It's harder than I thought to keep up with a sports blog, for a couple of reasons. First of all, the Worldwide Leader (that would be 'ESPN') does such a comprehensive job, even though they don't make any differentiation between a "slow news day" and "an actual story." Second of all, when it comes to opinion pieces, the entire sporting world-- American sporting world, anyway-- is divided into "safe enough to still sell advertising copy" and "stupid as all fucking hell."
So you get what we had here last week. Which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it.
No, but seriously, you get this shit ignored:
1) The FBS does not need a fucking playoff. The problem was, the old system was so terrible, somehow the only alternative anyone could think of was "PLAYOFF DOOD!!!!!111!" which is, of course, only one option out of the literally thousands of things you can do with what is now 122 FBS teams. The most easy solution, again, being "hey LSU, if you're so fucking tough, why do you have to schedule North Texas?"
Yes, I'm a longtime supporter of North Texas, but the spread on that game was FORTY-THREE GODDAMN POINTS. This is like Mike Tyson saying, "See? I'm still the greatest fighter in the world, I just beat the everloving shit out of Justin Bieber." And while I applaud Mike's initiative, that doesn't remotely tune you up for anything.
Also, LSU only won the game by 41-14, a spread of 27 points. Therefore LSU is performing below expectations, therefore they will not win the National Title. I didn't say it.... Vegas did.
2) THE FIX IS IN. Look, both Michigan State and Boise State were ranked in the Top 25 last week (a weekly polling system in which the voters are males between 20something and-107 who don't watch any football games or go to any practices except their own), and hey, when you put two teams on the field against one another, of course there'll be a winner and loser. Duh. Hence the term "competition." But Boise State is one of the best football teams in the nation over the past near-decade, and Michigan State... isn't. The Big Ten as a whole has been falling off for the last ten years, and while on the basketball side of things, a 16-seed beating a 1-seed is still not so likely, THESE ARE TWO EQUALLY MATCHED TEAMS. (Assuming you believe Big Ten football is quality, which I do not). So how is it the minor-conference team always loses? "TCU! Boise State! Houston! You're about to have the season of the century, go undefeated, and play for a national championship, all you have to do is beat one quality opponent and eleven chumps!" ... they keep, consistently, losing to one of the chumps. And before you go saying, "Well, they weren't very good to begin with" .... NEITHER IS THE ENTIRE BIG EAST, ORRRRRR THE ENTIRE ACC. And yet WVU and FSU manage to beat their quality opponent (there is only ever one), and most of their chumps when it counts, every season. WVU and Boise State have been exactly like that, in fact: They were the only decent teams in the conference, all they had to do was not trip over their own shoelaces, and they're in. Boise State is rewarded with a shit bowl game. WVU is rewarded with the Big 12.
3) SDSU and Boise State are gonna be in the Big East. Presumably to get into an auto-BCS league. Then the BCS was replaced. How long to you think before they go back to the MWC? PROTIP: As soon as the exit fee drops below their annual budget for plane tickets.
4) WVU in the top 10 after moving to a conference ten times harder than their old one. This is laughable, and disgusting. And probably WVU was the conference's 19th choice, but you take what's available. Look at their schedule: They place absolutely no one at all outside their conference. They're going to lose every Big 12 game, and finish 4-8 AT BEST. Which will lead to the inevitable headline, "WVU performs below expectations." .... Well, no they fucking didn't. You just had unreasonable expectations that were based on absolutely nothing at all. (they couldn't even consistently win the Big East, and you have them competing for the Big 12 title? YOU ARE STUPID).
5) Everything above, except replace it with Florida State. "Expected to play for a national championship?" Um... you're in the ACC. Over the last five years, the conference champion has AVERAGED a final BCS standing of about 18. GO FUCK YOURSELF, ACC. I'm sure your academics are lovely. THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE A FOOTBALL TEAM.
If you're in college fantasy football, take the points.
Because if you're getting your information from ESPN, any magazine, or pretty much any media outlet, it's not that they're lying to you, it's just they're getting every piece of information from something they heard someone else say. And no one is actually saying anything.
PREDICTION: Whichever SEC team has the easiest schedule, vs Oregon.
And Peyton Manning is still overrated.
