yes we can...play more football!

A year ago, I posted a little opinion piece on the dreadful state of affairs in college football. Specifically, I mentioned that it's about time that NCAA Division I football run a proper playoff system. Well, it now appears that our new commander-
in-chief agrees with me.

In an interview with 60 Minutes this evening, President-elect Obama argued that he was going to "throw his weight around" the fact that he knows that football fans want playoffs. As it stands now, there is a complex and often inane system in place for picking the Division I teams that get to play in relatively meaningless "bowl games" at the end of the football season. Obama even came up with a plan: three weeks for eight teams to face off, similar to the way, oh, any other major sport does it at the end of their season.

In response, The New York Times interviewed Gordon Gee, the chancellor of Ohio State, about this very issue. Gordo seems to be firmly opposed—although he claims to be an "enormous" Obama fan. (I get to call him Gordo because Mr. Gee was the president of my university for all of two years before deciding he liked it better at football schools. Gee is now in his second tenure at Ohio State, and he followed his Ivy League stint with a stay at Vanderbilt. Heck, I even have photos of my fellow classmates sleeping during Gordo's rousing commencement speech. But I digress...) In response to the playoff question, Gee stated that he's looking forward to explaining to Obama why it's "not in the best interest of the academic integrity of our institutions."

I'm sorry, but that's just a lot of baloney. Everyone knows that football players already get special treatment. A playoff system isn't going to all of a sudden make them all Rhodes Scholars. Please make this happen, President-elect Obama. Sports fans of the world are counting on you! ∞

bcs is a load of bs

I must say I'm sick and tired of hearing about all the nonsense regarding the insanity of the BCS system. For the uninitiated, that's the impossible-to-understand system that ranks college football teams throughout the season and decides which two get to vie for the national collegiate football championship title. I don't think there's anyone on the planet who likes it, so it's time to get rid of the darned thing. I'm not the first person to suggest there should be a playoff system similar to ones for most of the other NCAA sports—and I won't be the last. I don't want to hear any crap about scheduling issues...it works well enough for Division I-AA football teams! So just do what you have to do and make it so.

Speaking of Division I-AA: It's high time that the Ivy League were allowed into the NCAA I-AA football playoffs. For the past I-don't-know-how-long, Ivy League presidents have decided against letting the winner of the regular season compete in the national championships. The Ivy coaches are understandably livid about it. I would normally call this kind of thing "whining," since football programs, even at Ivy League schools, generally get waaaay more funding and perks than all other sports. Still, I don't blame the gridiron managers for being annoyed. Pretty much every other Ivy League sport has the opportunity to compete in an end-of-season championship (assuming they've compiled the requisite stellar record)...It's only fair to let the boys play on! ∞