Viewers are dropping hockey faster than water through a sieve, something drastic has to be done to bring in new fans. The NHL is trying, they really, really are. New streamlined jersey's come out next year. Sidney Crosby is almost 1/30th as overexposed as Peyton Manning (*note: That's still alot). Gary Bettman needs a new approach. It is getting drastic, as some sportswriters have predicted the potential folding of the NHL within the next 15 years. So, without further ado: I have a suggestion that I strongly urge the NHL to take into consideration. Add a 7th player to the ice for each team, and equip him with a eight-foot wooden lance. Stick a hockey glove at the end of the lance and off we go!
Now, before you stop reading, hear me out. A player gets a breakaway, he is skating down the ice without fear when...suddenly he is taken out from nowhere by an eight foot lance with a hockey glove stuck at the end ( for cushioning the blow). The playing field has officially been levelled. The days of the dominance of the Red Wings is over! Having a lancer would be great because it would allow hockey to keep the lovable goons who are quickly becoming antiquated in the kinder, gentler, post-lockout NHL. George Laraque could play for another ten years. Tie Domi could make a comeback (watch out Rona Ambrose!). Better yet, the game would become more unpredictable than Mike Tyson hanging out with Dennis Rodman. Announcers would have to get used to the change, but saying "Federov gets lanced from behind!" would probably make up for it. So please, NHL, do something. Do something drastic! We need the NHL because it is truly a joy to watch the hardest working athletes around (Try playing basketball with knives strapped to your feet). So consider my plan NHL owners, coaches and fans. The time for drastic is rapidly approaching. If the lancers catch on we can go to part II of my plan to save the NHL...blindfolded lancers.
The San Diego Chargers lost this weekend. The Ohio State lost last week. Florida won two NCAA titles without being the consensus number one in either sport all season. New York has been defeated time and again. So have the Detroit Red Wings. Last season Indy lost to the Steelers. The season before that the Steelers lost. Where have you gone wire to wire champion?
No team that wins a championship is the wire to wire champion anymore. Take Ohio State, they had the consensus number one team in the national all year. They beat Michigan, and had the runaway Heisman winner. Then they lost. Sound familiar? It should. The previous season USC did the exact same thing in their loss to Texas. The Yankees and Tigers both lost last season in the baseball playoffs. The Mets were the team to beat all year and they could not get through. Come to think of it, when is the last time that the runaway team of the year actually won the championship?
College basketball? Not quite. Florida, a team that was not even number one in its own conference, won. In the NBA, the Pistons were the team to beat on one side, with the Suns and Spurs on the other. Who won? Miami.
Even hockey is not safe anymore. The days of the Detroit/Colorado dominance are done. Teams keep sneaking through to knock off the best regular season teams. Ottawa got a harsh comeuppance despite being the favorite last season. In the NFL the Steelers were a wildcard entry and they beat just about everyone to take the title. The intresting thing with them is the year before they were hands down the best team in the league. They lost. In the following year, they won. If that pattern repeats you can just go ahead and crown Indy the champ. It just does not appear to pay anymore to be the team at the top. Teams are having a great deal more success sneaking into the playoffs and then upsetting all the perennial contenders. Case and point, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. The Florida Gators are national champions in two sports and the Steelers who won the Superbowl last season did not even make the playoffs this season with virtually the same team.
Do not get me wrong, this is the single greatest thing to ever happen in the history of sports. No one is safe. When the Yankees, Red Sox, Red Wings, Colts, Buckeyes, Patriots, Pistons win it is boring. We crave the upset. Everyone wants the underdog to win, not hear another speech from Tom Brady about how his teammates inspired him to great heights. No sir. We want to see a hook and ladder, wide reciever pass and statue of liberty within five minutes of one football game. We need to see some guy who has waited so long to win get his chance. Or some young kid with his whole career ahead of him standing before us with a deer in the headlights look. Most know they will probably not repeat this miracle again. So keep it up gods of sports. Keep shocking us by knocking off number ones. Although I think you may have spoiled us just a little bit with that whole Boise State thing.
It finally hit me; the BCS is inherently flawed. Sure, it works when two top conference teams with strong schedules are 12-0. Otherwise it collapses faster than the Texas defense. This year for example a great mess is just waiting to be made. Should Michigan be punished because it lost late in the year? What if the score were reversed, and Michigan had won 42-39, would anyone in their right mind rank Ohio State lower than #2? The sad answer is a resounding "no". So how can everyone be so sure that there won't be a rematch between these two teams? If USC beats Notre Dame then they could get in. But, Michigan also beat Notre Dame. And if Notre Dame beats USC, then they still lost to Michigan who lost only to Ohio State. Confused yet? It gets worse. Florida and Arkansas are in the picture, and they have to play in the SEC championship game, and if Arkansas wins then some will clamour for them to be in the National Title picture...but hold on a second, they lost 50-14 to USC. Now, we are confused. However, this is not even the most irksome thing, some people have suggested that even if Michigan beats (yes beats) Ohio State for the National Title, becuase Ohio State beat them earlier they will share it. Excuse me? So if a team wins a "playoff" style game, they still share the title with the losers? Oh. My. God.
What the BCS needs, and there have been no shortage of advocates for this, is a playoff system. The NCAA basketball has it. In the tournament your record for the year basically goes out the window. The Champ is the champ, it doesn't matter if your record is equal to Duke or you lost previously to UCLA. If the BCS system was to be imposed in college basketball, well Florida might as well share the title with all the teams that beat them. Certainly all the final four could make a claim as well. The great thing about the BCS is that it would be so perfect for a BCS system, and it would kill complainers who can say that even if a #1 team loses in the championship game they still deserve a share of the pie. Take a hockey style playoffs for example, the top 8 teams in the country play, or even the top 10 if they all have 1 loss. Seed them 1-8 and then have them play for the national title. 1 plays 8, 2 plays7 and so on. It would be great football, plus no team can complain that they didn't get an equal shot. The worst thing is the controversary over winners, because if the Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in the season series, but Vancouver beats them in the playoffs, no one complains. If you are going to have a system of split titles, why have playoffs at all? If the Colts beat the Patriots during the regular season and lose in the playoffs to them, they don't demand a share of the Superbowl because that is the whole point of the playoffs! There is no room for split titles in any sport.
The BCS fights against having a playoff because they thrive on controversy. It sells tickets, and makes them money. It keeps fans coming back and debating all year long. A playoff system is a win-win though. Two teams, lets say Arkansas and Ohio State would play as the number 1 and number 8 teams. Ohio State loses, and they are out. They are not the national champion. A huge upset, people dancing in the streets, glued to see what happens in the next set of games. Then the remaining top seeded team plays the low seeded team in the second round. Finally, the final. It would be like March Madness, but with football! The other bowls could still take place, but they would be more of a pride thing for the teams. The real fun would be to be in the top 8, or 10, or 12. Play in the season would determine your rank. The NCAA would make money on televising the additional games, the players would learn to play in a real big game and best of all a real winner emerges for once.
