Will the AP create more news for itself ?

The media love nothing better than when THEY ARE the news rather than being relegated to reporting the news.

And of course, any controversy that sells advertising is a good thing from the media's perspective, even if it creates the accurate perception of unfairness and bias in a sport whose champion ought to be determined by on-field competition rather than a popularity contest among those who have regional biases, a startling amount of ignorance of the subject matter about which they are being polled, as well as a direct economic interest in causing controversy. You would expect college presidents to be somewhat more intelligent than to place the determination of a champion in the NCAA's most marketable sport in the hands of such a group.

The problem the media have, though, is that ultimately not many people are going to care enough to watch or listen to games if people start to believe that the winners are determined by a script like Dixie wrestling rather than by competition. Low audience=low advertising revenue.

Between the NCAA's intransigience about having a playoff and the lack of integrity of the news media, they may yet kill the golden goose by lowering the popularity of what is otherwise a very marketable and attractive entertainment product, when they could preserve and enhance its value if they simply acted with a keen grasp of the obvious.

 

People have been wanting a playoff for about 70 years or more and it sure hasn'y hurt the popularity of the college game, so i don't think this will hurt it either. I think it may even help since it keeps the NCAA on the minds on fans all season long, just as last year's controversy did. the only ones who really get pissed are the fans and members of the team that gets left out, like USC last season, Auburn or OU folks this year.

 

So, the BCS was tweaked to better the system - well, that is what they told us. IMO, the changes were made to the BCS to benefit USC (I don't care what anyone says). I know it has been said a zillion times, but I still do not get it - ISN'T THIS EXACTLY WHY WE HAVE THE SYSTEM? How can we operate under a system that people can CHOOSE to abide by?

 

True, not the same situation, but a split championship is a real possibility. Assuming all 3 teams win out, the AP will likely have USC, Auburn and OU as their top 3 while the Coaches Poll may have USC, OU and Auburn.

Depending on the margin of votes in both polls, OU could be playing USC in the Orange. A close OU win and a big Auburn win in the Sugar would likely create another split championship.

It can happen...

 

Good article in our Dallas paper this past Sunday about how no one is questioning USC as #1 because the media has been pushing them so long and hard. Odd that the Dallas paper would take such a stand since it is contrary to their position last year. But then you realize it is just another way for them to promote OU as a title contender.



http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...bdavis/stories/111504dnspodaviscol.8ffea.html

 

You guys seriously think that USC would be bitching if they won the BCS but Auburn won the AP? I mean, that's EXACTLY how they claimed the MNC just last year. Could they be that stupid??

 

I think they changed it trying to appease the writers myself, to try and stop the onslaught of articles that were writen last from happening again this season.

 

Which begs the question ... who will the writers blame this year should the system fail? Last year it was the computer polls. Will they go after the coaches who didn't vote their way?

 

Will somone please tell me who this guy Media is? For years I've been hearing that Media is against LSU, or for USC, or is engaged in some grand comspiracy with some person named BCS... and now it looks like they've found a sidekick by the name of AP. No wonder there's so much trouble with figuring out who is the national champion.

Therefore, I propose a solution. I believe the best solution would be a play-off. But, the school presidents have made it clear that's not going to happen. So, I propose that we let sportswriters from around the country vote on who is the best team. If its spread around geographically and big news organizations and small news organizations and chain newspapers and independent newspapers are represented, no one person like Media or AP can enter into any kind of conspiracy to rig the vote. If the sportswriters voted, individual and regional biases would be prety well cancelled out. We might not agree with the results, but at least we would know that Media and AP were not controlling how 50 or 100 sportswriters' (who by virtue of their personality and IQ cannot agree on the direction of the sun's rising) vote.

And if we really wanted to make sure there could be no conspiracy or cartel deciding the NC, we could let a bunch of coaches from around the country vote also. Obviously, they could tell Meida or AP to go fly a kite, cause they're not beholding to anybody.....

Just a thought