Ramblings and Insignificant Trivia

Dut.  Dutta Dut.  Dutta Dut.  Dutta Dutta Dutta Dut.

Tonight the Chicago Blackhawks opened the NHL regular season by raising their latest Stanley Cup Championship banner.  Then they did something I bet $10 they would not.  They won the game against the Washington Capitals.  Holy Cow!  After an emotional pre-game ceremony, the Blackhawks found a way to come back in the 3rd period and start the season with a big 6-4 victory.  It’s rare for teams to win on banner raising night.  Very impressive.

It was their second banner raising in the last few years.  Some say 4 years.  Some say 3 years.  Which brings me to tonight’s question.  Is it 3 years or 4 years?  I’ve been struggling with this question for almost 6 months.  Ever since the Blackhawks started preparing for their latest playoff run with the best record in the NHL, pundits proactively pontificated that if they claimed the Cup…”it would be their 2nd championship in 4 years”.

But wait a second.  The Blackhawks won the 2010 Stanley Cup on June 9th.  They won the 2013 Stanley Cup on June 24th.  Give or take a couple weeks, that is 3 calendar years in between cup clinching victories.  On the other side of the equation, the Blackhawks won the 2010 Stanley Cup.  The Boston Bruins won the 2011 Stanley Cup.  The LA Kings won the 2012 Stanley Cup.  Then the Blackhawks won the 2013 Stanley Cup.  So that is 2 Stanley Cups in the last 4 NHL seasons.

So that is how I want the world to conform.  Stop using the word “years”.  Only use the word “seasons”.  So if/when the Blackhawks win another Stanley Cup next Spring, it will be their 3rd championship in the last 5 seasons.  End of story…as they begin the journey.

Go Hawks!

Or not.

I am a die hard fan of The University of Notre Dame.  I grew up in South Bend, IN just a few miles from the campus.  I love going back there every fall and watching the football team butt heads with some of the best college teams in the country.  I’ve been to dozens of games.  I’ve seen some of the best games in the history of college football.  1988 vs. Miami.  1993 vs. Florida State.  2005 vs. Southern Cal.  I also went to this years season opener against Temple about a month ago.

After 40+ years of being a Notre Dame fan, I’m slowly coming to a perplexing realization.  I still love Notre Dame football…but I am not that big a fan of college football anymore.  And there is an obvious reason for this slow but steady turn of events:   Ice Skating!

(Here is where I go on a tangent to try and explain this conundrum.) I like the NFL.  I root for the Chicago Bears, but I can watch Green Bay play San Francisco.  I can watch Kansas City play Miami.  The NFL playoffs are grueling and the team that emerges as Super Bowl champ earned that puppy.

On the flip side, I have far less interest in watching Alabama vs. Texas A&M.  Or Georgia vs. LSU.  What’s the deal?  I realize now that my lack of appreciation comes down to one main point.  But first let me tell you what it is not.  It isn’t the fact that Ohio State (and most of the big boys) play a bunch of cupcakes and only have to break a sweat 2 or 3 times a year.  It isn’t  the constant whispers that cars, and girls, and grades, and cash are distributed to so called “student-athletes” on a regular basis.  College football has its warts.  Every sport has its warts.  Every person has warts.  Every industry has warts.  I’m not expecting college football to be perfect.

The real reason I don’t appreciate college football anymore is the same reason I don’t like Ice Skating…the sport is judged.  Style points matter.  Popularity matters.  Perception matters.

Let’s see if I have all the nuances of Ice Skating figured out.  You can’t win if you don’t dress right.  You can’t win if your makeup is not applied properly.  Judges from your country give you higher marks and judges from the countries of your closest competitors give you lower marks.  Did I miss anything?

Speed Skating has 1/1000th of the popularity that Ice Skating has.  But in my humble opinion it is a superior sport.  Lane change violations notwithstanding, if you cross the finish line first, you are the winner.

The two biggest prizes in college football are The National Championship and The Heisman Trophy.  Neither award is won on the field.  Both are voted on.  Both are out and out popularity contests.  Good, bad, or otherwise, the NFL playoffs are determined by Won/Loss record, then by a series of well documented tiebreakers.  College Football has computer polls, and human polls, and a formula too complicated to take the least bit seriously.

The Heisman Trophy is awarded to the most popular skill position player at a major university whose team played well for most of the season.  Rarely.  I mean RARELY, is it awarded to the best football player in the country.  The voters don’t even try to hide the fact they don’t have a clue who the best football players are.  The 24/7 babbling about the contenders for this award has to stop.  It is embarrassing.

As just mentioned, the college football national championship is decided by the polls…not on the field.  The best plan I can come up with to bring a level of respectability to college football is an 8 team playoff.  Have 2 rounds of playoffs in December and the final game on New Years Day.  If your team is crying because you were 9th or 10th and missed the playoffs, shut up.  You obviously had a misstep somewhere along the way.

College football should always end on January 1st, and whichever team emerges unscathed from a 3 week “win or go home”playoff would be an incredibly worthy champion.

So my take away from this first of many rants is that there is hope that a sport I loved can make a return with some much needed changes.  Until then, the NFL is in full swing and the NHL is starting in just a few days.

Welcome to the Fall of 2013.

** Insignificant Trivia Question #1 **

Who won the 2007 College Football National Championship?  And with a straight face, logically explain how they deserved to be in that game.