The NFL playoff system, especially as demonstrated this season, seems to many of us as analogous to Pro Wrestling. Teams who have qualified for a playoff spot are literally throwing games with the excuse that they are "protecting" their best players from injury. If that's the case, why do they not simply forfeit the game and refund the fans' money. NFL fans spend large amounts of money for tickets to games which they expect to be real contests in which both teams are giving 100%. If a team decides not to give 100%, they should at the very least announce that fact in advance and the fans could then stay home or not waste their time watching a sham on TV. I will not even discuss what example this type of gamesmanship teaches our young athletes. So much for the old-fashioned philosophy of: "If you play the game, give it 100% or stay home."
Having never been a big fan of the BCS system in college football, I am rethinking my position after observing the travesty of the NFL playoff system. Would it not be contrary to the very core of collegiate athletics to have a system which encourages teams not to give their best in every game? In fact, the beauty of the bowl system in NCAA football is: every game counts! Or, as, Mark Richt, head coach of Georgia, points out: "The whole season is a playoff system."
The university presidents like Gordan Gee have enumerated a whole list of reasons NOT to have a college football playoff system, but I think the lack of integrity generated by the NFL playoffs is sufficient reason to avoid any form of college playoffs.
Then, you ask, what about the NCAA basketball tournaments? A case in point; why do teams who have won their conference championship lose in the early rounds of the season-ending tournaments? They are giving themselves time off to prepare for the NCAA tournament--much like what NFL teams do.
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