So why is it OK to have a college football playoff in which last year the best team all season wasn't crowned Champion? How can the 4 seed be better than the 1 seed?
The Kansas City Royals weren't the best regular season team, but they sure are the World Champions.
In both cases, the teams qualified for the playoffs, and then won the playoffs.
I for one LOVED Del and Jack racing head to head winner take all. Just like last year with Erica and Jason. You didn't?
Just for the record there were those who HATED when the point system was put into play and wanted the World Champion to be the World Finals winner, (the way it used to be) no matter what happened all season long.
Not arguing, just disscussing
AR
I like discussing
I prefer a season long go at it. It covers running hot weather, cool weather, highs, lows...basically you have to run the gauntlet. Every race is already a playoff and the season is a full run at a title. We have no timeouts, no half time. Just strap in and go. From the beginning this system went against the very fabric of the sport.
I remember as a kid, Bernstein dominating in the 80s's and Glidden being nuts over everyone. I hear people talk about Snake in the 70's. Of course we had Force forever dominating too. We remember these years and drivers because of their greatness. Now we don't allow for greatness, we pull them back. Will anyone go all out like Beckman did so early this year? He would have walked away with the championship, instead he gave others the blueprint. Now once drivers are in, they should hold back. Some have admitted going into test mode, why bother going to those races as a fan.When you think of sports championships you don't remember the years some mediocre team got hot and won, instead you think of the Yankees, the great Steelers teams, The Big Red Machine. Nobody remembers the Trailblazzers, Sonics or Bullets winning instead people think of the great Bulls, Celtics and Lakers teams.
In college football there are I believe 122 teams and most teams play only 12 games.....have to have some way to figure out who is the champ. They still don't have it right, but are getting closer. For instance this year, how do you pick between Oklahoma, Michigan State/Iowa winner,(assuming that happens) Notre Dame and Baylor for the final 2 spots after Clemson and Bama. At least 8 teams should be in the playoffs and ideally 16.
But I digress.
Back to NHRA. This is a playoff system where non-playoff cars have too big of an impact. We've seen champions crowned that have had to beat only 1 playoff team(padded their rounds against non playoff teams). It would be like Bama and Clemson facing off, while UTEP and Pittsburgh play at the same time on the field. To be even truer it would actually be Bama vs Utep and Pittsburgh vs Clemson, but out of that we would decide a champ.
That doesn't even get into the issue (real or imagined) about team cars and orders. When people wonder how legit a race is, fair or not, it tarnishes the sport. Dives have long been a part of the sport and I fully understand why, with the countdown we now have two points in the season where it can happen. At the cutoff and in the final race. Before it was only an issue at the very end of the season. Any change to the points system won't effect team orders but the effect of it should be considered and it points bunched up it seems to have become a pretty constant issue now.
I get why they made the move, but judging by the numbers, it has not accomplished the goal. TV and attendance numbers are down and while it is not soley the fault of the countdown, it was the single biggest move they made to attract fans. Sadly it comes across as too reality TV and manufactured drama. People boo in the stands about the countdown or you have the people that say "what is that". I have actually heard people in the pits talking to newbies that this driver has X championships but some were countdowns so they don't count. That is not the type of sales pitch we want going out. The NHRA can PR all they want (and they should) but it's the word of mouth that has more weight and the word isn't all that good lately.
Now if they really want to keep it and add a true playoff feeling, instead of this fubar hybrid, they should go to 8 drivers. Those 8 race on one side of the ladder. They can qualify 1-8 based on ET or they can go into the race based on points, doesn't matter either way. The other side of the ladder would be open to 8 qualifiers who didn't make the countdown. This would still allow for 16 car fields, ideally they toss extra money to whatever non-countdown car does the best over the final 6 races. You would also end up with final round with a David vs Goliath match up that people seem to like. Drivers would have to run the gauntlet each week. While there is never a sure thing, especially in nitro racing would you rather line up in round 1 against Hagan or some part timer.
In many of the classes there are barely 10 regular cars showing up for the season. I would have to go through and double check but it seems there are only 2-3 full time drivers left out in most classes. That would be like letting 26 of the 32 NFL teams into the playoffs. Erica won a championship without making all the races, didn't JR Todd finish #2 while missing a bunch. It makes the regular season less important. The Panthers are 10-0 right now, it would be like them taking the next 3 weeks off just to rest the entire team.
Tell Peter I'm available for hire to make this thing rock again
