Bill James: Boycott the BCS

Sixteen teams or get off the pot.

 

I would love to see 16 teams.

 

You mean like this?

 

So your whole argument is hinging on the anomoly of the 1984 season? Because if that's it, then I'd like to present an argument for the years where the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 teams played in different bowls, with 1 and 2 losing and the team that entered New Year's Day No. 3 ended up winning the national title.

 

Do you own stock in that site?

 

Another reason this BCS BS sucks: For the third time this week, Seinfeld on my local Fox affiliate has been pre-empted for the pre-game show.

 

Yeah, although I doubt the folks at Utah would like that specific one, though

 

I would also think having 34 bowls also makes the Jan. 1 bowls a little less meaningful.

Growing up in the mid-80s, there were around 16 or 17 bowls. You had the five on Jan. 1, which really meant something. You had 3-4 others on Dec. 31 (Peach, Bluebonnet, Sun and another odd bowl thrown in. From Dec. 25-30, there was one game roughly each night (Aloha on Christmas). Then the Independence Bowl was the opener, the week before Christmas, with the California Bowl following.

It actually meant something to see a bowl game on TV. Now, with 34, and many of them named after some corporate sponsor instead of its own unique name, I could care less who makes any bowl.

 

That argument doesn't fly, though, because you can use it about anything that was on TV two decades ago.

Of course it meant more to be on TV then, because there were only three networks and cable was in its infancy. That's why NBC had a Game of the Week in baseball, and "Wide World of Sports" and Howard Cosell's halftime highlights on MNF were so popular -- you couldn't see it anywhere else.

That's pining for a world that doesn't exist anymore. Frankly, aside from the BCS being so illogical and games starting so late at night, we've got it a lot better as sports fans today. There are options galore, and that's a great thing.