Speaking of the BCS...

Some good stuff from my former Sycamore Public Library co-worker and current SI.com contributor Stewart Mandel.

There is no doubt whatsoever that college football has the haziest post season of any sport in America. It's also got the best regular season and whoever's second on that list (I would say most likely the NFL), is barely within sight of the college pigskin.

Sure, you can debate the relative merits of Florida, Texas and Southern Cal. All those teams had one thing in common, ONE loss. Of course, there's Utah also which had nary a blemish on their record.

Now contrast that with the Arizona Cardinals. They were bested SEVEN times over a 16 game schedule. That's barely above .500. As you are well aware I'm sure, the Cards have a shot at winning the whole enchilada next week in Tampa. Imagine 7-6 Minnesota playing for the national title?

And of course, you can go back to last year as well. From Mandel:

Much the same thing occurred last year when the New England Patriots beat the New York Giants in the regular-season finale to become the first team in history to finish 16-0. In the end, though, all that mattered was the Giants -- a 10-6 wild-card team -- beating the Patriots in a February rematch.

The instant you add teams to the current two-team, BCS playoff system, you inherently devalue the regular season. There is just no way around that one.

Yes, there are many problems with the current incarnation of the BCS. There is no denying that playoffs are incredibly entertaining, as is evidenced most clearly by the NCAA basketball rendition. Always remember that there is a cost associated with those exilerating tournaments, the value of the regular season.