Bleacher Report - Articles by David Boduch

BCS Playoff System: Obama Approved

David Boduch — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:33:05 -0500

It's what every college football player dreams of, what every college football coach schemes of, and what every college football fan wishes was determined by some form of a playoff system: the College Football National Championship.

So here we sit, once again with another National Champion in question, even though the very system that is in place to determine that champion was originally designed to provide a champion without a shadow of a doubt.

How could you possibly say Utah doesn't at least deserve a shot? Or that USC couldn't have beaten anyone at the end of the season? Or how about Texas, who was left out in the cold for the quote, unquote, National Championship Game? (Who was it that beat Oklahoma again?)

And why?

The "why" is the very same reason that the BCS failed in its job to create a system that determined unequivocally, the best team in the country to begin with: the Bowl System and the people that make up the Bowl committees.

The Bowl committees want their bowls to have the spotlight, all of the spotlight, and they'll do anything to keep it. They know it, the BCS committee knows it, the fans know it, the players know it, the coaches know it, Obama knows it, and nothing is going to change that fact.

The "Plus One" is not the answer. Under that system, No. 6 Utah would have been left out of the dance this year. That's right, "the dance." An NCAA football tournament that fans, players, and coaches have only dreamed of.

So why not create a system that adds even more spotlight to the major bowls (Selling Point No. 1), while determining an undisputed National Champion (Selling Point No. 2), and in turn giving fans what they deserve, an actual champion (Selling Point No. 3).

The answer is a true playoff system that begins the weekend following the last conference championship and finishes during the first week of January (a few weeks in between), with the winner of the National Championship being determined in the same way it is currently being determined now, in one of the four rotating BCS bowl games (Rose, Orange, Fiesta, and Sugar).

Here's how it would work.

Following the final weekend of conference championship games, the BCS will release its final rankings. The top eight teams will be entered into a playoff system in which all eight teams will end up playing in one of the four BCS Bowl games.

In week one, No. 1 plays No. 8, No. 2 plays No. 7, No. 3 plays No. 6, and No. 4 plays No. 5. All games would be played at the home field of the higher seeded team.

In week two, the winners of each of the week one games would play each other, with the losers playing each other as well.

In week three, the winners of each of the week two games would play each other. Again, the losers play each other as well. Through this, you will have a legitimate pairing of two teams (the two teams that won each of their games in weeks one and two of the playoff) to play each other in a championship game.

The championship game would be played approximately three weeks following the week two playoff and would be determined the same way that it is now—through the BCS (rotating with the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls). The other six teams, all of which have at least one loss, would make up the pairings in the other three bowl games.

In the end, you have a team that would have beat the best of the best (three top eight teams), over the course of three weeks, en route to proving that they are the undisputed National College Football Champions.

In the end, you will have bowl committees that will be ecstatic because the teams playing in their bowls would have been the most talked about teams in all of sports over the past month and a half.

In the end, you will have a fanbase that believes in its champion, that appreciates the path it took to achieve that status, and that knows that next year, their team, whatever team that may be, has a fair chance of winning what can finally be agreed upon as the College Football National Championship.

NCAA Polls...The Polling Is Complete

David Boduch — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:48:33 -0500

The polls have just closed for voters casting their opinion on the major polling systems used to rank NCAA basketball and football teams, and the results may not surprise you.

People hate them. Unequivocally.

And because it seems as though you can never have enough polls (AP poll, coaches poll, Harris Poll, computer poll, rolly polly), a separately conducted exit poll showed that many fans believe that the voting population is totally unable to draw any correlation between talent and performance when attempting to cast their vote.

Truth to point, it seems as though one nationally known writer ranked Duke No. 1 in a recent football poll when he mistakenly thought he was completing his ballot for the AP basketball poll.

The only thing these polls have truly been able to provide us insight into is that the population of poll voters most likely hasn't attended an actual game in the sport they are voting for, and are least likely to care.

I mean Georgia was ranked No. 1 in football at the beginning of the 2008 season, Michigan ranked No. 2 in the country at the start of the 2007 season (who'd they lose to? Oh yeah, Division II Appalachian State)

We live in a society where being wrong is unacceptable. How many times have you gone to work, totally botched a project, and then had your boss say, "oh well, no biggie. There's always next week". It simply doesn't happen.

So why is it OK for sportswriters to be wrong? I mean for crying out loud, I've got money on this sh**!

Why are these polls so inaccurate? Simple. There are no consequences for being wrong.

So i have a proposition...Begin implementing serious ramifications for inaccurate polling immediately.

The repercussions for failing to accurately predict the future (assessed at the completion of each regular season) would be as follows:

Failing to accurately select the No. 1 team at the beginning of the season: Be forced to mud wrestle Rosie O'Donnell on national television.
Failing to accurately select at least one of the top TWO teams at the beginning of the season: Guest host "The View" for 5 episodes.
Failing to accurately select at least one of the top THREE teams at the beginning of the season: Perform a weekly bikini wax on Bill Belichick for six months.
Failing to accurately select at least one of the top FOUR teams at the beginning of the season: Write the complete biography of Celine Dion.
and finally, Failing to accurately select at least one of the top FIVE teams at the beginning of the season: Take part in the polling process the following season

All punishments would run concurrent to each other and do not differ between sports.

Please feel free to poll amongst yourselves.

Is The Sky Falling In Ann Arbor?

David Boduch — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:28:51 -0400

A new coach, a ton of new faces on offense, a new offensive scheme, and to top it all off, a new stadium in the making.

Michigan came out of the gate firing on all cylinders against Utah.

The only problem was, it looked like there may have only been a couple of cylinders to fire to begin with.

As fast as they got started, scoring a touchdown after a botched punt return by the Utes, both the Michigan offense and defense spontaneously combusted.

You would think the sky was falling down all around Michigan Stadium following the recent loss to Utah.

It looked as if this season might end up being a far more excruciating one for fans than many had originally thought.

Welcome to Ann Arbor, Coach Rodriguez. Here, meeting expectations simply doesn't cut it, and exceeding them is only okay if you do it ALL the time. These words would surely replace "Those Who Stay Will Be Champions" and adorn the locker room if fans had anything to say about it.

But let's take a real look at what we learned about the Wolverines in their first game of 2008.

Utah is NOT a bad football team by any means (Ranked 22nd-AP and 23rd-Coaches). On top of having a fantastic offense, they had one of the best defenses in the country last year and returned many of their starters. A young, inexperienced, Michigan team was able to come within two points of beating a top 25-ranked team.

As bad as the defense looked in the first half, they looked VERY good in the second half. They forced turnovers, shut down Utah on third down, and in general brought the crowd back into the action. In addition, the special teams play was exceptional throughout (if you're a true Michigan fan, you know that this has been a longtime Christmas wish).

Blocked punts, blocked extra points, fumble recoveries on punts, and 50-yard field goals! You couldn't ask for much more.

The Wolverines showed resiliency. For a young team, it's a crucial element for future success. The fact that this team refused to roll over showed that in addition to early talent, more importantly it has heart.

The Wolverines took one step closer to finding their field general (quarterback). And when choosing between a true walk-on and a transfer from Georgia Tech, no one was truly sure what to expect.

Keep in mind, neither of these players were recruited for the offense they're currently being asked to run.

REALITY CHECK

The only true goal for this season is to make it to a bowl game and to continue the consecutive bowl streak record that Michigan holds. Before the Utah game even started, Michigan was a seven- or eight-win team at best. This means that now they are, at best, a six- or seven-win team. That's still bowl-eligible last time I checked.

In most circles surrounding the team, words like "rebuilding," "learning," and "growing" were the words most commonly heard when the upcoming season was upon us.

Not once have I ever heard Michigan's name as a legitimate contender for the National Championship, or even a Big Ten Championship for that matter.

So as the season continues on, Michigan fans, it is important to temper your expectations for once.

This IS NOT going to be the normal Big Ten Champion contender you are used to seeing each year. This IS NOT a team that is going to receive national praise.

But this may be a team that surprises you by year end, if you have the patience to wait that long.

Oh wait, you're Michigan fans. Is Les Miles available yet?

Patriots News: Bill Belichick To Launch Clothing Line

David Boduch — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:43:50 -0500

You've seen him wear it at almost every Patriots game. You know you've always wanted one for yourself. And now you'll finally get a chance to have your very own, authentic, Bill Belichick sweatshirt—complete with the signature cut-off sleeves.

In an agreement reached today with Fruit of the Loom, Belichick brought NFL fans closer to his armpits than ever before.

"The NFL apparel market in the United States is a $100 million a year business and we feel that many fans of the Bill Belichick look have been ignored for too long," Fruit of the Loom spokesperson Amy Wangle said.

"Fans of Mr. Belichick love his ‘I give up’ image," Wangle added. "We've all wanted to get up to go to work and simply say ‘Screw it, I'm wearing my PJ's today.’ Well Mr. Belichick gets to wear his PJ's to work every day, why shouldn't the average American."

It turns out however, that Fruit of the Loom has a huge inventory of unsold sweatshirts lying around.

"All we had to do was cut off the sleeves and then sell them at a premium," an anonymous Fruit of the Loom employee stated. "You don't have to be a genius to know that that makes good business sense. Just between you and I though, if Mr. Belichick had decided not to sign on, we were going to go with our 'Be a Bum' campaign instead."

Plans of the clothing line have yet to be completely disclosed to the public, but this inside reporter has discovered that the sweatshirts will come in three colors—grey, light grey, and dark grey—and will be sold individually or as a package with matching cutoff sweatpants.

The sweatshirts will be available with team logos for all 32 NFL teams, but if you really want to feel what it's like to be the most boring coach in the NFL, the Patriot's model is recommended by Fruit of the Loom.

Belichick was unavailable to comment on the recent announcement, but had we been able to reach him, I'm sure that his response would have been very monotone and uninteresting—just like his clothing line will be.

Terrelle Pryor To Sign With Ringling Bros.

David Boduch — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:04:36 -0500

Jeannette, PA

In a surprising twist of events, high school football phenom Terrelle Pryor finally made the announcement we've all been waiting for. "I'm joining the circus", Pryor told reporters at a press conference held in the Jeannette Senior High School gymnasium.

"I want to thank my family, especially my Dad, for making me take the time to think this through and not make any rash decisions. I know that there are a lot of great schools out there that were doing everything in their power to have me enroll. But ultimately my decision came down to a lifelong desire to be shot out of a cannon".

Just when we thought TP had narrowed down his choices to Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Oregon, a dark horse found it's way into the mix. And it seems as though Pryor's raw football talent will go to waste - or will it?

In a statement made by Ringling Bros. Ringmaster Arlington Piccadilly, shortly following the Pryor press conference, the idea of having a Ringling Bros. football team of their own seems as though it may not be so far fetched. "This is the acquisition we've been waiting for. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to attract good talent to the circus. You may not be aware, but there is a huge underground circus league, and we've been getting our butt's kicked by carni's far and wide for too long. I have to tell you, the Bearded Lady is ecstatic, as are the rest of us."

To no ones surprise, most shocked of all were the coaches who so actively recruited Pryor. Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez had this to say about today's events, "I first heard of this news last evening when I had a phone conversation with Terrelle. At the time I just assumed the kid was drunk. But apparently he's just crazy".

Whatever he is, Pryor's impact is sure to be felt by circus fans, and bearded ladies alike. Look out Zucchini Bros.—this kid can run.

Congress To Investigate NFL Jockstrap Scandal

David Boduch — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:15:14 -0500

Today, in a surprise move, Congress issued subpoenas to several NFL players who may have been involved in an elaborate jockstrap conspiracy.

According to several reports, as well as sworn testimony by NFL league cheerleaders, at least twenty five NFL players are accused of wearing each other's jocks during regular season and playoff games played between 2001-2006.

Congress is determined to find out the specific performance enhancements gained by sharing another man's jock.

"Jock strap-gate", as some insiders are calling it, is said to have been going on for some time now. Many claim that this practice has been ongoing since as far back as the 70s.

Dannie Stewart, a former cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys stated that, "for years, that was the only way you knew who was a homosexual in the locker room. I mean, it can get hard to tell who's straight with all of those guys being naked and having such a good time with each other."

Indeed, a true way to out the homosexual in a world of big burly men. But was that all it's about?

Many speculate that there may have actually been a competitive advantage to wearing another man's jock. And that is where Congress comes in.

Senator Arlen Spector believes that it is important to protect the sanctity of the game for the benefit of the fans.

"If fans don't know who's wearing who's jock, then what's next?" he said. "We could have entire football teams wearing the other team's jocks—changing jocks in mid-game to gain a competitive advantage—and that is simply unacceptable. We demand to know who's jock is being worn so that we can be sure that everyone is playing with the equipment that they were intended to have."

Spector stated that he plans on focusing upon "jock-swapping" that occurred specifically during games played against his home state team, the Philadelphia Eagles, but declined to comment on any specific players at this time.

Many in the know have heard of players using performance-enhancing Gold Bond. But these new allegations take that concept to an entirely new level. Even though, it's yet to be proven what benefits a man can gain from rubbing against another man's musk.

Whatever, may come of this audacious speculation, one thing is for sure: You can wear another man's jock, but that doesn't mean you have another man's...