Playoffs?

Normally I shy away from sports related posts....mainly because I get the distinct impression that most of the people who read my blog are women.  This is why I write a bazillion words on every episode of The Bachelor.  Rule number one of communication:  Know your audience.  This, perhaps, portrays me to the general public as a namby-pamby guy who'd rather go to see Riverdance than a Rose Bowl.  This is simply not the case.  Fact of the matter is that that I can appreciate both forms of entertainment. 

Speaking of the Rose Bowl however, I heard a viewpoint on the radio that I hadn't quite heard before.  Oregon State hasn't been to a Rose Bowl since my parents were in high school.  Growing up as a fourth generation Beaver, it's been something I've wanted to experience since I was about six.  It's the Granddaddy of Them All!  So great is this dream of mine to see Oregon State run out onto the field on New Year's Day in Pasadena that I've vowed not to visit the stadium for any reason until that day comes.  I don't want anything to take away from that moment, whenever that comes (and it will!). 

Or will it?  Mike Parker, as only Mike Parker can, spent a good thirty minutes on the radio building up his argument against a playoff in college football, referencing Glengarry Glen Ross numerous times in the process.  Half an hour!  Finally he got to the point:  If there's a playoff, the Rose Bowl ceases to exist as we know it, and that's not good. 

He's right on both counts.  Already the Rose Bowl has been devalued with the creation of the National Championship game and this absurd thing where we have bowl games after New Year's Day.  I have no problem with pitting #1 vs. #2.  It makes sense....it's the game everyone wants to see.  That being said, I'd actually be disappointed if OSU won the Pac-12 and finished #2 and was sent to Miami for the Orange Bowl game.  I'd rather they finished #3 and went to the Rose Bowl.....at least the first time they win the Pac-12.  After that they can go to the National Championship all they want.  The Rose Bowl has always been the holy grail for the Pac teams, and it bugs me to think that it's suddenly not anymore.  Ask Oregon fans....Is the Rose Bowl a little less special to them now that they've played in a National Championship The Natty?  (Sidenote:  Now the Cliff Harris has essentially been wiped from our collective memories, can we pretend "The Natty" never entered our lexicon?  I don't know that it's possible to cheapen a National Championship experience, but calling it "The Natty" probably comes close.)  

Let's look at some arguments of playoff supporters, and I'm going to tell you why these people are wrong.

Argument:  Bowls would still matter!  1 v. 4 in the Rose Bowl, 2 v. 3 in the Sugar, National Championship at the Orange!

You're right...they would still matter, but if you go beyond 1v2 though, all of sudden there's no "Rose Bowl."  There's a national semifinal game AT the Rose Bowl, and nobody gets as excited for a penultimate game.  In addition, while it's great for national television audiences, it's brutal for fans of the respective schools.  If you're talking about people having to travel to a semifinal game, then hop on another plane to fly to another destination the next week for the championship you're going to price out all but the largest donors.  Many families plan vacations around their respective team's bowl games....now they'll have to decide between going to a semifinal or holding out hope that their team wins and gets to the big game.  

Argument:  We need to decide the national champion on the field!

So you want an national champion who "earned" it.  I get that the championship is "decided on the field" but how often does the best team actually win in a playoff format?  Anyone really think that the Giants were the best team on the field in Super Bowl XLII?  No...the Patriots were the victim of one of the most unlikely catches ever.  Teams that weren't even good enough to win their division have won the world series five times in fifteen years.  Heck, the Packers had to win in the last week of the season last year to even make the playoffs!  The best team doesn't win a championship...the hottest team does.  If anything the 1 vs. 2 format pits the two teams most DESERVING of playing for a national championship against each other. 

But what about Oklahoma State?  Aren't they deserving?  You're right.  They probably deserved a shot.  But if you expand to 4 teams, what about #5?  If you put this model towards the 2011 season, that would mean Stanford gets into the playoff and Oregon gets short shrift.  How is that fair?  Oregon HAMMERED Stanford on their home field!!  Oregon won the Pac-12!!!  Again, you can't please everyone. 

Argument:  Ok fine Mr. Smarty Pants, what if we go to four SuperConferences and have the champs of each conference duke it out in a playoff?

Well Mr. Playoff, that'd solve the Oregon/Stanford problem, but let's use this season again for this analysis.  In no "SuperConference" world would it be possible for Alabama and LSU to not be in the same conference.  It simply wouldn't happen.  So, even if you went with four SuperConferences, you'd probably still have a Final Four that looked something like LSU v. Oregon (REMATCH!) in one semifinal and Oklahoma State v. Wisconsin in the other.....and nobody, not even Badgerland, thinks Wisconsin is one of the top four teams in the country. 

Argument:  FINE!  Then we expand the playoff to 8 teams, and allow for four "at large" berths!

Nice try....but #9 is still pissed and a legislator from whatever state #9 happens to play in is heading to congress with some plan to blow up the current system.  Another problem would be that teams that play in a conference championship game now could potentially be playing as many as 17 games in a season (13 regular season - assuming they play at Hawaii, conference championship, quarterfinal, semifinal, championship).  Good luck getting university presidents who still have to pretend that academics matter for these teams to agree to that.  Oh, you want to shorten the regular season?  Good luck getting cash strapped universities with no chance of playing in a national championship (think Arkansas State or Utah State) across the nation to willingly sacrifice home games so that Alabama can make a run at a national championship.  It's not going to happen unless you basically blow up the current FBS and cut it down to the 32 most successful and wealthy programs and leave the other 87 teams out in the cold.  Say goodbye to Boise State.  Sorry Houston, we know you had a great year, but we just don't need you anymore.  Robert Griffin III?  I think I know who he is.....didn't he play in that crappy second division? 

Look, the reason the NCAA tourney is so successful in basketball is because of the first two rounds....when some no name school from the Patriot League knocks off a Duke or a Kansas....it's something you can't replicate in football, or baseball, or really any other sport.  So why are we trying?  They say that sports is a reflection of society, and in this case it's true.....the rich are getting richer at the expense of the poor. 

If we go to a playoff format, it'll be only the 1% that get to play in the sandbox, and I'll never get the chance to see the Beavers play in a Rose Bowl, and that makes me sad.