Las Vegas: At the Cosmopolitan, you're now paying for other's parking.

I found this little bit of news from the Cosmopolitan to be interesting:

Cosmopolitan to include parking in resort fees. Best of Las Vegas

Starting Jan. 1, The Cosmopolitan no longer will charge guests separately for parking and valet service.

Parking will be among the amenities incorporated into the resort fee, which will rise from $35 to $39.

Parking and valet currently cost $10 and $18 a day, and the change will result in $6 to $14 savings for such guests. Las Vegas locals will continue to receive the first hour of parking free of charge.

If you're from Southern California and drive to Las Vegas this is a great deal. If you're from pretty much anywhere else and fly to Las Vegas, and then take a taxi, Uber/Lyft or private car service to  The Cosmopolitan you're getting screwed.  Because you're now paying for other's parking expenses despite having none of your own.

You're literally paying for an amenity you're not using, and will never use. It's a charge on your bill that you a.) cannot get removed and b.) will receive no benefit for.

The imposition of parking fees at Strip hotels was one of the most controversial devaluations of the customer experience to date. What the Cosmopolitan has done is ensure that everyone must bear the brunt of these charges regardless of whether they're driving or not. In effect, this is a big middle-finger to The Cosmopolitan to guests who are arriving via McCarron Airport and NOT renting a car.

The article states that around a quarter of Strip guests some in from Southern California. That means that 3 out of 4 people potentially staying at The Cosmopolitan are NOT from there, and may not be driving.  I would put the number closer to 2 out of 3 since not all drivers come from Southern Cali.  that still means that The Cosmopolitan is going to experience a net increase in revenue, despite raising the fee at a lower rate than the parking.  They're going to collect a lower fee from more customers, a fee that is going to drive value down for a majority of customers, and already the local Vegas "tourism" sites are advertising this as as "win" for consumers?

This is a cash grab by Blackstone Management Group pure and simple.  And this is a shame. While pricey the Cosmopolitan is one of the better Strip casinos still, offering slightly improved odds, great amenities and comfortable lodging. Outside of TI it really is the last option on the Strip for the serious gamer.

That they would take such a customer unfriendly approach such as this is discouraging.

Yes, it's not a lot of money, but it's just a worse case of nickel & dime charges that each customer must bear. Resort fees, CNF fees, charges for high-speed wi-fi, poorer gaming odds. The molehill is becoming a mountain.

Marketing push aside, this is only increasing the size of the mountain, don't believe the hype to the contrary.

College Football: How I Quit Worrying and Learned to Love the Bowls (Part, the Second)

You can catch up with this series at the following links:

Part: The First


Now that I've said my piece, let's dig right into the game action......

(Note: All of the odds will be from Westgate but if there's a better option out there I will mention it, all odds are accurate at the time of publication and are subject to change)

December 15th:

AutoNation Cure Bowl.

Tulane (-3.5) vs. Louisiana [59] M/L: TUL -165  LOU 142

In some bowl games motivation is a question, but I don't think you're going to have an issue with that considering the teams that are playing here.Tulane Hasn't been in a bowl game since 2013 where they lost, ironically, to then Louisiana-Lafayette 24-21 in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Louisiana returns to a bowl game in head coach Billy Napier's first year after replacing Mark Hudspeth, who won the New Orleans bowl four years straight before the program steadily decline after 4 9-4 seasons.

Tulane had an up and down season, starting off with losses to Wake Forest, UAB and Ohio State before beating Memphis to turn things around, they then lost the next two before losing two more and rebounding to beat Navy 29-23 and get bowl eligible. Louisiana started off horribly, losing badly to Mississippi State and Alabama before rallying in conference play prior to losing to Appalachian State in the SunBelt Championship.

Tulane has a dual threat quarterback and is much better running the ball than throwing, Louisiana has not been the best team stopping the run.  Despite the odds I THINK Louisiana is the better team although I don't think there's all that much separating the two.

Pick:  Louisiana to COVER +3.5

Prediction: Tulane 28 Louisiana 27

(Note: Not a lot of movement between the books here but if you like Louisiana on the ML avoid Westgate (142) and Wynn (135) head to Caesars and Will Hill where you can get 145)

Celebration Bowl

Alcorn State vs. North Carolina A&T (-8) [47.5] M/L: ASU +260  NCAT  -320

Unlike some of these other bowl games I'm not going to pretend that I've seen a ton of HBCFB this year, but I have seen both teams play once or twice each and I can tell you that NCAT is the real deal. I don't think this one is going to be all that close.

Pick: Alcorn State to COVER -8

Prediction: Alcorn State 10  NC A&T 42


New Mexico Bowl

Utah State (-7.5) vs. North Texas [68.5] M/L: USU -310  UNT 250

After opening the season with a razor-close 7 point loss to Michigan State (a game they could have won to be honest) Utah State ran off 10 wins in a row before they ran into the Mountain West buzzsaw that is Boise State on the Blue Turf. Still, they played them close and were rightly considered one of the better Group of 5 teams on the season. The reward for their success? Head Coach Matt Wells jumped to P5 Texas Tech, and they hired former Oregon State, and Utah State head coach Gary Anderson to pilot the ship starting next year.  Ugh.  Still, this is a good team but I'm worried they're going to miss Wells a lot in this game.

North Texas started off like a house-of-fire winning their first three games, including a 44-17 thrashing of Arkansas, before tripping up against Louisiana Tech, UAB and Old Dominion.  But their season was a success and while it seemed dodgy for a bit, head coach Seth Luttrell ultimately decided to stay put and continue what he started building. This is a plus for them as it provides an odd bit of continuity at a rising G5 program. Something they'll be looking to take advantage of in the bowl game.

This matchup is offense heavy, with Utah State running back Darwin Thompson facing off against North Texas QB Mason Fine.  I'm expecting points although the Mean Green do have a stud LB in the person of E.J. Ejiya who should be drafted to the NFL in 2019.  Fine could also be a draft pick but it's likely he'll come back to continue with Luttrell.  I think UNT's defense will do just enough to stop the Utah State offense in a game where kicking a FG will be a dumb idea.

Pick: North Texas to WIN on the ML

Prediction: Utah State 35 North Texas 41

(Note: If you want to take the OVER go to Wynn where the line is current set at 68. Also, bet the ML at the Wynn because the payout there is currently +260 rather than +250 at the other books)



Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl

Arizona State vs. Fresno State(-4.5) [54] M/L: ASU 170  FSU -200

Going into the season Sun Devil head coach Herm Edwards was more of a punchline than someone who many considered could lead a team to a bowl. His not knowing the mascot was the Sun Devil (and wanting to rename them the Sun Angels) was good for about two days of Twitter mockery but then the season started. The Sun Devils came out like a shot, winning their first two games, including a 16-13 win over, you guessed it, Michigan State before settling into a win/loss/win/loss pattern in conference which ended with a 41-40 thriller of a win over rival Arizona and a 7-5 record. Unfortunately for the Sun Devils their best player, WR N'Keal Harry, has decided to skip the game to prepare for the NFL draft.

Fresno State beat every Mountain West team they played this year except Boise State, and they had an unusual loss to Minnesota thrown in at the beginning of the season.  Then something interesting happened in the Mountain West championship game. They avenged the loss to the Broncos on the Smurf Turf and gave head coach Jeff Tedford the first conference win of his career. Fresno has a good quarterback in Marcus McMaryion and talent that fits well around him.  They have a defense that plays faster than it looks, and which can be ball hawking at times.

I think the biggest question in this game is how in the world are the Sun Devils going to generate any offense without Harry in the lineup?  Their second receiver only has 40 catches and the receiver replacing him only has 1 catch this year.  Then there's this: One of the problems for the Pac-12 in Power 5 inter-conference play has been that they lack the size to truly compete with their peers, and they lack overall team speed as well.  Fresno State should match up with them physically, and they might even have better athletes across the board.

Pick: Fresno State to COVER -4.5

Prediction:  Arizona State 10 Fresno State 28

(Note: There's not a lot of space between the books on these odds, but if you like ASU here head to William Hill who are at +5. Conversely: if you like Fresno, as I do, avoid Will Hill. If you like the over you want to take the 53 at Ceasars and vice versa)


Raycom Media Camellia Bowl

Georgia Southern(-2.5) vs. Eastern Michigan [47.5] M/L GSU -140 EMU +120

Last year, Georgia Southern was terrible. Then head coach Tyson Summers destroyed the option identify of the school which led to a 2-win season. New Head Coach Chad Lunsford brought back that identity and had them at 7-1, including a huge win over Appalachian State, before losing two inexplicable games down the stretch, including a head-scratcher to Louisiana-Monroe.  But they're back running the triple option (aside, ALL teams should be required by the Constitutional Amendment to run this) and are back in a bowl where they belong.

Eastern Michigan has typically been the doormat of the MAC, the team you want to schedule for homecoming because you're guaranteed a win.  That's not been the case since Chris Creighton took over as head coach.  This is a team that does not lose by much. Their biggest loss of the season was 37-22 against a tough Army team. Every other loss has been by a score. The highlight of their season was a 1-point win over a Purdue team that turned around a horrid start to make a bowl.

The matchup in this game is pretty clear. Georgia Southern is very hard to stop running the triple option, but EMU has seen this before, ran better, with Army, so they'll at least be familiar. And their defense is stout, while their offense is capable, if not spectacular That said this is a defacto home game for Georgia Southern being played in Alabama, and Georgia Southern is looking for their first 10-win season in program history.  I'm expecting a mud-wrestling event to break out, low-scoring and messy.

Pick: UNDER 47.5

Prediction: Georgia Southern 21 Eastern Michigan 10

(Note: Not a lot of advantage at the books here, if you like the Under, and I do, try to go to Caesars or Wynn and get 48 instead of 47.5. If you like GSU on the ML, then Will Hills is your current best at -130. If you're the other way when Westgate and Caesars are your play at +120)



R + L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Middle Tennessee State vs Appalachian State (-7) [49.5] ML MTSU 225  APP -275

This season was middling for Middle Tennessee State as Sr. Quarterback Brent Stockstill thought he had played his final game under his father, Head Coach Rock Stockstill, until they got the call that they were playing in this bowl.  Stockstill has been a standout offensive player for the Blue Raiders, setting school records in passing and leading an offense that has been impressive unless they are playing some of the top teams in the country.

Appalachian State was considered, at times, to be in the running for top Group of 5 team in the country. Such success however comes with a price and the Mountaineers are looking at this bowl game without the services of Scott Satterfield, who has left to go and try to rebuild the disaster that is Louisville post Bobby Petrino. App State has a great passing defense however, and a ton of talent on the offensive side of the ball.  This is a good team who is going to have to answer the question of how they'll play without their very important head coach.

The matchup in this game is simple: Can Brent Stockstill pass the ball against the Appalachian State pass defense, which has been stingy and ball-hawking all sesason long?  If they can, then I expect Middle Tennessee State to have a chance to pull the huge upset.  Every bowl season you have to make a stand against a heavy favorite if you want to turn a profit.  This game is my stand.

Pick: Middle Tennessee State on the ML +225

Prediction: Middle Tennessee State 27 Appalachian State 24

(Note: This is a Wynn bet for me, because I can get +230 there. If you like the over go to Westgate, where you can grab 49.5 and if you like the under fiind a Will Hill book, because you can grab 50.5 there.  If you're betting App State on the ML try Caesars, the best current odds at -250)


Good luck, enjoy this Saturday, and here's hoping that we can wash the stink off of the regular season and make something happen here.

College Football: How I Quit Worrying and Learned to Love the Bowls (Part, the First)

This weekend kicks off the second most glorious time of the year: College Football Bowl Season.

Yes, it pales in comparison to sitting in one's living room for 17 hours, Door-Dashing lunch and dinner while binge watching college football until that point you're desperately searching for the late Pac-12 or Mountain West game that is still just entering the 3rd quarter at 1AM or desperately hoping the Hawai'i game is on TV, but it still offers great television and will be the last time for eight months, thanks to the NFL's local exclusivity policy, that you'll be able to watch multiple games at the same time without having to subscribe to DishTV (yuck) and pay upwards of $300 extra for the Game Day package.

And no, I don't buy into the communist lie that there are too many bowl games. There are teams with bowl-qualifying records who will be sitting at home this year.  So, if anything, there are not enough bowls.  As a matter of fact, there are 4 teams out there who wish two more bowls were being played. Oh to still have the Bluebonnet Bowl, or the California Bowl, or even the Freedom bowl. If just two of those were still standing then those four teams would be rewarded with extra practices to help them improve in future seasons.

Notice to that it's never the P5 6-6 teams that get snuffed. They always GET to conduct extra practice as a reward for mediocrity, the G5 teams are not afforded that luxury.  At a bare minimum the teams that qualified but did not get selected should be allowed to conduct as many extra practices as the teams who will be playing on Dec 15th, the first day of the bowl season.

Another thing to realize is this: College football was BETTER off when it was just governed by the bowls, before the College Football Playoff or Bowl Championship Series or even the Bowl Championship Alliance were formed.  All we had were the conference alignments to the bowls and the AP and UPI poll and we loved it.  We also spent all year talking about how either those idiot sports reporters or the dumb SID's with votes got it all wrong.  Dual Champions?  Inject those days right back into my veins along with half-shirts on linebackers, Catholics vs. Convicts and BYU and Penn State shocking the world.  Yes, Virginia, things were much better then.

You think an expanded College Football Playoff is going to make things better?

Wrong. It's going to make things worse.  Because the P5 schools will just envision new ways to omit the G5 schools from the playoff and things will get even worse.  And while there might be some good ideas out there to make an expanded playoff good, fair and honest history says that none of them will be implemented, and the powers that be will ensure that the 8-team invitation is just as exclusive as were the 2 & 4-team invitationals.

The reason for this is pretty simple.  Power 5 schools all believe that the Group of 5 schools are in a different division. Inviting one of them to the dance is akin to inviting an FCS team to participate. In fact, some of them might honestly believe that North Dakota State is more worthy of inclusion than lowly little UCF.

Now, would they schedule either of them in a home & home series?

Get the hell outta here.

So, we're going to get 41 bowl games that should be treated as just that, 41 bowl games.  Because it's sports, and this is a sports (and betting blog) I'm going to mention the CFP Championship game and discuss it but, like the last several years, I'm not going to stay up and watch it on a Monday night (what a stupid time for a college football game) when I have work at 6:30 Tuesday morning.

You shouldn't either. 

Watch every bowl game you can, ignore the CFP Championship, that's the ONLY way to return some insanity to a sport that used to be dripping with it.

It's really our only option.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's no secret that my betting picks in college football were trash.  It was a dumpster fire wrapped in an astroid hurtling to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.  Probably the worst year I've had, as my bounce back weeks started off say 2-0, and then fell apart in a sea of 1-2 or 0-3 finishes. After the rough start, I never could get any traction.

I'm going to be handling the bowl games in small bunches. Wiping the slate clean and just on those. The first batch will come soon.  Then it will be pretty regular depending on when the games are played.  Let's wash away the stink of the regular season and do some good here.

Don't fret about there being so many games, embrace the madness.  It's what makes college football so amazing.

Horse Racing: Santa Anita creates "6-Zero Roulette" with a straight face.

Roulette is one of the ancient casino games, probably the first table game that still exists today and, when bet correctly, offers the player a fairly decent house edge.

On a single-zero (European) Roulette wheel the house edge is 2.7%, on a double-zero (American) Roulette wheel that increases to 5.26%, on the travesty that is Triple-Zero (Sands) Roulette the house edge increases to 7.69%.  Given that the addition of a zero appears to add about 2.5% to the house edge the latest "innovation" from the Stronach group at Santa Anita is the equivalent to Six Zero Roulette

From the Press release:

Following are the basic components and rules comprising Horse Racing Roulette at Santa Anita:
–Two dollar minimum win wager with customary industry-low 15.43 percent takeout
–Horses (minimum six-horse field) will be placed into one of three groups, Red, Black or Green.
–In most cases, the morning line favorite will be part of the Red Group.
–The Green Group will be comprised mainly of longshots.
–The three Groups, in most cases, will not have an equal number of horses.
–Whichever Group contains the race winner, wins that “game” of Horse Racing Roulette.

You read that correctly. "Horse Racing Roulette" offers bettors the chance to get an "industry-low" house edge of 15.43%

Are you kidding me?

It's one thing to understand that the takeouts in horse racing are far in excess of the "vig" in sports betting. It's another thing to tacitly admit that without doing anything about it.  But ADVERTISING an inferior game as somehow "gambler friendly"?  This is a new level of incompetence even for the horse racing industry.

An industry with a long history of discounting its horseplayers FWIW.

Now, it seems, that they've gone straight to outright insulting them.

The problem with horse racing is not that there are not enough bet types. It's that their payout structure is horrid when you take into account takeout, breakage (the downward rounding of odds at horse tracks, the profits from which are split between the track and the state to the detriment of the bettor) and the fact that you cannot lock in odds as you can with say, sports betting.

In sports betting, when I lay a bet on a 10-1 underdog I know that, regardless of the line moves, I'm going to get a payout of 10-1. If the opposing team's quarterback gets injured and my team drops to 3-1 it doesn't matter. I'm locked in.

In horse racing, due to the pari-mutual system, that 10-1 underdog I selected might take a slew of money due to scratches or track conditions, and might even drop precipitously to 3-1 or even lower. I am forced to take that payout.

If you think there's no option in horse betting you would be incorrect. On the European exchanges you can lock your odds, you can even take action against what you handicap. We see a little bit of this on the BetFair exchange in New Jersey, but other jurisdictions have been loathe to make the leap. In fact, the tracks don't like this because it helps bettors, and hurts their ability to increase their take due to breakage and other methods.

A better answer to the problem of decreased handle is not creating new, bogus, games that try to mimic better paying casino games, but to lower takeout, eliminate breakage by requiring tracks to adopt standard mathematical rounding rules and to investigate and implement exchange systems which allow horse players to lock odds.

But that is too simple, so it will never be seriously considered. Instead we're about to be given a wild array of fancy new bets I'm guessing.

The BlackJack bet: The 2 & 1 Exacta. - options would include "doubling down" (adding on the 3 & 4) and splitting the 2 & 1 on solo win tickets)

The Craps bet: The 2, 3 & 12 - options include the "Pass Line" 7 & 11 and the "Don't pass" all but 7 & 11 at 8/5 odds

And finally...

The Baccarat Daily Double 8 & 9


All with "industry low" 15.43% takeout, which is a full 15% worse than what the casinos offer.

And you wonder why horse-racing is struggling?

Sports Betting: FanDuel paid out Alabama Bets. I Have Some Questions.

A couple of days back news hit that FanDuel sports book decided to pay out all futures best on Alabama winning the College Football National Championship, over a month before the championship game is played.

FanDuel Already Paying Out Alabama National Championship Bets as a Reward to Early Bettors. CBSSports

From the article....

This week, the company announced that it is treating No. 1 Alabama as the champs already, paying out all future bets on the Crimson Tide to win it all that were made prior to 5 p.m. on Friday. That also includes any outstanding parlay bets that only required Alabama winning the title.
FanDuel says that it's motivation behind the move is to reward customers for jumping on Alabama early. Bama opened the season at plus-195 (nearly 2-to-1 odds), meaning a $100 bet would pay out $195. However, after a dominant season, the Tide now have minus-280 odds to win the title, meaning a bettor would have to pony up $280 for a chance to win $100.

This is great news if you had a futures bet on Alabama obviously.  Because you now have a built-in hedge that will allow you to make smaller, possibly higher payout, bets in the upcoming games basically risk-free.  Say you bet $1000 on Alabama at +195.  That would pay you $1,950. Then you go and make say, a $500 bet on Oklahoma (+416) to win.  Even if you lose you still have a profit of around $1500.  This is a luxury that you now have not afforded to a bettor who took early money on Clemson, OU or Notre Dame.

It skews the market.

It also relieves Alabama bettors of any of the risk they carried into the games, risk that is carried by backers of the other teams. It creates an uneven playing field and can potentially skew the market, lowering odds on other teams as this risk-free Bama money hits the pools, potentially watering down everything for other players.

How is this allowed by the New Jersey Gaming Commission and by other regulatory bodies in States where FanDuel operates?

How is this not considered market manipulation?

How is this not in violation of gaming rules?

If I had a futures bet on Clemson, Notre Dame or Oklahoma, (I don't btw, not a fan of futures bets for a variety of reasons) I'd be pretty pissed now. As a matter of fact I'd be livid.  Because you're rewarding other players for making bets in cases where the line just happened to drop quite a bit. You're essentially handing out participation trophies to Bama bettors.

What FanDuel is doing is skewing the market, and potentially limiting their exposure on underdog upsets by almost guaranteeing risk-free money into the market. It's like their subsidizing select bettors at the expense of others.

One of the biggest challenges for sports betting as it navigates a patchwork of state-led regulatory agencies is ensuring that the betting markets are wholesome and fair.  In this case FanDuel has failed the very market it is trying to establish.

This is different from "sign-on" bonuses and other enticements because those are available to everyone who can legally bet in a book. First deposit matches are the same.  But in this case FanDuel has selected certain bettors to win before the game is even being played.

I'm pretty sure this wouldn't fly in Las Vegas, where FanDuel does not operate books currently, nor should it.  New Jersey should look into this action to prevent it from happening again. The alternative is to do nothing and cast doubt on the integrity of sports betting in New Jersey.

College Football: The CFP Continues to Drive Nails into the College Football Coffin.

Not like this College Football, Not. Like. This.

The minute the SEC Championship game between Alabama and Georgia was over both CBS and SEC Network partner ESPN started ramping up the "Georgia" is one of the 'FOUR BSECT TEAMS" in the country nonsense.  Of course, believing this required two things:  1. Ignoring that they just LOST the game that finished less than five minutes prior and 2. Ignoring that they lost to 3-loss LSU by 20 earlier in the year.

If you want to ignore the actual games, be my guest. At that point let's just call the College Football Playoff what it is and always has been: An invitational that considers potential TV revenue and the sticker on the helmet more than the actual record.  Then we can treat it like a clown-show and go back to enjoying college football the old way.

But, the College Football Playoff Committee, in a rare moment of something close to sanity, chose 1-loss OU for their coveted #4 spot. That's better than Georgia of course, OU only lost previously to Texas, a loss that they avenged on Saturday while Ohio State worked hard to beat Northwestern, and then started relying on a win against Penn State as their closing argument.

Of course, all of this ignored the elephant in the room:  UCF.

Which, ironically, is what the CFP is designed to do, ignore outright the Group of 5 schools.  In any other sport there being 4 undefeated teams remaining at the end o the regular season would lead to said four teams being natural fits in the 4-team playoff.  Not in college football however. In college football we have Strength of Schedule, we have the vaunted "eye-test" and we have Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN and CBS running around telling everyone that UCF just "doesn't match up" with the big boys in college football. It's a broken system that's thrusting sticks into the spokes of the greatest sport on Earth and it's starting to have an effect.

The negative effect is most visible in the vaunted "New Year's Six" bowl games.  Let's take a quick look:

Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl: Florida (9-3) vs. Michigan (10-2)
Playstation Fiesta Bowl: LSU (9-3) vs. UCF (13-0)
Rose Bowl:  Washington (10-3) vs. Ohio State (12-1)
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Texas (9-4) vs. Georgia (11-2)
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: Notre Dame (12-0) vs. Clemson (13-0)
Capital One Orange Bowl: Oklahoma (12-1) vs. Alabama (13-0)

I'm not going to go through these games individually here, but I am going to mention that three SEC teams were given nods into the games, this despite in many cases, going no better than 6-3 against quality Power 5 competition.  Meanwhile Washington State gets left out, despite going 7-2 against the same. 

"The SEC is just playing the game better than anyone else" supporters will say, and  they're correct on that.  By only playing eight conference games and allowing schools to play multiple cupcakes in their non-conference the SEC both pads their records, and receive some gaudy scores to sway the uninitiated to their superiority.  They're also smart enough to care about the meaningless bowls, and rarely don't show up. This doesn't stop their supporters from claiming they didn't care when they LOSE (As did Auburn to UCF last year) but it provides them a baked-in argument when they eke out a win against a middling team from another conference.

The Pac-12, B1G and ACC all have legitimate gripes against the current system however, as the SEC gets at least two nods (Florida and LSU) that they should not have.

Now, granted, the ACC went and shot themselves in the foot this year, with both Syracuse AND NC State blowing late games they should have won, but the PAC-12 had Washington State sitting out there with a 10-2 record looking all the world like a playoff team.

The Texas inclusion (9-4) is strange as well. Given that they were beaten by West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Maryland prior to losing to OU in the championship game.  THIS is a NY6 bowl team?

So, the system is broken, the games are a mess and we're not getting close to seeing the matchups that we want to see. The Group of 5 teams are left on an island no matter what they do, and a single conference is getting a much larger than it's proportionate share of the big-money games despite not having the quality wins to show for it.

In addition, gone are the traditions of the traditional bowl tie-ins (save for the Rose Bowl thank goodness, which still matches up the B1G and PAC-12 Champions) and gone is much of the history, pageantry and tradition from the game.

In it's place we get a smarmy Kirk Herbstreit lecturing us on the "BSECT Four Teams" while suggesting that the results don't matter and CBS prostrating themselves in front of the SEC praying silently that they don't look elsewhere for their broadcast rights. We've turned College Football into a season of  "Who's Line is it Anyway?" without Drew Carey. In his place we've put Kirby Horcutt and a bunch of prune-juice slurping ADs who are really just doing what their SIDs tell them to do.  We're not allowed to see, hear or read about the discussions but we're promised that they are intelligent, deep and thoughtful.

I've seven seen SEC(!) partisans suggest that these are "10 of the best minds in college football"

Seriously? THIS Group?

In fact, the ONLY thing this group is successful at is allowing some low-functioning idiots to write some words and allow excluded fan-bases to be aggrieved.

And we think the solution to this is to allow MORE of it?  Eight teams instead of four?  It was four instead of two that was supposed to fix things. It's made it worse.

At this point the entire mess can only be saved by scrapping it and returning to the old bowl/poll system.  If we're going to have to live through the insufferableness of sports media today, at least let's do it where several teams get to make their case.

Hell, we could have argued all year whether Alabama or UCF deserved the title, IF 'Bama wasn't granted false legitimacy in a rigged system last year that is.


Blow. It. Up.  It's really the only way.