Reminder that the Bahamas Bowl is Awesome and is now Sponsored by a Chicago Suburb

The Bahamas Bowl kicks off in a few hours. I know it’s hard to get excited about a bowl game that is played on a Friday before Christmas between two teams that you may not have watched all year, but let’s go back in time.

A year ago, a Redditor wrote about attending the Bahamas Bowl and it may be one of the more amazing sporting events out there. Here’s what he wrote:

" So we took a ship down to the Bahamas to see Ohio play UAB, and it has been nothing short of amazing (and honestly, questionable). Here’s a short list of things we’ve done here at the game so far: -Brought beer right in to the stadium. The locals at the gate didn’t even ask to check tickets. One of them took a sip of my beer. -We walked all the way around the stadium, until we reached a fenced off area. A Royal Bahamas Defense Force guard said we should check behind the fence, because he doesn’t know what’s back there. Upon walking past the fence, we ended up in the Ohio locker room. No questions asked. -People are constantly walking on the athletic track around the field and chugging beer. The security forces down there just keep laughing and high fiving everyone. One of the soldiers keeps hugging random fans. -There’s a native family in front of me literally braiding eachother’s hair. They told me they have no clue about how football works. They just want to have a good time. One of them offered to braid my hair. My hair is 3 inches long. -They were doing a T-Shirt toss, and one of the Bahamian families here straight up jumped three rows down onto a group of fans just to grab a shirt. They ended up getting two. -A drunk fan just walked on to the sideline and high fived a player. He then high fived a Royal Bahamian Defense Force soldier when walking back. The soldier couldn’t stop laughing. -There’s like 20 entrances to this stadium, and only like 10 of them are guarded. Literally anyone could walk in here. -They have one working scoreboard, and instead of showing the clock, it’s the ESPN feed so you can barely see the score and clock on the bottom right corner. -Whoever’s in charge of music can’t decide the volume. He tried playing Believer and adjusted the volume up and down around 4 times before giving up. There hasn’t been any music since. For these reasons, I urge that the playoff committee consider hosting the national championship here. It would be a terrible idea, but everyone would have a great time. I know the locals are. Edit: -Drunk guy with flag: https://imgur.com/a/5OgxV -More drunk fans that nobody is stopping: https://imgur.com/a/L8xfD I love this place. "

I can tell you that nothing about that surprises me. One of my most memorable trips in college was to the Bahamas, a friend “won” a trip to Nassau where we each had to kick in a couple hundred bucks and got a cruise from Miami and a hotel room. After a cross-country trip to arrive at the Port of Miami with 40 minutes to spare, and a 4-hour ride on a ship, we stayed at a hotel that would have made a Motel 6 look like the Ritz-Carlton. We lived among the locals for a week and basically experienced the locals. It was amazing. It’s the kind of thing you miss out on if you just fly in and spend all week at the Atlantis Resort.

Well, the Bahamas Bowl is awesome enough, but now it has a new sponsor. Last year, it was Popeye’s, national chicken and red beans ‘n rice outfit. But this year, the Bahamas Bowl is sponsored by Elk Grove Village, a Chicago suburb near O’Hare. It’s officially called the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl after what is apparently the largest industrial park in the United States, located in Elk Grove Village. But the city and the mayor basically went out and bought a bowl game in the Bahamas because the price was right.

I don’t know how the deal ultimately went down, but I’d like to believe it’s because Del Griffith pulled some strings and got a favor because he once sold some shower curtain rings in the Bahamas.

May the Bahamas Bowl live forever.