Thursday, December 13, 2007

My Sermon About the College Football Bowl System

Ever March, I don't catch the madness of the playoffs of College Basketball, I don't get World Series fever in September and October, and quite frankly, the less said about the NBA Finals, the better.

But I am a vocal believer in the College Football Bowl system. One might even say I qualify as an evangelical devotee of this form of postseason. Logically, I know that those pushing for a 16-32 team playoff system to cap the college football season have some valid points, but I just can't let go of the traditions and pageantry that the bowl system provides me and for the rest of the college faithful.

I know there are problems with the bowl system and with the selection process, that there are certain inconsistencies which call my belief in a higher authority, mainly the BCS selection committee into question, but then I look at some of the wonderful matchups bowl games provide and my doubts wash away and I have faith that in the end, this is indeed the best system, and those that don't see it that way, well, they are misguided. They don't understand the traditions, they don't love college football in the same way that us bowlers do. All this talk about having a playoff system is blasphemy to all those teams that fought and bled for us for almost a century of football at holy sites all around the country, each with its storied legends, its parables of snatching victory from the darkened heart of defeat and tales of grit and determination, of playing through the pain. And those abowlitionists and abowliests want to destroy these traditions, and wage a war on Christmas and New Year's Bowls. For shame, for shame.

I believe in the principle that the regular season IS the playoffs in college football, and that it is a reward for those teams that have lead a decent life in the regular season. It is the postseason after all, and those who are faithful to a team are rewarded as well, and those that don't get that, well, I guess they can't be convinced otherwise, and that is a shame.

3 comments:

Megan said...

I agree with a lot of what you are saying here, but...isn't it getting a little ridiculous? The Meineke Car Care Bowl? Where's the tradition in that? My alma mater (BC) is in the Champs Sports Bowl. Blech and double blech.

MC said...

Are there some junky bowls. Yes, I will grant you that. However, there are some bowls which when they began seemed to have similar pedigrees, but they've become very entertaining these days (like the Liberty and Humanitarian Bowls)

Megan said...

Again I grant you the point. Plus, these kids are still in school. It is not a semi-pro league, after all, no matter how much the agents want us to think it so...