The context for my sentiments would be the history of bowl games, what they should mean, and what they did mean. They are less meaningful now, true, but that's only because of all the other crap going on! They used to mean something, they used to be memorable, and there are still plenty of Alabama fans that can tell you about their Rose Bowl games, people that were not alive then, simply because they did indeed mean something. The Rose Bowl predates the NFL, NBA and the NCAA tournament. When we talk about bowl games we are talking about one of America's longest sports traditions. Deserving? A bowl game used to be a reward for an excellent season, something a team earned.
Alabama has the record for bowl victories and appearances, something that each meaningless bowl diminishes further. So yes, as we added conference championship games, and the playoff (something I never liked), and more ridiculous bowl games, we did manage to make them less meaningful, but guess how you fix that? You get rid of the meaningless ones! You put more emphasis on bowl games, because they are in a way endangered. They are on the verge of being just one last game on a schedule, one neutral site game, no more, no less.
Bowl games have been reduced to weekday ESPN programming, to filler, junk to take up a time slot. They used to be so much more though, and while I think we all know we can't go back all the way, bowl games could become more like that, and all that is required is just to remove some of the clutter. There is bowl fatigue now, there are too many meaningless ones, and what it does is, as posters here have attested to, turns the whole thing into a forgettable affair. It need not be.