What a Joke

There, I said it.

Thats how I feel about tonight's BCS National Championship game.

Why? Because no matter who wins, there is still a question about who is the best.

Theoretically, I should be happy with it. I am a college football traditionalist. I like the game the way it used to be played. I like when there were debates about who was the best team in the land. Remember the bowl coalition? Remember 1997? Those days were filled with debate and arguments.

Maybe we're better off with the BCS though. We do still have the bowl games. Albeit they are meaningless and boring...but we still have them.

Maybe a playoff is better? But how could it work? Years ago, I would've been so against it. Because it would have degraded the integrity of the bowl games. But that eventually happened anyway. The BCS watered down the bowls to basically consolation games. They're meaningless. Now, more than ever, the bowls are decided on by television ratings and not who actually deserves the be there. I give props to the Rose Bowl for sticking to their guns. But at the same time, I ask why? Who cares anymore? When the Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, and Orange Bowls are shells of their former glorious selves...why commend the Rose Bowl for anything? If anything, they get more flack for not caving to corporate interests, and remaining true to their heritage.

So if a playoff is what the people want...it is eventually what they will get. Advertising and networks will make it so. Slowly over time, college football is becoming more and more like the NFL.

If college football adopted a playoff, it would not be sanctioned by the NCAA, just as the BCS isn't. So a single corporate entity would be calling all the shots. But the regular season would suffer. Teams would not feel the pressure to win every game. Call me crazy, but that's the greatest thing about college football...every game matters! If we go to a playoff, it will be just like the NFL...every team could take a week or two off. You could lose and still be the best.

Whats next? Paying the players?

I wish I could propose a solution, but the wheels are already in motion. A playoff is on the way. Non-conference schedules will become a joke. Bowls will die a silent death. December will turn into March Madness...and we can all fill out our BCS brackets. And the title game will be brought to you by corporate executives.