Wednesday, December 31, 2008

PLAYOFFS?! You kiddin' me? PLAYOFFS???

It's bowl season. Which of course means it's time for every sanctimonious blow-hard to complain about the bowls & how college football needs a playoff worse than GM needs a bail-out.

This morning, I read Stewart Mandel's compelling case for keeping the bowl system in tact:

I love the NCAA tournament as much as anyone. It's our nation's most captivating sporting event. But it's also an entirely made-for-TV product. The stands at the opening-round sites are often half-empty. The Final Four is played in a dome where half the seats are so far from the court you wind up watching most of the game on the JumboTron. And it really doesn't matter whether you're in San Diego or San Antonio, Dallas or Detroit, because the NCAA's rigid adherence to uniformity (all drinks at courtside must be poured into matching Dasani Cups) ensures not a single ounce of local color or character dare ooze its way inside the arena.

You'll have to forgive me if I'm in no hurry to see the Fiesta Bowl turn into the "NCAA Southwest Regional."

3 comments:

Jordan said...

An that is in contrast to having lots of sponsored bowls between two 6-5 teams that can't fill a football stadium?

III said...

No one's saying the current system is perfect. But I agree with Stewart Mandel that it's better than that other no-personality option.

Anonymous said...

Hmm...not in favor of fantasy baseball playoffs? Not in favor of college football playoffs? I sense a trend...