Watching Sports Through The BCS Lens

After another riveting college football regular season, it's time for the best part of the year. It's time to take all the information the sports world has gathered from the last three and a half months of games, mash up the stats and perceptions, and anoint the two participants that get to compete for the national championship. Since this system has created the most "exciting" regular season relative to other sports, isn't it time we acknowledged the primitive, flawed nature of the other major sports in determining a champion? Since the evolution of the BCS, how many other leagues have propped up imposters as their champions based on some ridiculous system that lets teams outside the top two compete?

National Basketball Association (BS Score: 54 out of 100). Over the past 13 seasons, 7 teams have laid false claim to the title in this sham of a sport. The most recent "champion," the Dallas Mavericks, couldn't even finish in the top two of its own conference, let alone the league. As a matter of fact, according to ESPN, they weren't even favored to win their 1st round series. Here's a list of "mythical" title holders over the past 13 seasons: Mavericks (2011), Spurs (2007), Heat (2006), Spurs (2005), Pistons (2004), Lakers (2002), Lakers (2001).

National Football League (BS Score: 69 out of 100). That's right, the Super Bowl we all obsessively watch every year isn't even a true title game. Complete sham. How else to explain a game where 9 of the last 13 champions didn't deserve to even play in the game? I mean, last year's Packers were the sixth best team in their conference. That means any observer with a brain would have justifiably picked five other NFC teams for the Super Bowl before they picked these clowns. Here's the list of pretenders from this sideshow: Packers (2010), Steelers (2008), Giants (2007), Colts (2006), Steelers (2005), Patriots (2004), Buccaneers (2002), Patriots (2001), Ravens (2000). If there's a silver lining here (and, believe me, I'm stretching to find one), turns out the NFL isn't the worst offender.

Men's College Basketball (BS Score: 77 out of 100). Connecticut (2011), Duke (2010), Kansas (2008), Florida (2007), Florida (2006), Connecticut (2004), Syracuse (2003), Duke (2001), Michigan State (2000), Connecticut (1999). That's right, 10 out of 13. 10 out of 13 times we wasted 3 weeks of our lives, filled out those stupid brackets, and for what? Seriously, it's like this sport doesn't even know it has a poll to rank these teams. If this level of deceipt seems hard to believe, check out the rankings for yourself. Not only did 10 champions have absolutely no right to even play for a title, but in 3 out of the last 9 years, the mythical champions weren't even preseason top 25 (UConn 2011, Florida 2006, Syracuse 2003). It's such a sham, the word "sham" isn't strong enough. I mean, the only thing that irritates me more than UConn doing something no one's ever done in Big East tournaments is watching them and Butler rob the world of the Ohio State-Kansas title game; I don't care what happened in March Madness, one of those two teams earned the true national championship.

As hard as it is to learn how much we've all been deceived by these sports, they show us why college football needs to ignore the morons that clamor for any kind of change to the current system. First, there's no money in it: these three sports have tried these flawed playoff systems, and people watch them less and less every year. Second, and more importantly, it's about more than money. It's about preserving the true spirit of sport. Because, deep down, the heart of sport is choosing who we think is best from an ever-shrinking group of eligible participants, and telling everyone else that not only are they inferior, but they'll never get a fair opportunity to prove otherwise on the field.

(In case the sarcasm was too thick, here's the same post in four words: the BCS is stupid.)