The P-Word Written by Jesse Aron October 27, 2003

I really don’t want to say it because I think it’s been said so many times already. I mean, I hate making the same point everyone’s been making for years.

But how much does it hurt when you open up your computer and notice that some guy you’ve never heard of gets to vote and possibly determine the fate of your College Football team?

How much does it sting that you need to root for the teams that are playing the teams that you’re team has played, and that the outcome actually matters?

And how much does it just get under your skin that the National Champion of College Football may very well be determined with a mathematical formula that you would have no idea how to solve even if you did pass Calculus.

But again, I don’t want to go there, I hate re-stating points that have been made many times.

Seriously though, why do I study percentage points and decimal places rather than the way the opposing team matches up against mine?

Why is it that I know who Jeff Sagrin is? Why should I care what the New York Times ranks teams when I know they don’t watch any West Coast Games? What the hell is Anderson & Hester? And how is it that a team can be ranked as high as 3rd, and as low as 16th? As high as 6th, and as low as 27th?

I really don’t want to say it, I really don’t want to say that word that everyone starts saying every year at this time. But there is a way to rid us of these discrepancies

Everyone else has seemed to figure it out. College Basketball, College Baseball, College Hockey, heck, even Division II and Division III College Football have got it.

Champions for them are decided on the field, on the court, on the ice, or on the diamond.

It doesn’t matter what one person thinks, or how good a team that played another team that played another team did. No one cares if one person thinks they’re 16th, and another person thinks they’re 3rd.

The word is so overused at this point, so driven into the ground that it must be incredibly annoying to hear. Believe me, I’m trying every way to avoid it.

But how can I look past something so ridiculous as this juggling of numbers that is the fate of 10 or so colleges a year. It is not an overstatement to say that these little things cost a team a championship. Teams should not be separated by decimal points, they should separate each other, one winning and one losing.

Think about how many teams are playing well at the end of the season, and how exciting it would be to see them in the play-(oops)…I mean, how exciting would it be to see them play extra games.

That was a close one.

How fun would it be to have a couple extra weeks, and really see who is the best college football team. Make them prove it on the field, not on the computer.

Yes it’s disappointing that Division I College Football does not get what seemingly everyone else in the world understands. But until they do, I’ll root for the teams three times removed from my team’s schedule, I’ll bust out my calculator on Saturday, and I’ll learn what makes Jeff Sagrin tick.

Past Columns:

Gaga for Gagne September 22, 2003