As we say good-bye to the first round of playoff castaways and near the end of another controversial (if not exciting) bowl season, I wanted to share some thoughts.
Raise your hand if you were even just a little upset that the Indianapolis Colts never even touched the football in their overtime loss to the Chargers. I'm pretty sure I've made my feelings clear on this, but in case you've forgotten....IT'S THE DUMBEST RULE IN ALL OF SPORTS!!!!
There NEEDS to be an equanimity of opportunity. An entire team's season was just ended because of a coin toss. The Colts (whose QB just happened to be the league MVP) never even got a chance to play on offense. What a shame. Nothing against the Chargers. They may be the best 8-8 team ever, but you have to feel bad that Peyton didn't even get a chance to do his thing in the OT.
I had a discussion with my dad about this rule and we both had a similar idea on how to solve it. Credit to fellow sports enthusiast Bob Dealy who reminded me that there are 3 phases to the game and that the college system of OT leaves out Special Teams. Please share your thoughts on this solution:
The coin toss decides who gets the ball to start the OT, just as it does now. If the team who gets the ball first does not score and has to punt, or turns the ball over -- then we play a normal, sudden death overtime. However, if the teams who has the ball first scores, they then have to kick off to the other team. The other team now has to match or best the first team. If at any point they turn the ball over, whether it be on downs, fumble of interception, the game is over.
If Team A starts with the ball and kicks a field goal and Team B scores a touchdown on their possession, Team B wins. If Team B kicks a field goal and matches Team A, then we continue in this fashion.
I am calling it the Extra Innings Rule. Like in baseball, the team who hits in the top half of the inning has a chance to score. The team who hits in the bottom half then has to do the same or better.
Other Playoff Curiosities:
There has been a lot of screaming and yelling over the past few days about regular season records and how teams are seeded in the playoffs. The venom here has been primarily directed at the 8-8 Chargers hosting the 12-4 Colts and the Giants facing the 9-6-1 Eagles instead of the 9-7 Cardinals.
This argument is pretty simple. You have to give credit to the team that wins their division. Just because their record is not as good as some other teams that might not even make the playoffs, you cannot discount the fact that you won your division. This year is odd because the Cardinals and the Chargers both won with mediocre records in extremely weak divisions. However, what if you have a division where all 4 teams are incredibly well balanced? Let's say each team goes 1-1 against their division opponents. Now everyone stands at 3-3. They also all have an equally tough non-divisional schedule and the best team in the division finishes up 9-7, while the last place team is 8-8. By winning that tough division, they have earned the right to host a playoff game.
Using this same argument we can immediately shoot down the complaints from certain Giants' fans (and I am not among these complainers) that the G-Men should be playing the Cardinals this week instead of the Eagles. Giants fans are simply upset because the Eagles are a hot team right now and managed to barely hold on for a win against the Giants in the regular season (mind you that game was played days after the Plaxico Burress incident and the team had already solidified a playoff spot the previous week by improving their record to 10-1). If the shoe were on the other foot and the 9-7 Cardinals were the hot team going into this round of the playoffs, Giants fans would be saying, "Whew, it's a good thing the rule states that we play the lowest seed." Every fan wants the rules to be convenient for their team. Simply put, the Giants play the lowest seed; which right now is the Eagles. The Cardinals and the Chargers have earned their places in the post-season by winning their division.
Finally, some College Football Thoughts:
I think ESPN needs to tone down the over-coverage of certain players' parents. In both the NU-Mizzou game and the Texas-OSU game, it seemed that after every play that Texas and Mizzou played on offense, ESPN showed a picture of the quarterback's parents and girlfriend. You want to show them after big plays, fine, but enough is enough! And don't the Wildcats and Buckeyes have parents too? I'm pretty sure CJ Bacher (NU quarterback) has parents. In fact I met them on my way to a game when I was living in Chicago. They're lovely people. I would have liked to have seen how they reacted when their son threw a 45-yard TD pass in the 2nd half of the Alamo Bowl.
My last point of the day is probably a touchy subject, but one I feel necessary to bring up. I think it might be time to start telling players to ease up on the religious talk in post-game interviews. Hearing what Colt McCoy (Texas QB) had to say after the game last night, I felt it was time to speak up. This has nothing to with my own religious beliefs, I just feel that this kind of speech is out of place at the end of a football game -- comments like, "I'd like to thank Jesus, our Lord and Savior, for giving me the strength to throw those passes like I did today." or, "God was on our side today. God gave me the will to catch that ball that helped us win the game." Again, it's not that I have a problem with their religious beliefs, but with all the horrible things going on in the world today, don't you think God and Jesus have more important things to worry about than a college bowl game? And besides Colt, what if God is an Oklahoma fan?
And if you disagree....go ahead and tell me I'm wrong.
Showing posts with label NCAA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NCAA. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Monday, December 22, 2008
Heads or Tails
What a game last night!! Giants beat the Panthers in OT 34-28 for homefield advantage in the playoffs. It was a dramatic, intense, back and forth, electrifying game, and all I can say is this: thank god both teams touched the ball in overtime. As I sat watching the game as regulation time expired all I could think about was how this game could be determined by the flip of a coin.
I mean, seriously, could there be a dumber rule in all of sports? I know that not every overtime game is won on that first possession, but the fact that a team can win a game without the other team even touching the ball is possibly the stupidest concept ever created. I simply do not understand the rationale behind this. Two teams battle it out for 4 quarters. Guys have played their butts off fighting for every last yard and the game is now potentially decided by whether a shiny piece of metal comes up one way or the other? Ridiculous.
But rather than continue to complain, I will offer my 2 solutions.
1) No Sudden Death Overtime:
This one is pretty self explanatory.
Right now, all you have to do to win the game is kick a field goal. Drive your team within the other team's 35 yard line and you've got a pretty good chance of winning the game. Teams aren't compelled to go for the end zone. They just want to get it close enough so their place-kicker can send everyone home. And field goals aren't exactly difficult to come by. Even in low-scoring affairs, you're bound to see at least a few field goals kicked.
So just play the Overtime as if it were the 5th quarter. If the game is still tied at the end of the 15 minutes....so be it, the game ends in a tie.
I don't love this solution because ties are more likely than they are in the current format, and no one likes to see a game end in a tie. Which is why I would like to see my next solution implemented....
2) Do it Like the College Kids (With a slight modification):
The NCAA really got it right when it comes to OT. There is nothing more exciting than how college football determines a winner in overtime. Each team gets the ball 1st and 10 at the opponent's 25 yard line. The team with the ball first tries to score, then the other team tries to match or out-do what the first team did, and you repeat the process until there is a winner. There is an emphasis on both offense and defense. There is drama and strategy. How exciting is it when that first team is faced with a 4th and 1 and needs to decide whether to settle for a field goal, or go for it and risk not getting any points at all?
What I really like most about this system though, is the equanimity of opportunity. Both teams are guaranteed a shot at the ball, and both the offense and the defense have to do their jobs.
Here is my one small tweak to what they do in college. In the NCAA, the ball is placed on the 25 yard line. That means if the offense were to go absolutely nowhere in their first 3 downs, they could take a shot at a 42 yard field goal, which in college is definitely not a gimme. In the NFL however, a 42 yarder is a very make-able kick. So I suggest moving the ball back to the 35 yard line. This would set up a potential 52 yarder if the team goes 0 yards in their 3 plays. Definitely not an automatic kick, but still make-able. All the same rules apply from there.
I think it would make the overtime much more exciting, and never again would you have to hear someone say, "We got screwed! We never even touched the ball in overtime!!" And all because of a flip of a coin.
And if you disagree....go ahead an tell me I'm wrong.
I mean, seriously, could there be a dumber rule in all of sports? I know that not every overtime game is won on that first possession, but the fact that a team can win a game without the other team even touching the ball is possibly the stupidest concept ever created. I simply do not understand the rationale behind this. Two teams battle it out for 4 quarters. Guys have played their butts off fighting for every last yard and the game is now potentially decided by whether a shiny piece of metal comes up one way or the other? Ridiculous.
But rather than continue to complain, I will offer my 2 solutions.
1) No Sudden Death Overtime:
This one is pretty self explanatory.
Right now, all you have to do to win the game is kick a field goal. Drive your team within the other team's 35 yard line and you've got a pretty good chance of winning the game. Teams aren't compelled to go for the end zone. They just want to get it close enough so their place-kicker can send everyone home. And field goals aren't exactly difficult to come by. Even in low-scoring affairs, you're bound to see at least a few field goals kicked.
So just play the Overtime as if it were the 5th quarter. If the game is still tied at the end of the 15 minutes....so be it, the game ends in a tie.
I don't love this solution because ties are more likely than they are in the current format, and no one likes to see a game end in a tie. Which is why I would like to see my next solution implemented....
2) Do it Like the College Kids (With a slight modification):
The NCAA really got it right when it comes to OT. There is nothing more exciting than how college football determines a winner in overtime. Each team gets the ball 1st and 10 at the opponent's 25 yard line. The team with the ball first tries to score, then the other team tries to match or out-do what the first team did, and you repeat the process until there is a winner. There is an emphasis on both offense and defense. There is drama and strategy. How exciting is it when that first team is faced with a 4th and 1 and needs to decide whether to settle for a field goal, or go for it and risk not getting any points at all?
What I really like most about this system though, is the equanimity of opportunity. Both teams are guaranteed a shot at the ball, and both the offense and the defense have to do their jobs.
Here is my one small tweak to what they do in college. In the NCAA, the ball is placed on the 25 yard line. That means if the offense were to go absolutely nowhere in their first 3 downs, they could take a shot at a 42 yard field goal, which in college is definitely not a gimme. In the NFL however, a 42 yarder is a very make-able kick. So I suggest moving the ball back to the 35 yard line. This would set up a potential 52 yarder if the team goes 0 yards in their 3 plays. Definitely not an automatic kick, but still make-able. All the same rules apply from there.
I think it would make the overtime much more exciting, and never again would you have to hear someone say, "We got screwed! We never even touched the ball in overtime!!" And all because of a flip of a coin.
And if you disagree....go ahead an tell me I'm wrong.
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