Every one of the 35 college football bowl games hands out gifts to the players involved; you'd think that a trip to a warmer climate in late December or early January would be enough... well, except for the players that get a trip to Detroit, Boise or New York as their bowl game prize. For the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Northwestern Wildcats, they are no exceptions to the swag the bowl organizers have put together.
↵↵The Illini and the Baylor Bears, who will meet in the Texas Bowl in Houston on Dec. 29, will take home iPods, Fossil watches, a T-shirt, a backpack and a belt buckle. Utilitarian, if not spectacular.
↵↵Meanwhile, the Wildcats and the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who will meet in the TicketCity Bowl on Jan. 1 in Dallas, will get an electronic "gift suite" -- the exact contents aren't known right now -- and a watch from the Timely Watch Co.
↵↵According to the complete list of swag from the Sports Business Journal, some of the other giveaways bowl organizers are handing out to the hundreds of players involved in bowl games include:
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- An Xbox 360 to the players in the Beef O'Brady Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla.↵↵
- Nikon S70 touchscreen cameras for participants in the Godaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala.↵↵
- A Helen of Troy hairdryer and "souvenir coin" to collegians in the Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Tex.↵↵
... and a sundry assortment of shirts, caps, backpacks, watches and other miscellaneous items that will likely wind up thrown in the backs of closets and forgotten. The complete list is at the Sports Business Journal link above.