Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series (1)

Finished my first book of the year and it was a good one. Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series was really well done (A brief summary of the book can be found here). I have read Josh Peter before in Fried Twinkies; Buckle Bunnies and Bull Riders (another great book) but honestly Death to the BCS was an even better read.

The authors put forth a complete case for a playoff system based upon solid arguments and research. And in bringing foreword a case; the authors don't cease from importing history and story into their argument. We all want to know why Boise State has blue turf or how College GameDay came to be a national tailgate party (K-State gets a shout out). Everyone wants to know how the BCS came about; but I also wanted to know that the Big Six (a precursor to the Big 8) was one of the first conferences in the nation; Rutgers and Princeton shard the national title in 1869; and Les Miles wife coined the phrase "undefeated in regulation" to argue LSU's title contentions in 2007. You meet a guy who has formulated the national champion based on algorithms all the way back to 1869 and a guy who thinks he has found a way to bring the whole system down.

The book shows: the ineptitude of voters; the flawed formulas; the fraudulant and underhanded contracts; the instability of the system; and the greed employed by commisioners in the entire system. As large as all these things are, the book paints a clear picture of the injustice done towards college football fans with the entire system. This was a phenomenal book that really shows how a college football is messed up; but it also gives a view of the problems that constantly face the game today (like conference realignment and a lack of quality teams playing each other regularly). The whole BCS can be summed up in two words: Greed and Control. I didn't know much about the BCS prior to this; but this book was a phenomenal read that explained in detail all the inner workings of athletic programs and the men behind the most confusing system that we have in the world of Sports!

If you are thinking about reading this book check the summary (linked here again) and get ready for a couple hours of really thought provoking stuff. It was a pretty easy read; but highly entertaining.