National Championship Game

Hey, guys - guess what? The National Championship game is tomorrow.

Not that anyone cares. And I think that is the big issue with a playoff. Who cares who wins the title, unless you go to that school?

There are 120 division 1 teams. The largest of them have an alumni population of maybe half a million. Do you really think that the average american is really thinking about the Ohio State vs LSU right now? They are trying to return the sweater that Aunt Mary gave them which is the wrong size, color and style, without a receipt.

The people who care are those who live in Columbus, Ohio and Baton Rouge, LA.

But those guys really care. Passionately. As would we, if our Bears were there.

Let's think about what happened with the Bears this year and think about the playoff vs the BCS / Bowl situation. We would have loved to be in a BCS game, but we sucked at the end of the season and were lucky to squeak out a bowl game. That being said, regardless of the idiots who were saying we should not go to the bowl game, it was an embarrassment, is there any doubt that having that extra game and the whole scenario where we had the month off gave us a much better situation going into our next year? Or that some passion came back to the program which was somewhat cooled by the lackluster ending of the regular season?

What about the year we lost to Texas Tech at the Holiday Bowl? We could still bitch that we wuz robbed, that we would have played better at the Rose, that we had shoulda, coulda, woulda. Even though I remember that crappy game, and was there afterward at the Hotel when the players came in, it was fun for them, fun for everyone. It was a definite good time, and the right thing to do. And last year, at the Holiday Bowl against Texas A&M it was even better. But the point is, all of that would be swept away. Even with a 32 team playoff, the Bears would be nowhere to be found. And we needed that last game, believe me. As most teams do in our situation. The delay gives time for the injuries to heal. It gives the winners the ability to brag, and the losers the ability to say, 'Oh, it was just a bowl game."

Once again, the only thing that matters is the conference championship. If you win the Pac 10, then it means something. We did, sort of, last year (with, by the way, Nate as our QB). That is something that we have not done in 33 years, and it means something. It means more than coming in second in the National Championship game, for example. That is just a bowl game. Winning your conference means that you were the best for the entire season against others that you play year in and year out - people who know you and yet you still beat them. For us, that means beating USC. I kinda feel like the win in 2003 was the best game I have been to as a Bear. Particularly since there was this particularly obnoxious USC fan sitting directly in front of me, in a Cal section, no less.

The other thing people talk about is the lousy bowl games. As if a playoff would eliminate that. Guess what - Hawaii sucked - but they still would have been in the playoff picture.

If you want a playoff, go to the NFL. They do it in their own, passionless way.