue gets away with murder on the field. I am old for my 24 years and it is one of my biggest pet peaves when tradition is trampled in favor of commerce.

For those who are unaware, in return for more money, the Peach Bowl, held in Atlanta every year, will drop Peach from its title in favor of the Chic-Fil-A Bowl. In return for throwing a good bowl name to the wayside, the bowl formerly known as Peach will now be the second highest paying non-BCS bowl. This seems like a battle with the Capital One Bowl to see who will be the next BCS bowl if the BCS ever goes to a plus one system to decide the national champion.

I am no socialist and appreciate a market economy as much as the next man, but what was it about the word "Peach" that was holding this bowl back? Do you think anyone but sportswriters are going to call this bowl the Chic-Fil-A Bowl? It is too hard to say! As an Atlanta company, I have always respected Chic-Fil-A, but this move is ridiculous. If bowls like Rose, Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar can have the traditional name coexist with the sponsors name, why not Peach?! It makes the bowl seem chumpish and I don't care how much the payout is, noone is going to get fired up about a bowl with a chumpish name. It just makes the bowl seem like it is on a lower class than those bowls with traditional names like Liberty, Independence, Gator, etc. I cannot believe some compromise could not be worked out. Atlanta is the capitol of the South and had a bowl with a cool name, are we supposed to forget all that and move forward in the name of capitalism!?

If there was any change I wanted to see made to the Peach Bowl, it was to move it to after the New Year. If after ruining the name of this once proud bowl, the powers that be do not change the date and up the prestige of the teams playing in it, I think the college football world would view recent events as a needless grab for more money that backfired horribly.
-yb