Who cares about the fake ESPN Championship. Until there is a championship of Champions it is nothing more than a media beauty contest.
Agreed.
As an aside, I do not follow sports that much until some close friend looses his mind. One such occasion was when his Big Ten team was left out of the national championship competition. As the avid cynic he is, he blamed it on the ESPN/SEC connection with the Bowl Committee with the added, “follow the money” cliche. So I went digging around a bit. Again I am not an avid sports fan so some of this was news to me but not so much to some here in FR.
Apparently ESPN has a huge stake in the SEC cable network and millions invested in broadcast contracts with them hence ESPN makes a ton of money anytime an SEC team ends up in any championship. Putting two SEC teams at opposing ends of the brackets improves the odds of one of them making it to the final game. This of course is not possible if the committee does not go along (maybe insert $$ here). Also, looking at the opening of the season’s rankings and the final outcome, it looks as if you have to be in the top ten pre-season if you want to be anywhere near the conversation at the end of the season. Of course, assuming you have a decent record AND the favor of the Bowl Committee. Good luck to the other poor saps from other conferences next year.
Anyhow, y’all enjoy the ESPN bowl and I’ll go stream some old Twilight Zone episodes.
Regards.