2005 Poinsettia Bowl

Congratulations to all the participants in the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl, and especially to the Navy Midshipmen for their 51-30 victory over the Colorado State Rams!

People in San Diego, California, have enjoyed their post-season football bowl game so much that they've decided to add another one, the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. It will be held at Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL's San Diego Chargers, and site of Super Bowls, MLB All-Star Games, two World Series, countless concerts and motorsports events, and the well-established Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, scheduled barely over a week later.

Inaugurating the Poinsettia Bowl are the Colorado State Rams of the Mountain West Conference and the Midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy. This will mark three years in a row that Navy will appear in a bowl game. They are hoping for the kind of results they achieved when they came to play in the first-ever NCAA-sanctioned Holiday Bowl in 1978 and beat BYU, 23-16. The Rams, playing in their ninth bowl game in the last 11 years, are naturally planning a different outcome. The two teams have never played each other before.

A spinoff of the Holiday Bowl, this new tournament will be a fund-raiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That organization was started in 1980 by a group of Phoenix, Arizona policemen, and now has chapters all across the U.S. and around the world. Their goal is to make wonderful memories for children coping with life-threatening illnesses, so in the Poinsettia Bowl, kids will be a part of the pageantry, singing the national anthem, doing the coin toss, and serving as honorary team captains.

Any excuse can be a good excuse to visit scenic San Diego, famous for its pleasant weather all year round, and that includes December. Why not get your tickets to be part of the very first playing of the Poinsettia Bowl?