The Bowl Championship Scam
Heard by many last night in Gainsville: "WOOOO!!! YAY!!! WE WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!"
Whoa, easy there Gator fans. I've got bad news for you: There is no national championship in Division 1A NCAA football.
By the NCAA's own admission: "The NCAA does not conduct a national championship in Division I-A football and is not
Whoa, easy there Gator fans. I've got bad news for you: There is no national championship in Division 1A NCAA football.
By the NCAA's own admission: "The NCAA does not conduct a national championship in Division I-A football and is not
involved in the selection process."* What does this mean? Quite simply, the BCS is nothing more than a corporate circus in which two teams are selected by a computer to compete for a piece of crystal that is meaningless.
BCS should stand for Bowl Championship Scam.
The game last night was billed as a clash of the titans, a true game for the ages. To me it looked like the University of Florida vs. the JV team from Williams-Sullivan (Durant, MS) High School. In short, it was a white wash. A good many of the "championship" games that the BCS has put on have been just that, a whipping. Normally the games have been complete mis-matches (such as the case of last night). If we have a playoff system, such things could be reduced. Teams would actually have to earn a title rather than virtually have it handed to them by virtue of a flawed computer system.
The usual arguments have come back up for not having a playoff system: "It would interfere with finals." "It would keep the athletes from being able to spend Christmas with their familes." I could go on ad nausium. I'm certainly no expert and I have no potential solution to present for this but there are others who do have a good brain for such things and they have presented some models that would eliminate the interference with finals and holidays (unlike the current bowl system).
It doesn't matter what the arguments are, they can be easially be overcome. However, I can say this: It all comes down to money. Corporate greed is the reason why we do not have a playoff system. Big corporatations make too much money off of the bowls for them to be discontinued; oh, but don't think for a moment that the NCAA doesn't benefit from all of this. I wouldn't be surprised a bit if the NCAA received bribes to keep a playoff system from happening.
A playoff system exists for every other level of NCAA football and they work. A playoff system exists for Division 1 basketball and it works. Why not for Div. 1A football? The real losers in this situation are the student-athletes. They're robbed of being able to say that they won a real national championship rather than some corporate piece of glass. And what about teams who could have had a shot at the title but were kept out of it by the over blown spreadsheet? Let's look at Rutgers: They had the potenaial to be the George Mason of Div. 1A football had a playoff system been in place, however, they never had a chance to prove themselves because their schedule wasn't strong enough, or good enough QB rating or because they didn't have a high enough attendence or (insert idiotic reason here).
Stupidity!
So forgive me if I don't drink the Kool Aid and buy into this faux championship. Yes, I enjoy watching a good football game (last night's game was a joke--a total mismatch) but I will never recognize a national championship in NCAA Div. 1A football until the trophey says "NCAA" instead of being offered and presented by the Bowl Championship Scam.
Jonathan
* Source: http://www.ncaa.org/champadmin/ia_football_past_cham
ps.html
BCS should stand for Bowl Championship Scam.
The game last night was billed as a clash of the titans, a true game for the ages. To me it looked like the University of Florida vs. the JV team from Williams-Sullivan (Durant, MS) High School. In short, it was a white wash. A good many of the "championship" games that the BCS has put on have been just that, a whipping. Normally the games have been complete mis-matches (such as the case of last night). If we have a playoff system, such things could be reduced. Teams would actually have to earn a title rather than virtually have it handed to them by virtue of a flawed computer system.
The usual arguments have come back up for not having a playoff system: "It would interfere with finals." "It would keep the athletes from being able to spend Christmas with their familes." I could go on ad nausium. I'm certainly no expert and I have no potential solution to present for this but there are others who do have a good brain for such things and they have presented some models that would eliminate the interference with finals and holidays (unlike the current bowl system).
It doesn't matter what the arguments are, they can be easially be overcome. However, I can say this: It all comes down to money. Corporate greed is the reason why we do not have a playoff system. Big corporatations make too much money off of the bowls for them to be discontinued; oh, but don't think for a moment that the NCAA doesn't benefit from all of this. I wouldn't be surprised a bit if the NCAA received bribes to keep a playoff system from happening.
A playoff system exists for every other level of NCAA football and they work. A playoff system exists for Division 1 basketball and it works. Why not for Div. 1A football? The real losers in this situation are the student-athletes. They're robbed of being able to say that they won a real national championship rather than some corporate piece of glass. And what about teams who could have had a shot at the title but were kept out of it by the over blown spreadsheet? Let's look at Rutgers: They had the potenaial to be the George Mason of Div. 1A football had a playoff system been in place, however, they never had a chance to prove themselves because their schedule wasn't strong enough, or good enough QB rating or because they didn't have a high enough attendence or (insert idiotic reason here).
Stupidity!
So forgive me if I don't drink the Kool Aid and buy into this faux championship. Yes, I enjoy watching a good football game (last night's game was a joke--a total mismatch) but I will never recognize a national championship in NCAA Div. 1A football until the trophey says "NCAA" instead of being offered and presented by the Bowl Championship Scam.
Jonathan
* Source: http://www.ncaa.org/champadmin/ia_football_past_cham
ps.html
Photo: Florida QB clutches the BCS trophey after the Gators' beating of Ohio State last week. The question is, does this trophey really represent anything? (Credit: AP via Yahoo!.)
Labels: BCS, College Football, Spots
posted by Jonathan at
3:16 PM
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