tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7193007137551439191.post5638470091453854040..comments2023-12-27T18:04:21.987-05:00Comments on From Old Virginia: annual playoff gripeBrendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10506945153264825303noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7193007137551439191.post-3735116651354817792011-12-07T22:33:49.514-05:002011-12-07T22:33:49.514-05:00Answers to all the above:
1) Deane - couple of po...Answers to all the above:<br /><br />1) Deane - couple of points. One, I like the basketball regular season because I'm a junkie, not because it necessarily matters. Kentucky and North Carolina just played what basically amounts to a 1 vs. 2 game. What effect will it have on the tournament? Probably zero as they'll both likely be 1 seeds anyway.<br /><br />As for nobody arguing about professional sports, no - but people do love them some brackets so they don't care. Everyone knows that the best NFL team in 2007 was the one that went 16-0, not the one that went 10-6, but we allow ourselves to not care because woo brackets and yay Super Bowl party. Yet I keep hearing that a playoff is the only way to "decide things on the field."<br /><br />An 8-team playoff would be enough for a lot of people, but so was 64 teams in the NCAA tournament.<br /><br />2) Wetzel's tweet is still there as far as I can tell (though it would really have bolstered my case if he deleted the thing out of embarrassment) but here is the gist: The Sugar Bowl took VT over Boise because Big Ten commish Jim Delany twisted their arms for a quid pro quo after working overtime to get Ohio State eligible for last year's Sugar, and he didn't want one of his glamor teams playing a little upstart like Boise. If someone else had tweeted that I'd be much less skeptical, but as Wetzel is literally the only source for that, I call BS. You just can't be as virulently anti-BCS as Wetzel is and be an objective reporter at the same time.<br /><br />3) The bowls are on Jan. 2, yes, because Jan. 1 is Sunday and the NFL is playing. It seems "untraditional" but ever since the dawn of the NFL as the nation's sports superpower, even the Rose Bowl hasn't been stupid enough to compete with it. This has happened before, so I don't make any fuss over it.<br /><br />4) No, UVA isn't JMU and flexible about finals prep, but I bet you Alabama is, as well as quite a few other schools. Heck, they're flexible about the whole damn semester at some of these places.Brendanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10506945153264825303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7193007137551439191.post-60304697739716519442011-12-07T19:18:38.348-05:002011-12-07T19:18:38.348-05:00I think you dismiss the academic/finals time argum...I think you dismiss the academic/finals time argument too easily. I'm a fourth year student with two football players in one of my politics seminars. Our final is toward the end of next week as well as a final paper. If the playoffs were to start at the beginning of next week like you said, then this would be a huge distraction from their classes to prep for the game/travel/etc.<br /><br />UVA isn't JMU where the professors are going to be flexible about when their students take finals...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7193007137551439191.post-77102133701490935042011-12-07T14:33:45.502-05:002011-12-07T14:33:45.502-05:00Correct me if I'm wrong or received bad inform...Correct me if I'm wrong or received bad information: are there no bowls at all on New Years' Day? Everything says Jan. 2.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7193007137551439191.post-5528274809489801462011-12-07T11:23:39.593-05:002011-12-07T11:23:39.593-05:00Wetzel's tweet appears to be gone, what did it...Wetzel's tweet appears to be gone, what did it say?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7193007137551439191.post-20456842146818555672011-12-07T10:25:55.932-05:002011-12-07T10:25:55.932-05:00I LOVE the ACC basketball regular season. The NCA...I LOVE the ACC basketball regular season. The NCAA tournament in no way detracts from it - what a strange and annoying concept. I don't at all buy that a football playoff would detract from its regular season, either. And the notion that the regular season acts as a playoff is ridiculous (although I do acknowledge that some of the arguments have merit). You don't hear anyone arguing about professional sports' regular season/playoff format. The regular season is used to determine the "best" teams of the year, and the playoff lets those teams determine the champion on the field.<br /><br />That being said, I'd be perfectly happy with a hybrid playoff/bowl system. I think an 8-team playoff would be enough.<br /><br />P.S. If you don't care about the basketball regular season, what in the world are you writing all those blogs for???Deanenoreply@blogger.com