You're talking about bowl games like they still mean something. I watched our Big Blue teams build character in August heat on Frank M. Lindsey Field, not in some December trip to a half-empty stadium. You know what forged identity? The 1985 CCIW championship team practicing in November cold, knowing their reward was beating Augustana, not some trinket from a corporate-named bowl. Those old bowls you're nostalgic for were just TV inventory even back then, just with better names. The Tangerine Bowl? Please. That was a consolation prize for teams that couldn't win their real conference. Our tradition was the Monon Bell, the Bronze Turkey, games that meant something because of who we played, not where we went. You're pining for a reward system that was always slanted toward the privileged few. Meanwhile, we were building men right here in Decatur, and a spring game lets the community see that work up close, for free. It's pure football, not a tourism commercial. Your 1998 Insight.com Bowl squad? I remember our '99 team that would have beaten them soundly, because we focused on the work, not the trip. The soul of this sport was never in destination bowls for the select. It was in the grind, and that's what a spring game represents. You can keep your mercenaries and your December vacations. We'll be right here, building the old-fashioned way.