With the bowl season in full swing, many arguments for a playoff are again in full steam. These discussions reminded me how great college sports are. Millions of people being passionate about amateur athletics is hard to find in any other country across the globe. College athletics are quite possibly the closest to purity in sports. Here are four ways to make them even better:
1) Do away with the BCS - I am not a full proponent of a playoff, but am completely against the Bowl Championship Series. The old way of doing things had tradition. Sure, there were rarely match ups between the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country, but the National Champion was debated no less then it is today. The BCS was created to solve the problems of split champions and arguing through the polls, but this season proved none of that has changed. The polls ultimately decided who played in the Big 12 Championship, and the polls decided Penn State and USC were out of the running despite having an identical record to both Florida and Oklahoma. I would be in favor of returning to the old school bowl season.
The Pac-10 champ always plays the Big 10 champ in the Rose Bowl, and the bowl tie-ins still exist. While the National Champion may still be debated periodically, most years one team would be clearly better then all the others, and would be voted the National Champion in both major polls.
The thing I disagree with most about the BCS is it puts too much emphasis on winning the National Championship. Before Penn State played in the Rose Bowl, it was considered a disappointing season because they missed out on the National Championship game with their loss at Iowa. Winning the Big Ten Championship and receiving a bid to play in the Rose Bowl should never be considered a down season.
If a playoff is created, what happens to the other bowl games? With the bowl lineup, teams have an opportunity to finish a successful season with a spot in the national spotlight and carry momentum into next year.
However, with so many bowls, teams no longer need to have a truly successful season to participate in a bowl, so...
2) Make the bowls mean something again - There are 119 football teams in Division 1-FBS (1-A), and this season 68 teams were selected to participate in bowl games. That means 57% of teams had "successful" seasons. Bowl games are supposed to generate interest among fans and potential recruits to watch the game. By having 34 bowl games, the interest is lost, and the match ups suffer. An easy solution would be to cut the number of bowls down to 25 and require a winning record to participate. 7-5 is a winning record. 6-6 is not. With just 25 bowls, 8-4 would most likely be required to participate in the bowls, along with a select number of 7-5 teams.
This season, nine 6 win and eighteen 7 win teams played in bowl games. If only 25 bowls existed, zero 6 win teams would qualify for a bowl, while nine 7 win teams would be selected. The reduction in games would instill new meaning in "bowl eligible" and more meaning into every bowl game.
3) Eliminate the play-in game - Since 2001, the Men's Basketball NCAA Tournament has selected 65 teams to play for the Division 1 National Championship. The extra team was added to give the power conferences an additional at-large bid and eliminate a lower conference before the tournament began. The play-in game takes away from the experience for the losing team. For many small schools, the NCAA Tournament is their one shot at glory against a major opponent. While both teams would most certainly lose to a #1 seed anyways, they still deserve the opportunity to compete. The NCAA claims every Division 1 basketball conference receives an automatic bid into the tournament every season, but for the past eight tournaments, one conference has been absent each season.
4) Televise baseball and softball during the regular season - The College World Series for both baseball and softball always receive high ratings when televised by ESPN each summer. The championship games, however, do create the same aura as the marquee games in football or basketball. This is partly due to the popularity of football and basketball, although it is also due to baseball and softball's lack of exposure the rest of the season. The casual sports fan who sits down to watch the College World Series is not familiar with teams or players prior to the championship round. Televising more regular season games in April and May would create fan interest in June and July. Fans would have a better understanding of which teams are the underdogs and which are favored.
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1 comment:
I could go either way on 1 and 4 but I absolutely completely agree with 2 and 3. There are TOO MANY bowls. I couldn't care less about the Papajohns.com Bowl and Pokemon Bowl and Ralph's Backyard Bowl and whatever else there is. It just makes no difference.
#3 is the best one though, as I think the concept of the play-in game is ridiculous. Every team in the tournament deserves an equal chance, and having two smaller schools play, essentially, an extra round just seems absurd to me. Why would you disadvantage a team already at a disadvantage? The NCAA needs to understand their eternal quest for another dollar is cheapening two of their best traditions (March Madness and bowl games).
Anyway I really like this post. We're looking for bloggers at www.collegefanz.com, the largest college sports site on the net. We've got an Iowa wrestling blogger coming on shortly, and someone who knows Iowa football and other sports would be great.
Take a look around the site and let me know what you think at mgleeson@collegefanz.com. We'd really like to have you on board, so keep me updated!
Mike
(PS I read your previous entry as well- how's your adopted brother getting used to America? Just curious, I had a friend whose family adopted a teenager from somewhere around there {not Congo though})
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