[Husker] BCS - Am I alone?

[Ken Oliver]

>> I agree that the bowls are events unto themselves, unlike an NFL
>> playoff game. However, if we are to keep the bowl system to preserve
>> that tradition, then let's agree to STOP crowning someone a
>> "champion". You can't know the champion without an elimation-format
>> tournament. Without that, all you have is "guesses" and "feelings"
>> about who a champion *would be*. If you want to crown a champion, you
>> must have a playoff.
>
>You must have missed the entire point of my post.  A playoff DOES not  
>automatically result in "knowing" the champion.  First of all, there  
>are still "guesses" and "feelings" involved in picking the teams in  
>the playoffs.  How many "bubble" basketball teams are pissed every  
>year that they didn't make it into the field of 64?  Still plenty of  
>feelings and guesses involved in a playoff, and the entire point of  
>my post was that even with a playoff, the best team can't possibly  
>make it through with any assuredness.  The second, third, fourth,  
>even seventh best team probably will.  Does that mean they are the  
>true "champion"?  Or just a team that got lucky (or stayed healthy)  
>at the end of the year...was playing at the top of their game for a  
>couple games in a row, or maybe had the favorable distance to travel?

I agree.  After a tournament, all you know is who won that particular tournament.  If George Mason had continued their upset string last year in the NCAA basketball tournament, would they have been the "best" team?  If Thomas Blake had beaten Roger Federer in the Player's Championship 2006, would he have been the number 1 player? No, that was still Federer.  Injury, illness, bad ref calls (OU in the state of Oregon perhaps) can keep the best team from winning.  A playoff just moves the debate down 4 or 8 spots.  After that you only know who won that particular tournament.