Don't mess about with the Bowls

Sports News - Tuesday December 11, 2007

WIGGINSWorld

Don't mess about with the Bowls

DAVE WIGGINS

Memo to the Bowl Championship Series: In the words of Billy Joel, "don't go changin', to try and please me."

I, for one, am quite content with the oft-criticized system now in place that decides the two participants in college football's title game.

I don't care that top tier football is the only NCAA sport that doesn't decide its national champion via a tournament, as naysayers like to point out.

You can take your tourneys and stick them where the sun doesn't shine.

In every college sport where a tournament is involved, the regular season is a mere scramble for seedings.

Stubbed your toes 10 or 12 times in the four month-long NCAA hoop season? No problem.

You can still sneak into the humungous 64-team post-season field, get hot and rack up a bogus national title.

I say no thanks to that garbage.

I'll take the current situation in BCS football (nee Division I-A) where every regular season game represents a national championship life-and-death situation.

Lose once and your national title hopes are probably dashed.

This past topsy-turvy campaign, a second loss has been the death knell, resulting in an even more enjoyable scramble.

Entering the final regular season weekend, one-loss Missouri and West Virginia were headed for the January 7 title game, only to suffer defeats that resulted in an Ohio State-LSU all-the-marbles match-up instead.

What we have just reveled in weekly was three-plus months of meaningful comp_ not the ho-hum, get-the-regular-season-over-with variety, now characteristic of NCAA basketball, the NBA, the NHL and even the wild-card carrying NFL.

I must admit, however, that while the scintillating atmosphere created by the BCS set-up is fantastic, the methodology involved is less than ideal.

The BCS rankings _ which determine both the title game and glamour Bowl participants _ come from mixing together the USA Today coaches' poll, something called the Harris Interactive Poll (comprised of a bunch of butt-inskis) and the computer findings of myriad number-crunching, pocket protector-wearing nerds.

Hardly an ideal conglomeration _ save for the coaches _ to determine the two best teams in the rough-and-tumble world of college football.

But even this screwy set-up somehow ends up making lemonade out of lemons.

It spawns months of fun debate where fans' title game choices are like armpits _ everybody has their own two.

How does my preferred match-up of Southern Cal and Oklahoma smell?

Recently, there has been talk of creating a play-off system out of the glam BCS Bowl games, with the winners advancing to the semis and finals.

No, no _ a thousand times no.

Every existing Bowl game is now a reward for a successful season and has special meaning for participating teams and their fans.

Turning them into mere elimination contests _ or less _ would be to cheapen a satisfying treat.

Becoming Bowl eligible is every team's goal for the year.

These days, even a 7-5 or 6-6 ballclub can go out feeling like a champ. So what if it's the Meineke Car Care Bowl title.

For those of you who snicker at the Humanitarian Bowl and the like, which Bowl did you play in?

I thought not.

Only those who have snapped on a chin-strap in anger can best understand their significance.

Yours truly is proud to have played in a dinky game called the Gem Bowl _ an all-star game in Erie, PA for Division I-AA and Division II players. (Stop that snickering!)

So, I can now tell my grandkids about it and watch them doze off at the sheer insignificance of it all.

Even a loud blast of Billy Joel would be unlikely to stir them from their slumber.

Seriously, BCS football, for all its warts and funk bumps, still looks beautiful to me.

Bowl Championship Series, I love you just the way you are.Contact Dave Wiggins at davwigg@gmail.com

By : Bangkok Post