VFL-82-JP
Bleedin' Orange...
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- Jan 17, 2015
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Just a thought:
In the days prior to CFP, half the teams who got into a bowl ended the season as winners. 50% winners, 50% losers. Maybe even two or three of them could claim to be the best in the country. Something nice to last half the teams through the long off-season.
At the opposite extreme, if all 40 bowl games were part of the playoffs, only one team would end the year a winner. The other 79 teams would all have a loss as the last thing they remember, all through the off-season. One winner, 79 losers.
I'm not saying it's a tragedy. Using March Madness as an example, there is some pride in "how far you get." Do you get to the Sweet 16? Final 4? You can hang your hat on that. You still end the year losing. But at least you can find some consolation in not losing immediately.
Today, we're still early in this transition. 3 teams lose, 1 wins. That's just one extra loser. When we expand to 12 teams, it will be 11 losers instead of 6. So 5 extra ones. Still not huge. But what if we eventually go to 16? 20? 32? That's a lot of losers who might've been winners in the off-season.
I know $$$$ are driving the expansion. Which means, short of a grassroots revolution, there's no real way to stop this thing. But I do think we're gonna miss the "bad old days" once we're deep into the "bad new days."
Go Vols!
In the days prior to CFP, half the teams who got into a bowl ended the season as winners. 50% winners, 50% losers. Maybe even two or three of them could claim to be the best in the country. Something nice to last half the teams through the long off-season.
At the opposite extreme, if all 40 bowl games were part of the playoffs, only one team would end the year a winner. The other 79 teams would all have a loss as the last thing they remember, all through the off-season. One winner, 79 losers.
I'm not saying it's a tragedy. Using March Madness as an example, there is some pride in "how far you get." Do you get to the Sweet 16? Final 4? You can hang your hat on that. You still end the year losing. But at least you can find some consolation in not losing immediately.
Today, we're still early in this transition. 3 teams lose, 1 wins. That's just one extra loser. When we expand to 12 teams, it will be 11 losers instead of 6. So 5 extra ones. Still not huge. But what if we eventually go to 16? 20? 32? That's a lot of losers who might've been winners in the off-season.
I know $$$$ are driving the expansion. Which means, short of a grassroots revolution, there's no real way to stop this thing. But I do think we're gonna miss the "bad old days" once we're deep into the "bad new days."
Go Vols!
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