Central Florida athletic director Danny White said after the "Knights" beat Auburn that they, UCF, were the national champions. My biggest objection to the college football playoff is that it mutes such claims. I make explain.
Back before the college football playoff, before the Bowl Championship Series, the playoff's predecessor, there was the regular season and a bowl game was a reward for the student players. You got a holiday, a trip to a warm weather city, and you had fun. Win or lose the bowl game you had fun. For a long time the "mythical" national champion was voted on before the bowl games. The bowl games didn't count. Win or lose you had fun. That was what separated college sports from the pros. It wasn't a career, it was a game.
The student players, are kids. Kids are supposed to have fun. College is supposed to be fun. You know those pick up baseball games organized by dads you used to play when you were a kid? The dads (usually the pitchers) always conspired to end the game in a tie, right? So nobody lost. "It's not whether you win or lose, son, it's how you play the game." It used to be kind of that way in college tackle football. There was no overtime to make sure somebody won and somebody lost. Win or lose your bowl game, there were no losers. Everybody was a winner, and Danny White and fans and alumni could validly claim that their school was the best in the land. It was sweet and warm and fuzzy.
The pursuit of happiness gets in the way of fuzzy. The p.o.h. demands clarity. Millions of dollars focus vision. "We're not paying millions of dollars for a tie," says Northwestern Mutual, "And we aren't paying millions for a 'myth.' Myths are for kids...oh, right. We demand a precisely determined national champion for our dollars."
I don't like it but most college football people do. So that's what we got. In a democracy the people get the result they want.
Back before the college football playoff, before the Bowl Championship Series, the playoff's predecessor, there was the regular season and a bowl game was a reward for the student players. You got a holiday, a trip to a warm weather city, and you had fun. Win or lose the bowl game you had fun. For a long time the "mythical" national champion was voted on before the bowl games. The bowl games didn't count. Win or lose you had fun. That was what separated college sports from the pros. It wasn't a career, it was a game.
The student players, are kids. Kids are supposed to have fun. College is supposed to be fun. You know those pick up baseball games organized by dads you used to play when you were a kid? The dads (usually the pitchers) always conspired to end the game in a tie, right? So nobody lost. "It's not whether you win or lose, son, it's how you play the game." It used to be kind of that way in college tackle football. There was no overtime to make sure somebody won and somebody lost. Win or lose your bowl game, there were no losers. Everybody was a winner, and Danny White and fans and alumni could validly claim that their school was the best in the land. It was sweet and warm and fuzzy.
The pursuit of happiness gets in the way of fuzzy. The p.o.h. demands clarity. Millions of dollars focus vision. "We're not paying millions of dollars for a tie," says Northwestern Mutual, "And we aren't paying millions for a 'myth.' Myths are for kids...oh, right. We demand a precisely determined national champion for our dollars."
I don't like it but most college football people do. So that's what we got. In a democracy the people get the result they want.
