[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by moon

It isn't random but based on who is playing in the Championship game the match-ups are altered.

the only way you get altered is if you are a #1 or #2. and are moved to the NC ... I'm sure they don't mind.

Originally Posted by moon

The problem I have is that who is 1 and 2 is not clear. This year is a good example, I would say that Missouri and West Virginia are clearly not the best teams. This system does not determine who is the best but who is the best at fitting into the system that the BCS has set up. There has been more than 1 year that a team has a credible claim. When USC was first in both polls and would have easily beat the two teams in the Championship game they had a legitimate claim. When Nebraska was put in the game despite not winning their conference there was a legitimate claim they didn't belong. Also, in many years the BCS was bailed out because of upsets not because it was a good system.

It's not an exact science, the polls are brutal (IE computers are smarter than the voters) but you have 118 teams and 12 games. But a playoff doesn't do anything to solve it. Ya, it's not clear who's best. But in 2004, if Gelinas goal scored can anyone with a straight face say that the Flames were the best hockey team that year? They spent 5 months being slightly above average ... they wouldn't have won the most games, just the right games. College football is the opposite of that, all the games matter.

Playoffs are not, and never been about sorting out a champion, they are about $$$, in hockey more than half the teams are in a playoff that lasts 2 months ... is this about some kind of deep resolve to really sort out who is the best by having teams play each other over and over and over? It's just about money, which is ironic, pro playoff people hate the BCS because they think that the AD's and conference organizations are all about money ... well that may be true, but why the hell do you think the NHL has 2 months worth of playoffs and a million games? (If it's not clear, the answer is money)

The BCS has never been 'bailed out' that is a term someone who has an unconditional hate regardless of facts would say when the BCS 'gets it right'

Originally Posted by moon

Also, many of the years it has had number 1 killing number 2 and not really changing anything that would have occurred under the old system.

So? all that means is that you don't need an elaborate playoff scheme to determine number one. And in a playoff do you somehow think those types of games don't exist?

Originally Posted by moon

I agree with you here, but if you give teams playing in garbage conferences like the Big East and some years the ACC the same playing field as the SEC and Pac 10 I think an undefeated team like Hawaii or Boise St. should be considered on par with a WV team with one loss.

Or a 3 or 4 loss Pac10 team or SEC team.

Originally Posted by moon

I disagree. In a play-off rivalries still will remain. In a play-off there still would be games to see who would be 8th or 16th, finishing 1st would still be huge as it makes it much easier to make it to the final. I don't see how the games would be any less important. The only difference is that 1 loss wouldn't be as big a killer but that second loss could finish you. There could be more games that would be important as more teams would still be in it.

yes, rivalries will exist, but the importance of many games go into the toilet. This year KU and Mizzou is the perfect example. Yes it is a rivalry and would have been a big story in two states. Thanks to the importance of the regular season, everybody in America knew this was an important game, and I'm sure had ranking that absolutely blow away any college basketball regular season game.

And they exist every week, big games in different cities.

There are no two ways about it, playoff will decrease the importance of the regular season. It's a simple, perfectly dependable concept that is impossible to deny.

Playoffs = less important, less interesting regular season.

Originally Posted by moon

I think soccer would have it beat in terms of popularity in the planet. Perhaps interest has spiked but I can't see why. The system doesn't to anything to improve the old system and is much worse at providing us with a real champion then a play-off would, but if that is what the numbers say I will believe you.

I'm sure soccer is more important on the planet, but certainly not on the continent. NCAA Div 1 ball is the only major sporting league on the continent that doesn't have a playoff ... and it's the most popular hmmm.

Originally Posted by moon

At least that team would have to beat legitimate contenders and not UCONN, Rutgers and Missouri to waltz into the title.

And which BCS NC has had that as a highlight of a schedule? That's quite disingenuous, the BCS is all about skewing preference to teams that have tougher schedules.

Originally Posted by moon

I am not sure that everyone that runs the sport are smarter than anyone. There are plenty of awful decisions by both conferences and schools.

I didn't say everyone, I said the average fan ... and they are. BTW, how many pro playoff people have tuned NCAA college ball out in favor of hockey?

Originally Posted by moon

The main thing for me is that this new system doesn't provide us with a more legitimate champion than the old system and certainly provides a much less legitimate champion than a play-off system would. So I don't understand why we would keep this system over the old traditional system or the play-off system.

Well for me I liked the old system, it's biggest plus was that it didn't have casual fans with no sense of tradition fixated on a NC, it was about big games, and big bowls. I like the BCS system better because it is a good balance of tradition and a NC.

I'm not going to repeat what I have already said too many more times, but playoffs don't make a champion more legit, the Flames in 04 were not the best team of the year, neither were the lightning, neither were the hurricanes the next year, neither were the Spurs or tons of other teams who win playoffs. And it's being glossed over but it really would kill most of the other bowl games. Most people in Canada don't realize, the big thing about the bowl system is that it gives the schools a way to connect with alum. A few hundred thousand vacations are created when alum travel with their team to wherever their bowl game is, party for a week and then watch their team play. They will never give that up.

Gotta go, there's going to be some college football playoffs in a few hours.

EDIT: Just had a chance to read a decent article ... this guy gets it.
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefoo...story/10504513