December 10, 2003
BCS...Unplugged
About a year ago, a friend of mine, citing a sentiment of boredom at work (though I know it was just because he's a bizarre person) started a service that he called The Random Number Generator. The way it worked was, you (the person using the Generator) were supposed to e-mail him with the subject heading "Random Number Generator," and he would respond, in kind, with a random number. I found this to be a rather odd contrivance, but I chose to elicit its services nonetheless. I e-mailed my friend with the heading "Random Number Generator," as instructed, and moments later received a reply, which said, "2,148. Thank you for using the Random Number Generator."
It soon came to my attention that the random numbers being generated by this machine were basically the first numbers that popped into his head. Sound totally arbitrary? It was. I bring it up because it reminds me of another numerical system we're using these days that seems rather arbitrary: the BCS, or should I say, the Random Rankings Generator.
Honestly, is there a bigger joke out there than the BCS? The travesty it perpetrated this past weekend in ranking Oklahoma number 1 over USC is so brutally transparent that I don't even feel the need to explain it to those of my readers who might not follow college football, and I normally air on the side of explaining things too much. It is my hope that this ridiculous misfire by the BCS will bring to the forefront what should have been a foregone conclusion years ago: college football needs a playoff system, and it needs one now. Not one determined by computers, either. The bowl system, though flawed in that it always seems to leave some debate as to who is the real national champion, is at least passable when it's not being run by some crazy computer program. Hasn't anyone seen Terminator 3? The machines take over the world! They're evil! Don't trust them!
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like trust is the issue. Above all else, the issue is money, and the bowls absolutely rake it in. Hopefully somewhere, someone is realizing that you can have both bowls and a playoff system (a common proposal is to have an eight team playoff and then have the rest of the teams play bowl games). This would work great. Now it's just a matter of unplugging The Machine.
In the meantime, I've decided to institute a system of my own for determining who will play for the national championship. This year's championship game will feature Winthrop vs. Sam Houston State (does Winthrop even have a football team)? If my pick seems ridiculous, arbitrary and completely random, that's because it is. Please don't blame me, though. The Machine did it. What's that? Oh, sorry, I've got to go. I think it's starting to read my thoughts...
Copyright ©2003 instant-replays.com
