A quick follow-up here. I was listening to a Chuck Klosterman interview today and he made a powerful connection.
He said that since the CFB went to the 12 team playoff, nobody cares anymore about which team was ultimately crowned the best team - unlike the BCS and the four team playoff. Now, it's all about just getting in, and it has morphed into - as I have pointed out here and elsewhere - a pure television show and nothing more. Nobody really cares about the ultimate winner any longer or whether the process is legitimate to that end.
He suggested the media and fan perception now is to no longer view the playoffs as a proxy for excellence, just one for entertainment value. It's why there's so much concern over the match-ups but not outcomes.
It struck me that this explains why there is sorelatively little anger over picking SMU over Alabama. The public is tired of Bama as an entertainment product, even if they agree they are a more deserving team in the 12. He also agreed that the Big 10 and SEC will form their own tournament in 4-5 years and render this one irrelevant.
Adjectives are funny things..."better." Things that make you go hmmm.
It depends on who you ask and where you sit. If you are firmly sitting on a couch with chip dip and wishing Jolt Cola were still around, maybe. Maybe watching the likes of a bunch of superfluous suboptimal programs lose in early rounds offers some faux excitement and entertainment value. A successor to the 70s ABCs' Superstars competition in cold wintry January perhaps.
Bread and circuses do have their place I suppose.
But I would use a different adjective here - perhaps "ominous." When this unsubstantiated randomness to nowhere shakes out and the coffee cups and ashtrays of the Selection Committee are being emptied, at least 3-4 Big 10 and SEC teams will be pissed - justifiably or unjustifiably. Pissed that the likes of SMU, Boise State, Miami, Clemson etc. will be creating all that supposed excitement while they watch from their couches.
How quickly will there be seething phone calls to Sankey and Petitti demanding major changes and how they need to understand who has the power in college football? See, it’s one thing to debate who is truly elite each year – one of the four best teams. It’s another thing to tell South Carolina that they aren’t one of the top 12 but Boise State is.
Uh-uh.
The next steps seem obvious. First, CFB will get rid of automatic bids and reintroduce the computer to rank the teams from 1-12 to alleviate some of the upset and likely expand the number of Big 10 and SEC teams in the mix. Perhaps they expand again. That will work for a bit - until the two conferences expand to carve up the ACC in a few years. Then, they will announce their own playoff - Big 10 v. SEC.
The current charade will remain in place for the "other" programs on the outside looking in for a while. Sorta like the NIT Tournament used to be relative to March Madness. If I were a fan of the current setup, I would be hoping hard for some big upsets this year, or I might be reaching for a different adjective in just a few years when looking back – “shortsighted” comes to mind.
A quick follow-up here. I was listening to a Chuck Klosterman interview today and he made a powerful connection.
He said that since the CFB went to the 12 team playoff, nobody cares anymore about which team was ultimately crowned the best team - unlike the BCS and the four team playoff. Now, it's all about just getting in, and it has morphed into - as I have pointed out here and elsewhere - a pure television show and nothing more. Nobody really cares about the ultimate winner any longer or whether the process is legitimate to that end.
He suggested the media and fan perception now is to no longer view the playoffs as a proxy for excellence, just one for entertainment value. It's why there's so much concern over the match-ups but not outcomes.
It struck me that this explains why there is sorelatively little anger over picking SMU over Alabama. The public is tired of Bama as an entertainment product, even if they agree they are a more deserving team in the 12. He also agreed that the Big 10 and SEC will form their own tournament in 4-5 years and render this one irrelevant.
Adjectives are funny things..."better." Things that make you go hmmm.
It depends on who you ask and where you sit. If you are firmly sitting on a couch with chip dip and wishing Jolt Cola were still around, maybe. Maybe watching the likes of a bunch of superfluous suboptimal programs lose in early rounds offers some faux excitement and entertainment value. A successor to the 70s ABCs' Superstars competition in cold wintry January perhaps.
Bread and circuses do have their place I suppose.
But I would use a different adjective here - perhaps "ominous." When this unsubstantiated randomness to nowhere shakes out and the coffee cups and ashtrays of the Selection Committee are being emptied, at least 3-4 Big 10 and SEC teams will be pissed - justifiably or unjustifiably. Pissed that the likes of SMU, Boise State, Miami, Clemson etc. will be creating all that supposed excitement while they watch from their couches.
How quickly will there be seething phone calls to Sankey and Petitti demanding major changes and how they need to understand who has the power in college football? See, it’s one thing to debate who is truly elite each year – one of the four best teams. It’s another thing to tell South Carolina that they aren’t one of the top 12 but Boise State is.
Uh-uh.
The next steps seem obvious. First, CFB will get rid of automatic bids and reintroduce the computer to rank the teams from 1-12 to alleviate some of the upset and likely expand the number of Big 10 and SEC teams in the mix. Perhaps they expand again. That will work for a bit - until the two conferences expand to carve up the ACC in a few years. Then, they will announce their own playoff - Big 10 v. SEC.
The current charade will remain in place for the "other" programs on the outside looking in for a while. Sorta like the NIT Tournament used to be relative to March Madness. If I were a fan of the current setup, I would be hoping hard for some big upsets this year, or I might be reaching for a different adjective in just a few years when looking back – “shortsighted” comes to mind.