Sports fans are fools.

How do I know this?

Because I am one.

I bring this up because Utah and BYU fans have both been screwed by the college bowl system this year.

The Cougars weren't officially invited to the Las Vegas Bowl until last Sunday, which gave BYU fans only 13 days in the middle of the holiday travel season to plan. But at least they can drive and get an inexpensive hotel deal.

Pity the poor Ute fans who, once the "Uphoria" of getting invited to play big-time power Alabama in New Orleans on Jan. 2 in the Sugar Bowl wore off, began to price trips.

The best package deal I found was offered by Morris Murdock Travel and was $1,300 for a room shared by four people. It included air fare, three nights lodging and a couple of perks but no game tickets. I expected the Crimson Club package offered by Anthony Travel to be around $1,000 but it cost $1,815 for double occupancy and did not include tickets to the game.

Do you want to fly on your own and try to stay with friends or book a less expensive hotel? Round trip fare is $800 on Priceline, $646 on Orbitz, and $698 on Cheapoair. Most of the Southwest flights were booked.

Thinking about driving? According to Mapquest, the distance between Salt Lake City and New Orleans is 1,788 miles. If you were to drive straight through, it would take almost 28 hours.

How about the magic of the train? Taking Amtrak to New Orleans costs $610, but expect a 34-hour one way journey and you still have to find game tickets and a place to stay. Greyhound costs between $366 and $380 round trip from Salt Lake.

In this economy, I don't know many average fans, no matter how dedicated to their team, who can put out that kind of cash on short notice to attend a game. I am certain many will try.

What makes this more maddening is that the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona had first choice and, despite that nearly 50,000 Utah fans went to the 2004 game against Pitt, the greedy geniuses there chose a lower ranked Ohio State team that didn't deserve to be in a BCS game to play Texas instead of the Utes. That's because the Buckeyes will bring in higher television ratings. So Ute fans can't realistically drive to the game and, for that matter, neither can Ohio State fans who live in Ohio.

But that's big time sports as we know it. I'm a foolish fan, have friends I could stay with in New Orleans, and would love to go to that game but I simply can't afford it. I suspect I'm not alone.

wharton@sltrib.com