Close To The Edit

There are still those out there who are defending the BCS … still, with the weakest of arguments … it’s very tiresome, because yes, I would like to see a real national championship and I never hear a good reason as to why we can’t get that.

All I know is this:

Appalachian State, Valdosta State, and Wisconsin-Whitewater

… are all national champions

… of college football.

Imagine that.

They just happen to come from Divisions I Sub, II & III. Somehow, they have figured out how to run a playoff ending with a true national champion. Div I and II with 16 teams, Div III with 32.

Peter King wrote recently (Monday Morning QB column):

… unless you’re going to scrap the bowl system, don’t talk to me about a playoff for college football. I don’t want one. It’s silly to ask 19-year-old kids who, supposedly, are college students to have longer seasons than NFL players — to start practice Aug. 1, playing ’til Jan. 15, and start spring practice on March 1. It’s not NFL-like. It’s a longer regimen than NFL teams have for their players.

A playoff system? Too long? We care about the college ball- catchin’-ball-throwin’-big-money-makers-for-the-whole-campus-athletes students do we? There are 32 bowl games … wait, I’ll repeat that, just in case you missed it the first time: THIRTY-TWO bowl games. And, guess what? As I write this (01/03/08) there are still FOUR bowl games left to be played. The last, being the ^*Allstate Bastard Championship Series Championship game … played on January 7th.

Ummmm, yeah … January 7th.

Meanwhile, the (real) national championships for the aforementioned “divs” ended almost a month ago (December 14th & 15th to be exact).

Any questions?

And, if somehow you BCS apologists just can’t wrap your minds around that concept, here’s some pretty little pictures to help you:

Division I Division II Division III

And, let’s talk for a moment about one of the real reasons some folks want to keep things the way they are: ^*Bowl Sponsorship. Thars gold in dem thar hills! a’Yep.

Allstate, R&L Carriers, Papa John’s Pizza, GMAC, Tostitos, Outback Steakhouse, Chick-fil-A, Brut, Gaylord Hotels, Valero, Meineke Car Care, Roady’s Truck Stops, Pacific Life Insurance, AutoZone, Citi, Champs Sporting Goods, PetroSun, Bell Helicopter, Capital One, and FedEx (whew!) among others … could still sponsor the playoff games and a legitimate national championship.

I actually understand why a certain, small percentage of people want to keep things the way they are: they’re getting loads of money. But what about the rest of you, the ones who call yourselves real fans of college football?

Is the BCS making you rich?

So a true college football fan who thinks that college football is the greatest sport on the planet, really and truly would not want to watch teams laying it on the line for a real championship where everyone has a shot? Really? Does it not embarrass you one bit that every other major college sport can claim a legitimate national champion decided by play “on the field” besides yours?

Hey Mr. Big College Football Fan! Even Field Hockey has a “bracket”!

There will be a Fencing national championship team crowned this March,

… the (29th) Men’s and Women’s Rifle Championships will be held at West Point this March - just in case you want to check it out,

… Cross-Country (Divs I, II, & III) has their legit champion,

… Lacrosse, rowing, and women’s bowling all have champions decided by head-to-head competition.

Go figure. What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they realize all the excitement happens during the regular season and nothing else matters?

Once again, I would like to direct your attention back to the National Collegiate Athletic Association who successfully runs three,

… not one,

… but three divisional football championships every year.

What exactly is it that you guys don’t understand about this?

I’m not even going to waste my time with, “The regular season is a playoff” nonsense except to say that if we applied the same, um, logic, to the NFL, then we would wait until February to watch New England play Dallas. That’s it.

Hey, the Colts, Chargers, and the Steelers, all lost to the Patriots, and the Jags lost twice to the Colts. So there you go.

BTW, the Jags also lost five games. Five games! I mean, if USC can’t play for the national championship with two losses??? Puleeeeeez, don’t make me BCeSquingly laugh. The Titans lost to the Colts, San Diego and Jacksonville (and they have one more loss than the Jags). If this were the BCS, there would be no playoffs for them to back into.

As for Dallas, they beat the Packers, the Giants, and the Redskins. The Seahawks lost SIX games (see: Titans). Tampa? Do we even have to go there? Okay, fine. They lost seven games including losses to Jacksonville, Seattle, and the Colts, (AND the 4-12 Falcons, AND the 5-11 49ers). Do I even need to continue with this one?

So we get New England and Dallas in the Super Bowl. The other teams all had their shot, their “playoffs” during the regular season, so screw’em. No playoffs for Peyton, Favre, or LaDainian. They can just play for bragging rights in games sponsored by Papa John’s Pizza or Roady’s Truck Stops.

Sounds pretty dumb, doesn’t it?

You bet it does.

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