An Interesting Story...If Only To Me

So, today is supposed to be the day that our good friend, Tom Hanson, returns to the Valley of the Sun for the first time since June, when he left. He's coming back to teach at M.C. Cash Elementary School, and he's flying out today to take care of some paperwork and introduction stuff. Now here's where the story comes in...

Tom is flying in to town today. My roommate, Curtis, and I were supposed to pick him up from the Mesa airport after school, but Curtis didn't realize that his girls basketball team had a game tonight (instead of last night, like he originally thought). So, Curtis decides that we're going to drop off his truck at the airport for Tom to drive. The truck has a keypad entry system, so the keys can be locked inside. As long as you know the code, you're fine to get in. So, last night, we dropped the car off at the airport, and called Tom to let him know where it was, etc.

This morning, I get a call from Curtis...Tom just realized that he's not flying to Mesa, he's flying to Sky Harbor. So, he now has to take a taxi from there to our house, and we have to drive back to the Mesa airport to get Curtis' truck that could have never been there to begin with.

Murphy's law, I guess. Or, just dumb luck. Or, Tommy.

I love that he's back.

Fiesta!

What a game last night! I think when we look back on the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, it will be seen as one of the greatest football games that meant nothing. That's too bad, because Ohio State and Texas put up such a great fight, and they really have nothing to show for it. When time passes, they neither one will be remembered any more than this year's Cincinnati team will be. The BCS is the worst format to find a champion. That being said, I don't know that playoffs can be used at this point. There's just too much money in the bowls, too many opportunities for lower level schools to make money, too much money for other programs besides the cash cow football to be funded, and not really a chance to establish a good system that would/could/should compete with the second-best knock-out playoff system that the NFL has (of course, the best is the NCAA basketball tournament).

They could use March Madness as a template, but in order to satisfy the number of teams that are being represented there, they would have to have a six-week playoff, and that's too long. Even a 24-team playoff (with 8 byes for the typical BCS rankings) would be five games, and the only way that's truly going to work is if you cut the regular season to 9 or 10 games. That would not be fiscally responsible for the Conference Commissioners to work out, so we're stuck with what we have...

Or are we?

If, for example, we look at the 2008 season, and we start on December 13, one week after the season ended, with a 24-team playoff, this would work out as such:

Start with the 24-team field...which would include the 11 conference champions from the MAC, Conference USA, ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Mountain West, Pac-10, Sun Belt, and WAC, and then add thirteen at-large teams (which could be added with a BCS-style points system or a selection committee like the basketball tournament). In any event, the top 8 teams would be given a first round bye. In this hypothetical case, Oklahoma (Big 12 champ), Florida (SEC champ), Texas (at-large), Alabama (at-large), USC (Pac-10 champ), Utah (Mountain West champ), Texas Tech (at-large), and Penn State (Big Ten champ) would get the byes. The other teams would be seeded 9-24 and play each other in the first round on December 13. Those games would feature Boise State (WAC champ) vs. Troy (Sun Belt champ), Ohio State (at-large) vs. Buffalo (MAC champ), TCU (at-large) vs. East Carolina (Conference USA champ), Cincinnati (Big East champ) vs. Missouri (at-large), Oklahoma State (at-large) vs. Pittsburgh (at-large), Georgia Tech (at-large) vs. Virginia Tech (ACC champ), Georgia (at-large) vs. Michigan State (at-large), and BYU (at-large) vs. Oregon (at-large).

The winners of the first-round games would play at the teams with the first-round byes on December 20 (this year, this was the first date for bowl games). This would be the final round for on-campus games.

The final three rounds would rotate between six current bowl sites, this would most likely include the following in this situation: Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl); Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl); New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl); Miami, FL (Orange Bowl); Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl); and Atlanta, GA (Chick-fil-a Bowl [formerly Peach Bowl]). The championship game would rotate each year, and its site would get to host two games (one in the third round [quarterfinal] and then the final).

The third round would be December 27 and would whittle the field down to four teams. Next, obviously, would be semifinal, on January 3, and then the final would be January 10, just two days after this year's scheduled championship game on January 8. As far as time goes, this is very doable, and it keeps those cities in position with at least the economic benefits of having their games still.

Welcome to 2009

I haven't posted in a few weeks, and I thought that I would take this time to write.

So much has happened. A lot of football has been played, I spend New Year's at Disneyland for Maggie's birthday, and another year has come: 2009. Let's hope it's better than 2008.

Today is our first day back to school, and it's a sad one. It's Doug Keough's last day. It's bittersweet. I love Doug professionally. He is by far the best teacher I've ever worked with, so it's sad to see him go. At the same time, Tom Hanson is replacing him, which excites me. He's one of my best friends in the world, and he'll be next door to me.

Relationship-wise, it's status quo. All quiet on my southern front. This has to end, right?