Everyone loves a beauty pageant. The talent, swimsuit and question/answer portions often pit the audience against the judges. The television and in-person audiences ask with indignation, “Are the judges watching the same event?” More often than not, beauty pageants, as well as gymnastics, figure skating and boxing, create controversy because the rules are setup where the participants cannot decide a true champion and must depend on judges.
Let’s add the artist formerly known as the Bowl Championship Series to this list and provide a new name that fits: The Beauty Contest Show or BCS for short.
Polls (quasi-judges), computers and “style” points decide a champion in Division I FBS football. That doesn’t sound like a beauty contest to you? College football already has a talent portion attached to their events. Coaches, players and analysts are all asked numerous questions, so that could serve as the question/answer portion. The only thing missing is the swimsuit portion of the BCS…O.K., maybe that’s a good thing but you get the point.
The defenders of this seriously flawed football pageant like to point out there is a playoff every week. Really? Every week? If that’s the case, then shouldn’t the national semifinals include Alabama, Utah, Boise State and Ball State? They are the only teams without a loss during the regular season. Those who enjoy this Beauty Contest Show turn their noses up to the idea of those teams (except Alabama) being in the conversation probably because they weren’t the favorites or their evening gowns were too long…
Next the supporters of this football pageant say that a playoff would make the season too long and would hurt the student-athletes academically. If the season is so long, why did the football decision-makers decide on adding a 12th game? I wonder how those student-athletes in Division I FCS, Division II and Division III football continue to do well academically despite being involved in a playoff system. Basketball and Baseball student-athletes are on the road and away from campus three times as much football student-athletes, play games during finals and still balance their academic workload.
Still think the BCS is not like a beauty pageant? There are judges/voters/supporters of this athletic beauty show actually using words like “style” and “hot” to describe teams they feel should be moving on to the next round. Seriously, people say that Oklahoma is hot right now and marveling about their offense prowess. That really sounds like someone drooling over who looks hot as they parade across the stage. Oklahoma plays excellent offense. What ever happened to defense? The Sooners are number one in offense, but only #61 in total defense. Alabama, Florida, Texas and USC are all in the top 20 on both sides of the ball. Translation: those teams are well rounded. The Sooners are the equivalent of the beauty queen who falls apart on question/answer and talent portions of the contest but boy do they look good…
In the end, just because something is unique doesn’t mean that’s a good thing. Despite all of the fan fair, college football doesn’t enjoy more success than the NFL, NBA or NCAA basketball. So as these college football teams walk around the stage waiting for the judges’ scores and the public waits anxiously for the judges to tell us who the champion will be, we might as well watch the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show because they choose their champion the same way as Division I FBS college football.
2 comments:
I don't see how ANYBODY can defend such a flawed system as the BCS. It has less than a 50% success rate (in regards to having two clear-cut teams play without any controversy) and still people will consistently argue that the system works because "Hey, we're talking about it aren't we?" So the entire system was created for great water cooler talk? Seriously?
"Hey, every weeks a playoff!" Ummm....if your playoffs include the Washington's and Syracuse's of the world, then your "playoff" is a joke.
Give me the best teams and a final result that makes sense. Let's use this formula for other sports for a second shall we...
So last season in the NFL, I guess the Patriots should have gotten a pass all the way to the Super Bowl to play the Cowboys because they were the "best teams" in the league since they had the best records. Well, neither one of them won the championship and we would have missed out on one of the great post-season runs in NFL history by the Giants.
In the NBA, should we have skipped to the finals and told the rest of the league to sit at home and watch the Lakers and Celtics play? Especially when you consider the fact that 5-6 teams in the West finished 2-3 games out of first!
The same goes for the MLB and various other leagues as well. The Bowl Subdivision needs to get off of their high horse. If everyone else is doing the opposite of what you're going and no ones complaining, then maybe they're the ones doing something right....
Your analogy is humorous but well stated. I am commenting on your blog because I tried to get in touch during the Holidays but I have a new phone which means I lost your phone number. Call or email a long lost friend when you get a chance, please. Aisha
Post a Comment