FanNation - The Republic of Sport

  This year's college football season has been one of the most incredible in recent memory, with a division I-AA team beating 5th ranked Michigan and an awful Stanford team knocking off No. 2 USC, along with a slew of other upsets of all kinds. And so, in order to explain this dramatic shift in the landscape of the college game, analysts, columnists, and bloggers around the globe have dubbed this year the one where we finally see parity throughout college football. That this is the year that we see that any team can beat any other one, the status of the school notwithstanding. It has definately been an amazing ride, with the University of South Florida, a program that has only existed for a few years, sitting at No. 2 on the national poll for a while (before being upset themselves) and a team like Hawaii, a school certainly not previously known for their football program, being a possible BCS contender due to their undefeated status and Heisman candidate QB. It certainly has been a year of parity in college football. However, as we marvel at all the upsets and equal play in the college game, it is ironic that at the same time, there is such a lack of parity elsewhere around sports.

The best example is the big story of the NFL: the dominance of the New England Patriots and the upcoming showdown with their rival, and undefeated defending champions, the Indianapolis Colts. At the surface, this would appear to be a story of the two teams' excellence, but upon closer inspection it is a tale of the rest of the league's mediocrity. No other team in the league has stepped up and made a name for themselves the way the Colts and Pats have this year and the way so many other teams have in previous seasons. Look at the teams doing well other than New England and Indy: Dallas (lost BIG to the Patriots), Green Bay (gave away division win at home), Tampa (got torched by Colts and Lions), Pittsburgh (vulnerable on the road), and Jacksonville (destroyed by Indy last night). All have some flaw or loss that casts doubt on their superiority. And teams projected to do well based on their success last year, such as New Orleans, Chicago and the San Diego, are not living up to the hype, barely even staying at .500. The Patriots and Colts are clearly at a much higher level than any of these teams, not only in terms of wins, but also in terms of how they have crushed their respective opponents no matter how good they've been. There is surely parity in the NFL, but not the kind there is college football: many opponents are equally mediocre.

This overwhelming lack of parity in sports can be seen, not just in football, but in both baseball and basketball as well. During the recent baseball playoffs, of the four divisional series, just one went beyond 3 games (the Indians-Yankees series which went to a staggering 4) and in the league championships, one of the two was, you guessed it, another sweep. That means only ONE game 7 in all of the playoffs so far. Now fast forward to the World Series: the Rockies got through the NL just by having good, young talent and being hot. For Boston to get through the AL they had to build one of the best lineups and pitching staffs in baseball and then battle back from a 3-1 deficit to win the Cleveland series. Now, I am not denying that the Rockies are an excellent team, but it just shows how pathetic the National League is that they can get through the playoffs after being average all year. Where's the drama there? Where's the parity? The NBA is in a similar situation- the East is so extremely inferior to the West that a team like Boston can add two aging stars, play with an extremely unexperienced point guard and center and be called one of the favorites to win the confrence. Or that a team like Cleveland last year can make it all the way to the NBA Finals with one spectacular player and a collection of mediocre cast offs. You definately don't hear the word parity being used by their analysts.

There are many weeks left to go in the college football season, and plenty more chances for upsets and millions more chances for the parity in the sport to be mentioned, but I just hope that all the analysts for these other sports realize that maybe they should be talking about parity as well. Or the lack of it.