Champions League
 

another reason why I hate the BCS.

In Europe each soccer division in the first league sends 2-5 teams per league to a giant tournament, similar to the world cup. It's called the championship league.

They are in the next round and here are the draws:
Chelsea v Barcelona: pretty much a game you want to watch. the Yankees of the EPL vs the world's best player.

Real Madrid v Arsenal: two powerhouses from the EPL and Spain's Primer Ligua Real Madrid are the yankees of the SPL.

Werder Bremen v Juventus: Werder (the weakest team of the bunch) v the yankees of the Italian league

Bayern Munich v AC Milan: AC Milan = the redsox of the italian league.

PSV Eindhoven v Lyon: Beasly the american vs France's best team.

Ajax Amsterdam v Inter Milan : i don't know what to say.

Benfica v Liverpool : liverpool, defending chapms.

Rangers v Villarreal : the scottish rep vs. another spanish team.

the top two are games you don't want to miss as a soccer fan and for someone who wants to watch good football, those games are the games to watch.

Could you just imagine the excitement that would be going on right now if there was the first round of an NCAA football tournament going on right now?

With a 16-team tournament, they could do the first two rounds at the higher seed's home field, and then the last two rounds using existing bowl games.

Teams not making the playoff could still make bowl games.

These would be my games this week:

(16) Arkansas State (Sun Belt champ) at (1) USC (Pac-10 champ) - You can bet Arkansas State fans would be traveling to L.A. in December to see their team play the top-ranked, dual-Heisman Trojans. Trojan fans will turn out to cheer on their two Heisman winners in a tune up for a big game with either Miami or Auburn the next week.

(15) Akron (Mid American champ) at (2) Texas (Big 12 champ) - Akron fans would head south to watch the All-American QB Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns in a statement game for them, following Young's losing the Heisman to Reggie Bush.

(14) Tulsa (Conf. USA champ) at (3) Penn St. (Big 10 champ) - This may be the weakest matchup, but it would still fill seats.

(13) Boise St. (WAC champ) at (4) Ohio St. (at large) - Now we're starting to get into some interesting games - this would would at least be more attractive than Boise's currently-scheduled bowl game with Boston College.

(12) TCU (MWC champ) at (5) Oregon (at large) - Doesn't a 12th seed always beat a 5? :lol: A couple of strong offenses - this would be an exciting game. In their first game, TCU beat an Oklahoma team that finished the season ranked # 23 in the BCS standings. Oregon lost to USC, and two of the three ranked teams they played made it close, including an overtime win over Cal.

(11) West Virginia (Big East champ) at (6) Notre Dame - It's Notre Dame - that's enough for people to watch.

(10) Virginia Tech (ACC champ) at (7) Georgia (SEC champ) - This would be a huge matchup for viewers in the south, between two teams ranked in the top 10 in the BCS.

(9) Auburn (at large) at (8) Miami (FL) (at large) - Another huge southern matchup between perennial powerhouses. This would the game to watch.

There could be games Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Of course, this week would be a warm-up for next week, which might be the most exciting week of college football.

Next week, we could see be looking forward to Auburn at USC or Notre Dame at Penn State. Georgia could be playing at Texas, and Oregon traveling out to Ohio State. At stake would be berths in the final four. The BCS Bowls would rotate having three be the playoffs, with the other hosting a New Year's matchup of great teams who didn't make the playoffs. For instance, you could have an Orange Bowl matchup of Texas and Penn State, and a Fiesta Bowl hosting USC and Ohio State.

The Sugar Bowl could host the top two teams not to make the playoffs, LSU and Alabama. Or it could match up two of the playoff teams who didn't make the final four, such as Notre Dame and Oregon. The Rose Bowl would then still be the national championship - it could be played a week after the New Year's Day bowls.

Instead, we're looking forward to Toledo vs. UTEP in the GMAC Bowl on Wednesday.

Now, some of the bowls would suffer and probably fold, but will the world really miss the MPC Computers Bowl?

The reason this isn't happening: inertia. It's hard to change the status quo, even when it is clear that the alternative is better.

I would be much more excited about a college football playoff coming up, than I am about the bowl season right now.