Splitting hairs
Readers talk Jolie's 'do, college football playoff
Posted: Thursday October 27, 2005 9:07PM; Updated: Friday October 28, 2005 11:20AM
The other day I wrote
a column in which I stated that college football, and its method of determining a champion, is satisfactory to me.
Since that column was posted, approximately 200 letters have filled my inbox from all over the country, as well as Mexico and Panama. Never have I gotten such a response on a story, which tells me either 1) college football is alive and well or 2) some of
Jon Wertheim's readers aren't paying attention.
Really, 200 letters (none, regrettably, from an "Ange in Hollywood.") The breakdown? A little more than half of you (let's say 54 percent) agreed with me, while the rest just as staunchly defended the position that the sport needs a playoff.
About the letters:
Thank you to everyone who wrote. I appreciate that you take the time to do so. The shorter your letter, the better the chance that I will reply.
I'm keeping all the e-mails. I'm filing away the "Pro-playoff" replies. I've already printed out the "Amen, brother" e-mails and have taped them to my bedroom ceiling. They're fun to wake up to, although I am concerned about the smudge marks on the mirror.
Herewith, the best of the "My Favorite Brunette" e-mails, along with my rebuttals (the privilege of having your own column):
Well said, and I've often said that the day a fan from a team in the hunt says "It was just one game" is the day all that is great about college football will die. I'm a 'Bama fan and I'd rather see us screwed than see a playoff system.-- Jason, Sardis, Ala.
I'm with you, Jason. And now that the Crimson Tide and Florida State have agreed to play in 2007, I can almost guaran-damn-tee you that should 'Bama go 12-0 two years from now, they'll be in the BCS title game. In fact, I'm penciling them in as my preseason Nos. 1 and 2 on guts alone.
Sorry, John, your logic is flawed. Flawed argument one: A playoff would not pitt No. 1 vs. No. 2.-- Thomas, Simi Valley, Calif.
I just love this because it's the only time all season we'll read "pitt No. 1" in a sentence.
You absolutely nailed it. I love the importance of every single regular-season college football game. I love the fact that a team with national title aspirations can't really afford to lose even ONE game, let alone a few. I love the fact that I'm compelled to clear my schedule to watch Texas-Ohio State on a Saturday night in September.
-- Bill, Hollis, N.H.
I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that -- oh, I'm sorry.
When Harry Met Sally is on TBS right now.
The whole comparison to March Madness is terrible. Apples and oranges, my friend. Apples and oranges.
-- Rudy, Tempe, Ariz.
Rudy is taking issue with my comparing the number of times
The Associated Press Nos. 1 and 2 met in the NCAA hoops final as opposed to the BCS championship game. I'll grant Rudy that AP does not stand for "Absolutely Positive." I'll take him one further: I promise not to compare the NCAAs to the BCS if he promises not to insist that college football needs a playoff by using March Madness as an example.
Using your logic, the Super Bowl did not yield a true NFL championship last year ...
-- Douglas, Houston, Texas
People, people, people. This isn't sports imperialism. The NFL is fine as it is, and March Madness is fine the way it is. I don't want to change the NFL. What gets me is why NFL people are so eager to make college football conform to their standards (what I like to refer to as the "Mike & the Mad Dog Effect," wherein someone confesses to being 'not much of a college guy', but then pontificates on how it could be better).
Have you noticed something about NFL fans? Almost every one of them I meet is in a fantasy league. You know why college football isn't big on fantasy leagues? Because the games themselves are satisfying enough. NFL fantasy league types remind me of that
Seinfeld episode where
George Costanza has to eat while having sex. The sex just isn't enough for him any more.
So if the regular season IS the playoffs, and Auburn won every game (in '04) explain to me again why they weren't the national champions. Because the voters say so?
-- Greg, Houston
Ah, yes, the Auburn quandary. This is to college football conservatives such as myself what the Book of Job was to the Old Testament. You're going along, thinking Yahweh is a fair and loving God and then you're hit with the "Bad Things Happen to Good War Eagle!" dilemma.
OK, here goes. First, if I'm an Auburn player, coach or fan, no one -- especially not a dolt/retard/idiot/moron blogger -- will ever be able to tell me we weren't the best team in the nation last year. The Tigers were perfect in '04, and that's all anyone can ask. Congratulations.
For my rebuttal, I'm going to get a little
Adam Smith (no, he wasn't the quarterback at Utah last season, he was an economist) on you. Basically, I believe in the Invisible Hand of College Football. In capitalism, what serves everyone's best individual interest also serves the greater good. For example, because I want the least expensive goods as a consumer, producers will battle one another to get me as a customer. That results in the lowest price for me and a huge profit for whoever can manufacture the best product at the lowest price.
Capitalism is social Darwinism, and when it comes to sports, I'm a social Darwinist. Actually, I'm terrible at parties so put me down as an anti-social Darwinist.
I digress. Now, what's best for college football, in my opinion, is to see the best possible games that we can. That's why I'm so fired up about the Alabama-Florida State announcement. That's why I love that Notre Dame will play USC, UCLA, Penn State and Michigan next season.
The question is: How do we make what's best for college football also what's best for the individual team? Well, if you're Auburn and you want to schedule Louisiana-Monroe, The Citadel and Louisiana Tech out of conference, then you have to be willing to accept that along with an undefeated season you may be on the outside looking in come January. (Auburn fans: I know about the mitigating circumstances with the schedule last year. But why should that have been USC's or Oklahoma's problem? That's a "The dog ate my homework" excuse.)
Now, if Auburn were to schedule, say, a USC or a Georgia Tech and go undefeated they might not have that problem. But here's the beauty of that. Auburn did schedule USC (in '03) and Georgia Tech (in '05) and lost both times. There's that Invisible Hand thing working for us. If enough solid programs agree to play one another, then the odds of there being greater than two (or even a maximum of two) unbeatens at season's end lessens considerably.
Also, we as fans win. If I write B.C.-Miami or Colorado-Michigan, you instantly know what I'm talking about, even though those games took place 21 and 11 years ago, respectively. Now what does Sam Houston State-Texas Tech do for you? Nothing, and that happened just last month.
Now, if you're an Auburn fan and you say, "The SEC is tough enough, it doesn't behoove us to schedule a tough out-of-conference team", here's what I say: We're talking about the national championship here, not the Pinewood Derby regionals. It should be difficult to win. If you don't think you can go undefeated against anyone, then why are you saying you deserve to be national champs?
Also, Auburn supporters also claim that the polls never game them a chance. No. If Auburn had played better non-conference competition, they'd have moved up in the polls (I don't vote and I don't put any stock in a ranking that comes out before Oct. 1st ... except
Stewart Mandel's Power Rankings, of course). Auburn's athletic director never gave Auburn a chance.
Finally, if you only play schools in your neighborhood before your bowl game, then you only deserve to be champion of your neighborhood. Auburn administrators must learn that they can fly to non-SEC campuses for reasons other than to clandestinely court a school's head coach.
By the way, kudos to Tennessee for visiting South Bend and to Arkansas for visiting USC this season. That's the way it should be done.