College football is very frustrating. It's a great sport full of passion and tradition and great rivalries. But each year the whole season is ruined by a corrupt and antiquated system that decides the champions based on votes by coaches and computers. It is hard to justify why the protectors of college football continue to fight for the status quo in the face of disaster after disaster. Two years ago it was Auburn that got screwed and this year it is Michigan and a host of other teams. Why shouldn't Boise St get to play for the championship? They won all there games but they are locked out by a system that protects the big conferences ensuring that they get to divvy up a majority of the money.
But more importantly it's the college football fan that gets cheated out of a true playoff system. While I could write pages and pages why Michigan is more deserving than Florida to play for the championship, I shouldn't have to. I should be able to watch them settle it on the field. The problem isn't that Florida was picked over Michigan, it's the system itself that is the true villain. The current system is based on greed and money and how it doesn't violate the law is beyond me. If I were Boise St or another jilted school I would sue the NCAA for collusion and they would definitely have a case. But instead the NCAA tried to buy them off by giving them an invitation to the Fiesta bowl which is nothing more than a glorified exhibition game.
We need a playoff system. There are no more excuses. Saving the bowls and tradition doesn't work anymore. For all the hype about the bowls, nobody cares about these games outside the teams that play in them. TV viewership is down, game attendance is down at a majority of them and yet we keep getting fed the line that the reason we don't have a playoff system is to protect the bowl system. Quick, tell me who played in the cotton bowl last year or who played in pointsettia bowl. Better yet try to name 10 bowls that are not part of the BCS. My guess is that you can't answer any of those questions. The worst part about the bowl system is that I won't get to watch a meaningful game until January and then the game will be played by teams that have had over 6 weeks off from football. They have all this momentum from the regular season and yet they just put it on hold for no good reason. You couldn't design a worse system if you planned it.
So while yes I am pissed that Michigan didn't get picked for the championship game, but I am more pissed that we still don't have a real playoff.
5 comments:
The Alamo Bowl
The Gator Bowl
The Outback Bowl
The Capitol One Bowl
The Holiday Bowl
The Liberty Bowl
The Motor City Bowl
The Cotton Bowl
The Capitol One Bowl, & the
Poinsettia Bowl (I only know this one because TCU is playing it and it has been on the news down here in Texas!)
Following the BCSBowl-ogna:
BCS Title game
The Rose Bowl
The Sugar Bowl
The Orange Bowl, and
The Fiesta Bowl-which funny enough, Tempe is hosting both the Fiest AND the National Championship game!
And this isn't all about money!
What? You're not geeked about Miami (6-6) playing Nevada (8-4) in the MCS Computers Bowl in Idaho? C'mon... that is college football at it's finest!
It is sad that Miami is even bowl eligible given their criminal acts on the field earlier in the season.
Fetz, don't we talk about this every year? It's all about the $$$$$. New Year's day college football is an entire industry. Just the Rose Bowl and all its week long pageantry is multi-million dollar tourism. You should know that being involved with the state senate tourism committee and all.
Since we know that the NCAA is not about amateur athletics and the noble competition between college students, they might as well turn it into a playoff system and crown a clear champion. But only if they start paying the athletes like they pay the coaches and the networks. Otherwise, in order to maintain the facade of amateurism, they need to keep the tradition of the bowls alive.
For the NCAA, the only sports that make $$$ are men's DivI football and men's DivI basketball. Those two sports generate billions of $$$ for coaches, universities, TV networks, bowl corporations, and everyone but the athletes that play. Those revenues underwrite the expenses for all the other college teams and the NCAA itself. The reason that the NCAA hasn't switched to a playoff system for Div1 men's football must be that the bottom line is still bigger under a bowl system. I'm sure the big salaries at NCAA headquarters have done the math.
The DII and DIII playoffs appear to work just fine and they crown a champion before January, but they apparently don't generate much revenue.
i couldn't have said it better myself..
I probably shouldn't mention I'm a born and bred Buckeye...
I do think you and Jon should have your own sports talk radio show.
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