Bowl Championship Stupidity



There's a whole lotta hysteria surrounding the typical BCS mess ; AP/USA Today no. 1 USC being locked out of the Sugar Bowl title decider, the mythical National Championship taking place between Oklahoma (who lost by 28 points to Kansas State the other night) and LSU. And you can keep calling it "mythical" because there's no argument worth listening to in this debate. the Trojans' status as no. 1 is based on the arbitrary judgement of pollsters. The formula used to determine Oklahoma and LSU's standings is a composite of those same polls, computer rankings and measured strength of respective schedules.

The gnashing of teeth about computers-taking-over-the-world is beneath consideration. Were it not for computers, bookmakers would have a much tougher time generating odds and point-spreads for all those otherwise irrelevant bowl games. If the system seems unjust, you can always blow off the world of so-called amateur athletics and pick the NFL as your choice of violent weekend fare. When not serving as the inspiration for a terrific cable television series, said league determines its champion on the field.

Posted: Mon - December 8, 2003 at 04:43 PM      

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