Do you ever find yourself going on the same rant just about every year? You know nothing is likely to get changed but you feel better about getting on your soapbox.
The advancing age of 45 has me experiencing more “cranky old bastard” rants that resemble “old man yells at cloud.”
At most every level of sports, from high school to college to professional, damn near every postseason format is watered down worse than a flat Budweiser. Goodness knows, I love my cheap beer but at least give me some barley and hops with it. In the NFL, you have 32 teams with 12 going to the postseason. That format is not perfect but it’s acceptable. Don’t even get me started on too many NBA and NHL teams going to the postseason. In Major League Baseball, you have purists that do not like the addition of the wild card. I have no problem with it.
In college football, however, I think too many teams are allowed bowl eligibilty. In college basketball, count me in the minority but 64 teams in the NCAA tournament -- too damn many. What can I say, I am bat you know what (the word starts with “s” and ends in shinola) crazy sometimes. In high school, I can only speak for Northern California because that is the region I follow. I mainly follow the CIF Sac Joaquin and North Coast Sections but with four Napa Valley schools vacating the former for the latter, I probably will not follow the SJS as ardently in the future.
It never ceases to amaze me at how many times I see a postseason bracket and see the number of teams with sub-.500 win/loss records. The NCS has six divisions (Open, I-V). The Open division of the NCS football consists of four teams -- De La Salle, San Ramon Valley, Pittsburg and Clayton Valley. De La Salle and Pittsburg meet for the title on Dec. 2 at Dublin High. I have no complaint with the Open division because those teams are the crem de la crem. By design, Div. I-V are constructed for 16-team brackets.
Divisions are broken down based on enrollment. Teams that win their league title get an automatic berth into the playoffs while non champions can apply for an at-large bid. Two things stand out to me. For openers, only Div. II and III had enough teams for a 16 team bracket while Div. I had 14 teams, Div. IV had 15 while Div. V had 12. In the meantime, the NCS has 21 teams in Div. I, 20 in Div. II, 23 in Div. III, 22 in Div. IV and 16 in Div. V. Of the 73 teams playing in the playoffs, 31 had losing records entering the postseason.
I have one word to describe that -- ludicrous. Good Lord, that stat reeks of participation trophy.
So why are those teams making the postseason might you ask? Fair question. In the NCS, if you are a .500 team against opponents within your division or league, that gets you into the postseason. If a team wins its league and has a losing overall record, I'm open to making an exception for them because it's not their fault that the league is terrible.
During a casual conversation I once had with a Lake County coach during my tenure on the Upvalley beat, we had the same discussion of why the playoffs are watered down worse than a flat beer. This coach replied, “I’ll give you one word — money.”
I’m all for capitalism. It’s the American way but not at the expense of compromising the integrity of achievement.
I thought a team reaching the playoffs was meant to be a reward for having a successful season. I guess that got lost in translation at some point in my life.
And please don’t come at me with the strength of schedule argument either. If you want to puff out your chest because of your schedule strength, fine. Beat those teams.
That is where the power ratings enter the equation, where strength of schedule, league strength and margin of victory are a factor. and/or at-large system is better because every game is factored.
The good thing about power ratings is that it eliminates emotion when ranking teams and the computer can calculate numbers in 10 minutes that might take the human mind weeks to do. Plus, strength of schedule should be a factor and so should margin of victory. Well, not beyond 35 points. I’m of the mind that a 56-14 win is no more impressive than say, a 55-20 win. If you saw the game, you know who the better team is.
The downside is that so many teams make the playoffs that the field looks more watered down.
The NCS at large system used to involve coaches attending a meeting to state their case, which means you, in effect, bargain your way into the playoffs.
Just don’t reward teams for having losing seasons.
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