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Show THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE ADVERTISING :801.581.7041 NEWS : 801.581. NEWS FAX : 801.581. FAXX EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Anna Drysdale COLUMN Bowling? Try boring a.drysdale@chronicle.utah.edu MANAGING EDITOR: Emily Juchau e.juchau@chronicle.utah.edu PRODUCTION MANAGER: Devin Wakefield d.wakefield@chronicle.utah.edu NEWS EDITOR: Courtney Tanner c.tanner@chronicle.utah.edu ASST. NEWS EDITOR: Katrina Vastag OPINION EDITOR: Andrew Jose a.jose@chronicle.utah.edu SPORTS EDITOR: Griffin Adams g.adams@chronicle.utah.edu ASST. SPORTS EDITOR : Ryan Miller ARTS EDITOR: Katherine Ellis k.ellis@chronicle.utah.edu PHOTO EDITOR : Conor Barry c.barry@chronicle.utah.edu ASST. PHOTO EDITOR: Brent Uberty PAGE DESIGNERS: Mark Klekas, Ivy Smith COPY EDITORS: Audree Steed, Katie Stefanich, Kaitlin Baxter PROOFREADER: Courtney Wales GENERAL MANAGER: Jake Sorensen j.sorensen@chronicle.utah.edu COVER ART: Jameson CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS The policy of The Daily Utah Chronicle is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at a.drysdale@chronicle.utah.edu The Daily Utah Chronicle is an independent student publication printed during Fall and Spring Semesters (excluding test weeks and holidays). Chronicle editors and staff are solely responsible for the newspapers content. Funding comes from advertising revenues and a dedicated student fee administered by the Student Media Council.To respond with questions, comments or complaints, call 801-581-8317 or visit vvvvw. dailyutahchronicle.com .The Chronicle is distributed free of charge, limit one copy per reader. Additional copies of the paper may be made available upon request. No person, without expressed permission ofThe Chronicle, may take more than one copy of any Chronicle issue. Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/TheChrony Follow us on Twitter: @TheChrony T he holiday season has come. Get ready for light-strung trees, Temple Square dates and presents. Oh, and bowl season. For the span of about three weeks, televisions across America will be bombarded with nearly non-stop football, as dozens of teams will travel to insensible destinations to participate in nothing more than a glorified scrimmage. Yay! Look, I love football, and when I was a tyke I used to look forward to every holiday break so I could consume the most gridiron action as possible. Ah, the innocence of youth. I thought these games were important. I thought they were games filled with high stakes. I thought they mattered. I was wrong. As I have grown, I have seen many bowls come and go. As more and more bowls were created, a realization came to me — bowl Wed. December 1 0 games are stupid. I get the reward for the team. They get to go somewhere new and play another game of football. But why do people tune into these things? The bowl season continues to grow because more and more companies sign up to sponsor them. And these sponsors continue to sign up because for some asinine reason, people tune in. Bowl games make money, pure and simple. So sadly, they will continue to happen. To see the unimportance of this wonderful season, we have to look no further than the Utes. Utah played a grueling schedule and seemed to play a top-25 opponent every week. The Utes squared off against UCLA, USC, Arizona State, Oregon and Arizona — all ranked squads — throughout the course of the regular season and somehow managed to escape this schedule with an 8-4 record and earn a trip to the bowl. The Utes' reward for such a season? The Las Vegas Bowl, with a matchup against the secondbest team in the Mountain West — Colorado State. Yeah, that's getting the heart going. Utah didn't make a bowl game at all the last two seasons, but really, is this season all that different? The entire campaign, the Utes were Thurs. Fri. 11 December December SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST That's right, Utes. It is the LAST day of classes. Celebrate by pausing today to make a gingerbread house or watching a classic holiday movie. Both "Love Actually" and "The Muppet Christmas Carol" are available on Netflix, so curl up with some cocoa and enjoy.Then go back to studying ... because finals are coming. 12 playing in meaningful games, and not just on a conference scale, but a national one. Utah's games against ASU, Arizona, UCLA and Oregon all helped shape the playoff conversation. It was a thrilling season with high-stake games that allowed fans to dream of greatness. So after participating in games with actual importance, Utah will now lace up the ole' cleats in Vegas against the Rams to the yawn of the few watching. Sure, call this a reward for the players because I'm sure they'll have a grand time participating in the bowl festivities and getting to play one last game this season, but what about for the Utah fans? There is no way to look at the Vegas Bowl, other than a step down in competition. The bowl season has been watered down. There are too many sponsors, too many teams and way too many games. Putting a sponsor on a holiday season exhibition game does not make that game important. It is what it is — a meaningless game, set up to make some extra money. The bowls are a holiday tradition, but some traditions should be changed. r.miller@chronicle.utah.edu @millerjryan TODAY, HERE WE COME A-CAROLING Tonight at 7:30 p.m., U student choirs will be presenting their annual holiday concert at Libby Gardner Concert Hall. The chamber choir, the a capella choir and the women's choir will all present their distinct takes on favorite holiday tunes. Admission is free with your UCard. FIRST STAR ON THE RIGHT Pioneer Theatre is presenting "Peter and the Starcatcher" tonight at 8 p.m. at the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre. This Broadway hit is a family favorite, as it tells the untold story of how Peter ended up in Neverland and made an enemy of Captain Hook. Students can get in free with their UCard. het 1% sooe) BY TAYLOR ALMOND /STAFF WRITER PHOTO BY CONOR BARRY t's finals week, and the campus is empty — not of students, but of snow. This December has been unusual in that regard. The United States Department of Agriculture reported that Utah's overall precipitation is well below average for 2014. Most measurement points fall 50 percent below normal. Derek Hodges, a senior in atmospheric science, said the lack of snow is caused by high pressure — an area with lots of atmospheric mass pressing onto the surface — in the west. Eastbound storms split at the high pressure area, "and some go north into Canada, and some go south, and basically that leaves us in between." This year's precipitation corresponds to, but doesn't prove or disprove, larger snowpack or temperature trends. "You can't tie an individual year as meaning everything, really," Hodges said. "A couple years ago we had one of the biggest snowpacks on record, and before that one of the least. The big picture seems to be for an overall slow decline [in snowpack]." According to a 2012 study conducted by the Utah Climate Center at Utah State University, average winter snowfall has declined nine percent in the last century. Increasing temperatures leave precipitation falling as rain, instead of snow. However, rain is expected Saturday, which could bring snow to the valley. Decreased snowpack also has an effect on water supply. Most of Salt Lake City's water comes from mountain reservoirs filled by snowpack, according to the journal Earth Interactions. But a U.S. Geological Survey study found that Utah's water usage has increased seven percent since 2005. This makes Utah the "thirstiest state in the nation at 248 gallons per person per day," according to a KUER news story. Hodges doesn't ski, so for him, the lesson to learn from a decreasing snowpack is water conservation. "People should pay attention: he said. "And if things don't turn around people should be careful about their water usage: t.almond@chronicle.utah.edh @SeymourSkimmer it tet 00) $6 tet SOW |