Conquering the World (Wide Web) - 10/8/2008

The internet is abuzz with all things sport lately, which makes writing articles like this fairly easy. In fact, I was able to churn this out in about the time it took Kimbo to get knocked out (too soon?).

Read on to see the best the internet has to offer (at least for the time being).

Baseball:

The ALCS and NLCS are set! Games will begin on Thursday in Philly. The superbly written and designed Phillies Nation points out that usual stud Chase Utley has been less than stellar so far in the playoffs. For the Phils' sake, I hope he can rebound. [Phillies Nation]

One of the Cartel's favorites, Core-Pat, will be looking for work. [Red Hot Mama]

Apparently it's not just Prince Fielder and CC. Baseball Reference tells us that the big leagues are getting even bigger as of late. [Baseball Reference]

Football:

My buddy pointed out to me that the 'Cats of N'western are undefeated, but only after a cupcake first 5 games. With that said, they may stun the superior Spartans and there is no doubt that they'll knock off my Boilers in Evanston. As for their schedule to date, check it out. [ESPN]

BYU is rolling. But, will the Cougs stumble even before they play their toughest on-paper opponent (not to mention hated rival) in Salt Lake City? [Salt Lake Tribune]

Marvin Lewis may be a bad coach, but this little gem makes us chuckle. [Stripe Hype]

Billynho and I watched the 'Aints lose to the Vikes last night and we couldn't help but slightly disagree with some of the officiating decisions. Looks like the NFL is sending their cleanup crews around to tidy up this mess, including the Saints' homepage. [ProFootballTalk]

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I Hate the BCS

I hate the BCS.

1979-Indiana State (current enrollment of 10,568, less in 1979) finishes as national runner-up in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

1985-Old Dominion national champions, winning the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament

1988-Louisiana Tech national champions, winning the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament

These are 3 examples taken from basketball, where schools from "non-BCS" conferences were able to play in, and often win, the national championship game. Currently in the FBS division of college football, every school (except Southern California) has played at least 3 games. Therefore, most teams are at least a quarter of the way through the season, and I feel we can begin to make some real judgments on the season.

I am a firm believer that, if at all possible, the national championship game should be played between two undefeated teams. However the BCS has screwed this up on several occasions, most notably when undefeated Boise State did not play against undefeated Ohio State in 2007, but finished as the only undefeated team in Div-A football. Were they awarded a national championship trophy or even a share of the prize (like Southern California in 2003-04)? No, because they play in the WAC.

Why does the BCS hate the likes of the WAC, MAC, MWC, C-USA, and Sun Belt so much? Doesn’t college football pride itself on rabid fan bases and intense rivalries? I believe that teams like Boise State, Fresno State, Utah, Tulsa, and Central Florida (as well as others) have rivalries just as intense and fans that are just as energized as the doormats of the BCS conferences (Indiana, Baylor, Stanford, Duke - I’m talking to you).

What brings about my annual anti-BCS tirade? Here’s the reason:

This is a list of all the teams in FBS football that are still undefeated. Teams in black are from BCS conferences and teams in red are from non-BCS conferences.


One of the MWC teams could go undefeated (BYU is my pick) and so could Boise State. When you look at their schedules, you don’t get disappointed.





Both teams play two opponents that are currently ranked (Boise State already defeated Oregon), and they each beat all of their Pac-10 opponents, one of which could upset USC, whom many are calling the best team of this decade, like last season. Speaking of USC, they currently have no more ranked teams left on their schedule and they still have 10 games left. So for those who call WAC/MWC/C-USA/etc. schedules soft, how do they legitimately stack up against “powerhouses”? Will USC beat UCLA by 59 points like the Cougars did? How can anyone imply that these “mid-majors” can’t run with the big boys when we’ve seen Utah and Boise State win their previous BCS games and seen teams like Illinois from BCS conferences get embarrassed on the big stage?

I’m not taking anything away from teams on this list that may finish with a loss or two. I realize that the SEC is tough, as is the Big 12 (don’t count out the Big 10 either). But with college football’s refusal to adopt a playoff system for the FBS (the only NCAA sanctioned sport where this occurs), the one metric that we have to go on is wins and losses. Qualitative issues like strength of schedule and “quality wins” should have no place in the process.

Ultimately the question that I ask is that if at the end of the season only two teams stand undefeated (or one for that matter), will they get a shot at the title like Indiana State or Old Dominion regardless of their conference affiliation, or will they be shut out like every year before?

I realize that this entire argument depends on a great deal of what-ifs and speculation, but no more than the preseason pick of Georgia at #1 simply because they beat Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl; a Hawaii team that by typical BCS standards shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

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