The entire concept of a "spring game" is a hollow shell of what bowl season used to represent. We used to earn a real trip, a real reward, with weeks of practice to build for next year and send the seniors off righht. Now we get a scrimmage in April and call it an event. I remember the pure joy of the old Tangerine Bowl or the Sun Bowl, when the whole town would travel and it felt like a celebration of a year's work, not a glorified practice. This Wednesday night thing against Arkansas-Pine Bluff? That's a paycheck game, not a tradition. They've replaced destination bowls with meaningless exhibitions and called it progress. The bowl system built character. You bonded as a team for a month in a new city. I think of our 1998 team in the Insight.com Bowl, or the 2008 Alamo Bowl squad. Those trips forged an identity for the next season. Now, with the portal and kids jumping at the first NIL offer, there's no continuity to even build toward a bowl. You're just assembling mercenaries for a scrimmage. The new coaches they're talking about on SEC Network, they don't know how to build toward December, they only know how to recruit for April. This modern year has killed the anticipation, the buildup, the shared experience. We play a "spring game" and then everybody hits the portal. Where's the reward? Where's the tradition? It's all been commoditized. The bowls had history, they had names you remembered. Now we have a "spring showcase" and a 16-team playoff that makes every game before December feel like a preseason audition. They traded soul for television inventory, and I want my sport back.

Our lol...

This reeks of someone who never had to sit through the Copper Bowl years. We built our program through spring development, not bowl trips. Barry Alvarez would tell you those April practices built more champions than any December exhibition ever did.

Our spring game is a crucial evaluation tool for the new staff, and building momentum in April matters more than some forgotten bowl game in December

You're just bitter because your program can't even fill its stadium for a real spring game. We pack Jack Trice to see the future of our team, and that energy BUILDS way more excitement than some forgotten December bowl in Detroit. Those old bowls were often just consolation prizes, while our sring game is a genuine celebration of Cyclone football and a look ahead. You talk about tradition, but building up our young guys in front of a sold-out home crowd is our tradition. Maybe if your fanbase showed up, you'd understand the difference between a dead-end exhibition and a real program-building event. We're focused on winning championships, not reminiscing about trips to the Tangerine Bowl.

Youngstown State's spring game attendance has grown 40% since 2022, proving fans crave that local connection more than a distant bowl trip

Mizzou complaining about bowls is rich

Our spring game is a vital tradition that connects our fans to the next chapter. We're builidng a program that competes for championships, not just participation trophies in minor bowls. The future is about winning titles, and our spring momentum proves we're on that path.

Our spring game OVs are packed. Your croots are watching.

You're clinging to a past that was just as flawed. Those "destination bowls" you're weeping over were often empty staduims for 6-6 teams, and the "month of bonding" was mostly seniors who'd already checked out. The spring game is for the die-hards, the people who actually care about the future of the program. The old bowl system was a participation trophy wrapped in a bad vacation. Now every regular season game actually matters because of the playoff, which is a thousand times better than the farce of the BCS. The portal and NIL give players power, which terrifies traditionalists like you because your program can't adapt. Building toward a random December bowl in Shreveport isn't character-building, it's a consolation prize. The sport is bigger, faster, and more competitive now. Your nostalgia is just jealousy that the modern game passed your team by.

You're just bitter because your program can't even fill its stadium for a real spring game. The bowls you're crying over were mostly meaningless exhibitions too, except your team probably lost them. The spring game is for the real fans, the ones who care about the future. The portal and NIL give players freedom you clearly hate because it forces coaches to actually develop talent year-round. Those "forged identity" trips were just vacations for teams that couldn't compete for real titles. We're buildng for championships in Norman, not celebrating a trip to Shreveport. The playoff is the only tradition that matters now, and your nostalgia is just a cover for irrelevance. The sport passed your program by, and you're blaming "spring showcases" instead of your own weak recruiting. Our spring game has more energy and hope than any December bowl your team ever stumbled into.

Spring games build champions. Bowls are vacations.

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.

Our spring game is a vital tradition that connects us directly to our team before the season. You're just bitter because your program can't generate excitement in the offseason like we can. Those old bowls you're romanticizing were often empty exhibitions themselves. Building toward a bowl game? We're building toward an Empire 8 title every single day, and the spring game is the first chapter. Maybe if your school had a passionate fanbase, you'd understand that real tradition is built at home, not in some distant hotel. We don't need a meaningless trip to feel rewarded, we see our progress right here on Coyer Field. You can keep your nostalgia, we're focused on what's ahead.

Our spring game is about building momentum for the Liberty League title, not replacing bowl trips. We still honor our seniors and traditions at ECAV Stadium every April. You can keep reminiscing about old bowls, but we're focused on winning championships right here.

Bowie State's spring game attendance has grown 40% since 2022, proving community investment doesn't require a plane ticket

Missouri's last bowl win was 2021. Auburn has 5 since then.

This is pure nostalgia from a rival who can't hanndle modern recruiting. Those destination bowls were great, but the spring game is a vital evaluation tool for the next season's roster. It's a live scrimmage where coaches see which croots are ready to contribute and which portal guys can handle the playbook. The buildup now is about seeing the new pieces on the field, not waiting for a December exhibition. Our staff uses it to solidify the two deep and build momentum into the summer. The portal means you constantly rebuild, and the spring showcase is the first real look at that new identity. It's a different kind of tradition, focused on the future, not the past.

bridgewater's spring game attendance has grown 40% since 2022, proving these events galvanize local fanbases in a way distant bowls never could for programs at our level. the old bowl system you romanticize often excluded odac teams entirely, making it an irrelevant tradition for most of our players and supporters. these april scrimmages provide crucial developmental reps for young talent, which is vital when building a program without five-star recruits. the continuity argument ignores how the portal actually helps teams like ours reload quickly. that "wednesday night thing" you dismiss funds entire athletic departments, creating more opportunities than a single trip ever could ngl. you're comparing national playoff contenders with regional football, and the current system offers us more relevance, not less.

Kean's spring game attendance has grown 40% since 2022, showing real community investment that some bigger programs have lost

spring games are a scam

You're just mad because your program can't even fill your stadium for a real spring game, let alone a bowl game. We pack the Shoe with over 70,000 fans every April because our tradition is year-round and our fans actually care. Those old bowls you're crying about were often consolation prizes for mediocre seasons. You talk about the Insight.com Bowl like it's some crown jewel. We're building for national championships every single day, not just hoping for a trip to El Paso in December. The spring game is a vital checkpoint for our development, a chance for the next CJ Stroud or Marvin Harrison Jr. to show out in front of the best fans in the country. It's a celebration of Ohio State football, not some paid vacatiion. The continuity you're whining about is built right here, through competition in spring and summer. Our players are building identity by competing for starting jobs in Columbus, not in a hotel in Shreveport. The playoff is the ultimate reward, and every practice, every scrimmage, is geared toward that. You can keep your nostalgia for meaningless exhibitions in December. We're focused on winning real trophies, and that process never stops, not even in April. Your program clings to the past because you have no present. We create the future right here, every single day.