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EXPANDING THE CFP
The 2014 college football season was special for a few reasons. One of the main changes was the introduction of the College Football Playoff system. This replaced the old Bowl Championship Series, which determined the national champion based off the number 1 and 2 teams. The BCS had many flaws and this was the main one. The teams that were selected 1 and 2 was a matter of debate. To stop irate fans who hated the BCS system, the CFP was created.
Instead of pitting the top two teams against each other, the CFP has two semifinal games and the two winners meet in the national championship game. It was about time the top division of college football had a playoff system.
Even though the CFP seems to be more respected than the BCS system, there is something that can be changed to make it better.
They need to expand the CFP to at least 8 teams.
The idea of who are the top four teams in the country is also debatable. Anyone can beat someone on any given Saturday. Even mighty Alabama has lost to inferior competition.
With eight teams, you can have the conference champions of the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, ACC and the American Conference, as well as two wild card teams. If an independent team such as Notre Dame proves itself worthy, it should get a spot. What if Boise State returns to glory like in the late 2000s? They should still get a spot, even being in a lesser conference.
This past season drove the expansion debate home. Georgia, Oklahoma and Clemson each won their conference and deserved a spot in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Alabama, who didn’t win its own division, gets a spot over Big 10 champion Ohio State. How is it that a team that couldn’t even win the division gets a playoff spot over a conference champion? Even if the committee didn’t want to choose Ohio State because of two losses, the American Conference champion UCF goes undefeated and still doesn’t get a spot. UCF ended its season by defeating the SEC west champion Auburn, that defeated Alabama in the Iron Bowl. UCF was the only team in the FBS to go undefeated, but yet Alabama is technically national champions, a team that couldn’t even win the SEC west.
If we had eight teams instead of four, UCF could prove why it truly deserves to be called national champions. It just makes sense to pit the champions of the powerhouse conferences and wild card teams against each other. That way, we can find who is truly national champions.
LEBRON JAMES
After scoring his 30,000th point in the NBA, LeBron James went to Instagram to celebrate this feat that only six other players have accomplished.
He posted a photo of a young high school LeBron, congratulating himself on what he would be doing in a few days. There were mixed reactions from both his fans and critics.
Fans of LeBron pushed the like button and gave his post over one million likes and comments on how he is the best player ever. His critics believed that this was a very conceited and self-righteous act from an already established superstar.
I agree with his critics.
I consider this act conceited because LeBron doesn’t need to show off how good he is anymore. He already has many awards and records in the NBA over the course of his career. LeBron is arguably one of the greatest basketball players ever. Many even consider him the poster child of the NBA because of how popular and successful he is.
The way that some journalists portray LeBron in the media may have caused this self-righteous view. When the media paints LeBron as this god of basketball constantly, it must get into his mind and cause him to act and behave as the greatest to ever play the game.
With his self-righteous view, it must also make him think that he can do whatever he wants, and everyone will accept it. This goes back to the media always glorifying him in whatever he does. If the media continues to worship LeBron, this problem will never be resolved.
If we ever want to stop athletes getting conceited and arrogant, we must get rid of hero worshipping in sports. LeBron might have been humble at some point in his life, but this glorification that the media does has changed that. If this trend continues, get ready to see more arrogant and self-righteous superstars in the future.