The Bourbon Bowl
It is officially Rivalry Week, y’all! And it’s my favorite time of year to stump for my most passionate belief: The “Battle for the Governor’s Cup’s” name sucks and must be changed.
This year is an exciting year for one of the most heated rivalries in all of college athletics, as both teams are bowl eligible and field what many consider to be evenly matched teams. Both programs also appear to be heading in the right direction and the rivalry should have some parity for the first time in a long time. The only thing that’s not exciting about the 32nd meeting between the football Cards and Cats is that the game’s name is still wildly boring.
The “Governor’s Cup,” is not only a dull, boring name for such an intense rivalry, but it’s also a generic name that many other rivalries use. The solution? Change the name of the game to something not only unique, but something unique the state and something both fan bases can agree on:
THE BOURBON BOWL.
As previously mentioned, the current name is not a unique rivalry game name. In fact, the Kansas vs Kansas State, the Georgia Tech vs Georgia, the Eastern Washington vs Montana, as well as the Brown vs Rhode Island games all involve either playing for a trophy named the “Governor’s Cup,” or the name of the game is the “Governor’s Cup.”
That is just in college football alone. If you look across all of the sports world, you’ll find the name “Governor’s Cup” being used in college baseball, minor league baseball, professional hockey, harness racing, professional football, indoor football, soccer, yacht racing, and college basketball. The point being is that the name of the game is not original in the slightest for such a unique and fun rivalry.
While the NCAA does not permit any alcoholic beverage over six percent alcohol by volume to advertise during NCAA events, this does not mean we couldn’t have the word “Bourbon” associated with a name of a rivalry. It is not a direct advertisement of any specific commercial product. In fact, other rivalry games bear the name of nonspecific alcohol related products in their rivalry names. Such rivalry games include WKU vs Marshall’s “Moonshine Throwdown,” Florida vs Georgia’s “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party*,” Appalachian St vs Western Carolina’s “Battle for the Old Mountain Jug (moonshine),” or Coast Guard vs. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s “The Shot Glass Trophy Game.” Not to mention one of Louisville’s other rivalry games, the “Battle for the Keg of Nails.”
The point being? Bourbon Bowl is not only an incredible and representative name for our state’s biggest football game, but it’s also a perfectly appropriate and NCAA compliant name.
I am not suggesting that we replace the Governor’s Cup trophy, although a Bourbon Barrel trophy similar to the Keg of Nails would be gorgeous, but that we change the name to a more exemplifying and unique name for our state’s greatest rivalry game.
It’s no secret that Bourbon is one of the top exports and tourism attractions that our great state has to offer. We should allow such a great identifier of our state to bear its name on our state’s greatest rivalry game.
BOURBON. BOWL.
To make this dream become a reality, I started a petition a few years ago that you can visit and sign here: https://www.change.org/p/matt-bevin-change-governors-cup-to-the-bourbon-bowl**
Let’s make this happen.
* The admins at UF and UGA will say that the “Cocktail Party” is no longer the official name, but no one cares. That’s the name.
** Petition has been updated to include Governor-Elect Andy Beshear.