Or Perhaps They Could Call It the Punch Bowl

Since it happens to be that time of the year again in college football, how about a moment of silence -- for defunct bowl games.

In particular, those that lasted just one year, one shot and out.

There were, among others, the Bluegrass Bowl in Louisville, Ky., and the Camellia Bowl in Lafayette, La.

Alas, there would be no winner in everyone’s favorite defunct bowl, the Bacardi Bowl, played in 1937 at Havana. Auburn and Villanova tied, 7-7.

Kursten Phelps of the Garden City (Kan.) Telegram suggested a new venue:

“Move the Bacardi Bowl to Puerto Rico, where most of the rum’s production happens anyway.”

How about reviving it and calling it the Mojito Bowl?

Trivia time: Where was the only Aviation Bowl played, in 1961?

First look: Carol Slezak of the Chicago Sun-Times peered into the future and offered some observations, most of them good bets, for 2006, and some with Southern California connections:

* Gold will elude Michelle Kwan once again.

* Jeremy Roenick will return to the Blackhawks.

* USC will annihilate Texas in the Rose Bowl to win another national championship.

More from Chicago: What’s it like to be a Bear fan in northwestern Indiana? Left out in the cold, that’s what. Tickets for a Jan. 14 or 15 playoff game go on sale Monday, but they will be available only to Illinois residents.

The restrictions, intended to limit sales to ticket brokers and other opportunists, have angered some longtime fans in outlying areas.

Adam Paulson of Schererville, Ind., told the Associated Press, “I live 30, 35 minutes away. But people that live five hours away in southern Illinois and aren’t even going to go to the game have a chance to buy ‘em -- and I can’t.”

Rough racket: Apparently, the most trying scenes for actor Jeff Daniels in this year’s movie “The Squid and the Whale” involved hitting a ball over the net.

“The tennis. I now know what tennis elbow feels like, let me put it that way,” he told Premiere magazine.

Thun or Thud? Reuters compiled its list of notable sports quotes in 2005, and this one from Sparta Prague Coach Stanislav Griga could not be left out after his soccer team tied unheralded Swiss team FC Thun.

That’s a tie. Not a loss.

“We thought we had hit the bottom, but we saw today that the bottom is even lower,” Griga said after the 0-0 result in Champions League Group B play.

Trivia answer: Dayton, Ohio. New Mexico defeated Western Michigan, 28-12.

And finally: Actress Alyssa Milano, discussing her dating patterns with Esquire magazine:

“I don’t know why I go out with pitchers. Maybe because I’m fascinated by the fact that these guys can stand up there in front of 50,000 people on a mound, totally alone, totally isolated, and throw a ball 95 mph into a little strike zone.

“Or maybe it’s because they’re the only ones who’ve asked me out.”