5-7 San Jose State wins Cure Bowl, and we might as well just add another 10 bowl games

The Cure Bowl, not even the No. 2 bowl on Orlando’s depth chart, is a first-year endeavor that pitted 6-6 Georgia State against 5-7 San Jose State, which was only bowling because of good academic progress by previous SJSU teams.

There are probably too many bowls, in part because players are not paid money for these things. They instead get minor bowl gifts in addition to their other non-monetary compensation. That means all revenue rushes freely throughout the system, uninhibited by the kinds of natural market things* that tend to limit artificial sprawl in all other forms of labor-dependent entertainment.

If we were to start slashing bowls, this would be one of the very first to go. If we required winning records to make bowl games, this would’ve certainly been the easiest one to slash this year. If I were capable of feeling shame about enjoying a sporting event, it would’ve been while watching this game.

As Josh Oliver scored with 2:40 left in the fourth quarter to put the Spartans up by two scores, SJSU’s players looked pretty happy. They were miming jump shots on the sideline when an Andre Chachere interception clinched a 27-16 win and 6-7 record. They surrounded retiring defensive coordinator Greg Robinson, who joined them in dancing.

Those players looked pretty happy before the game, too. We know GSU’s players were happy to be in Orlando, considering this was the first postseason football game in school history.

I don’t know how much longer this market can bear expanding until things change. But as long as players still feel good about participating in these things, we might as well keep adding them.

Congrats to San Jose State. Rodger will have more from this game to follow.

* Economics term.