April 6, 2009
Utah Attorney General’s Attack of the BCS is building up
Written by: DavidI was reading another article that had a similar theme and was extremely well written. I started to write a comment, but then it started to get so long that I decided to just write my own article.
In essence his article mentioned the Utah Attorney General’s anti-trust lawsuit against the BCS that should take place sometime this summer. To fully make sense of what I am saying you will need to read Jeremy’s article as well as the comments. Hopefully it will make some sense either way.
Do I think the BCS is unfair, absolutely.
Do I think this lawsuit will result in a playoff, or even a better system, no.
But, this is the best laid argument I have seen. Every other attempt to take down the BCS has been nothing more than a cryfest about how our team got left out and we should have gotten in, blah blah blah. The huge factor that continues to grow is that the Major BCS schools, meaning the ones that consistently have a title shot like USC, are saying we need a playoff.
What that says to me is that this is no longer simply a question of who should play in a BCS bowl, but that it has sincerely become a question of crowning a TRUE national champion. That is the argument that has needed to be raised to create change.
Let’s face it, the big conferences and networks are going to get their money one way or another. What I have really started to take issue with is declaring a national champion when there is a legitimate case for multiple other teams. If any major sport were to simply pick two teams based on polls and they played one game to determine the Super Bowl Champion, or the winner of the Stanley Cup, then there would be outrage. Why is college football the only exception to the rule in the world?
Of all the sporting events in the world, from pee wee sports, to the high school, to professional sports, and even to the Olympics, there is a playoff in place. Sure there is debate over what teams should make it, but now that I think about it, when was the last time you heard a country cry about not making it into the World Cup, or even the playoffs in major US sports? There is a system in place that makes sense and ultimately crowns a true champion.
While there will always be people making excuses about why their team didn’t win or why their rival did. However, there is no legitimate argument to take away their title.
Now the idea of sending the 11 conference champions plus 5 at-large bids to a playoff is completely stupid to me. There is no even remotely decent argument that the conference champion of C-USA, WAC, Ivy League, MAC, or even in some years the MWC champions have any place playing for a national champion. Last year evidenced that even the BCS conferences don’t always warrant a BCS bid. There is no reason to make it even that complicated.
I have written this before, but it could be very simple. You take the top 8, or 16 though I prefer 8, and put them against each other with their ranks as seeds. Add the Cotton and Holiday bowls, or others if you prefer, to the original 4 BCS bowls. They rotate yearly through first round games and the seminfinal games. Then you pick an entirely separate place, picked just like the Super Bowl and most leauges’ all-star games for the National Championship.
This creates even more money to spread around, and the major conferences would still get their cut because their teams would be the ones making it regularly. At the same time, smaller conferences would have just as much chance. There would be no argument that smaller teams don’t deserve it, because they would HAVE to schedule better teams to get ranked in the top 8. Going undefeated would not be enough for a non-BCS school.
I really don’t understand why they make it so complicated. Everyone in the world knows it is about money and nothing else. Don’t give me the time argument, because the national championship is already more than a week later than it used to be.
This may not be the best answer, but it seems like a legitimate one for me.
Tags: BCS • BYU • College football • Conference USA • Ivy League • MAC • Mountain West Conference • MWC • Stanley Cup • Super Bowl • USC • Utah Attorney General • WAC • World CupBYU softball having another strong season
Written by: DavidBYU has consistently had a strong softball team, and this year is no different. After winning in New Mexico over the weekend, they are now at 26-14 on the season, and 3-0 in conference play.
They feature a very potent offense that has been putting up big numbers all year. They have scored more than 10 runs 9 different times, and are consistently scoring 7-9 runs.
They also have a solid pitching staff, that has thrown 13 shutouts this year, and has only allowed more than 5 runs twice all season.
The highlight of the year in pitching came March 28 when Christine Zinanti threw a no-hitter. Her only walk came against the first batter of the game, who was hit by a pitch.
It is unfortunate that TCU doesn’t have a softball team, because that means there is no way I will get to see them play. Having been a softball coach, I look forward to any opportunity to watch a quality team play, and that is exactly what a BYU has this year.
Tags: BYU • BYU softball • Christine Zinanti • North DakotaIs there too much media in college sports?
Written by: DavidThis modern era of information overload is no different in the sports world. However, when it comes to college football, it may have come too far.
Not only can you get daily reports on every practice of your favorite team including play by play and stats, you can now watch the spring games on ESPN. That is just going too far.
It used to be special to watch a game on national tv. You would anxiously read articles about what games would be televised. This was even a bigger deal if you were an out of town fan, and your team was going to be on a network station. Growing up in Texas and being a BYU fan I was lucky to see one or two games a year, but now you can get not only every single game, but spring games and practices.
While I do appreciate being able to watch more games than I used to, I almost miss the old days. The quality of broadcasts has totally fallen off of a cliff. From the broadcasters themselves to the game production, it just isn’t nearly as good. Now we are stuck with former players that never made it, and never should have been given a spot in the booth.
The days of classic sporting events analyzed by well known broadcasters is gone. Instead we would probably be better off hitting the mute button and just enjoying the game itself.
The one exception I have found to this is that most radio broadcasts still carry classic announcers. I realize they can’t live forever, but by and large most teams keep the same broadcasters on the radio. I have found myself muting the tv and listening to the radio because they do such a better job.
So while I will continue to watch and read everything I possibly can about BYU, I wish the quality of broadcasts would go back up to what it used to be.
Tags: BYU Football • ESPN







