It feels like the Independence Bowl is always answering questions, which is really disappointing for me. The Indy Bowl should be a magical event that brings a region together. It's the little engine that could of college football, and the concept of the bowl should be something celebrated by this community.

Seriously, Shreveport has the biggest chip on it's shoulder of any city I've ever lived in or around. But while most of those other cities want to fight and claw to prove that they're not what people say they are, Shreveport begs for everyone to pile more on. In fact, they're usually the ones at the front of the line to bury their own city. Even the city of Detroit lives the "Detroit vs. Everybody" motto. They want to prove everyone wrong.

Shreveport gets compared to Detroit a lot, but the biggest difference between the people of both cities is that Detroit people will want to fight you if you bad mouth their city.

We're getting off topic here, but the attitude of Shreveport poisons the perception of the Independence Bowl every year too. The Indy Bowl represents what Shreveport should. With all of the other bowl cities being as big as they are, Shreveport shouldn't be in the discussion at all. Logic dictates that Shreveport should have lost their bowl game 15 years ago...but they didn't. In fact, the game keeps rolling through obstacles that are being thrown at them by their own community.

The Indy Bowl is middle-of-the-pack on all bowl games, but is treated in our own community as its the worst bowl game of the year across the country. Every time the Indy Bowl provides a win, someone locally wants to tear it down.

Thankfully there are people like Logan Lewis. He's the Director of Marketing and Membership with the Independence Bowl Foundation. It's a job he doesn't take lightly, and he's always willing to showcase the game, events, and foundation whenever he can. His passion is infectious, and hopefully others will catch on again. The Indy Bowl should be celebrated, not shunned.

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