The BCS Farce

I love it. Number one Missouri and number two West Virgina lost yesterday and has sent the country into a tizzy. No one know who will be playing in the national title game, even after all the regular season has ended. The obvious conclusion for any sane person is that the BCS is a bunch of BS.

Let's look at the three arguments that the SEC commissioner, overseer of the BCSBS, raised prior to this weekend:

1. Preserve the regular season - The most common argument is that the regular season of college football is the best of any American sports and that a playoff system will make the regular season less important. However, since only the top two teams are in the "playoff" usually a single loss will forfeit a team's chance for the postseason. Thus, teams will schedule cupcake out-of-conference games to improve the chances of an undefeated season. Michigan has already said they would never schedule a game against a 1-AA team ever again after losing to Appalachian State. You won't see an exciting game like that ever again thanks to the BCSBS. Maybe Michigan will schedule a contest against a high school team. Won't that be riveting football?

2. Protect the bowl system - The second argument is that the existing bowl system must be preserved. To translate that into English, the huge profits made by companies off the effort of college athletes must be protected. In other words, protect the big money, the corrupt system. They can try to trot out the legacy and heritage of the system, but lets look at reality. The Rose Bowl began in 1902, five major bowls in 1940, eight major bowls in 1960, and eleven in 1970. The system has now inflated to a ridiculous thirty-two bowls. Aside from the vacation for the teams and their fans, the bowl game has no real importance. Does it really matter if you lose a bowl game? The importance is making it to a bowl game. What exactly is so great about this system, aside for those who profit from them?

3. The Student Athlete. This is probably the most laughable argument that is practically undeserving of a response. In major football programs, the players are there to play football, not to get an education. Every one knows this. This is not debatable. The reason they go to class, declare a major, keep decent grades, is because the NCAA forces them to. To play football you have to go to class. The current system disgusts me because of all the people who make money off of college athletes while they receive little compensation. Some may argue they get a free education, but the football powerhouse schools are not the best academic schools. Furthermore, the coursework students take must be light so they can focus on football.


4. No Perfect System. The final argument, which shows just how indefensible the BCSBS really is, is that a playoff system (or other proposal) will still have schools complaining about not being in the postseason. What the argument fails to recognize is that there is a big difference between school number three versus school number nine or seventeen.

College 1-A football is one of the only sports in America without a playoff system. Beauty pageants have better methods of determining its winner. This is a travesty because college football is also one of the most competitive sports. If you ask me, there are only three choices:

1. Have a playoff with more than just two teams. This is the right choice. The only one that makes sense. Read this article for a great idea on how this could work: The Wetzel Plan.

2. Replace the BCSBS with a lottery. Rather than try to pretend that some combination of polls and calculations can determine the best teams (need I refer to the last two presidential elections on the accuracy of such methods?), let's just do a pure lottery. The teams with the best records get more chances to win. If you want to "keep the regular season exciting" and still generate all the talk about the post season, do a lottery. Many sports fans are gamblers anyway (more profiteers from college athletes).

3. Go back to the way things were. If you can't or won't have a playoff, lets just do away with the farce of the BCSBS. It's obvious under the current system that we still don't know who the top two teams are in college football.


For a laugh: How the BCS Works

For more laughs: SEC Commish on College Playoff

Pixar's New Projects

We are finally getting some clues about Pixar's releases after next summer's Wall-E. In 2009 we will see Up, which is an action adventure story starring an 80-year old man. It will be directed by Pete Doctor, who also did my personal favorite Pixar movie, Monsters, Inc.

In 2010 (are you ready for this?), Toy Story 3 will premier. You may have heard that Disney was in pre-production for this second sequel back when they were negotiating a contract with then-independent Pixar. When Lasseter and company merged with the Mouse, they quickly pulled the plug on the "Buzz is recalled" storyline. Lee Unkrich, who co-directed Toy Story 2 with Lasseter, will be the solo director on this project. I'm usually not a fan of sequels, but considering how much better number two was over the original, I expect Toy Story 3 will not disappoint!

Oh, and we also have a release date for Wall-E: June 27, 2008. That will be one weekend before the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Bee Movie Is a C

My wife, son, and I saw Dreamworks' latest animated movie, Bee Movie, staring Jerry Sienfeld. It was an entertaining film and definitely toddler friendly, so I appreciate that aspect. However, the premise of a bee suing mankind for stealing honey is funny but so ridiculous that you never really end up believing in the film. On more than one occasion I had to roll my eyes and wonder what the heck the filmmakers were thinking with some of the scenes.

Perhaps not coincidentally, we recently bought and have watched a number of times Pixar's Ratatouille. Comparing the two films is like comparing a nice steak to a Quarter Pounder with cheese - there really isn't any comparison. Pixar makes films that will endure for generations to come whereas most of Dreamworks works will fade from memory.

I can't wait for Pixar's next release, WallE, that comes out next summer.