Ah yes the holiday season is upon us again. And with that comes pumpkin pie, turkey, dressing, and of course the college football bowl season. Controversy out the wazoo naturally follows whenever anyone talks about the increasing, and increasingly pointless bowl games, more specifically: The Bowl Championship Series (BCS).
Here is the deal, fans across the country are tired of hearing that the regular season is the playoffs, and that the two best teams will be in the National Championship game at the end of the year. I don’t like it when 11-1 or even 10-2 teams from the BSC conferences such as the Big 12, SEC, or Pac 10 get into the National Championship game or a BCS bowl game, over a team who runs the table in a Mid-major such as the WAC, or Mountain West. Boise State proved to us all that a Mid-major can compete and win against a powerhouse. Recall that they beat a mighty Oklahoma Team in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Granted there have been a few years when the BCS does have it right, but more often then not they snub a team or two. How many more times does Ohio State need to get embarrassed in the National Championship game before the “experts” realize that they are overrated?
I personally think that there needs to be something done to fix this. And I have the solution. Adopt a playoff. Oh but what about how demanding the game of football is on the kids? Well the DII and DIII kids somehow are tough enough for a playoff. What about all the finals that the students must study for? Again the players in DII and DIII are able to get to their studies. What about the amount of money that the NCAA will lose without all their sponsors in the countless bowl games? Does the BCS really need all the money they get from the San Diego County Federal Credit Union for having a meaningless bowl game of the same name? If there were a playoff it would be simple enough to keep the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl sponsors and have all of these great traditions in the semi-finals or quarter-finals of the playoff.
So what would a playoff look like? Well it would be very similar to the DII and DIII playoff systems. Select 32 teams and whittle them down to a national champion in a 31 game, 5 week long tournament. As a side-note; there are 34 bowl games scheduled for this year so those who believe a playoff would create too many games are flatly mistaken. Form a selection committee just like they have for March Madness who would pick out the teams using the AP poll and Coaches poll as guides. This could be done in a span of five weeks. If we start on December 20th, the current date set to kick off the bowl season, the tournament would run through January 17th.
One more thing- Division I college football is the only sport in the NCAA lacking a playoff system. In its current shackled state, college football already enjoys nearly universal popularity. Unchain the sport with a playoff system and it would surpass March madness and Super Bowl to become the most anticipated (and lucrative) sporting event of the year.
November 29, 2008
November 13, 2008
So Long Holliday
Matt Holliday is gone, but memories of him will live on.
The three time all-star and 2007 National League MVP runner up was shipped off to Oakland for basically nothing.
It was sad day in Colorado sports history; the Rockies should have done all they could to lock up Holliday for the rest of his career.
For two amazing months in 2007 Holliday carried the Rockies all the way to the World Series and gave baseball fan around the state a reason to take off the brown paper bag. Holliday along the way provided one of the most memorable plays that I have ever seen. When he slide into home and scored the winning run propelling the Rockies into the playoffs, capping one of the best season turnarounds in baseball history fans all across the sate were jumping in unison.
The Image of Holliday’s raspberry on his chin and the team piling on top of him will be burned into my mind for the rest of my life. And the thing that make it so great is that the play was so controversial was he safe or out? I don’t know, but the ump said that he was safe, so that is all that matters
That play is something that I will be able to tell my kids about. That is the stuff that legends are made out of. It is comparable to Elway’s helicopter in Super Bowl XXII, Sakic hosting the Cup giving Colorado it’s first major sports championship, and Dikembe Mutombo laying on the court with a death grip on the basketball celebrating the Nuggets improbable playoff series win against Utah. This is what sports are all about the defining moments of a team or a player’s career. I am very lucky to have witnessed the greatness of Holliday and he amazing desire to get his team into the playoffs. With that play Holliday solidified his place among the legends in Colorado sports.
Holliday is gone, but we will never forget his blood stained shirt and face and how he made baseball in Colorado relevant again. Thanks for the memories.
The three time all-star and 2007 National League MVP runner up was shipped off to Oakland for basically nothing.
It was sad day in Colorado sports history; the Rockies should have done all they could to lock up Holliday for the rest of his career.
For two amazing months in 2007 Holliday carried the Rockies all the way to the World Series and gave baseball fan around the state a reason to take off the brown paper bag. Holliday along the way provided one of the most memorable plays that I have ever seen. When he slide into home and scored the winning run propelling the Rockies into the playoffs, capping one of the best season turnarounds in baseball history fans all across the sate were jumping in unison.
The Image of Holliday’s raspberry on his chin and the team piling on top of him will be burned into my mind for the rest of my life. And the thing that make it so great is that the play was so controversial was he safe or out? I don’t know, but the ump said that he was safe, so that is all that matters
That play is something that I will be able to tell my kids about. That is the stuff that legends are made out of. It is comparable to Elway’s helicopter in Super Bowl XXII, Sakic hosting the Cup giving Colorado it’s first major sports championship, and Dikembe Mutombo laying on the court with a death grip on the basketball celebrating the Nuggets improbable playoff series win against Utah. This is what sports are all about the defining moments of a team or a player’s career. I am very lucky to have witnessed the greatness of Holliday and he amazing desire to get his team into the playoffs. With that play Holliday solidified his place among the legends in Colorado sports.
Holliday is gone, but we will never forget his blood stained shirt and face and how he made baseball in Colorado relevant again. Thanks for the memories.
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