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College football needs a playoff

Editor's note: Bobby Burton of Rivals.com has a birthday wish today, to air his thoughts on the ridiculousness that is the lack of a playoff system in NCAA Division 1 football. His thoughts echo mine and most sports fans pretty damn well. Feel free to pass this on...

Today is my birthday - I'm 36 today.

Or, as my dad put it this morning, I'm halfway home.

But before I reach "home," there is a wish I'd like granted. I'm not being greedy here. Just one wish, not three. No particular wrongs I need righted at the moment.

All I want is what fans and players alike deserve: a true national championship game in college football.

The excuses university presidents and chancellors have given in the past are riddled with hypocrisy, especially with the recent decision to give every D-I football team a 12th game.

"An unnecessary 12th game" used to be the rallying cry against a plus-one bowl system. "We don't want kids having to take too much time away from school that an extra week would cause," some pompous academician in charge of something he never should have been in charge of in the first place, someone like say Myles Brand, surely said at some point.

Now that every team has a 12th game, what argument do the presidents have against a plus-one championship game?

I'm just waiting to hear the Brand-like excuse now.

It's probably just more sycophantic crap like they've used in the past.

In fact, I can hear it now.

"The student-athlete will lose all-important study time by adding a plus-one national championship."

Of course, in the meantime all of us fans who went to college remember exactly how much time we all spent studying in those early weeks of January. Wait, we didn't. We were lucky to get a syllabus and buy our used books by then.

Not to mention the fact NCAA basketball teams can somehow find time to go to Hawaii, New York City, Alaska and Puerto Rico during that month and they apparently don't "miss too much school."

The guys at the NCAA are simply out of touch with reality. A true national football championship game would be a $100-plus million bonanza. All schools could split the money and we could stop reading about certain men's sports being discontinued to meet Title IX standards.

Hey, it's just a thought. But it's a thought that may have never occurred to someone with the last name Brand.

If you want to grant me a birthday wish, here's all I ask:

Please copy and paste this entire article and send it to as many friends as you can. And I ask you and your friends to write to the NCAA and to Myles Brand.

If you want a college football national championship and can't stand the hypocrisy any longer, let them know. If you want more athletes on scholarship, not less, then speak out.

For some reason, the NCAA refused to give out Mr. Brand's email address or a general email box. However, I spoke with their media relations office and here is the email box they provided:

pmr@ncaa.org

And, for you folks who are "almost home" and still feel more comfortable sending a written letter, here is the physical address you can send your mail to:

Dr. Myles Brand
President
National Collegiate Athletic Association
P.O. Box 6222
Indianapolis, IN 46206

I appreciate your time in reading this. And, I'm blessed to be 36 and a college sports fan.

Bobby Burton is editor of Rivals.com. He can be reached via email at bobby@rivals.com or by phone at 615.507.1050.

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