
But not only do the players miss out on the practices and the hope of nice weather and the bowl gear and extra attention on national TV? But they miss out on REALLY COOL STUFF. ESPN ran through what some of the gifts each player will receive just being on a bowl team roster this year. For a lot of poor college kids, imagine not only getting the bowl game experience, but also getting a $500 gift on top of everything else? How cool is that? And how much does that SUCK for non-bowl teams??

The Cougs get it on with the Citadel tonight. Nice to see that a projected 10 K will be there as the wet side fans get a first-hand chance to view their heroes. Jerry Brewer had a good write-up of Tony Bennett and the boys. He makes a good point too, in that it’s hard to have a sustained run of success if you haven’t ever done it before. Sure, you can rattle off a couple of winning seasons in a row, maybe even make a deep run (see: UW). But the key is how long can you actually sustain it? Two years ago UW looked like it would be a top-3 Pac-10 team, year in and year out. Now, even with the splashy recruiting class of a couple of years ago, they are barely .500 and don’t look like a tournament team, for the second consecutive year? Kind of amazing really. Now Brinkhater will likely point out later that this run is in fact sustainable given Tony Bennett and the kind of program he runs, that not only is so unique but also places a premium on heart and character over talent. Like the great quote in the Brewer story, “Make a mistake on talent, but don’t make a mistake on character”, you know that most years Bennett is going to have the right kinds of kids in the program. But, I guess the point is, enjoy the ride while it lasts and most of all, don’t worry about tomorrow!

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