1997 Chevy 350 v8 top radiator hose hot bottom radiator hose cold?

If your engine is not overheating then I don't think you have a problem here. If you're getting good circulation and the car is not overheating, then you are fine. The bottom hose should be warm but not hot. When you say cold, I assume you mean when compared to the top hose. The thermostat not only regulates engine temperature, it also controls the speed of the coolant through the engine. If the coolant flows too fast, it won't pick up heat as efficiently as if it were moving slower. There's a basic principle at work in your cooling system. it's that when a fluid is heated, it rises. The "cold" (I'm talking relatively here) coolant is drawn into the engine from the bottom of the radiator. When the engine heats the coolant up, it rises up and "hot" coolant goes back in the top of the radiator. As it cools, it has the tendency to sink to the bottom of the radiator and the cycle starts again. Of course this is not enough to cool an engine without a water pump, but the engineers use this principle to work with nature, not against it. What is happening is the coolant is not that hot when it enters the radiator and when it is cooled, it cools it down to the point where it is almost actually cold.

Now, if the engine is overheating, then flush the radiator, replace the thermostat, top off the system with a 50/50 mix, and bleed all air from the system.