George Diaz is an idiot

This afternoon I sat down with the Evening Sun sports section and found myself reading an article taken from the Orlando Sentinel by George Diaz titled "BCS system has flaws but it does work". Really? They could have called and gotten a better opinion piece from me on the topic. So I decided to write a rebuttal, and after I'm done I'm going to send it in to the Evening Sun and see if I can get it published, because lets be honest, if they run that, they'll run anything. Here is a link so you can read it: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-sportsbcs-college-diazcol050609050609may06,0,594458.column

George Diaz's article on the BCS being flawed but working is an accurate representation of his own work. He's flawed in his argument, yet still working at a major American newspaper. He starts off by appealing to the common sense of the reader and getting them on his side by doing what every writer and TV anaylst has done when discussing Congress getting involved in the controversy. He attacks the men trying to force the BCS to implement a playoff by saying they have better uses for their time. While it is difficult to argue with the logic during these economic times, there is an intelligent reason behind this. Imagine being the congressman or congresswoman who wrote the bill forcing the BCS to implement a playoff system to determine a national champion. College football fans of all race, gender, religion, and political affiliation would likely vote for you forever, and crossing over those boundaries is appealing. Beyond that, a playoff would help stimulate revenue across the board. It only stands to reason that more games mean more money flowing in, especially playoff games that are located around the major cities of the nation. So creating a playoff is a stimulus plan that makes everyone happy. Lastly, lets not pigeon hole our lawmakers into people only worried about the economy or abortion or gay marriage. They are people who have genuine interests outside of sitting in a room voting on bills. They are doing the people the represent a service by discussing these issues because many Americans today care so much about their sports teams that they want something done about it by any means necessary.
Next Diaz goes directs the article towards the old excuse of "it's better than it used to be". Please spare me the nostalgia for the good old days of bowl games that didn't solve the national championship picture. Bud Selig is trying to use this excuse too when talking about steroids, but no one seems to buy it, because steroids are still a huge problem, and the best pure hitter in the game just got suspended for 50 games. We as college football fans need to continue to demand improvement because we deserve it. Spending money to go to games doesn't give you the right to throw beer or curse in front of children, but it does give you the right to know who the best team in the land is by the end of the season. Even more than the fans, the players deserve to not have championships shrowded in doubt or split because the BCS system failed to deliver. These students are in school being taught to strive for greatness, to be the best they can, but when they step on that field, they are told, it's not the best, but it's better than it used to be.
Diaz has a few more complaints about the problems with a playoff that are easily solved by reasoning. He says the games go too far beyond the traditional January 1st bowl games and "drone on and on and on beyond New year's Day." There are two schools of thought here. The first is that perhaps you just don't enjoy college football. I hold on to the precious last moments of the season and don't mind them stretching out a bit because football is a short 5 months every year. But perhaps I'm in the minority, and most fans would like to see the games wrap up a little sooner. The solution to that is simple, don't wait two weeks to start games, or take out the twelveth game that was added in and start the bowls a week sooner. The national championship game this year was on January 8th, but moved back one week falls exactly on January 1st. The conference championship games were played on December 6th, a full month before the national championship game. The 4 and a half weeks in between there would have been a perfect time for a playoff, ending on January 3rd, a Saturday. Diaz envisioned a world in which the major conferences collapse due to teams not wanting to play such difficult schedules to help their chances at making the playoffs. This is another easy solution. Instead of the 8 team playoff everyone is calling for, let's make it 16 teams, and every conference out there gets an automatic bid, and the 5 best conferences (determined by overall W-L % between them) get a 2nd qualifier. Therefore the BCS conferences are almost guaranteed to get 11 of the 16 spots, and any BCS busters like Utah or Boise St. get their fair shake too. The seeding can be done just like a mini men's tournament bracket, splitting the top 4 seeds into the best suited regions, and playing 2 games in the regions before coming in for a Final Four of Football. Teams like North Texas or Ball St. will play the likes of Florida, Oklahoma, or any other powerhouse in the first round in a virtual home game, so again the power conferences come out on top. The playoff can fit into the bowl system by rotating the first 8 games between the bowls not named Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta. The quarterfinals take those 4 names, and then we have the National Semifinals/Final Four and then the National Championship Game. To counter Diaz's concern about the team who is arguing about being the 16th/11th best team in the nation, remember, only two 11 seeds have ever made the NCAA Final Four (LSU 1986, George Mason 2006) and no 12 seed has ever done it. Complaining won't do much, because if you're arguing about being the 16th/11th best team, then you didn't do enough. A team like the 2004 Auburn Tigers wouldn't get left out even though they went undefeated, a team like 10-2 Texas Tech might find itself on the outside looking in. Diaz worries that teams might take the last week of the season off if they are secured a playoff bid. The likelihood of that happening is slim, considering even with a 16 team playoff only 13.3% of teams out of the current FBS are making the playoffs, so one mistake could take you out of the race. The only teams likely to do that would be undefeated conference winners, but the goal of going undefeated always trumps the desire to rest players, just ask the 18-1 Patroits.
Diaz goes on to point out another crutch of the BCS supporter, that a playoff would diminish the importance of the regular season. Again, going back the stat that only 13.3% of teams would make the playoffs means that every game would continue to count, and that mistakes could still cost a team their season. Losing a game hasn't prevented Florida from winning two national championships in the past 3 years, or kept Oklahoma out of the title game twice. One loss no longer means that a team is done because parity is beginning to sweep across the college football landscape, and going undefeated is more difficult than ever. The only undefeated team last year didn't get the chance to play for the title, so apparently the regular season isn't a playoff.
A playoff isn't a fool proof system and there are sure to be some kinks to work out, but at the end of the day it would make the vast majority of college football fans happier. Anyone arguing for the kids playing in the playoffs affecting their education needs to remember that these games are over Christmas break and have no affect on schoolwork. No other sports has a month between their national championship contenders playing, because no other sport has any outdated system like the bowls in place. 16 teams allows for enough teams to get their shot while keeping the playoff to under a month in length. It favors the bigger schools while allowing a great smaller school the oppurtunity to compete with the big boys for the national championship. Playing 15 games, 12 of which would be played close to the higher seed's campus, provides more games to generate revenue and allows the towns to gain business from the travelers coming in to watch the games. The only reason this doesn't work is because certain people at the top don't want to lose money from the bowls, but they can't see past that towards the money they would stand to make with a playoff. If the BCS was an effective way to crown a champion and generate revenue then every major sport would have it in some form. This isn't a bitter cry from a Utah or Boise St. fan, or even one from a Texas fan. I root for a Virginia Tech team that has yet to put together a team deserving of a national title. But when the day comes that they do, I pray that the BCS doesn't prevent them from competing for it by placing them back in the Orange Bowl.