|
College Football Must Go See A Doctor
|
"You Gotta Be Kidding!"
by Mickey Charles, CEO Sports Network
When I was gathering and saving words of wisdom
from my father, one of the things he told me was, "If thirty people tell you
that you are limping but you look down and believe you are walking fine, go
see a doctor!" What do we know about the BCS that those who contrived it are
unable to see?
Let's have a look, a close one. The BCS poll is based upon the Harris
Interactive (media types that likely never see as many of the teams actually
play as one would suppose) and the USA Today polls. The latter is voted by
coaches but an undisclosed number that are too busy to witness any teams but
the ones on their schedule or the plasma screen at home or in the office.
And, the real syrup on the ice cream is that it is also activated and directed
by a computer, generating what someone has inserted and programmed as strength
of schedule, won-lost records, victories against top-25 teams, etc. The
fallacy is so obvious that it is frightening. How do you determine strength
of schedules other than by evaluating standings of teams voted on by people
who do not see them all play and just check final scores? Another factor,
naturally, is a team's record based upon numbers and results but not truly a
determination of how they got there...to the score or the standing. Sort of
like Oklahoma rolling it up against nearly everyone they played, whenever they
could. Maybe the teams they played were not that good, after all, if they
allowed that to happen. Kind of like boxer "Tex" Cobb years ago punching out
everyone he could on the way to the ring - maintenance man, security guard,
cleaning lady, ticket taker, announcer - to build up his record of victories.
Urban Meyer is 43-8 since taking over the Gators program in 2005.
|
This then is shaken, not stirred, to give the world a BCS average which, of
course, determines the teams in the BCS rankings. For example, although Texas
defeated Oklahoma, the Sooners won the Big 12 championship and, thus, finished
ahead of the Longhorns in the standings. Florida, by virtue of having defeated
Alabama, the then-number one ranked team in the nation, jumped to 2nd in the
BCS poll. Sort of like a poor man's game of checkers but one played on the
collegiate gridiron and in the polls for space on TV and millions of dollars
in revenue. College big business? Nah! Just coincidence.
Both Oklahoma and Florida were 7-1 against teams that were in the top-25 at
one time or another this year with emphasis on "at one time or the other."
Anyone that says we do not need a national playoff system, some level of
elimination at the end of the season, and that the BCS is the determinant of
choice simply does not understand how the system works against common sense
and reality.
That which is very necessary is, for example, an 8-team playoff, where 1 plays
8, 2 plays 7, etc. The second week, they have the national semifinals and two
weeks later the championship game. Hell, Forrest Gump could figure out the
obvious. Why not the NCAA and its presidents? When the money and TV come
into play the networks would love it, pay more and sponsorships and
advertisers would line up. Avarice kicks in to the delight of all, and greed
rushes to the head of the class. Naturally (is everyone listening?) this
could still be done in a bowl environment and the teams and conferences could
make even more money!!!! Look at what has evolved from the Sugar, Rose,
Orange and Fiesta Bowls. How to get to those eight? I am working on that.
By the year 2012 every fourth college in the nation, maybe every third by some
estimates, will be in a Bowl game somewhere in the United States. It also
translates into 70-80 entertainers to come out of American Idol to vie for
places at these games to start the festivities with the singing of the
National Anthem or become involved in the halftime entertainment.
The bottom line is that the BCS manner of selecting who is what regarding
ranking(s), which teams are the ostensible best two in the nation playing for
the "invisible championship," is flawed and full of more holes that Swiss
cheese. "It is all that we have!" Meaning what? It is unacceptable. A
sham. A discredit to the establishment of a true national champion among
college football teams. To believe that college sports are part and parcel of
the academic and character building process of these institutions of higher
learning is to believe in the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and Oz.
Sports are big business among the literary and, that being said and
acknowledged, football is the chairman of the board.
Those who contrived and developed the BCS system of establishing, except for
the final score of that "championship" game, who are the best teams in the
country, privileged to play for the title, were last seen selling elixir from
the back of a Conestoga Wagon.
Florida and Oklahoma are terrific teams; it will be a grand matchup and
possibly the highest scoring contest in championship history, not to mention
one of the most watched. But, are they really the two best deserving of this
stage, based upon polls and a computer tallying what has been given to it, a
computer that has never seen any of the teams play? You gotta be kidding!
|
