Buckeye Blogger NetworkThis is the continuation of the article posted this morning looking at a solution to the current problems.
To the victors, the spoils.
Many people have spilled an incredible amount of ink over the years trying to determine a just system for selecting a national champion. Our own Malibuckeye came up with his own system a while back and expounded upon it in length. I honestly believe there is only one possible method of satisfactorily deciding a champion with all of the proper criteria. That answer is to allow the teams to decide it on the field in a playoff format. But, unlike with many other views, the playoff isn’t the critical factor. The biggest issue is to start to make the regular season important again.
The best way to determine who gets to play in the Division 1A Playoff, while simultaneously allowing fair access to all of the conferences, is to restrict access only to conference champions. Yes, you heard that right – conference champions only.
Objectivity, Balance, and Power. Two of these are not possessed by the BCS.
This is the first of a two part article on this year’s BCS problems.
When you think of justice it obviously brings to mind the concepts of the court of law, lady justice, and a jury of your peers. Rarely do people consider justice in college football. They may use words like “fair” and “just” or their antonyms freely, but never in any rigorous context.
What the last 48 hours should have demonstrated to college football fans is that the current bowl system is inherently unjust – meant in the strictest philosophical sense.
What is the definition of justice? Dictionary.com suggests (irritatingly as the fifth definition) “the administering of deserved punishment and reward”. This gets at the very heart of the matter.
The BCS as a system was designed to solve the age old problem of determining who is the college football national champion in any given year. Where in previous years the AP and Coaches polls – and a laundry list of other polls before that – occasionally chose different teams, the BCS was supposed to be the unifying consensus. That, of course, went out the window in early 2004 when the AP poll decided to vote USC #1 over LSU, the team that won the national championship game that year.
But the ludicrousness of the BCS doesn’t even begin there. It begins with the very concept of using a poll to determine anything of importance at all.
This week, the hyperbole has kicked into full gear as the top two teams in the nation play each other in what must certainly be the “Game Of The Millennium!!1!11!!”.
There's A Shirt... It Must Be Serious
Granted, both LSU and Alabama are amazing teams, and deserve their top rankings. Each program is led by a coach that has won a national championship; with Coach Saban doing it at both schools. Both come from the tradition and experience laden SEC, winners of the last five national titles. Heck, there’s even speculation that this may only be a precursor to the National Title game; that the tubes and wheels inside of computers might match them again in the Sugar Bowl for another go at it.
So, in many ways the extreme coverage is warranted. Given that both teams have had a week off to prepare, and that their conference has exclusive coverage from the network that creates news stories, I’m actually surprised at how understated the buildup to this game has been. And yes, I will be watching.
That being said, though, there’s one set of stories that won’t be covered in all of the leadup to this spectacular matchup. I’m on record as being very “anti-human interest angle” pre Super Bowl, and my perspective here is why I refuse to watch the Olympics. However, there are student athletes who have been forgotten and cast aside here, not just by the media coverage, but by the programs themselves.
I’m referring, of course, to those players who have ‘left’ the active rosters of each team for what might be considered questionable reasons.
Remember, it's not the size...
Quick hits from Friday/Saturday AM
Buckeye News
“There is no scintilla of evidence related to 90 percent of those kids listed in the Sports Illustrated article that they did anything wrong,” James said. “That’s the way it’s going to turn out, I believe. It’s just irresponsible reporting.”
NCAA News
Let me translate: Coaches now have a lower limit as to how unethical and morally reprehensible they can be. Feel better? This was sort of like the real SEC passing a rule: “We recognize that insider trading is a problem. So we’re going to cap profits from said illegal transactions at $2.7 million.”
“So I’m very pleased that the league is where it is today, and I’m proud of the step we’ve taken really in a leadership role nationally to deal with this bigger concept of roster management.”
Actually, the leadership role in this was taken in 1956, when the Big Ten banned signing more recruits than a team had openings for. Fifty five years ago.
Highest Caliber
First glance at NLOID; both in Columbus and elsewheres.
Buckeye 411
I got four good guys with me helping me stay warm. Wait. Not like that…
Elsewheres Read More
In case you haven’t heard, Louisiana-Monroe beat Alabama in football two years ago. So did Florida International.
The victories were earned today when Alabama had a large hammer brought down on their heads, as sixteen different Alabama sports were found to be in violation of NCAA rules and regulations, and a massive amount of wins by the Tide have been wiped off the books over the past few years.
Alabama will be forced to vacate 21 football wins that came under the watch of former coach Mike Shula and current coach Nick Saban, the university said in a release.
The football program, which will not lose future scholarships, and the other 15 teams have been put on three years’ probation — the third probation penalty for university athletics in the past decade. Alabama also was ordered to pay a $43,900 fine.
Bama’s probation will last until 2012.
But here’s where I think the NCAA is hiding something….the violations were all in relation to athletes illegally and improperly receiving textbooks for classes. I believe the infractions are surrounding something far more nefarious.
Ask yourself this – do you REALLY believe that Alabama athletes actually know how to read, let alone use textbooks, let alone go to CLASS? Need I remind you, the state of Alabama has a failing grade according to the US Chamber Of Commerce.
These kids can barely piss their own pants, let alone decipher what a textbook is used for. Which leads us to the obvious question;
What is the NCAA hiding?????
