Nerve Endings Firing Away

This op-ed in NY Times on Obama’s suggestion that college football should have a playoff system instead of the current top-two battling for the national championship is one of the stupidest commentary I’ve read. First, it is a suggestion by a football fan and not the “first policy proposal”; any football fan with half a brain would know that Obama cannot and will not impose his will on the system. It does not “sit uncomfortably alongside an economic stimulus and withdrawal from Iraq” because frankly you’re the only person who can equate football with real-life problems. It is akin to worrying about Seabiscuit’s next race during the Great Depression and thinking they are two equally big problems.

As for “ruining what is great about football”, you’re aware that the other famous cousin of football, the NFL does have playoffs, right? Even in the NFL, a perfect record in the season still doesn’t mean you will win the Superbowl. Just ask the New England Patriots from last year. And if you must mention USC’s derailment of the title bid last year following a loss to Stanford, you must also remember that they’ve been kept out of the title game in spite of having similar records as the top two teams except they’ve beaten superior teams. Heck, I’ll go out on the limb and say that by BCS’s current logic, one SEC team should always figure in the title game given the level of competition in the league.

In spite of having your “first major philosophical break with the candidate I voted for”, you still talking about spreading the wealth and gasp at the horrors of including “football’s neglected working class, like Utah and Boise State.” Well, if they seem so horrible and undermatched, wouldn’t they lose in the first round of the playoffs and “two upper-crust contenders like Alabama and Oklahoma” would eventually rise to the top in tune with their oh-so-perfect record. But I guess you rather invest your belief in the sentiment that “lose once, and your team finds itself at the mercy of the voters and the dreaded computers” because we know how that worked out in Florida in 2000. What are you afraid of, if a “upper-crust” team can win it all in the regular season, what’s a couple of play-off games for them, huh?

Finally, I admire your love for the “technocratic appeal of the computer rankings” because I’m sure that’s where games are supposed to be decided – on IBM servers. Talking about a healthy debate and your comment that “the president-elect has shown himself to be adaptable and open to dissenting viewpoints. After a national “conversation,” and perhaps the appointment of a presidential commission, I believe he can be convinced to come to his senses” sounds so appropriate because Jesus seems to have told you, son, you can never be wrong and ultimately the world will come to its senses and understand you. Our current President seemingly is under the same impression. Good luck to ya!