Ranking the BCS games(' gift packages)

It's bowl time, and that means one thing. "$500" worth of bling for the players! Whoo

Unfortunately, not all bowl gift packages are created equal. Some are downright lame, so let's take a look (you can see a full list here). It's important to realize that that $500, for a lot of bowls, is totally made up, and the content can be worth a lot more. For some, however, it's way less than that.

This year's BCS bowls are actually pretty amazingly poor, with one exception.

Note: retail values are "intelligently guessed." Yes, of course you can get stuff cheaper than retail, but I'm using pretty similar standards for all of them - find an MSRP, if that's not available, take the high end of end-user sales prices. Models with ranges are mid-to-low range.

FedEx Orange Bowl/BCS Championship Game

• $300 of Sony electronics (recipients choose from available electronics)
• Tourneau watch (retail value ~$200)
  
• New Era 59fifty hat (retail ~$35)
  
• Ogio duffel bag (retail ~$30)

Why is this the best of the BCS bowls? Easy - selection! Already got an MP3 player? Go for the DVD camcorder. Got one of those? Go for the PS3. You can't beat selection, and even the "secondary" stuff is pretty decent - a watch, a trendy hat, and a duffel bag to carry your souvenirs home in. Quality. Bonus points for a likely retail value over $500, fudged by creative retail values.

There's a downside, in that they don't get the gifts right away, but that's also a bit of a benefit - nothing to carry back.

(note that both the championship game and Orange Bowl get the same gift packages)

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

• Myvu Personal Media Viewer (retail ~$200)
  
• Apple iPod Nano (retail $150)
  
• Kenneth Cole watch (retail ~$100)
• "Hat"

Sigh. Second place for this? Well, OK, the Myvu thing is a bit goofy - but "iPod Nano plus Myvu equals I can watch whatever I want on the return home." So it's got definite "usefulness in the near future" factor.

In 2005, the Sugar Bowl (I believe) gave players a mountain bike. I called this one of the worst swag packages ever - how ridiculously awkward is it to get a bike home? And it's the middle of the winter - you won't use it for what, another 3-4 months, at which point you've probably forgotten it.

So definite props for giving something that the kids can use quickly. But a "hat?" And no bag to carry souvenirs in? Lame.

Allstate Sugar Bowl

• Sony MP3 Walkman (retail ~$75)
  
• Sony Blu-ray Player (retail ~$250)
  
• Timely Watch Co. watch (retail ~$75)
  
• New Era cap (retail ~$20)

You might ask "this doesn't seem so great." It certainly doesn't to me. Two pieces of electronics: cool. Giving away a non-Apple MP3 player: not cool. Seriously, these are college kids. They have iPods, and if they don't, they're not going to be thrilled with a non-iPod MP3 player.

The Sony Blu-ray player is cool, but not that cool - again, college kids. A Blu-ray player that's not the PS3 is, well, a bit of a waste.

The watch is a fair step down, and they don't even give you a bag to carry things in. But still, two pieces of electronics - there's a decent chance they'll like something here.

Rose Bowl

• Sony DVD Camcorder (retail $250)
  
• Fossil watch (retail ~$75)
  
• Oakley sunglasses (retail ~$75)
  
• Ogio backpack (retail ~$30)
  
• New Era 59fifty hat (retail ~$35)
• 1 year subscription to ESPN the Magazine (zero with just about any trial offer!)

Geh! Where to start on this? First, a DVD Camcorder? Seriously? College kids! It's not about 'preserving memories for your kids' or something. It's about Youtube. C'mon. The Flip digital mini-camcorder is more hip, and way more common among the bowls.

The ESPN the Magazine subscription just ticks me off. They're athletes. I'd imagine most, if not all, of them already have the subscription, and if not, ESPN pretty much gives it away if you even look at a trial offer.

All in all, it's pretty ordinary. The bulk of the money was probably in the trendy sunglasses and watch No cool electronics, doofy subscription to ESPN the magazine - OK, it's not the "mountain bike" catastrophe, but it's still pretty blah.

Best of the Others

It's really striking how blah the BCS bowls' offerings are when you look at the some of the others:

• Alamo Bowl: 80 GB PS3 with game (!), plus Fossil watch
• Insight Bowl: 26-inch Vizio LCD HDTV (!!!), plus Bulova watch and hat
• Holiday Bowl: 19-inch LCD HDTV/DVD, Tourneau watch, hooded sweatshirt, $45 Best Buy gift card
• Champs Sports/Capital One Bowls: $400 in gifts from Best Buy at party, commemorative watch

That's not to say the BCS bowls are the worst - heck no, but some of the other bowls are struggling, so they've cut back on swag. But the BCS bowls are top-of-the-top.

My personal "best of the entire set" is probably the Holiday Bowl. It's a tight contest between them and the Insight Bowl or Alamo Bowl, but you can never have too many flat-screen TVs, and adding a $45 gift card means a bit of variability - you can go out and buy a bunch of DVDs to watch while you're there.

Other opinions?