Quote:Here are the best and worst gifts of 2008:

SWEETEST RIDE: The Independence Bowl already shipped Trek mountain bikes to the players at Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois. It's quite fitting considering the uphill climb first-year coach Jerry Kill had after NIU won just two games in 2007.

PlayStations, Blu-ray players, Oakleys … and hair dryers

Goes to demonstrate sweetness is in the eye of the beholder and I too think a mtn bike is a cool gift.

Original, useful, I'd take it.

I will never understand how bowls giving players gifts is legal, but whatever.

Always have found it strange.

Huskiefan38 Wrote:I will never understand how bowls giving players gifts is legal, but whatever.

Always have found it strange.

As long as the NCAA has approved it and a monetary gift cap is it, there is no way to consider it illegal. As long as the governing body says it's ok, then so be it.

I hope they didn't give Montell Clanton a 21" frame.

You give what you can get sponsors to give you for free. Pretty easy formula.

There all custom made bikes with the players # on them

Huskiefan38 Wrote:I will never understand how bowls giving players gifts is legal, but whatever.

Always have found it strange.

I have always found it strange too. I guess it's because there's is no guarantee that a certain team will make your bowl game, even though some bowl games seem to prefer certain teams. For example, Jerry Kill can not tell new recruits, "If you choose NIU, we will go to the Indy Bowl, and you get a free mountain bike, among other things."
If an NIU booster were to buy all the NIU players new bikes, that would be illegal. It does not cross the line, but it approaches the line.

Let f(x) = illegal and f(x - h) = legal. As h gets smaller the system gets a little fishy.


If the players do not like the bikes, they could always re-gift them.