Playoffs. As exciting as they might be from time to time, they are simply a gimmick to keep interested those who are not all that interested in the first place. Still, as long as they do not go beyond the pale, to be too stupid in presenting their post-season tournament, they can create a measure of excitement.
The latest NASCAR proposal that has come to light would have 16 cars enter the Chase. Rather a large number, but actually in line with what some other sports welcome among the season’s championship contenders. Then let us whittle that group down over the ten race “playoff” until we just have four left in contention in the final race. That might work, except for the 39 other guys who have no business even being on the field of battle.
Imagine the upcoming Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. Let us play the game in San Francisco before only 49er fans, as we know just how much they love them Seahawks. Then, let us have the New England Patriots supply all the officials, on the field and beyond. While we are at it, let us have a few folks from the remaining 28 teams call a few plays, heck, let them even run a few themselves. Obviously, this would be a stupid idea, but thankfully no one in the NFL is stupid enough to institute it. NASCAR, however, might actually be thinking of implementing something just as stupid.
There is a reason they have a World Series. In 1903, they wondered who might be best, the champion of the National League or the American League. So, they played a series of games to answer the question. In 1969, Joe Namath and the New York Jets won the American Football League title, and then played the NFL champion Baltimore Colts to decide which champion was the best. Back in the spring of 1976, Guy Lafleur’s Montreal Canadiens were the best in hockey. Or were they? If they had played Bobby Hull’s Winnipeg Jets in a NHL/WHA showdown, we might have received a different answer. In each of the above cases, there was no cross-over, no common opponents. The only way to decide who was best was to have the two champions showdown for all the marbles.
There was no showdown prior to late October last year between the Red Sox and Cardinals, so the best team from each league needed a final series to determine the best. It’s the same this season in the NFL, where they can play no more than 16 of their 31 rivals during the course of the regular season. As Seattle and Denver have yet to play each other this campaign, we still need that final game to sort things out.
In NASCAR, we had the same 30 cars go head-to-head in each and every one of the 36 Cup races over the course of the season. From that number, Jimmie Johnson was the best over the season, beating Kevin Harvick by almost an entire race worth of points. Oh, but they had a 10 race Chase playoff, yet Johnson proved to be the best again, by 19 points over Matt Kenseth. Jimmie Johnson was the best over the season, the best in the playoffs, and any cockamamie system that would have deprived him of a championship would have made a mockery out of the sport.
Back in 2003, Kenseth won the title with but a single win (in the third race of the season) and that horrid occurrence spawned the Chase. Instead of giving out more points for a win, NASCAR decided it needed a playoff like all the other guys. In short, an attempt to artificially create some sort of excitement instead of being content with simply honoring the best over the course of the season. Maybe what they needed to do was rejig the points system at that time while adding more bonus points for victories, then possibly we would not even need the Chase. I mean, they had gone without it for 55 years just fine.
To be honest, we do not yet know the details of this plan, how 16 contenders would be whittled down to four over the course of ten races before determining a final champion. We do not even know for sure if this is the real deal. However, I think most of us have learned that when you hear someone proposing something stupid and you say nothing, don’t be surprised when you end up with stupid. If they want to trade legitimacy for drama in declaring a NASCAR champion, might I suggest a coin toss? It would save us all a lot of time and money.