No wonder Dennis Dodd loves bowl season. His life kicked off (Dec. 31, 1956) just hours before the 1957 New Year's Day bowls. To him, though, The Grandaddy of Them All isn't necessarily the Rose Bowl. Dennis' grandfather Daniel Barnard was a legendary amateur soccer star in St. Louis in the 1920s. Later, Grandpa worked for the railroad shuttling fans from St. Louis to South Bend on Notre Dame football Saturdays.

After somehow getting a journalism degree at the University of Missouri, Dennis started his career in Sherman, Texas. From 1981-89 he worked at the Kansas City Star, pausing long enough to propose to his lovely wife during the seventh-inning stretch of Game 5 of the 1987 World Series. Next were stops at the St. Louis Sun, The National (New York), Omaha World-Herald and SportsWriters Direct.

He has worked for CBSSports.com since February 1998 and saw his first game in South Bend later that year. Somewhere, Grandpa was watching.