Boise And The Rest Of The World

I really love living in the Boise area; it's a nice-sized city, with good schools, and wonderful outdoor recreational activities for those who enjoy them. (I'm not one of those people -- as I've gotten older, I've come to realize that I really was meant for the age of heating and air conditioning.)

The people of the Boise area seem have an inordinate interest in what the rest of the country thinks of us. Lately, we've had fairly good news -- Boise was recently named to one of the "Top 10 Places To Live" lists, and of course the Boise St. football team beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in January. Another thing we've been proud of has been our very own bowl game, which was very good this season.

Unfortunately, the local bowl game has turned from a source of civic pride into a potential fount of abuse in one day. The bowl, originally called the "Humanitarian Bowl", has been called the MPC Computers Bowl for the last several years. Since the title sponsor has been hemorrhaging money, however, they decided not to renew their contract, so a new title sponsor was needed. The new title sponsor was announced yesterday, resulting in a hue and cry throught the Valley the likes of which hasn't been seen since the design of the Idaho State Quarter was announced.

What was the cause of this despair? It turns out the new title sponsor of the bowl game is Roady's Truck Stops. I don't understand what the fuss is about; I mean, c'mon, do you really think that coastal sportwriters and TV announcers are going to make fun of a bowl game named after a truck stop in Boise? You do, huh? Yeah, you're probably right.