How the BCS bowls should look and who would win

Mike Shaner
12-4-2011

I know some of these games can't happen but they should.

BCS Championship game:
Alabama vs LSU

I know there are many who don't want to see a rematch but these are the two best teams and they should be playing for the championship. Alabama 21-LSU 13

Fiesta Bowl:
Oklahoma State vs Stanford

If the Cowboys were to play Alabama or LSU they would lose 42-17. Stanford is not Bama or LSU. It takes a defense to beat the cowboys and Stanford doesn't have one. Cowboys 42-34

Orange Bowl:
Oregon vs Arkansas

It's a shootout but the razorbacks have been conditioned in the SEC. Arky 38-28

Rose Bowl:
Boise State vs Wisconsin:
The Broncos don't lose these games. Boise St. 50-49

Sugar Bowl:
South Carolina vs Kansas State
K-state hasn't seen anything like an SEC defense and the gamecocks would love to see a big 12 defense. USC-24-3

Report: Marve, others granted immunity to be NCAA informants

by: Steve Gorten 

August 22nd, 2011

CORAL GABLES — Wonder why Robert Marve and Arthur Brown — former UM players who’ve since transferred — and former UM recruits Bryce Brown, Matt Patchan, Orson Charles and Andre Debose were cleared by the NCAA so quickly after former booster Nevin Shapiro implicated them, yet the 12 current ‘Canes named in the Yahoo! Sports report haven’t been cleared?
According to a CBSSports.com report, it’s because all of them have received “limited immunity” from the NCAA, essentially becoming informants against UM in exchange for avoiding punishment themselves. Full Story

We don't need no stinkin' playoffs

We have heard for years that college football needs a playoff. Even President Obama (another government take over?) has lobbied for it. “It just isn’t fair,” they moan. “How hard can it be?” they cry.

The media, the fans, and of course the government all blame the BCS fat cats for “just wanting to make more profit” as if profit is a bad thing for a business to make.

That argument is of course ridiculous because a playoff system would allow more games, which means more television viewers, which means more advertising revenue, which means (gasp!) more profit. Perhaps the people who make this argument have never seen a tiny little game they call THE SUPER BOWL!

The Super bowl is a good example here actually. Last years super bowl featured the Arizona cardinals and the Pittsburg Steelers. Does anyone really believe that these were the two best teams in football? Could you not argue that the Giants, Pats, Chargers, or Colts were not better than at least one of these teams?

If you could make this argument then does that not make the playoff argument somewhat ridiculous?

The BCS national championship game was played between The Florida Gators and The Oklahoma Sooners. Do most people believe that Florida was the best team in the country last year?

Let us go back a little further shall we? In the 2008 Super bowl The New York Giants Beat the Pats in an unbelievable Super Bowl. With out a doubt one of the best super bowls we have ever witnessed but were the giants really the best team in the NFL that year? I believe you can say with the same degree of certainty that the 2007 LSU Tigers were the best team in college football.

Ok let us go back one more year to the 2007 Super bowl where the colts outlasted the bears 29-17. You can make a convincing argument that the colts were the best team that season, but you can make just as strong an argument that the bears were not the second best team.

Florida beat The Ohio state buckeyes for the national title that year. I believe the argument can be made that those two teams were the #1 and #2 teams in the land. I can keep going back year after year and pulling up these same comparisons but I think you get my point.

In college football, you have to be the best team every single week. In the NFL, you do not need to be good early but you damn well better get hot in November. How many people don’t watch the regular season in baseball, basketball, hockey etc…? Why is that? People do not watch these regular seasons because they are unimportant. I believe a champion needs to be the best from the beginning to end.
I believe Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali were great champions because they were top competitors in every fight as opposed to some one like James Buster Douglas who did just enough to grab a title fight and landed a lucky punch.

Do I think the BCS is a perfect system? No. I think it is much like our healthcare system, it could use some tweaks, but it is still the best system out there. One of those tweaks is we should do away with ALL conference tie-ins. If we have four BCS bowls, number 1 should play number two and number 3 should play number four and so on. In my opinion, this would allow more interesting match ups and we would not have that lame Hawaii vs UGA sugar bowl game to endure.

I realize the system is not perfect. No system is. It has however come a long way and I believe will continue to evolve. I am not against a plus one system at all. I think a plus one format is where we should strive to get and eventually be. In a plus one system, it only adds one extra game and does not compromise the regular season. It seems that with very few exceptions a plus one system would have truly settled all the controversy.

I would have loved to see Florida and Utah battle it out last year. Florida would have won but in a much more exciting game than people think. I believe auburn would have won the NC in 2004 if we had a plus one system. UGA could have possibly won it in 07. I am very much in favor of having a “true” national champion. I just do not want the regular season’s importance to become mythical. I would rather do away with all post-season games and have the media vote for a mythical national champion than ruin the truest playoff in sports that is the college football regular season. We need a plus one. College football will never need a playoff system.

When Political correctness ruins sports

Originally published November 11, 2009
Mike Shaner

Oxford Mississippi-The University of Mississippi’s first-year chancellor followed through on a promise Tuesday and asked the band to stop playing a pep song because some fans are chanting “the South will rise again” at the end of the medley.

As a person Married to an ethnic minority I find this offensive. As a person who supports civil rights for all human beings regardless of creed or color, I find this offensive.

Perhaps most importantly I find this offensive as an American. The ironic thing is that no one really cares if I am offended. I write this article knowing that it could destroy any career aspirations I may have. I understand that people will call me names such as racist or ignorant.

 I also find it sad that I have to disclose that my wife is of a different race than my own just to defend myself from the claims of racism that are sure to follow. I realize this article will not be politically correct and finally I no longer care.

The people of the South have a right to honor their heritage and tradition just as much as Native, Mexican, African, or any other American. Has the South had issues with racial relations? Of course, so has Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and any where else in the world. That is not the point. First let me say that the chant has nothing to do with race. No one is chanting “The whites will rise again” no one is even suggesting that.

The chant was a way to give people hope that they could rise from the ashes of a war torn poverty stricken era. Even more important though, is the truth that its meaning and level of offense are simply unimportant in this debate. This is still the USA and people should still have the right to offend. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. offended many people with his words at one time. Words that now provide the hope and vision of America. Imagine if he were not allowed to say them because it offended so many in the main stream. Where would we be today?

I am often disheartened to hear of someone being demonized for his unpopular speech. Larry Johnson was dismissed from the chiefs for making a politically incorrect statement about homosexuals. Why can’t Larry Johnson have his opinion? This is beyond ridiculous. If you are so easily offended by what another person has to say, well, that seems to be more of a personal issue. I am offended by the idea that a person could lose his job because members of the media do not like what he has to say.

At this point in our history their is a huge debate going on about gay marriage. Should Homosexual’s be allowed to marry? I for one believe that a person can love and live with whom he chooses. I also believe the government has no right to be in the marriage business at all. In this case my opinion is probably very PC ….but if it wasn’t, if I happened to believe something else..is that reason to have me stoned to death? How can we take a way the right to offend someone without offending someone else? I have stayed out of this type of discussion for a long time, but now it reaches the sports arena and I cannot help but wonder whats next.

Rush Limbaugh can be a polarizing person, and I often disagree with him. I do find it bizarre that many people say he is not fit to be involved with the NFL. The same NFL that welcomes back Michael Vick and Pac Man Jones. Perhaps it is not PC to offend Pac man. Rush, he is a different story.

I like to believe we have come along way in race relations. The first black quarterback to win the Superbowl was Doug Williams, The First black coach to win the Superbowl was Tony Dungy, and the first black president of the United States is Barrack Obama. I realize things are not perfect. I doubt they ever will be. I know we can continue to improve. I just cant help but wonder though, how can we ever truly be equals if it is fine to offend me yet you must be protected from such offense.

These opinions are my own and not the opinions of anyone who chooses to publish or reproduce this article. The fact that I have to write this disclaimer is very offensive to me. What do you think?