NCAA Football: A sport without a champion V

My friend Chris Martin, perhaps the last unpaid defender of the BCS, sent me a Facebook message recently. I felt I had to reply. Here's Chris's message, me reply follows...

I said to myself, self let's see if Jon is right about Boise deserving a shot at the Title.

OU(average by OU standards) 45 Tulsa 0Bosie St 28 Tulsa 21

CollegeFootballNews.com ranks all 120 major college teams. Here is the breakdown for Boise

They play this year, 7 teams that are ranked between 100 and 120. Their overall average for their 12 team schedule? 90.6. Let me say that again 90.6. So let's blow off their regular season schedule and Tulsa comparison and talk Bowl games.

Last 5 years? 1 win 4 losses. Dominating? Their only win was by 1 point in overtime. Not a great resume' for Boise.

Let's compare vs. oh say Texas. Their average schedule rank is 58.6. They are 4-1 in thier last 5 bowls. Not fair to compare the Big 12 to the WAC? OK. Let's go to that Joke of a conference The Big East. Cincinnati. Their average schedule rank? 58.5. 58.5. Let's look at that again Texas 58.6 - Cincy 58.5 - Boise 90.6. Oh by the way, Cincy 4-1 in their last 5 bowls.

Boise is a joke. They don't belong in the top 10. They don't belong in the BCS. They don't belong in the National Title conversation. I give them credit they beat the best the pac-10 has to offer in the first game of the year, when that team was clearly not playing their best running back.

The BCS works in this case. It Keeps posers like Boise out of the Title game. Thank you BCS!

Chris,

All very intriguing, but utterly meaningless. If ANY team, regardless of strength of schedule (which is dictated TO the school, not determined BY the school), finishes the season undefeated, it is a ridiculous statement to say that "every game counts" or that there is a true national champion out there. I think, secretly, you know this. The fact that SIX other teams finished with records similar to or better than LSU's championship winning 12-2 tells me that every game counts only IF the judges say so, but those judges are pretty fickle. That year several BCS conference champions were denied a chance a the title because they simply weren't ranked high enough.

The FCS division of NCAA football is little better than ice dancing when it comes to crowning a champion. Teams are ranked before the season begins based on educated human OPINION, not performance on the field. Its a beauty contest, pure and simple. Teams are judged before they ever face an opponent. If a great team happens to appear from an unexpected quarter (i.e., the Big 12 north, or the WAC), they face the imposing obstacle of impressing the judges who deemed them unworthy before the season began. If the system "works," then how did Michigan ('97), Tulane ('98), Marshall ('99), Auburn ('04), Utah ('04), Boise State ('06), and Utah AGAIN ('08) all finish unbeaten without a championship? The answer is simple, the "champion" is crowned by vote. The trophy goes to the team VOTED by the judges (coaches, reporters, etc.) to be the best in the country. Just like ice dancing.

I know, I know, computers. What about the computer rankings, you ask? Don't those eliminate the human element? Once again, no. The computers do the same thing the other voters do, they rank teams who have never faced one another on the field based on their subjective programming and spit out a list of who's-better-than-who. Once again, it's a beauty contest.

Equally sad is the "common opponent" argument you routinely fall back on. Although, I do appreciate that you always bring it back to Oklahoma... The first problem with "common opponent" is that teams change all the time, developing for better or worse due to coaching, injuries, etc, at different paces all the time. Who cares if OU punished a team that another school barely squeeked by. At the end of the day, a win is a win. The second and more serious issue is that it undercuts sportsmanship. Common Opponent is a margin of victory comparison. If you're going to use margin of victory as a component to measure a team's worthiness or ranking, you offer incentive to coaches to run up the score on their opponents. (Incidentally, that is the single reason why margin of victory was removed from the BCS formula in the first place!) SO, if no respectable coach will use common opponent, why do you? Sportsmanship matters, which is why common opponent doesn't. No one cares how much stronger OU or Boise State or anyone looked against Tulsa. All that matters is DID THEY WIN?

And while we're at it, let's address the so-called "popularity" argument. If the system is so bad, why is college football so popular? Simply put, it isn't. The overwhelming majority of fans out there screaming their heads off around the country are not fans of NCAA FCS football, they are fans of their local university team. Being from Oklahoma (where football and Jesus are neck and neck in popularity), I know this will be hard for you to understand, but most people could care less about what's going on elsewhere in the country football-wise. I bleed green and yellow, and will gladly watch Oregon play at 1am if I have to because its a west coast game, but that's only because I'm from there. The Ducks are MY team. And that's pretty typical. Honestly, I don't know anyone who watches college football if the game doesn't feature their local favorite or alma mater. As for bowl games, its pretty much the same. I might watch the majors, I might not. I'm not going out of my way to watch anything without Oregon in it. That's for sure. The so-called "BCS championship game?" Yes, I'll watch it, but only because I want to be able to talk about it intelligently with friends. Last year I missed it completely. No big deal. If Oregon canned their football program, would I watch some other teams play? Nope. Do I spend any time watching teams here in the Midwest, like Oklahoma and Missouri, since Oregon isn't often on? Nope. And I don't really miss it.

Compare that with the NFL. The Super Bowl. Ahhh... Football at its finest. Or any other level of the college game, where the champion receives a plaque from the NCAA and knows that NO ONE can dispute their claim. And no one does. Last year in the NFL the Patriots went 11-5 and missed the playoffs. Did anyone cry foul? Of course not! The system works. Last year in the FCS, D-II and D-III the NCAA crowned champions who won their titles on the field. Did anyone cry foul? Of course not! But then there's the Football Bowl Series, where "every game matters" (unless you're from a non-BCS conference, then none of the games matter), but somehow almost every year there's an argument over who should be in the championship game and half the time someone goes undefeated but isn't allowed to play for the crown. Hmm...

Don't get me wrong here, football is an amazing sport, but football is only football. That is, whether its FBS or high school or the NFL, football is football, but the FBS is still the worst system for determining a champions that exists in the game today. Of course it's still popular, its football for crying out loud! That doesn't mean the system works. If anything that proves the greatness of a sport that can survive in spite of its inadequacies. Or perhaps because of the strength of its other

In conclusion, as long as polls exist to determine the national championship game, controversy will continue. It's a lame system. Period. In fact, and there's nothing personal here Chris, but outside of you and Bill Hancock, I don't know a coach, player or fan who appreciates the FCS as a championship format. And frankly, I pity the fool who has to try to defend it. Wait, I take that back. Bill Hancock is no fool. He is, however, highly paid to take a fool's position. What's your excuse?

In 1994, Penn State was moved from 1 to 2 in the national rankings because they put scrubs in during the fourth quarter of a blowout game against Indiana and gave up a couple of garbage time TDs that made the final score look closer than the game actually was. They still won by 6 points, but people who didn't watch the game who saw the score were tempted to believe that PSU actually struggled to win. They went on to finish 12-0 and were voted second in the AP and USA Today polls. Ouch. Had they run up the score some more they'd have won a championship. It was that finish that spurred the Bowl Coalition, which in its failure spawned the Bowl Alliance, which gave way to the current system. The fact that they changed it all signifies that the system didn't work well for producing a satisfactory champion. That they've changed it repeatedly since and 50% of "fans" still want a playoff indicates the further failure of that system.

Having said all that, however, I must admit that there is a playoff-free solution that I'm frankly surprised no one has touted thus far: INTEGRITY. If the BCS would simply admit that all they want to do is guarantee the most money they can for their member schools, and that that money will be used to produce better scholars and athletes--CITIZENS--for the United States, I think they'd hear a lot less whining. All they need to do is tell the truth; that they aren't interested in the fairness or purity of the game as they are about financing the future of the students at their member schools. THAT would sell. People would believe, they would recognize the value of sacrificing the need to crown a true champion in favor of creating a generation of champions that will carry America into the future. Who could argue with that?!

NCAA football: a sport without a champion IV

Well, the BCS hired a new mouthpiece last week. And he immediately went to work by hiring a prominent public relations firm to start touting the positive aspects of the worthless system. In my last commentary on the BCS, I said, "at least they're honest" in reference to the money grubbing reasons for avoiding a playoff system. Bill Hancock is out to change that. Gone are the public concerns for money money money, which could at least be defended by stating that it was all going to the education of our future leaders. Now its back to scheduling and tradition, neither of which is truly denfensible. Sad days continue, and this year looks like it could be an even bigger failure than ever for the pathetic efforts to determine a true champion. With a month left in the season there are still six unbeatens in the division formerly known as D1 (now the FBS). Scheduling will reduce that number by one or two, but the season may very well end with multiple unbeaten teams who never got to play for a championship... Maybe congress will step up and intervene.

Marriage ramble

I sometimes vomit my brain on paper. This is one of those times. It is not meant to be an authoritative statement of who I am or what I believe, but a dialogue, an exploration, with myself about what is really true...

From a recent article in the Joplin Globe:

• Living together before marriage doubles the chance of divorce.
• Children with divorced parents are 89% more likely to get divorced themselves.
• Jasper County, MO is one of the top 50 counties in America for divorce rates.
• Four leading causes of divorce are economic struggles, infidelity, blending families in second marriages, and addiction to drugs/alcohol.
• A college education lowers the likelihood of divorce.
• Adolencents with divorced parents are more than twice as likely to drop out of high school. "...virtually all of the increase in child poverty in United States since the 1970s can be attributed to family breakdown."
• Three way to help avoid divorce in the future: finish high school (and college!), wait until you are 21 to get married, don't have kids until after you are married.

What I find interesting about the article is that it pretty much mirrors Biblical wisdom. Biblically, marriage is a covenant relationship between one man and one woman that is meant to last until one of them dies. Of course, theologically there's a lot more to it than that, but that's another story. So on the surface marriage is pretty simple, but in reality it is a HUGE commitment that people take WAY to lightly. A solid marriage founded on common faith in Jesus Christ is still the best way to enjoy sex, provide stability for children, meet one's own social, emotional and spiritual needs, and survive financially. But American society has little regard for Biblical marriage today. I mean, a lot of people make a big deal about the whole "one man, one woman" thing (as opposed to homosexual marriage), and I suppose we should be grateful for small blessing like that, but most of those people are speaking out of convictions they know in their heads rather than in their hearts. They are fair-weather Christians who are only too happy to stand firm for their convictions as long as those convictions don't impinge on their own personal happiness. Of course, that's easy for me to say since I have (thankfully) led a very blessed life. I haven't had to fight through most of the issues facing all those couple in divorce court today. I hope I never have to. I can't help but think, however, that perhaps the reason I haven't been through a lot of that is because I have tried (albeit imperfectly) to keep Jesus Christ at the center of my life and marriage. I mean, everyone faces adversity in life, and some more than others (see Job, or my sister-in-law), but how we deal with that adversity is what reveals who we truly are. Do we run for the exit when trouble comes? Or fight tooth and claw for the things He values most? Notice I said "He" not "we." in that last sentence. I think "we" value our own personal freedom and happiness. Its in our DNA as a nation after all, but the truth is that the Bible trumps the constitution. And until we are willing to voluntarily surrender our own rights to happiness and freedom in the context of family, we will never really experience either. "He" has a wholly different set of values that when we fight for will produce the peace and hope we all long for anyway.

God's Will

As to God's will, I think you have a better grasp than you know. People do get all bent out of shape over God's will, and I just don't think that's what He wants from us all the time. We shouldn't have to agonize over little decisions, or even big decision if we are in a right relationship with Him, but we do. I hear people talk about being "in the center of God's Will" and finding His "perfect Will" for their lives all the time. Heck, I'VE said those things. But the reality, I believe, is different.

The Bible is God's perfect revealed will, period. What it says in clear plain English (yes, I know, its a translation, just go with me here.) What it says in clear plain English is what it means. DO THIS. DON'T DO THAT. Clear commands and promises are just that. And here's the tricky part, EVERYTHING ELSE IS GUESSWORK. I mean, no matter what we do, we cannot say "this or that is God's will for me" just because we've done our homework. Do all the things you've heard me teach before (search the Bible, pray, seek wise counsel, consider the circumstances, etc.) and make decisions and take action on those decisions. And trust God to help you along the way. IF you are in a right relationship with God, you'll be alright. Things may or may not work out according to your plan, but whatever happens you can have peace because, and this is important, GOD IS IN CONTROL.

Proverbs 16:9 says, "A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps."

Medidtate on that for a while. We make plans. We use every faculty at our disposal, but who determines what happens?

That's right. It's not about you.

Think too about Philippians 4:6-7. "Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Ever wonder about that peace? It's the peace that comes from understanding that GOD IS IN CONTROL. Things might turn out horribly different that you intend or desire, but GOD IS IN CONTROL.

I heard a horrible preacher a while back talk for ten minutes about how bad he was as a preacher in his introduction. And he was right. BUT one thing he said really hit home with me. He said that anxiety comes when external pressure intrudes on our internal sense of what is right "for me." And that is arrogance. The providence of God is a beautiful thing.

What I'm getting at here is that we DO have a responsibility to do our part in seeking God. But ultimately the results of our decisions are in His hands. And let's not make the mistake of substituting a false ideal (like knowing God's perfect will apart from scripture) in place of Jesus. That is, we talk about seeking God's will, but there's an inherent fallacy there; we are supposed to seek HIM. His will, in a sense, is a distraction. Focus on being right with God. The closer you are to Him, the more inclined you will be to trust Him with the results of whatever decision you have to make. Seek God, not God's will. And when the time comes and you have a decision to make you can stand before the throne of God with utter confidence and say, "Lord I have done all I know to understand what you want me to do, therefore I..." and you can finish the sentence from there. He may or may not bless the decision you make with success as you have determined success to be in your own mind, but He will never condemn you either. Peace. Peace of knowing that you have allowed Him to guide you in the process and peace in knowing that you have allowed Him to be responsible for the outcome.

Make sense yet?

Letter to the Editor: Joplin Globe: MSSU Baseball

Thank you Joplin Globe, for helping me support the MoSo baseball program...

Has anyone else noticed that the Missouri Southern State University baseball team has been winning a lot lately?

Seriously, these guys can flat bring it. Yet the stands are typically empty. What’s up with that? Come on, Joplin, this is your team. Your university. Your chance to have a great time for free.

Coach Darnell is putting a quality product on the field day after day, and it seems like the community is just ignoring it. I mean, there’s always a few parents, and the obligatory girlfriends, but shouldn’t there be more support for a program that’s winning games, entertaining, and free to the public?

I would think that given the current state of economic affairs that last bit would get some attention.

I know, I know... it’s soccer season. And this is football country. And, and, and, whatever. Can the excuses. The ’dogs are on the grill at Joe Becker Stadium (I dare you not to salivate), the field is ready, the team is good.

Check it out while there are still a few games left!

English lit

I saw a woman yesterday who reminded me of my high school English Lit. teacher, Ms. Schulz. She was amazing and I gave her the worst time for it. Looking back now I can see that about 90% of what I know about literature I learned from her. For some reason my college lit profs were complete idiots. One guy used the entire class just to rant and rave about how the Republican party was of the devil and George Bush Sr. was (insert expletive string here). I'll never forget the day one poor woman worked up the courage to tell him that her husband was serving as soldier in Iraq and she didn't appreciate all the anti-military, anti-government talk and couldn't understand how it related at all to classical American literature. She was polite and respectful about it, just wanting to get back to the subject for which she was paying to be educated. He (his name was Jerome) came unglued. Total rant. Called her names. Called her husband names. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. And, honestly, I almost came out of my chair and hit him. Guy was a total failure as an educator. But he had tenure! Yay!

But that experience was at a community college. When I transferred to the University of Oregon, I thought things might get better. WRONG! My next prof was just as bad. Although she didn't hammer away at politics and government all semester, she used the entire course to teach relativism. At one point she wrote Frankenstein, Hitler and Jesus' names on the board, then made everyone in the class go up front and put a check mark under who we thought was "the real monster." She also served Screwdrivers during the final. Nice. Freshman class. At least she made us read a few books and short stories along the way, some of which were even relevant to relativism. At the end of the semester we had a three page paper due. I wrote one short paragraph about how I thought the whole thing was "irrelevant." Got an 'A.'

So, thanks Marna Schulz, for teaching me about settings and themes and how to identify the parts of the story that actually matter. You were awesome, even when I wasn't, which was pretty much the entire time you had me in your class.

As I pondered all this earlier today I thought it would be a great idea to put a few English profs' heads on a pike in front of the dept. as a way of reminding them that they have responsibilities, and to remind students that they have rights.

Random thoughts

I don't have time for more than a quick ramble.

Just finished John Ortberg's book Faith & Doubt. Good read. A couple of quotes really stood out to me, among them:

"Doubt is a good servant but a poor master."

"To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is like choosing immobility as a means of transportation." (Quoting Lesslie Newbigin there)

"Jesus never said, 'Believe my arguments.' He said, 'Follow me.'"

"Sometimes one of the biggest obstacles to faith in Jesus is the incompetence, complacency, and arrogance of his followers--followers like me."

While I'm at it, I've also been going through Experience God with our church. It's really promped me to think a lot about the how God moves in the world. And one thought I'd love to explore more is the idea that God will not give us an assignment until we have the character to carry it out. I think we spend a lot of time waiting impatiently for God to move in some spectacular and obvious way when we should instead be concerned with developing the character within ourselves to carry out spectacular and obvious works of God so that He might use us accordingly. What I mean is, I think I am guilty of peeking around at other people other ministries and seeing how God is using them to accomplish mighty deeds that incontrast make it look like my own life and ministry is an exercise in futility. I see the fruit dropping freely from the branches of others and wonder why all I have is empty branches even though I'm trying like crazy to make stuff happen.

I say this now, when it seems, at least to me, like my own life is filled with fruit. I see God moving. I feel God moving in my life and in those around me. I have great stories about good things, GOD things, going on right now in my life and ministry. But I have wandered in the wilderness, and doubtless will again, and I wonder if I'll have the hindsight then to realize that God is there too, working to mold and shape the vessel His hand is on for yet another purpose.

I think my point here is that God is always moving in your life, but you really need to be careful how you evaluate that movement. Otherwise you might be tempted to wonder, as I often have, why God moves so clearly through others, and not through you. Does that make sense? I hope so.

BCS Chokes Again!

It's no secret that I despise the BCS and all it stands for. SO you can imagine my joy at discovering this article by ESPN's Rick Reilly:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3815656

And so we can add Utah (again) to the list of teams the BCS has failed to account for in its system. I am beginning to wonder at the intelligence of the men and women who call it a "National" championship game. Apparently the word 'nation' in their minds does not include the state of Utah.

College football continues to revolve not around the character of the athletes, their education and morals, not around the quality of the programs, their wins and losses, but around the value of the dollars those programs can bring in. This sad state of affairs is so lamentable that I don't really watch D-I (FBS) football anymore. I'd rather read a book or go for a hike with my son that watch a "sport" that eliminates half its teams from championship contention before the season starts automatically (via conference ties) and another quarter through opinion polls. The only real exception I make for that, obviously, is the the Oregon Ducks, for whom I will gladly bleed green and yellow forever.

Live green, Yell-O!