Or should we say SBCS (Super Bowl Championship Series)?
Ha ha — Like what I did there? Clever, no? (wink wink) Anyhoo…
My displeasure with the current BCS system has been well documented. Actually, come to think of it, the displeasure of every sane college football fan across the Nation has been well documented for that matter.
But what if (stick with me for a moment)…
What if we installed the current college BCS system in place of the current NFL playoffs?
I know, I know, that’s a scary thought. But hey, consider it an early Halloween present.
Now close your eyes and imagine a weird and twisted world where the sanity that is the National Football League has been invaded by little green Martians and flipped inside out….
Yes, you have now entered … [insert Twilight Zone-esque music here] …
The SBCS Zone!!!!!!
This, my friends, is what the SBCS might look like…
………………………………………………………………………………………………
It’s a cold, January day…
Snow is on the ground, except in Southern California.
And everywhere across this great land, Christmas and Chanukah gifts have been opened, returned and something else purchased in it’s place.
And in football land, the post-season is upon us. And after months upon months of public clamoring, the Commissioner’s Office has once again refused to entertain the idea of implementing a playoff system.
This age-old argument has gone back and forth since the conception of the Bowl system, dating back to the 1970 NFL/AFL merger.
At the beginning, of course, there was no SBCS –just the classic major NFL Bowl games…the PIGSKIN BOWL, The HELMET BOWL, The BUFFALO-WING BOWL and the now defunct XFL BOWL …
At this time, in the seventies, the winners of the AFC and NFC Eastern divisions would match-up in the Helmet; the NFC West Champion and the AFC Central Champ would smash heads in the Buffalo-Wing … and the AFC West champ would square off against the remaining division champion with the best record in the Lombardi Bowl.
The 1970’s were a fruitful time for the NFL, and it’s Bowl System — featuring halftime marching bands, shared-dual-purpose-cookie-cutter-baseball/football stadiums, and the first ever nation-wide prime-time football broadcasts.
But the magic didn’t last forever.
Fast forward a couple of decades worth of unsettled co-national champions, unfavorable match-ups, and corporate sponsors —– and finally a new (albeit controversial) format was introduced.
The modern-day SBCS system (as it is referred to today) was devised as a means to eliminate the inability to decide upon one true Professional Football National Champion. Under this format, the two top ranked teams (voted upon by a combination of various media/coaches/corporate polls and a super computer that equates such things as strength of schedule and TV ratings) would face off in one Bowl game regardless of their conference or division.
This Championship game would rotate amongst the four major SBCS Bowls on an annual basis (allowing each bowl the chance to host the marquee game once every four years). The other three SBCS bowls would then host “the best of the rest” match-ups in their respective Bowl games.
In addition, four other high profile NFL SBCS Bowl games were also established to allow for more exploitation of television markets and commercial revenues.
The system had it’s obvious flaws, but considering the NFL’s previous Bowl set-up, the public looked the other way.
But that was then.
This is now — years later — and the system remains flawed. Debate over who should face-off in the Super-of-all-Bowls runs hotter than an Iraqi desert in the Summer.
Public demand for a playoff has grown to record proportions. Last week alone, 145 fans in Detroit protested General Manager Matt Millen…err…I mean the current SBCS structure and left the game in unison during the second quarter of a Lions’ game.
The Commissioner’s office continues to refute the validity of a playoff, stating such things as “tradition” and posing the question:
“Where do you draw the line? If you open up the competition to 12 teams (as the public consensus hopes for), then you’ll have the 13th best and 14th best teams feeling cheated,” explained a representative of the Commissioner. ”It just won’t work. Because no matter how many teams are permitted into the ‘playoffs’, some team will always feel excluded. The current SBCS allows us to have the two top seeded teams square off for the title. ”
That may be so, but the debate over who the top two teams are remains unsettled, and for the first time in League history ratings are down (granted the soaring popularity of reality TV plays a role in this decline).
This, of course, is not a new argument. Last year, many experts believed the Pittsburgh Steelers were the hottest, and quite possibly the best, team in the league and deserved a crack at the SBCS title game (despite their mortal 6th ranking in the AFC Coaches Poll and meager 11th rank in the USA/ESPN Poll). But of course, the Steelers never got a shot to test their skills against either of the top two ranked teams (Indianapolis or Seattle) and instead had to settle for a meaningless pre-new year’s bowl game against Miami.
Final Score: Steelers 38 Dolphins 9
This year the SBCS has once again matched the top two ranked teams in the grandfather of all Bowls — the Coors PIGSKIN Bowl.
This year, perhaps more so than any other year in recent memory, has been marred with controversy. Despite being considered the most balanced team in the NFL…and despite holding the league’s best record at 14-2, the San Diego Chargers could only muster a 3rd ranking.
Why?
Quite simply because they lost the third game of the season to the Baltimore Ravens (even though the game many feel was lost more so by their coach than by the players on the field). The Ravens and their top ranked defense grabbed the most points in both the USA/ESPN and AFC polls and tied for first in the NFC poll.
But because there exists an unwritten rule that a SBCS title game cannot feature a rematch of two teams from earlier in the season, the Chargers were knocked down to #3 in the Nation.
In their place — the Chicago Bears – a team that matches the Ravens in defense prowess and record (13-3).
Though, nobody can argue the Ravens and the Bears make for a great and competitive match-up, many point to the Bears’ poor quarterback play (aka 0.0 QB rating) and sub par offense (aka 0.0 QB rating) as reasons why they don’t deserve the #2 seed.
Apparently, the oddsmakers agree, favoring Baltimore by 13 in the Pigskin Bowl.
Anticipating tremendous ratings, Fox Sports requested that the Chargers and the Saints battle it out in their prime-time televised Helmet Bowl. And can you blame them? What better drama than former Charger Pro Bowl QB Drew Brees facing off against new Charger Pro Bowl QB Philip Rivers? Reggie Bush vs LT? The rebuilding of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina vs the rebuilding of San Diego following Hurricanes Foley, Kiel and Merriman? Not to mention two of the league’s most explosive offenses. Should be the most exciting game of the day! But to the Chargers, it’s rotten apples — they know they deserve to be playing for the title.
Oddsmakers have the Chargers favored by 7.5.
THE REST OF THE BOWLS:
With an on-going pre-arranged agreement with Google, the Raiders (2-14) qualified for the Goodyear Bowl (by winning at least one game and simultaneously not being eligible for one of the four SBCS games). To compensate for the poor match-up, the Oddsmakers are making things interesting though. They have the Silver and Whack as 21 point underdogs to Jacksonville. And the over/under — yeah, you guessed it, 21 points.
Taco Bell chose potential big market TV ratings over quality by choosing an all-New York match-up between the 8-8 Giants and the over-achieving 10-6 Jets. Question is: Will anybody outside of New York even tune in?
Vegas is predicting the game will be closer than most expect however. Jets are only favored by 2.5 points.
The Patriots were hoping their strong late season finish would be enough to get them a shot at the title game. But even they knew, they needed some help to do that — most specifically a loss by Baltimore . That, of course, didn’t happen…so instead the Patriots had to settle for the annual Peyton V Brady showdown. The $50 million payday for both teams isn’t a bad consolation prize though 
The Bowl-seasoned Patriots are a touchdown favorite over the Colts porous run defense.
P. Manning still seeks his first Bowl victory. Will he get one before his younger brother Eli? That is the real question
Microsoft desperately sought Tennessee and Vince Young (to take snaps against Cincinnati), but as the NFC West Division title winner, the Seahawks were guaranteed a Bowl bid into either the Tostitos Jockstrap Bowl or the Madden Bowl. But since the rotating SBCS bowl system had the Tostitos Bowl hosting one of the four SBCS’s this year, Seattle HAD to play in the Microsoft sponsored bowl. Bill Gates threatened to remove Microsoft Windows from the Market if his company wasn’t allowed to break the contract… but ultimately cooler heads prevailed and the Microsoft chief was convinced that the ‘best interest’ of the SBCS were at stake.
Even though they aren’t a top “8″ ranked team, Tostitos still chose to invite Dallas to the Jock Strap Bowl because…well because they’re America’s Team.
Philly and Denver round out the Bowl games with a lackluster Bill Walsh Bowl Match-up between two quarterbacks who were back-ups when the season began. OOOOH EXCITING!
SO IN SUMMARY, HERE ARE YOUR NFL BOWL GAMES:
SBCS COORS PIGSKIN BOWL: Baltimore(#1) vs Chicago (#2)
SBCS DOMINOS HELMET BOWL: San Diego (#3) vs New Orleans (#6)
SBCS SCION BUFFALO WING BOWL: New England (#4) vs Indianapolis (#5)
SBCS TOSTITOS JOCK STRAP BOWL: Dallas (15) vs Kansas City (#7)
TACO BELL LOMBARDI BOWL: New York Giants (17) vs New York Jets (11)
FORD BILL WALSH BOWL: Philadelphia (12) vs Denver(8)
MICROSOFT MADDEN BOWL: Cincinnati (11) vs. Seattle (16)
WWW.GOOGLE.COM GOODYEAR BLIMP BOWL: Oakland (#32) vs Jacksonville (#10)
So after Baltimore defeats Chicago 6-3…
and San Diego eradicates New Orleans 51-27…
The Public once again feels unfulfilled — crying out for the game everyone wants to see (but nobody will get to see) –The Chargers versus the Ravens!
…But as we know, that can’t and won’t happen under the SBCS system 
ps. Rumor has it that protestors in Detroit have doubled in size…and are headed for the Commissioner’s Office.
