Over the past six weeks we've heard a lot about bowl games. We've heard there are too many. We've heard they mean less in the College Football Playoff era. We've heard that stars bailing early for the NFL have neutralized their importance.

But an interesting thing happened while all of that online griping was going on: There was fun had. Like, a whole lot of fun. Believe it or not, that happens every year. The actual participants in the events actually enjoy themselves. And if you're willing to tune your social media dial around the snark, you can actually enjoy their actual enjoyment of the actual bowling experience.