Don't you guys want to vote on the participants?

Senator Blutarsky, T Kyle, AuditDawg, et al, wouldn't this end of summer classic be made better by issuing ballots?

If it were left up to BCS supporters and college football traditionalists, Russia would probably be voted into this annual championship against East Germany.

Sorry, but I cannot pass up an opportunity to expose the utter ridicloulsness of the way we decide football D-1 championship.

If Jim Tressel had a vote, the Buckeyes would be in Williamsport. BUI!
Little League World Series Is a Can't-Miss Summer Event - Top Ten - NESN.com

It’s that time of year again, baseball fans, the time when the idea of watching 12-year-old phenoms tear up the diamond is too good to pass up.

Yep, it’s time for the Little League World Series, and everyone here at NESN is fired up for the regional coverage in Bristol, Conn. In fact, everyone in the country -- not just you baseball fans -- should have an interest in this annual event. Why? Because we’ve all played baseball, softball or some form of organized sports as youths, haven’t we? For those of you who haven’t, I feel for you.

Not too soon to brace yourself for another flawed National Championship game.

The Dawgs are hitting, the days are counting down, and my Google Reader is blowing up with unread stories.  Seems like the perfect time for me to go on another playoff rant.

While I might be among the majority of college football fans, I am certainly in the minority of Georgia bloggers on this issue.  The many obstacles standing in the way of a playoff have been noted over and over again. Most, if not all, of these obstacles are by design. They are there to protect the status quo. Heck, many of you reading this have been convinced that a program's revenue is more important than a legitimate shot at a winning a national championship.

Yes, we have the best regular season in all of sport. Yes, we have more tradition and history than most sports. Yes, this is how we have always done it. Yes, I believe championships should be decided on the field. No, I am not sold on the idea that a playoff would hurt Georgia financially. No, I do not think a two team playoff in which the participants are voted in qualifies as a true championship.

The current system, like most bureaucrocies, serves the weak at the expense of the strong. I recently saw a posting stating that any system that gets the Arizona Cardinals into the champioship game is a flawed system due to their weak regular season record.  My position is that their weak regular season record may be due to the competition they faced. After all, in the post season they whipped every team that came before them before ultimately losing to the Steelers in the Super Bowl.  What is wrong with that?

Tony Barnhardt spoke with Gary Danielson about the upcoming SEC season. The subject was not about a playoff, but this statement speaks volumes about the problems with the current BCS arrangement. Danielson: Georgia will be the surprise team of SEC | Mr. College Football

“I don’t think there is any doubt that it is separating itself because it will attract great players for the foreseeable future. But here is the danger and I started saying this three years ago. The future challenge for this league is that if the rules don’t change for playing for the national championship (only the top two in the BCS standings get in) it is going be more difficult for the SEC to keep winning national titles. These teams are going to be so good. Ole Miss is improving. Arkansas is improving. Auburn is going to come back. Tennessee is going to come back. Florida, Alabama, LSU, and Georgia are great programs. You’re going to have a bunch of teams with two losses and people are going to start thinking this is an average league. They would be wrong, but that will be the perception.

Right now the SEC has the benefit of everything going their way. They are going to win all tiebreakers. Their teams will be ranked higher at the beginning of the year and deservedly so. But does a one-loss SEC team jump ahead of an undefeated Big Ten team? As we move forward there is going to be tremendous pressure to put the undefeated teams in.

Things changed for the SEC when (No. 4) Florida jumped over (No. 3) Michigan in 2006 and played Ohio State for the national championship and won. Could they change again because the SEC gets so tough and really starts beating each other up? That’s the danger I see down the road.”

Thursday Brings Questions?

Bernie has a great question regarding the incoming quarterbacks, one I have no good answer for. Bernie's Dawg Blawg: The Red-Shirt vs. Murray & Mett

..what becomes of the newbies? Would you rather both red-shirt?

Speaking of questions, do not care for any of these queries: Bulldogs Blog: Help Wanted: 5 Players Who Need to Step Up

Today, I figured it made sense to take a minute to look at who the biggest question marks might be.

T Kyle addresses a subject that is probably serious, as a big fan of personal responsibility and individualism, I leave the question to sociologists and academics. I certainly do love the ways he closes:
Is It Responsible of Us to Care So Much About College Football in Times of Economic Crisis? - Dawg Sports

Accordingly, our fixation on football in these trying times not only isn’t unhealthy, it’s actually a pretty sound long-term strategy. Train up a child in the way he should go, and, when he is older, he will graduate from the University of Georgia, get a good job, and cheer for the Red and Black.

Dang, I’m ready for some football.

More from the Cowpokes, drip, drip, drip :The Red and Black

“Georgia’s the one that has to be scared. Not us.”

It pays to win, sure, but it also pays to make people think you will one day win: Orlando Sentinel - Football coaches pay on the rise despite economic woes throughout college athletics by Iliana Limón

Head coaches aren’t the only ones making big bucks these days. Take a look at the five highest-paid assistant coaches, many of them head coaches-in-waiting, in the country:

And finally, the biggest question of them all: The Hot Button: Will UGA win a BCS title under Mark Richt? | Mark Bradley

We know Mark Richt can coach football. What we still don’t know after eight years of watching is whether he’s pragmatic enough to be a national championship coach.

A Plan for BCS Equity in a Playoff

BigXII vs. SEC
Sugar Bowl
	Semifinal 1
	Rotating BCS Site
Big East vs. ACC
Orange Bowl
		Championship Game
		Rotating BCS Site
Big10 vs. Pac10
Rose Bowl
	Semifinal 2
	Rotating BCS Site
NonBCS* vs. AtLarge**
Fiesta Bowl

*The Non-BCS conferences form their own organization to determine their entrants into the BCS tournament. They can sell the television rights, etc.
**The pollsters and computers retain their contribution by selecting the At-Large entrant, the highest ranked non-automatic birth as determined by the current BCS ranking process.

Pros:

• The current BCS cities and their Bowl organization’s get to keep their game plus and extra game 3 out of 4 years. I cannot see their local chambers of commerce complaining about that.
• Television gets more programming with less competition. Imagine Semi-final Saturday!
• Big10 and Pac10 get to keep their traditional Rose Bowl match up.
• Television contract grows. I can see Roy Kramer coming out of retirement to sell this thing to the highest bidder.
• Participant’s payouts grow as they advance. This means more academic and Title IX funding, or whatever. I am sure the university presidents will have no problem spending it.

Cons:

• Harm to non-BCS bowls. This argument was also made when the BCS was created. I am not buying it.
• Season is too long. They have been making this argument for years. Only 4 teams would be required to play extra games with the exception of a play-in system for non-BCS conference champs. Florida played 14 games last year. This system would have required them to play 16 if the 12 game regular season remains. This is a stumbling block due to departments budgeting that 12^th game in indefinitely.
• Impact on Academics, please. If the basketball “student-athletes” can do it I believe the football players will manage.
• Scheduling, starting before Jan 1 would be a big problem, competing with NFL Saturday playoff games in January would have to be addressed.

Conclusion:

Obviously, this is not a comprehensive plan, please consider it a "Plus 3" from 40k feet. I have tried to address the core points made by opponents to a playoff. In my opinion the institutional opposition is mainly about control and finances. This system allows the BCS conferences to retain control and the lion’s share of the pie. History and tradition, very integral parts of college football, simply cannot be overcome. I would like to point out, however, that the Rose Bowl has survived, as has the 3^rd Saturday in October. Incremental change has been a constant in college football and the game is stronger than ever. Now, let’s make that last push and finally decide a legitimate champion of the football field.

Is Senator Blutarsky Softening his pro-BCS Stance?

Senator Blutarsky would probably say I am taking his statements out of context, or perhaps fall back on another Washingtonian phrase, “I have no recollection of having blogged that.”

In his blog titled “The most Reasonable man in College Football” (I love the irony) the good Senator states:

“By the way, the play-in game is an excellent idea. In fact, I like it better than the automatic berth for the highest ranked non-BCS conference school.”

He then attempts to tie this in to his protectionist stance by stating it would not take money out of any other conferences pockets. But I will focus on the positive.

To be fair, the context of the Senator’s statement regards participation of non-BCS conference schools in the BCS revenue windfall and has nothing to do with using a “play-in” game to determine a champion. However, if the Senator has come to realize a play-in game is good for the #8 spot in the BCS he must be trending toward a play-in game for both of the finalist. This is how God intended sport to be.

Progress is made incrementally in our society; therefore I will chalk this one up as a win for those of us that believe championships should be won on the field without assist from the body politic.

The BCS debate will not go away

One of the best Georgia Football blogs out there is Get The Picture. Senator Blutarsky does an excellent job of producing and gathering fine content for the Bulldawg Nation and college football fans in general. The Senator is an ardent supporter of the BCS and today he takes a shot at John Feinstein for supporting a true playoff.

I urge you to read his original post and the arguments/comments here.

My response:

I am no Feinstein apologist, but perhaps the demand for football is greater than basketball, regardless of post-season format. Surely the Senator is not implying basketball could bring in more money if they would dump the "brackets" for some pageant style bowl system such as the BCS...

Does anybody out there believe the SEC regular season, with all of its conference title implications, would be diminished if second teams from the SEC made some type of NCAA run championship tourney as an at-large bid?

I understand this is the system we are stuck with. Furthermore, I understand the financial implications to change, but these implications would be most felt by outside interests.

The BCS has, more often than not, produced a quality match up for deciding the MNC. However, it also produces Hawaii v. Dawgs. It is always fun to watch the Globetrotters trounce the Generals, but wouldn’t it be nice to see how they stack up against a quality opponent? Does anyone believe D-1 basketball should adopt a BCS style post-season?