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If you thought cricket’s own Duckworth-Lewis required the brains of a rocket scientist to figure out your exact target in a rain-curtailed game, try out the different mechanisms used for Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings. The BCS, created in 1998 to ensure a bowl matchup between university teams ranked 1 and 2, used a mind-boggling formula that includes polls of media members and coaches, computer polls, strength of schedule, and win-loss record to determine its standings.
Anyone following a sports series involving more than 3 teams, especially at the World Cup levels will be fully aware of the math calculations that the fans are subjected to. It is no longer a simple world when the two teams who win the most games advance to the final championship game to contest the right for a national or a world title. Cricket has also moved from the simple round-robin formula to incorporating run-rates, number of wickets lost and a host of other calculation that require a regular math degree in addition to being a capable sportsman.
But every game has never been devoid of its share of controversies in selection of the top teams, considering the fact that gap between rival teams have been narrowing rapidly and we no longer have dominant teams that are clearly leagues above the rest. Of course, Australia’s awesome performance in the last cricket world cup relegated all the math calculations to the trash and horrific memories for South Africa in previous World Cups were almost forgotten.
Currently, the college football scene is also experiencing its Duckworth-Lewis moment when University of Southern California (USC), in spite of being ranked as number one both by Associated Press Media Poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, the final BCS ranking generated by incorporation of complex computer algorithms places it at No.3 behind No.1 Oklahoma and No.2 Louisiana State University (LSU), denying it a place in the prestigious Sugar Bowl for a shot at the national championship.
I can almost imagine the chagrin that USC fans must be experiencing after a wonderful season that culminated with a bang with the thrashing of Oregon State (52-28). It is little consolation for USC fans that they will get a slice of the championship in the Rose Bowl when they play No.4 Michigan. But under contract, the winner of the Sugar Bowl i.e. Oklahoma-LSU will be declared national champion in the coaches poll too.
You know that a sport is getting too complicated when difference of 0.16 points separate teams and when you have to declare a winner based on contractual terms. Did we lose the basic common sense and reliance on pure human instinct? Sometimes technology overrides pure normative values that still hold relevance in today’s world and not everything can be cut-n-dry. As Kingsley pointed out in the comments to my Friday’s post that technology has determined the path of music mostly, so is sport also being increasingly more subservient to technology?
No one is going to be happy when the 65 media members crown USC national champions in opposition to the “other” national champions in the Sugar Bowl.
PS. I am merely a recent addition to the craze of college football so do not complicate my life by giving me technical justification. I have no personal loyalties so I will sit back and enjoy the game and frankly do not care who wins.
by Patrix | on Friday, December 12th, 2003 at 7:52 pm | 
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