AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > December > 30 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USI really like the Peach Bowl — honest
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl people believe I hate their bowl. I don’t. I like the Peach Bowl. I like the thought of Atlanta having a signature bowl, which is what the Peach has become since it moved indoors in 1992. I even like Chick-fil-A sandwiches.
I just wish the Peach could have gotten its corporate act together about 10 years sooner. Were that the case, this game might have done what the Fiesta Bowl did — supplant the decaying Cotton Bowl as the fourth major. The way was clear for some up-and-coming game in the middle ’80s, and the Fiesta stole a march by paying big money to match No. 1 Miami against No. 2 Penn State at the end of the 1986 season.
And what was the Peach Bowl doing in 1986? Just coming off its ‘85 installment, which drew 29,857 for an Army-Illinois pairing in old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Peach was going nowhere — actually, it was sliding downward — in its al fresco manifestation. Indeed, we Atlantans coined a phrase — “Peach Bowl weather” — to describe a damp and chilly day because so many Peaches had been played in just those conditions.
(Personal note. The Peach claims a warm place in my heart and a cold place in my memory as the first bowl game I ever saw. It was in 1976. I was a student at Kentucky. I sat near the top of the old stadium and watched the Wildcats beat North Carolina on a 28-degree day that felt much, much colder. For a half-hour after the game, we worried that my girlfriend — now my wife — had developed frostbite in her hands.)
The Peach Bowl began to change in 1986 when the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce moved to take over. Things got better on the organizational side, and the opening of the Georgia Dome gave the game an exponential jump. The idea of playing to its two regional bases — the ACC and the SEC — was positively inspired, and the games themselves soon became the most competitive of any bowl. I’ve written this before, but here it is again: The Peach Bowl stands as one of the great reclamation projects of our time.
So why, you’re asking, do Peach people think I hate their baby? Because I’ve also characterized it as a “third-tier bowl,” which shouldn’t be confused with being third-rate. My tiers go thusly: 1. the four BCS games; 2. the traditional New Year’s Day bowls (Cotton, Outback, Gator, Capital One), and 3. everything above Shreveport or anywhere Georgia Tech has visited lately.
Me, I see nothing wrong with being the best third-tier bowl on the board. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Peach become one of the second-tier games (which would mean a fixed date on or about Jan. 1, as opposed to the changing calendar the bowl now tracks). But I don’t see the Peach as a BCS game anytime in the future simply because the four BCS games are too entrenched and, as such, are disinclined to enfranchise a fifth game.
The Peach Bowl is a splendid event that is a credit to its city and its participants, the likes of whom get more prestigious every season. (Miami versus LSU, this year’s card, might well be the best bowl shy of the Rose.) Does that sound like faint praise to you? The only quibble I have the one every right-thinking Atlantan has already expressed: Why, just when things are going swimmingly, drop the “Peach” and give itself completely to a fast-food chain? “Peach Bowl” fairly trips off the tongue. “Chick-fil-A Bowl” is a typographical nightmare.
And now you’re asking: Will this reservation lead me to boycott the products of the restaurants in question? Heck, no. Those chicken sandwiches are good.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
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By Chip Harris
December 30, 2005 09:01 PM | Link to this
I remember when I was embarrassed to see Peach Bowl highlights on Channel 2; It was rainy, no one was there; Now the Peach has come so far from those days, and yet I’ll be embarrassed again because now someone has renamed it after a chicken.
By Lonny Faulk
December 30, 2005 09:48 PM | Link to this
I too remember those early and wet Peach Bowls. It is a terrific name for a great game in a great town. To lose the name to a chicken sandwich is an embarassing disgrace. But not to worry - it won’t be long before no one remembers that this was an Atlanta game. And yes, the sandwiches may be tasty, but they are listed by the national nutrition council as having one of the highest concentrations of trans-fatty acids of all fast foods. That’s a disgrace also, especaily from those self-righteous Cathays.
By xmann
December 30, 2005 10:11 PM | Link to this
What’s so wrong with Chic-Fil-A Peach Bowl? You still get your name and it keeps the state symbol and tradition. Now I’m afraid we will be known for hosting the Chicken Bowl!
By Harry
December 31, 2005 12:35 PM | Link to this
I have to agree that Chick-Fil-A/Peach Bowl should be satisfactory to the corporate sponsor. It seems too pompous and self serving to remove the tribute to the people of Atlanta and Georgia. Afterall, without the taxpayers that funded the construction and support of the Dome…there would be no bowl here…And yes, Chick-Fil-A Bowl just sounds stupid!