Monday, May 02, 2005
Naked Cash Acquisition Association
The NCAA recently added a 12th game to the football schedule. The division I coaches voted 115-2 against it; Division II was dead-set against it, as they have playoffs that already make their schedule potentially 16 games long. Yet it sailed through in a vote of the college presidents--you know, the ones who are in charge of academics, and who make loud noises about 'protecting the student-athletes' from the supposed evils of a playoff in Division I football.
If it's all about the money, why on Earth would they not want a playoff? Everyone from the presidents to the waterboys knows it would generate great uncountable piles of money, dwarfing the billions generated by March Madness. This December Dementia (or January Jihad--I don't care what you call it) would produce four fabulous weekends of college football, assuming a 16-team tournament. It would be bigger than the Second Coming.
It is about the money, of course. Specifically, it's about who gets the money. It is about a few dozen very old, very rich, very white men in horribly loud blazers who control the bowl games. These games, and the men who control them, are an anachronism whose time has long since come and gone. But they cling to their money, and their power, as only rich, powerful people can.
Adding a game to the schedule while ignoring the desire of sensible fans everywhere for a playoff is just another in a long line of bad decisions made by those who control college football. I would have thought it impossible that any sport (or any business) could be run worse than major-league baseball, but the NCAA is giving them a run for their money.
If it's all about the money, why on Earth would they not want a playoff? Everyone from the presidents to the waterboys knows it would generate great uncountable piles of money, dwarfing the billions generated by March Madness. This December Dementia (or January Jihad--I don't care what you call it) would produce four fabulous weekends of college football, assuming a 16-team tournament. It would be bigger than the Second Coming.
It is about the money, of course. Specifically, it's about who gets the money. It is about a few dozen very old, very rich, very white men in horribly loud blazers who control the bowl games. These games, and the men who control them, are an anachronism whose time has long since come and gone. But they cling to their money, and their power, as only rich, powerful people can.
Adding a game to the schedule while ignoring the desire of sensible fans everywhere for a playoff is just another in a long line of bad decisions made by those who control college football. I would have thought it impossible that any sport (or any business) could be run worse than major-league baseball, but the NCAA is giving them a run for their money.
