On Friday, I made the point on my radio show that the notion college football has the "greatest regular season" of any sport - by virtue of its high-wire, one-loss-and-your-dead nature - is totally absurd.
I used the just completed tepid slate of games to prove my point. Since we're down to a four-teams-for-two-spots race now, a whole wide swath of teams are totally off the championship radar because they were stupid enough to - gasp! - lose one game.
Idiots.
Of course, this point gets totally missed by guys like listener John (see his email below) who would rather get into DNA testing to see if I love college football sufficiently to be considered "pure."
Well, thankfully, I was able to pen a prompt reply to his screed. Isn't email wonderful!
From: John A. Witzke
Sent: Sat, November 13, 2010 4:56:55 PM
Subject: [yawn]
Yep, another boring Saturday.
I'm bored stiff, Czabe.
40-watt bulb.
Nothing to see here.
Just admit that you don't truly have the CFB gene...you enjoy it, but much like, oh, 99.999% of sports fans who grew up in major east coast major markets, you're simply WAYWAYWAYWAYWAY more partial to the pro game...there's nothing wrong with that, and I honestly don't hold it against you.
The first time starters are ever sat out of Auburn/Alabama, UM/tOSU, etc; because each team already has clinched a spot in some stupid unnecessary media-concocted playoff, I'm moving to Asia... nothing could be more un-American!
And for the record, being in favor of a "plus one" is NOT the same thing as being in favor of all the "Death to the BCS" propaganda that's making the rounds.
Only a few more precious weeks left in The Greatest Regular Season in All of Sports... savor it!! -John
>>>>>>>>>>
And here was my reply......
TO: John Witzke >>>>>>>>>>
And here was my reply......
FROM: Czabe
RE: College Football
John,
I am in favor of a plus one. It would make college football, already awesome, even more so. The BCS is a tool, and a not very good one at that. But you need some kind of tool to set up a "virtual" championship game without benefit of a tournament, and a selection committee, as there is in CBB. Under my "plus 1" I would keep the BCS architecture intact, with the only tweak being a re-insertion of margin of victory, which I think is very important. Of course, I would put a "limiter" on that numerical input, to keep games like Wisconsin's 83 point outburst from being over-valued.
Under my scenario, about 12 games Saturday would have had huge implications. Instead, there were only 3. Auburn, Oregon, and (surprise) TCU. The fact that there were many other "entertaining" games only means that they are entertaining, not significant. I like watching CFB games such as Florida v. South Carolina for the pageantry, competition, tradition, and spectacle. That will never change.
But dicks like you, who for reasons completely unknown, RESIST like a child going to the dentist, the attempt to create even a modest playoff, are the most pompous and tiring assholes to debate. Sorry my CFB "DNA" doesn't match yours.
The CFB regular season is flawed, capricious, and utterly illogical. Much like a woman. And yet, like a woman, I still love it. But in the same way, only idiots wouldn't want a woman who could find a way to suppress some of her maddening "womanlike tendencies" with a little tweaking.
Oh yeah, one more thing.
Go fuck yourself.
Regards, Steve
completely disagree with Steve on this one.
ReplyDeleteSomeone seems super sensitive about their football genes...
ReplyDeletegotta say czabe that was a little over the top. i think fox news has you wanting to separate yourself from the common man. i'm of course just kidding, please don't yell at me.
ReplyDeletehonestly i never liked the playoffs because a perfect team like the patriots (using a pro comparison, i know)can lose to a wildcard 6 lose team. most people believe the pats were the better team and for 19 weeks they were but on one weekend they finally got beat by a hot team. a tournament (including ncaa basketball) never chooses anything more than a tournament champion, imho. i can hear the argument that the only teams that would make a college playoff would be perfect, 1, or maybe 2 loss teams... point taken, if you can get rid of the automatic bids. but i still like making the league championship important and i still like bowl games... and obtw i'm not a gambler. like baseball i would rather have too little than too many.
not sure if there were other things that John said in his e-mail to you that were edited out, but your reply is over the top...and I solidly in your camp on this one, Czabe. This week's games were dull. I was catching up on Friday's show on podcast yesterday (Sunday), and interestingly, I had a very similar conversation with my brother on Sat nite along the lines of "60 boring football games, 3 mildly interesting ones, no compelling ones...so much for "the best regular season in all of sports". - Taha
ReplyDeleteThis all makes the argument that playing the 12 Days of Czaban is now more important than ever to enjoy the Holiday Bowl Season.
ReplyDeleteYou dweebs.
You tell em Czabe.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Czabe...the one other major flaw that does not get enough scrutiny is the preseason poll. Why rank anybody until week 3 or 4? I understand that the major TV networks want to hype their games with #10 Virginia Tech to improve their ratings, but how arbitrary are so many of these rankings?! Mostly it's a combination of last year's finish and returning starters. Not exactly "scientific" by any means. I agree sometimes that the cream with rise to the top, but an early season loss by an early top 5 team is much easier to overcome than one by a #25 ranked team that may be equally great or better than the #5 team. These preseason & early season rankings are just as flawed as the lack of an 8 team playoff.
ReplyDeleteFour team playoff. Big Ten & Pac 10 champs play in the Rose Bowl. SEC champ and otherwise highest ranked BCS At Large team play in another bowl. Winner of those two games play in a Nat'l Championship game.
ReplyDeleteSorry TCU/Boise/Big East/Big XII/ACC, you gotta earn a spot in the At Large. Your conferences are no longer relevant compared to the SEC and new Big Twelven and the 12-Pac.
Everyone else can keep their Clownpenis.Fart Bowls and corporate trophies.
Wow, totally uncalled for response. The dude is just defending his position on this. Nothing he said warranted that.
ReplyDeleteAnd Boom goes the dynamite! Tour-de Force reply Mr. Czaban.
ReplyDeleteI have the purest, southern fried Dixie DNA there is (Bama fan) and completely agree that the regular season is great if you are contending for the ring, but it sucks once you lose one game. Using the BCS method for ranking, wouldn't teams be playing pretty damned hard to insure they are in the top 8 for a post season? I mean other than despising the boog eating AuBarners (soon to be the NCAAs be-otch) for what they are, why do I care about the Iron Bowl? But what if the win meant a chance to be alive for post-season? As it is, Bama's season "ended" in Baton Rouge, the rest is meaningless.
Wow! What a bunch of chicks? I guess the ratings of The View will be fine while this group lays around and whimpers. The emailer had an opinion. Czabe had an opinion. That's it. There's no hatred of biblical proportions, simply a little passion about a beloved sport. Damn. I wish I sold Mary Kay right about now.
ReplyDeleteczabe's the best...i bother him constantly with my maniacal jihadist sports rants...every once in awhile, you touch a nerve...i appreciate the support from those who know there is nothing wrong with having an opinion and the only other thing i'll add is that my thoughts were sincere and none of it was meant to be condescending, even the parts czabe interpreted as such
ReplyDeleteTo Czabe and all other readers,
ReplyDeleteThere IS a way to solve this college football problem without changing the bowls. It also has no need for playoff committees, polls, or computers; everything decided on the field. It is a little complicated to describe in a blog post, but its actually simple and elegant. Hit me up with an email if you are interested in hearing the full explanation.