Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Can we have a playoff, please?

According to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted two weeks ago, 63 percent of self-described college football fans favor replacing the current Bowl Championship Series with a playoff, while 26 percent want to keep the BCS. The other 11 percent lied about being fans, because if you are a fan, you have an opinion about this. If anything, this is a conservative figure; other polls have found that as many as 90 percent of college football fans disapprove of the BCS.
 
In response to this, Bill Hancock, the executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, said, "It's easy to support a hypothetical playoff on paper, but no one has come up with a viable way to actually create one without diminishing the value of the regular season and ending the bowl games as we know them."
 
Really, Bill?
 
I've seen a lot of playoff proposals, any of which would be better than the current system. My favorite comes from Dan Wetzel, who would have a 16 team playoff, with the champions of all 11 conferences and 5 at-large teams. All games except the championship would be home games for the higher seed. Wetzel has laid out a lengthy argument on why that would be the best system, so I won't go through the whole thing here, but I do think it's the best proposal I've seen.
 
That said, I'll reiterate that almost any playoff proposal would be better than the current system, in that it would allow more than just two teams to contend for a championship.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

"Anything Tebow can do, Wall can do better"

Improved Tebowisms:
 
Highlights: "- Tim Tebow was late for practice one day.The rest of the team had to run laps for being early. Tim Tebow has to practice."
- Whoever coined the phrase "defense wins championship" obviously never heard of Tim Tebow. Whoever coined the phrase "defense wins championship" was probably a caveman or a Florida fan. John Wall would later add the 's' to the end of the phrase, making it grammatically correct.
- Tim Tebow doesn't bowl strikes, he just knocks down one pin and the other nine faint. John Wall just bowls strikes, because he's awesome at bowling and not a cheater.
- Tim Tebow's house has no doors, only walls that he walks through. John Wall's house has doors, because he knows that a house with no doors is a stupid idea.
- When Tebow scores a touchdown it's worth 7 points without the extra point kick, but he always gives one back in the spirit of being a missionary. John Wall thinks he should've used some of those points against Alabama....
- Tim Tebow can get Chick-Fil-A on Sundays, John Wall said it was okay.
- Tim Tebow can dribble a football, John Wall showed him how. Wall is now trying to teach him how to throw one. It's an uphill battle.
My favorite: "Tebow has counted out pi to its final decimal place; John Wall has better things to do."