Jeff Haney offers an alternative to bowl games: a 16-team postseason playoff for college football

Monday, Dec. 4, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

A single, made-for-TV championship game after all the bowls have been played?

Highly unsatisfying.

A four-team miniplayoff?

Still not thick enough.

Nope, I'm holding out for a full-fledged, 16-team postseason playoff to determine college football's national championship.

Following is a basic outline of how it could be done while satisfying just about everyone but the most old-fashioned of bowl traditionalists:

Some, but not all, of the slots would automatically go to conference champs. That should satisfy anti-playoff fans who want to see regular-season games retain their significance (as the winner of those big clashes would potentially clinch an automatic bid).

The committee's at-large bracket selections would spark endless heated arguments and plenty of righteous indignation - especially among fans of those teams that were left out. Kind of like what happens in March.

Meanwhile, fans and bettors nationwide would be busy filling out bracket sheets and entering gambling pools - again much like the NCAA basketball tournament.

I don't really care which existing bowls would make the cut and become part of the playoff system, and you shouldn't, either. With all the corporate-driven name changes in recent years, most bowls have lost any real sense of history or tradition anyway.

Afterward, all but the four semifinalists would be home studying for finals, preparing for the holidays, or whatever it is people opposed to a playoff system think they should be doing. That's not a bad compromise.

Four weeks of play, 16 teams, 15 games, one champion.

As for the minor bowls that would be left out of the playoff system, such as the Poinsettia Bowl, the Hawaii Bowl, the PapaJohns.com Bowl and - yes - the Las Vegas Bowl?

They would continue to exist. They would serve as a sort of NIT, inviting also-rans to play on scattered dates mostly throughout December.

Just like they do now.

The games would be meaningless, of course, except to some alumni and gamblers.

Just like they are now.

Hall of Fame

Despite his 583 career home runs, seventh on the all-time list, Mark McGwire is a heavy underdog to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Offshore sports book BoDog made it minus-700 (risk $7 to win $1) that McGwire won't be elected this time around, and plus-400 that he will.

Voters are likely to shy away from supporting McGwire because of questions about whether he used performance-enhancing substances during his career.

When asked about the allegations in a Capitol Hill hearing, McGwire said: "My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family and myself."

Fez value

Professional gambler Fezzik collected a $50,000 check from Leroy's sports books for winning his 12-week head-to-head football handicapping contest against Nick Bogdanovich. Fezzik finished with a record of 42-23-7 (64.6 percent) against the point spread in the contest, while Bogdanovich went 43-27-2 (61.4 percent).

Also noted

I'll be appearing on the "Straight from the Hilton" radio show at 3 p.m. today (KLAV 1230-AM) from the Hilton poker room to talk gambling and sports.