Playoffs!..playoffs? You play to win the game.

I really wasn't sure if I would go here, but yeah, I am going here. This past weekend was the college football conference championships and the playoff selection. As of yesterday morning, many are ranting and raving about the selections and outcomes and blah blah blah. I am a very big sports fan and an "educated" sports fan. So, I try to dissect the facts so I don't say things that may be seen as stupid. I enjoy the playoff and yes, it's moving in the right direction, but the word selection is the problem. Let me explain my thought as to why.

Notre Dame was a deserving team to get into the playoff however the loss to Miami was what kept them out. There is a selection of teams by a committee, and this starts the problem. The teams that get to compete are put into place by that committee, and any wrong step in the selections get blasted by the media, the teams and the fans. My question is why are we selecting? As the great Herm Edwards has said, "We play to win the game." Why are the outcomes not deciding the final twelve teams? The definition of selection is the action or fact of carefully choosing someone or something as being the best or most suitable.

With that definition said, this is a sport. Why are the teams not making the decision by playing to win the game? That brings the debate of how many games and so much stuff that more arguments arise. This past weekend the talk was do the losers get punished for losing a conference championship? To that I say, why are those Championship games not included in the knockout? When I asked myself that, an idea struck me, if Tulane and James Madison got in because of the set rules, then you set rules to put teams into a knockout stage on that weekend with the conference Championships. Play for your spot, win and get in. Oh, that creates selection you say. No, let's take a page out of the world cup and do a draw.

My thought is the two group of 5 top teams be put in the draw. The third-place teams in each of the big conferences be put in the draw and basically you look at the top 25 ranking, and you create a set of play in games to get the top12. So yes, based on this past weekend Alabama and Ohio State would be out, but isn't the point of sports to win? The NFL has had teams with losing records get in because they won the division. Small teams getting a chance is how Rocky moments are created, but politics and money usually get in the way of that.

All of this comes to a point, that Notre Dame deserved to be in, and so did Miami, but the small teams have earned a right to get a chance. If they say, make it 16 teams you will still have a problem, and another team next year will be debated, because they are "selected" by a committee. Play your way in and yes, a resume for a team matters, but listening to a guy talk about how they met till the sun came up to make a choice who gets to play sounds like a waste of time. You play to win the game! Stop the subjective crap and if big teams are going to beat up on a small team, make that happen when it's a win and you're in knock out game.

I hope Tulane and James Madison upset the big boys, because it will make the point, the best is the one who wins, not the one who is picked by a group of people. If this made sense great and if it doesn't, I don't care it's my blog.