While watching the MLB playoffs over the last couple of days, I
couldn’t help but wonder why the brilliant idea of playoffs
couldn’t be translated to college football. Baseball
generally lags behind other sports such as pro and college football
in fan interest, but come playoff time, a good chunk of the country
watches. The MLB playoffs are simple: Win or go home. And the rules
to get to the playoffs are fairly simple too, with teams qualifying
based on where they finish in the standings. College
football’s regular season dwarfs baseball’s in terms of
popularity. But college football doesn’t have the classic
postseason. It doesn’t even always have a true champion, as
both LSU and USC were able to call themselves champions after the
2002-2003 season. Sure, a lot of people like bowl games. But
outside of the Bowl Championship Series games, few care other than
fans of the teams involved. Even with the BCS games, only the
championship game has any true meaning. Can you imagine the hype
there would be if there were college football playoffs? Saturdays
where there were games played with a do-or-die scenario would be
among the best sports days of the year. In time, it would be bigger
than the NFL playoffs because of all of the potential rivalries
involved. I have yet to hear a single good excuse why a college
football playoff system can’t happen. It’s obviously
not because the extra games would hurt student-athletes, because
the regular season seems to get longer every year, increased most
recently to 12 games (with teams in conference championship games
playing 13). I’m not going to go on at length about all the
potential playoff system possibilities. There are many alternatives
that would work very simply, with few logistical problems. But if
there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that a
college football system probably won’t happen in my lifetime.
Not with all the BCS money going into the hands of a few. A playoff
system, even if it made more money, would likely spread the wealth
into more and different hands.
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Reporting on both softball coach Sue Enquist’s retirement
and the women’s volleyball team’s amazing win over
Washington last week helped me appreciate UCLA’s two
volleyball coaches ““ the women’s team’s Andy
Banachowski and the men’s team’s Al Scates ““ even
more. UCLA’s seen a lot of successful coaches come and go,
and it’s human nature for great coaches like Enquist to want
to move on to different challenges, even if she retired too early
for her fans (she’s only 49). But Banachowski and Scates have
been at their jobs forever, and are still at the top of their
games. Banachowski is in his 40th season and can still coach,
making the adjustments necessary to beat defending champion
Washington last week and keep its No. 3 ranking nationally. Scates
enters his 45th season, coming off an NCAA Championship in 2005,
his 19th (he also won two USVBA championships before there was NCAA
volleyball). Scates and Banachowski are those rare coaches who not
only stay at their jobs forever, but also do them at the quality of
the best of their peers while showing no signs of letting up.
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The NCAA, often rightly criticized for being too strict with its
rules, showed it has heart. In September, the NCAA granted Clemson
football player Ray Ray McElrathbey a waiver to let him raise funds
to help take care of his 11-year-old brother, who is now under
McElrathbey’s custody after his parents were unable to care
for the 11-year-old. “My mother is a recovering addict. Well,
she’s trying to recover,” McElrathbey told ABC News.
“She was addicted to crack cocaine, and my father has a few
gambling problems of his own.” Without the NCAA’s
waiver, McElrathbey would’ve struggled to find ways not only
to afford to care for his brother, but to find babysitters when
McElrathbey is on the road and transportation for his brother to go
to middle school. The Associated Press reported that almost $50,000
has been raised to help McElrathbey raise his brother. It’s
great that the NCAA granted McElrathbey a waiver and it’s
even a better story that so many people donated to him and his
brother.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.