Category: History and More

By all indications, Bill Hancock is a really nice man.

Every interaction I ever had with him was pleasant, and I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about him. He seems like a good dude in a world that has far too many bad dudes.

But, holy schnikes, it’s hard to believe the executive director of the College Football Playoff actually believes what he says when he talks about the CFP and bowl system.

With football media days kicking off last week, Hancock was in Atlanta to lift the lid on the SEC portion of the annual press fest. As expected, he raved about the Football Bowl Subdivision’s playoff system, which will crown its fifth champion Jan. 7, 2019, in Santa Clara, California.

“By every measure, the College Football Playoff has been highly successful,” Hancock said. “Fans love the CFP. It has provided a memorable experience for students, for players, for spirit squads, band members and all of their families in addition to millions of football fans, and we are bringing new fans into the game of college football into our sphere, showing them the wonders of this game that we all do love so much because of the College Football Playoff.”

Of course after Central Florida was the only unbeaten team in the FBS a year ago and locked out of the playoffs, there were (and are) those who think the tournament should be expanded to eight teams.

Not Hancock.

He suggests that the four-team CFP format is damn near perfect.

“The CFP works,” Hancock said. “It works well. Four teams keeps the focus on this wonderful regular season, the most meaningful and compelling in all of sports; four lets us keep the bowl experience for thousands of student-athletes; four keeps college football within the framework of higher education.”

Obviously, I wouldn’t expect him to say anything else. I mean, this is his job. If all 129 FBS teams were required to have green and magenta feathers sprouting from the top of their helmets, he’d be talking about how the green and magenta feathers add to the pageantry of Saturdays in the fall.

But remember, Hancock used to be head of the now defunct Bowl Championship Series – and fiercely opposed any kind of playoff system for what was once known as Division 1-A.

Here’s what he said during a radio interview with WDAE in Tampa back in 2011:

“The reason that the presidents and the coaches and ADs support what we have is two things. First of all, we have the best regular season in sports in large part because there’s no playoff at the end. We have three months of frenzy rather than three weeks of frenzy at the end of the season. Our folks feel strongly that’s in the best interest of the game. The second one is the bowl system, the bowl tradition, the bowl experience for the student athletes is so wonderful and worth keeping. No one has come up with any kind of a playoff that will keep that same bowl experience where the athletes get to go spend a week in a different culture and they’re the talk of the town.”

So there was a time not so long ago that Hancock thought a playoff would cheapen the regular season and bowls, and he believed that right up to the point when he decided a playoff would, in fact, be great for the regular season and bowls (which I’m sure coincided with being named ED of the CFP).

However, it’s a different gridiron world now, and I think this whole notion of “bowl tradition” is extremely overrated.

Yeah, it was cool back in the day – but back in the day there were only a handful of postseason “classics.”

I’m sure it was thrill for Michigan Wolverines tackle Johnny Plowboy from Hog Taint, Indiana, to board the train and head out to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to play Southern Cal’s Trojans in a battle of unbeatens. It was his first time to go clear across the country on a big ol’ iron horse, and he got to gawk at sights ma and pa never dreamed of while they toiled away raising boll weevils in their backyard.

Today, players on teams with .500 records fly to Mobile, Alabama, and get swag bags from Dollar General.

And that’s fine, but let’s not pretend the modern bowl system is designed with tradition in mind.

And let’s not pretend the CFP is open to all, although Hancock tells you otherwise.

He’s trying to sell the CFP as something that’s good for the FBS as a whole, when in reality it’s good only for select members of the Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10, and SEC).

“For the College Football Playoff, things are simple: Play a good schedule, win your games, and you’re going to be in the hunt,” Hancock said. “That holds true for UCF and Houston and Northern Illinois, as well as Alabama and Ohio State and Texas and Washington.”

I call B.S. on that.

There’s no way UCF, Houston or Northern Illinois is going to earn one of four playoff spots; there’s not even enough room for all the Power 5 schools.

The CFP website perpetuates the myth in its overview section where it states, “The College Football Playoff preserves the excitement and significance of college football’s unique regular season where every game counts.”

Really?

Because Auburn beat Alabama in the final week of the 2017 regular season, denying the Crimson Tide the SEC West title and a spot in the SEC Championship Game.

Still, Bama was invited to the CFP and went on to beat Georgia to claim the crown.

You’ll have a hard time convincing me the Iron Bowl counted to the CFP committee members. In terms of postseason pairings, one of the most meaningful rivalries in all of sports was meaningless.

And as long as only four teams are invited, schools from Group of 5 conferences (American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt) have zero chance of making the field.

Perhaps that’ll change one day, because with the money the CFP generates you have to figure the field will expand to eight teams in the foreseeable future.

Some will think that’s terrific, while others will lament the expansion.

But if Hancock is still the executive director then, I’ll bet he’ll say it’s the greatest thing to ever happen to the game.

 

 

There were plenty of times during my newspaper career that I wished I had gone into marketing.

Aside from making a lot more money, it seemed like it would’ve been a cool job that allowed for a great deal of outside-the-box thinking and creativity.

But I didn’t go into marketing so, really, I can’t speak intelligently about it.

Not being able to speak intelligently has never stopped me before, though. Therefore, it won’t stop me from trying to make sense of the marketing strategy of the fledgling Alliance of American Football, which begins play in February.

Now in terms of the rollout, it was great.

League officials had a mission and a message, and it was all packaged with some solid branding and a terrific league logo.

And you couldn’t ask for a better opening salvo – introducing Steve Spurrier as the head coach of the flagship franchise in Orlando.

But as of Wednesday the league has finalized its eight-team lineup for 2019. Cities represented will be Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio and San Diego.

Notice anything strange about the franchise placement?

I did.

There’s not a single team in the northeast, northwest or breadbasket of the United States. And even though the league already has a primary TV contract with the CBS Sports Network (the opener and championship game will be shown on CBS), it has only one city in the country’s top 10 media markets – Atlanta.

That’s puzzling.

As a Birmingham native and an aficionado of off-brand pro football, I couldn’t care less; as long as the games are entertaining, I’ll watch no matter where the teams call home.

But why would a casual fan in New York, Chicago, or Philadelphia tune in?

What kind of overnight Nielson ratings will a game between the Birmingham Battalion and Memphis Bluesmen pull? (And before you start Googling, no, those aren’t the team’s actual nicknames. Yet).

I just assumed the Alliance’s first eight teams would be scattered throughout the country, not mostly across the southern part of the map.

But, a friend of mine has a theory.

AAF founder Charlie Ebersol is the son of Dick Ebersol, who is BFF with Vince McMahon. McMahon, of course, is reviving the XFL, which is set to return in 2020.

Ron Montgomery, a buddy, CFL bon viveur and, like me, fan of fledgling leagues, thinks that perhaps the XFL and Alliance could eventually merge, suggesting it could be part of McMahon’s “master plan.”

As soon as the AAF was announced, he mentioned the ties between the Ebersol family and McMahon, and opined that maybe – just maybe – this is a first-phase launch.

In other words, McMahon will have a chance to see what goes right and wrong with his “competitor” in 2019, make adjustments to the XFL, and perhaps (I can’t resist this) form an alliance with the Alliance.

If this is part of the master plan, as Ron suggests, I think we’ll find out when McMahon (or newly-named XFL CEO Oliver Luck) reveals the circuit’s eight franchises.

If you see, say, New York, Norfolk, Spokane and Chicago among the teams, then that might explain why the Alliance is so south-heavy.

Admittedly, this is all just a case of thinking out loud.

It could be that the Alliance brain trust is already looking ahead, and has plans for a four-team expansion to the northeast in 2020 in hopes of beating the XFL, not joining it.

Still, it’s taking a gamble with being what amounts to a glorified “regional” league in its first season.

If the TV ratings tank, CBS will waste no time cutting ties.

The original XFL had a contract with NBC in 2001, but when people stopped watching the network pulled out, and the league folded after one season.

I hope that’s not the case with the AAF.

My wish is that the rules will be so compelling (no kickoffs, 2-point conversions only, 30-second play clock) and the players good enough that football fans – regardless of where they live – will tune in.

If so, then the XFL will have to up its one-upmanship game in 2020, setting the stage for a spring league rivalry (if not possible merger down the road).

And if I was in marketing and the Alliance of American Football and XFL eventually combined, I’d call the new organization “Alliance X.”

I started my newspaper career covering a high school football game in Ashland, Ala., in 1987. The last game I wrote about as a credential-carrying member of the media was Clemson’s victory over Wake Forest last fall at Memorial Stadium.

In between I had “beat” duties for Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Clemson in the college ranks, as well as the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons of the NFL.

But I guess after all this time I’m finally free to admit that my favorite brand of outdoor tackle football isn’t even played in the United States.

Thursday starting at 8:30 p.m., I’ll be situated on the far right corner of the futon watching the Edmonton Eskimos go head-to-head with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

A day later, at 9 p.m., I’ll take in the Toronto Argonauts vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders game.

And on Saturday, it’ll be a six-hour marathon for me, beginning with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats challenging the Calgary Stampeders and ending with the Montreal Alouettes trying their luck against the BC Lions.

Yep, it’s a new season of the Canadian Football League, and for me, it’s the most wonderful time of the gridiron year.

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been enamored with the Canadian game for more than 40 years, so I won’t waste your time with an origin story.

I will tell you, however, that I started rooting for the Ti-Cats back in the 1970s, and last season adopted the Alouettes as my “backup” team.*

* I cheered for the Birmingham Barracudas in 1995 during the CFL’s brief stop in the southeastern United States (and still miss them).

And after all these years it’s funny to me that so many people seem gobsmacked that I dare take the CFL “seriously.”

Not only do I take it seriously, but I’ll take it over every other brand of tackle football that exists.

Why?

The answer is simple: I like the rules better.

Teams have 12 players to a side (an extra back on offense and an additional secondary player on defense).

The field is 110 yards long and 65 yards wide, and end zones are 20 yards deep with goalposts located on the goal line. So you might actually hear the announcer say, “Hamilton has first down at the Calgary 53.”
Teams have only three downs to make a first down, so you don’t see a lot of line plunges to test the opposing “D.”
If a ball is fumbled out of bounds, it becomes the possession of the last team to touch it.
Then there’s the rouge … the beautiful, quirky rouge.

It’s a 1-point score (also called a single) awarded to a team that kicks a ball into the end zone that isn’t returned (except on an extra point, or in CFL terminology, a “convert”).
Even if a kicker misses a field goal, his team still gets a point if the ball goes out of the end zone or if a kick returner takes a knee.

Yet my favorite play – albeit a rarity – is the “onside punt.”

Yep, any player who lines up behind the punter is considered “onside” and can recover a punted ball. Oh, and no fair catches are allowed on punts, either.

If you don’t follow the CFL, you may see these rules as gimmicks.

Not me … I view them as upgrades, and they make the game faster and more wide-open.

That translates to a more enjoyable experience for me.

This isn’t to say that I don’t also love “traditional” football.

On Saturdays in the fall I’ll watch an American college game, and on Sundays I’ll make room for the NFL.

As a graduate of UAB, I’m extremely interested in the Blazers’ revived program, and I’ve been a New York Jets fan since their American Football League days.

But nine times out of 10 – if I have to choose between the NCAA, NFL or CFL – I’m going to watch the game played north of the border.

It might not feature the world’s best football players, but I think it features some of the world’s best football games.