Let's go bowling

Sure, it's two weeks until New Year's Day. But it's already bowl season.
The first of two of 34 bowls will be held Saturday. The New Mexico Bowl kicks off the season, matching Fresno State and Wyoming. Later Saturday, it's the St. Petersburg Bowl matching Rutgers and Central Florida.
Not enough for you? How about catching the R&L Carriers Bowl from New Orleans? It's on Sunday, featuring Southern Mississippi and Middle Tennessee.
Between Saturday and Jan. 7, only three days will not feature a bowl game somewhere. Most on ESPN.
In the parts of the college football world where there's a playoff, Villanova meets Montana Friday on ESPN2 for the FCS (old Division I-AA) title.
Salem hosts the Division III championship game, televised on ESPN2 at 11 a.m. But it's a rerun - Mount Union faces Wisconsin-Whitewater for the fifth straight year.
NFL Network has a pair of contests this week - Indianapolis at Jacksonville Thursday, then the Cowboys visiting New Orleans Saturday. Will both stay perfect? Is it good for the NFL to put these games on their own network?
Fox has the Sunday doubleheader this week, and Fishersville will get a pair of NFC North teams visiting the AFC North - Chicago at Baltimore early, then the Packers at the Steelers.
CBS in Washington has decided to show the late CBS game - Cincinnati at San Diego - but other parts of Virginia south and west of us will be watching New England at Buffalo at 1 p.m.
NBC gets another chance to show Brett Favre and the Vikings - this week at Carolina - and the Redskins host the Giants on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
ESPN has an interesting college basketball doubleheader Saturday. Michigan visits Kansas for the "Green" game at noon, then North Carolina plays Texas at the new Cowboys Stadium. I wonder how many guys on exercise cycles it would take to power that 60-yard long video screen.
On ESPN2, Xavier visits Butler at 2 p.m., followed by Western Kentucky facing Louisville and Memphis-Massachusetts.
Comcast has a pair of men's basketball games Saturday - Tennessee at Southern Cal at 4:30 p.m., then UNC-Wilmington visiting Virginia at 7 p.m. Sunday, it's Sam Houston vs. Auburn at 2 p.m. and an ACC doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m. - Florida State at Georgia Tech, followed by N.C. State-Wake Forest.
MASN starts its Saturday hoops slate with Howard vs. Loyola at 1 p.m. They join West Virginia-Cleveland State when that game ends, and show Old Dominion at Georgetown at 7 p.m. Sunday they offer Central Florida at Connecticut.
Comcast also offers a women's basketball game Saturday, with Tennessee visiting Stanford at 2:30 p.m.
TNT starts Thursday's NBA action in Florida - Orlando at Miami - then offers Phoenix at Portland. ESPN has Milwaukee at Cleveland, then Washington at Golden State for its Friday doubleheader.
The Wizards visit Phoenix Saturday on Comcast.
The Capitals are spending their weekend in western Canada, visiting Vancouver Friday and Edmonton Saturday on Comcast. The Penguins-Flyers fill Comcast's scheduling void Thursday night.