Used to be the Cotton Bowl Classic was a big deal and a hot draw--Fair Park on New Year's Day with nationally broadcast football being played in The House Doak Built, always sold out and occasionally with national-title implications. Didn't matter whether it was warm and sunny or cold and icy, those were heady days--back when there was a Southwest Conference, SMU was a powerhouse and before every college team with at least one win got into a bowl game. Now this annual bowl game, with a dude-you-can't-be-serious 10 a.m. kickoff, is a shadow of its former self, one more meaningless contest played on a field soon to be equally worthless, just as soon as Jerry J. builds his shrine to public financing in Arlington. Good luck keeping this game, Mayor Miller. There's yer reason for heading to South Dallas January 1--to begin the long goodbye to the Cotton Bowl, football's answer to the Edsel. Till Mack Brown started whining about how his one-loss (to Oklahoma, damn you) Texas Longhorns belonged in a BCS game, this was shaping up to be a Cotton Bowl I planned on attending. But now it's Texas A&M versus Tennessee. Wow, a 17th-ranked team and a 25th-ranked team duking it for...what, exactly? Don't care. What time's the Rose Bowl on? The SBC Cotton Bowl Classic is 10 a.m. January 1 in Fair Park. Call 1-888-792-BOWL or visit www.sbccottonbowl.com. --Robert Wilonsky
Bowled Over
SAT 1/1
When it comes to football's playoff season, do you camp out on your couch with sacks of chips and buckets of beer in front of your scrawny little TV only to be bothered by chatty girlfriends, bothersome relatives and freeloading neighbors? This year try hiding out from your friends and relatives and immerse yourself in all things football at the Granada Theater's football watching parties. The theater's movie screen puts your TV to shame and the crowd is sure to be full of only diehard football fanatics. Plus the buffet of pizza, salad, corn bread and black-eyed peas sure beats stale Ruffles. The Cotton Bowl is Saturday at 10 a.m. followed by the Rose Bowl at 4 p.m. The Sugar Bowl is Monday at 7 p.m. and the Orange Bowl is Tuesday at 7 p.m. Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave. Admission is $10. Call 214-824-9933. --Jay Webb
