Ranking the best, weirdest and most random bowl gifts

For the past 10 years, the SportsBusiness Journal has provided a rundown of the gift packages assembled by all of the bowl games. There are some really cool ones this year and some that are not so great.

Dr. Saturday's Nick Bromberg and Sam Cooper decided to pick their favorites, while also looking for some of the more, um, interesting and uninspiring gifts. 

Top 5 - Nick Bromberg 

1. Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl ($300 Vanilla Visa gift card; Fossil watch; Bluetooth speaker; commemorative football; $10 Chick-fil-A gift card): The flexibility the Visa gift card allows puts the Peach Bowl at No. 1. However, what’s with the $10 to Chick-Fil-A? Doesn’t Chick-Fil-A know that $10 isn’t that much to spend at its restaurant, especially when you’re a 20ish football player?

2. Belk Bowl (Shopping trip to Belk department store; Fossil watch): This one is all about the practicality. You can go a lot of different ways at Belk with a shopping trip. And you can even get your Christmas shopping done there too.

3. Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl ($315 Best Buy shopping trip^; Timely Watch Co. watch; EA Sports video game; ISlide footwear; beach towel): This goes to No. 1 if the EA Sports game was NCAA Football. Congratulations for making a bowl, kids. Here’s a video game you’re in that you don’t receive any royalties from.

4. AutoZone Liberty Bowl (Bass Pro Shops gift card and shopping trip; custom-made Oculus Pro Team HD binoculars; Bulova watch; Nike athletic shoes, sport sandals, sunglasses and custom-made backpack; commemorative game ball): If there was ever a matchup that was perfect for a shopping trip to Bass Pro, it’s one between state schools of Kansas and Arkansas.

5. Military Bowl (Microsoft Xbox One with Kinect bundle; Under Armour duffel bag): One can never go wrong with a video game console.

Top 5 - Sam Cooper

1. Valero Alamo Bowl (Beats Studio Wireless headphones; Fossil watch; $125 Best Buy gift card; team panoramic photo; commemorative mini-helmet): Though Beats are overrated, you can’t complain about free headphones and you can get some good stuff with $125 at Best Buy. To top it off, you then get a team photo and helmet to remember your time in San Antonio!

2. Military Bowl (Microsoft Xbox One with Kinect bundle; Under Armour duffel bag): Not to overshadow the duffel bag, but XBOX ONE! That’s a college kid’s dream.

3. Quick Lane Bowl (JBL headphones; custom-made, life-sized decal for each player, with his likeness; hoodie, winter hat, baseball cap; Ogio backpack; vintage football; $200 Best Buy gift card): There’s a lot to work with here. The life-sized decal is extremely weird but the Best Buy gift card and headphones are pretty cool, as are hats (the game is in Detroit, after all) and the backpack.

4. Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl ($300 Vanilla Visa gift card; Fossil watch; Bluetooth speaker; commemorative football; $10 Chick-fil-A gift card): I agree with Nick on the versatility of the Visa gift card, but a bowl sponsored by Chick-fil-A is only going to give out a $10 gift card? That’s enough for one meal. Chick-fil-A better be providing every meal during Houston and FSU’s time in Atlanta if they can only scrounge up 10 bucks.

5. GoDaddy Bowl (Timely Watch Co. watch; Sol Republic Punk speakers; 32-quart Lit cooler; Wilson official souvenir game ball): There have been so many times in my life where I wish I had a good cooler, but I didn’t have one. If only I had played in the GoDaddy Bowl. 

Weirdest bowl gift:

Bromberg: The Arizona Bowl is giving each participant custom-made cowboy boots. It’s the only gift listed. That seems to be a hit-or-miss giveaway.

Cooper: Nick stole my thunder by picking the custom-made cowboy boots from the Arizona Bowl, so I’m picking the “two-person tent” from the Idaho Potato Bowl and the toiletry kit from the New Mexico Bowl. 

Most random bowl gift:

Bromberg: I’m convinced that bowl giveaway packages are what are keeping Fossil watches semi-relevant. 15 bowl games are giving away Fossil watches.

Cooper: A few items that jumped out to me as extremely random: custom-made Oculus Pro Team HD binoculars (Liberty Bowl), belt buckle and alpaca throw (Texas Bowl), and the previously mentioned life-sized player decal from the Quick Lane Bowl. I want a life-sized decal of Kristaps Porzingis, not of myself. 

Worst bowl gift:

Bromberg: The Cure Bowl’s gifts (Nike pullover; flexfit, flat bill cap; watch; Tervis tumbler; commemorative metal ticket; chill towel; keychain) are about on par with the status of the bowl. While other games list a “gift suite,” with other items, the cure bowl doesn’t. This list can’t be complete, can it?

Cooper: The cowboy boots are the only gift listed for the Arizona Bowl, but I’m going to look elsewhere again. The Camellia Bowl has a pretty underwhelming package: Fossil watch; commemorative game coin and case; cap and beanie; Ogio duffle bag; Big Game autograph football. Step it up next year, Camellia Bowl.