Like most young boys growing up, I have very fond sports memories, both live and watching them on TV. One of my favorite TV memories was the 1983 NCAA championship between Houston and N.C. State. The drama! The last second shot by Lorenzo Charles off the Derrick Wittenburg miss! The frustration and pain felt by the Cougars! And of course, the jubilation by Wolfpack coach Jim Valvano!
For me, there was another memory: The fact that Virginia and Ralph Sampson's season went to waste, rendering the regular season meaningless. I am sure most college hoops fans would feel the same way, just as Georgetown's 1985 season and Oklahoma's 1988 seasons were spoiled by Villanova and Kansas, respectively. And I am positive that most hoops fans struggling through March madness every year is thinking the same thing. Bring the bowls to College basketball!!!!
As I see it, college AD's, administrators, and football purists have it right. Having so passionately defended to current BCS and bowl system, so vigorously, I feel that instead of chastising them for failing to enter the 21st century, we should follow their lead and apply the BCS model to every other college sport.
Think about it: No more pesky playoffs to dilute the regular seasons or compromise the athletic integrity of the thousands of other student athletes. Instead of forcing student athletes to play 3 extra weeks, and possibly six games, like Florida and OSU were forced to do last year, we could have one bowl game for everyone.
And the college basketball bowl possiblities are endless. Michigan State hoops fans would give up March madness in a millisecond to participate in the Rose Bowl at Pauley Pavilion against UCLA. Georgetown vs Duke in the Orange Bowl, Texas vs Washington State in the Fiesta Bowl, and Memphis vs Vanderbilt in the Sugar Bowl....the possibilities are endless!
Speaking of Memphis, I have no doubt that coach Calipari's team would graciously give up their hopes for a national title, even if they finished undefeated, knowing that Kansas and North Carolina were the two most deserving teams to play for the BCS Championship, as determined by the polls and computers.
And the bowl possibilities are endless. Can you imagine what the ratings on ESPN would be like for the Tru-Value Rushmore Bowl in Rapid City, SD between Oral Roberts and Northern Arizona? A Bob Evans bowl game in Little Rock between Drake and Mississippi State? The Multinomah Bowl in Portland between St Mary's and Washington? As Banya said to Seinfeld, "It's GOLD Jerry!"
And every sport can follow suit: Every hockey game could be the Ice Bowl. Golf could be thousands of head-to-head matches. And if we can send a man to the moon, surely we can devise a BCS ranking system to decide which two javelin throwers could participate in the championship match.
College presidents and AD's, the ball is in your court. You've kept the sanity in Division I College Football. Won't you PLEASE restore it to the rest of college sports?
Ariel Meredith
Jarah Mariano
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It's brilliant! Don't forget to get rid of the college baseball playoffs, too. Makes far too much sense. That double elimination? Gives way too many teams a chance to make it to the college world series.
And that 1988 basketball season is proof positive that March Madness has to go! You hit the nail on the head with that one! Great job.
SoonerGirl
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Being a student at the University of Houston during the Phi Slama Jama days, I remember those Final Four games as well. Why don't you just give me a nice paper cut and rub lemon juice in it? Those tournaments were like rollercoasters! The ups were great but the downs were crushing and when it was all over you wanted to vomit. Those were the good old days! I wouldn't change a thing (except the final score).
Mr Adams
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