Sports has devolved to a ridiculous state in this COVID-19 era, but the virus is merely the catalyst that accelerated a process toward the absurd that already was well in motion.
As I write this, the Armed Forces Bowl is being played, with Tulsa, a 6-2 team ranked 24th nationally, meeting 3-7 Mississippi State.
Mississippi State took an early lead, and should the Bulldogs win, some will trumpet that as proof the team deserved to play in a bowl. They are wrong; just as wrong as any fools who would insist that the putrid New York Jets should make the NFL playoffs based on winning their past two games, upsetting the LA Rams and Cleveland Browns.
I recall a time when college bowl games were reserved for successful teams – make that very successful teams. As the number of bowl games has increased through the years, the standards have been lowered. Here is an example of the virus merely magnifying a trend already in progress.
Can an 0-11 bowl team be in our future? Don’t bet against it.
Think of this watered-down bowl situation as college football’s equivalent of a participation trophy.
There is a downside to this feel-good exercise. Where once making a bowl game was an accomplishment for the players and the teams, now it is no more than an extra away game, often in places that aren’t exactly tourist meccas.
On the other end of the spectrum, the college football championship semifinals are to be played on New Year’s Day. But even though the records of the teams are impressive, there have been accommodations made here, too.
Look at Ohio State and its 6-0 record. First, a special dispensation had to be made to get Ohio State into its Big Ten title game due to a lack of games played by the Buckeyes, a bow to COVID-19.
Having gotten into that conference championship game, and rallying to beat Northwestern, the Buckeyes were unbeaten but largely untested.
Other teams, most notably one-loss Texas A&M (8-1), argued publicly for inclusion in the four-team playoff field. This was not necessarily at the expense of Ohio State, but at least a call for a closer look at a one-loss Notre Dame team whose marquee win was over Clemson, in overtime, against a Clemson team playing without its starting quarterback.
In the rematch, Clemson had Trevor Lawrence back to play quarterback and rolled Notre Dame off the field to the tune of a 34-10 final.
Yet Notre Dame is in the hunt for the national title and Texas A&M is not.
The four-team college football playoff field continues to be a joke that runs contrary to the inclusion philosophy that permeates so much of society and sports. Make it eight teams and there almost never could be teams with legitimate cases left on the outside.
Back to bowl games, there was a Cotton Bowl played Dec. 30 in which Florida was fielding a team mostly of backups as numerous top-tier players either were sidelined by the virus, or merely decided not to play, the “opt-out” option, in order to save themselves from possible injury and harm to their professional prospects.
Predictably, Oklahoma destroyed Florida by a 55-20 score. This could not have been very satisfying, for winner or loser. I pity the fools who actually watched this garbage on television.
The NFL is not immune to the absurdity. Virus-depleted rosters produce joke games that have serious impact on postseason plans.
Pro football already is a model of socialism, where strong teams from one season are “rewarded” with tougher schedules the next season. Already the allocation of talent is on a reverse-merit system, with the losers given drafting priority over the successful.
Making things even more difficult to stomach is the social justice warrior ethic that has invaded all levels of sports – although the NBA has backed off its blatant Black Lives Matter labeling since TV ratings tanked last season, likely as blowback from the populace.
Curious times produce curious results. I have yet to watch more than a few plays of any NFL game this season.
If we resume our annual Super Bowl parties, I might find myself hanging with those who ignore the game, but eagerly consume the commercials.
Sam Ross Jr's site 