”Chris” has left a particularly inflammatory comment on my post “How to Fix College Football” wherein he rants about the wrongs of the bowl system and raves about my psychotic, dumb, “bass ackwardness.” For those of you who are wondering, including you, Chris, this is as close as you can come to getting banned without actually getting banned. I’m all about disagreements, but hold back the reins on the ranting insults, and realize that your opinion makes as much sense to me as mine does to you. But I’m not going to call Chris by the name I think he deserves for this tidbit of drivel he’s shellacked onto my blog, I’m going to respond, and I’m going to give it a full post, because I know there are many, many people out there who have all jumped onto the playoff bandwagon and believe it would do something it’s not capable of doing. First, Chris’s prattle:
Are you psycho? Why does everybody think the bowls are good? Most are about as boring as a knitting competition. If the bowl system was so great and “voting” on a paper “National Champion” was the way to go why aren’t the other NCAA sports doing it as well. Why isn’t the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc. clammoring to go that way? Why? Because it is the dumbest most bass ackwards way of determining a champion! Let’s all pull our heads out and get over the super 6 conferences wanting all the money and give the fans what they want!!! A PLAYOFF!!!
Okay, Chris, here’s my answer: you’re wrong. As far as I can tell the only question you raised in your irrational squawk was “why aren’t the other sports clammoring to go that way?” (note that the incorrect spelling of clamoring is Chris’s, not mine). There are dozens of reasons, but historically it’s because, other than the MLB, boxing and horse racing there were no other major sports than college football around when it started up, and guess what? Until 1907 MLB didn’t have a playoff either, and they only did it then because there were two separate professional leagues of teams: the National and the American. Before that those teams had never played one another. And up until 1969 there was no divisional playoff, either. The two teams with the best records played for the championship: that’s it. And neither horse racing nor boxing have playoffs, either. Sure, horse racing has it’s triple crown, boxing has multiple titles, things that make them unique in the world of sports, just like the bowls do for college football. And as for “the super 6 conferences wanting all the money,” well, that again is nothing but drivel. Why do you think MLB instituted the playoffs? Money grubbers, that’s why. And as far as that goes, college football would make more money with a playoff, so that argument is asinine right out of the gate.
And as for the NFL, they, too didn’t begin with a playoff. From Wikipedia:
NFL post-season history can be traced to the first NFL Championship Game in 1933, though in the early years, qualification for the game was based solely on regular season records. The first true NFL playoff began in 1967, when four teams qualified for the tournament. When the league merged with the American Football League in 1970, the playoffs expanded to eight teams. The playoffs were expanded to ten teams in 1978 and twelve teams in 1990.
The NFL chartered its rules in 1876–without a playoff.
So why shouldn’t college football adopt their own playoff system like the other sports have? Because none of the other sports had a system already in place like college football does. They didn’t “playoff” at all, they just named a champ or had one extra game to see who it was. They had to do something to determine the champ, and college football already had the bowls. Where do you think they got the name for the Super Bowl? It was their shot at duplicating what college football had already done with great success.
But even more than this, more than the history and tradition of the game, the greatest reason of all (other than the fact that we don’t need a playoff), is because the regular season still matters in college football. You’ll never see a team in college football with a guaranteed playoff bid running its second stringers out onto the field because the win is meaningless. Every loss has significance. Not so in any other sport.
And besides that, to institute a playoff you’d have to add games to the season. Even if it’s only one or two, you’d still add games, and these are still students who are trying to make the grade. There are enough games.
Look at it this way: The first kickoff of the first game in a college football season is the start of the playoffs. And every team approaches every season with the same attitude: Must Win. NCAA basketball started their own playoff system, and now look at it. It doesn’t become a popular sport until March. Everything leading up to that is filler.
Really, Chris, if you want to make an argument, make one, but throwing insults at the blog host isn’t going to get you anywhere. Give me a good reason for a playoff and I’ll listen, but I’ll tell you right now, because the fans want it isn’t a good reason. Herd mentality does nothing for an argument.
In closing, I’d like to add that I don’t believe the current system is working. I’ve come up with an alternative plan that I believe would fix the situation nicely. We could keep the bowl structure intact, keep the conferences as they are, and even keep the BCS in place. My plan would fix college football. Tell me what you think, or how you would fix it, if you’d do anything at all.
I enjoyed reading your comments regarding there ever being a college playoff. I whole agree with some of your assessments but I truly feel that the likelihood of a college football playoff system is very remote.
The only question I feel we should be asking is how much money is being “left on the table” by NOT playing through a playoff system. After all, we all know that college football is not a sport. It is a business. Specifically, it is an entertainment business. It became a business the very instant college football programs began charging admission to games and selling radio and television rights. And, like any business, it’s sole mission is to maximize revenue and return the highest net profit possible. And too, as we all know, the bulk of that revenue today comes from television.
So, the only thing I am interested in knowing is how much money is being lost by not using a playoff system. In other words, what is the value of a playoff game in each round? Use whatever playoff scheme you wish… We know the value of each bowl game–to the penny. And, some of the bowl games bring in quite a bit. But, I can guarantee you one thing, a bowl game, any bowl game, including the “granddaddy of them all,” will pale in comparison and not even come close to generating the kind of revenue a playoff “bowl” game would (depending on the round.)
So, that is the only question… How much are we talking? How much for a first round playoff with an sixteen team system? How much for a final four game? $100 million, $200 – 300million? I would sure like to know…
I can tell you who else would like to know. How about the stockholders and board of directors at Disney/ABC/Capital Cities. If you ask me, the president of ABC Sports (Mr. Steve Bornstein) is doing a really poor job if they are in fact leaving that much revenue ‘untapped’. It is in-excusable. I bet Rupert Murdock and FOX Sports would be interested. Murdock could care less about College Football traditions (ie the “Rose Bowl”, et al.) He cares about one thing and one thing only. Look how he (Murdoch) took away the NFL from CBS Sports back in the nineties. That should tell you something.
So, it really doesn’t matter what the college presidents think. Nor, does it really matter what the conference commissioners or the NCAA think or feel. Those people really don’t hold the power they think they do. The power to change things only lies with the money and the people controlling the money (the TV revenue). What do you think?
Sincerely,
Tim Ziegner
Austin, Texas
You make some very valid points. You have stated your position well. I personally would like to see a playoff system. Primarily because I think that it gives better opportunities for teams that would not normally meet a chance to play against each other. My personal opinion is that this would actually give us a better indication in the end of who has the best team. But, you do make a very good point with the potential of pulling 1st stringers in the final stretch if your team is doing well. On the other hand, with college football so competitive I’m not so sure this is the same situation we have with the NFL near post season.
The one thing that I do really need to call you on those is this statement, “It doesn’t become a popular sport until March. Everything leading up to that is filler.” I think this statement is grossly exagerated. While there might be a hint of truth to this, college basketball (for the larger schools with good programs) is very popular. Just try getting Illini tickets at Assembly Hall, tough to come by. I think what some may perceive as a lack of popularity during the season is really just more of a difference in the way the sport is played. With football, you pretty much have 1 game per week on Saturdays (yes I know there are exceptions to this, but bear with me). Basketball on the other hand has multiple games per week. While a typical football season consists of a dozen games, basketball players are more likely to hit the court about 30 times. The volume of games is totally different so you’re just not going to see the same kind of turnout for basketball that you see with football. The same is true of media coverage. It doesn’t mean it’s not popular, just a sport that is played very differently from football.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this subject. I really enjoyed your posting.