Obie gets to take off the suit (probably), but staging December and January games can be a full-time gig. (AP)

We joked Monday about how we would’ve loved to work for the Fiesta Bowl during the John Junker heyday, because who doesn’t enjoy attending $30,000 birthday parties? But you, gentle readers, may be as surprised to learn that bowl employees work more than four days a year as our own mother was to learn that we work more than four months. While recuperating from the crush of bowl season, Campus Union spoke with bowl worker bees and executive types busy putting bows on their 2011 games while laying the groundwork for the 2012 postseason. Here’s what we learned.

Months of moving parts

Every postseason college football contests maintains a year-round calendar of sorts, though we were surprised on both ends of the spectrum by just how many and how few year-round employees are retained by certain games. (For comparison’s sake: The Outback Bowl employs five year-round staffers; the Music City Bowl has nine, most of whom double up with duties to the Nashville Sports Council; and the Orange Bowl has 30, with plans to bring on an additional nine full-time positions this year to accommodate preparations for hosting the BCS title game.) The timeline varies wildly based on available personnel, resources, the organization’s presence in the community and how the game approaches its own team selection process. The first scout I personally laid eyes on last season was a very nice lady representing the Champs Sports Bowl in Morgantown in Week 3 during LSU-West Virginia. Both squads, of course, would go on to win their conferences and play in BCS bowls, but that early in the season, bowl scouts share the same disadvantage as the rest of us: All they have to go on is preseason rankings and their own prognostications.

Still, for a game like the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which draws from two of the more voluminous conferences, scouting all potentially eligible teams in person in a single season is a daunting task. Volunteer CFA scouts go out in Week 1 to begin assessing various SEC and ACC squads, though the bowl’s selection committee does not convene until November.

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The Champs Sports Bowl Twitter feed had a shout out for SI.com's own Andy Staples earlier this week.

The 2011 Champs Sports Bowl is just a day away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Andy Staples’ game preview.)

• Where will this game be played? The Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando.

• But it’s not the Citrus Bowl? No, the Capital One Bowl is the Citrus Bowl.

• No, the Capital One Bowl was the Tangerine Bowl. Only until 1983, when sponsorship was opened up to an infinite variety of delicious fresh produce. Oh, and except from 2001-2003, when the Champs Sports Bowl was, in fact, the Tangerine Bowl.

• Wait. What? Look, Reggie Ball was once the MVP of this football contest. Don’t expect continuity.

• Have either of those games, at any point in their history, been the Peach Bowl? We are almost positive they have not.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, December 29. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? The ACC and Big East are the designated tie-in conferences.

• What about this year? Florida State and Notre Dame, both 8-4, have drawn the first ticket sellout in game history.

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