Friday Links Roundup: 37 Days Edition

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Adam Faughn • 3 Comments

Yes, I am going to make fun of college football one more time before the season finally (and, mercifully) ends.

By the time Auburn and Oregon take the field on Monday night, it will have been 37 days since either team played. In the meantime, we’ve seen about 487 bowl games (ok, so it will have been 34) featuring 68 of the 120 teams in FBS (or, as it is always called, “formerly Division I-A”). Auburn and Oregon will make 70 of the 120 teams that qualified and played in postseason games, a grand total of ONE of which actually matters (unless some voters want to vote TCU #1, which would make me smile!).

So, what is my problem with it? It is that these games almost all take place in the Christmas break of the schools, yet, for some reason, we are told that a playoff cannot be done because it would “compromise classwork.” Really? Practicing for 37 days and playing on the 10th of January doesn’t do that? No, it doesn’t, and a playoff wouldn’t either.

If you love the BCS, please find a real reason to back it. So far, I haven’t found one.

Oh, and by the way, my pick is Oregon 38 – Auburn 31, although I don’t have a good “feel” for this game. I think it should be a good one.

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On to the links for this week:

1. We wrote about Bible classes yesterday. These periods are wonderful times to accomplish a lot of good, and the typical class isn’t all that large, meaning there is an opportunity for closeness in that setting. Matt Dabbs uses that concept as his basis for a good article entitled “Creating Ministry Environments: Refining the Process.”

2. One of my friends from Freed-Hardeman, Carrie Spear, keeps a blog about her trials as a young and widowed mother. Her posts are blunt, and they help me gain some insight into how difficult it must be to face that loss. I found her New Year’s Day post to be especially touching and insightful. It is called “Status Change.”

3. The New York Times recently ran an interesting series of videos from some if its readers. They were asked to voluntarily go without the Internet (or some other form of technology) for one week, and then report on their week. 12 videos were posted on the site. I have not watched all of them yet, but have found the ones I have watched to be fascinating. The first one (Aura Lopez) is the best I’ve seen. I think this is an insightful project, and one that you will find both interesting and entertaining. Here is the link to “The Unplugged Challenge.”

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We hope you have a great weekend. Lebanon Road, we hope you have a “Greater” weekend! No matter where you are, we hope you meet to worship God on His Day!

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http://joeysparks.net Joey Sparks

Good list. No surprise here there’s a BCS rant…it’s been a little while for you

I know A LOT of big time college football fans in addition to myself. And I know of NO ONE who thinks the BCS is the best system. So I think it’s unfair for hardcore playoff proponents & anti-BCS folks to continually assume that because we’re big college football fans, we approve of everything it does.

Two illustrations:

Billions of people in the world are crazy soccer fans. At virtually every level of the sport–organizations, leagues, teams, referees–there is incredible corruption. Way more than anything we in America could imagine. But it’s still the most popular sport in the world. And it always will be. Why? Because the sport’s biggest fans have grown up with corruption as the standard in every way of life (more than just sports). To them, there is no “fair.” Should I look down on all these people because they’re passionate about a sport that’s the definition of unfair?

College basketball is heralded as the gold standard of “fairness” (even though NBA & MLB playoffs are a better way to determine a champion). Yet its recruiting practices are WAY more unethical and dirty than anything college football thought about. But, despite your passion and love for basketball, I don’t assume that you condone the recruiting practices of the teams that make the postseason so “special.”

I’m all about trying to make things “fair” in college football (I’d like Bama’s chances in a playoff right now, in fact). But the hatred for the BCS has bled over into making unfair assumptions about people who love the sport anyway. Who’s the bigger person: the one who HAS to have things their way (ie, fair) to support something? or the one who admits it’s not perfect but they love it anyway?

Sorry if I hogged too much space in the comments. If I made the time to post to my blog regularly, then I wouldn’t have to on yours .
Tim

I do not think there will ever be a process everyone likes. Someone will always think it should be different and there will ALWAYS be a team that thinks it got snubbed. Personally, I like the ancient time when there were only 10-12 bowl games and it was actually a reward for having a good season. I did not like it when the SEC expanded, not just for football, but the home and away basketball games with every team in the conference was great.

As with almost everyone else, no matter what they do, I will always watch and continue to be a fan of college sports. First and foremost I think the NCAA needs to streamline the rules and start administering them the same way to every team.

Thanks for doing what you do Adam!
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