Bowled over by college football

Ah, remember the good old days when New Year’s Day meant back-to-back-to-back college football bowl games?

Don’t worry, the good old days are still here. New Year’s Day will feature six games, beginning with the Outback and Cotton bowls at 8 a.m. (on ESPN and Fox, respectively) and not ending until nearly 10 p.m. on the West Coast, by which time Georgia and Florida State will exit the Sugar Bowl field in New Orleans’ Superdome (ABC).

But wait, there’s more: On Thursday, USC squares off against Iowa in the Orange Bowl, at 5 p.m. on ABC, and on Friday, Miami and Ohio State battle for the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl, at 5 p.m. on ABC.

College athletics continue to strain the credulity of quaint expressions like “student athlete.� The major bowl games are now called the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS. If BCS sounds like a bank, perhaps it’s no coincidence. Last year, for instance, ABC anchored part of its coverage from Disney’s California Adventure theme park, giving the Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, some synergistic exposure for both its theme park and TV divisions.

-- Paul Brownfield