This article is in response to one of the comments on the original posting of College Football Playoffs.  Matt, I think you are on to something here.  What about this?  What if we had every football player, college and pro, have to go through an individualized training session where there is a panel who rates all the players.   That panel will then evenly distribute players to each team.  The players will be distributed according to their scores.  For example, each team will have 3 players with a 95 ranking or above.  Then each team will be given 3 players with a 90-95 ranking.  This process would distribute all players evenly across all teams.  Think how fair the games would be!   Yes We Can!!!

College football is nearing the end of another season, and once again it looks like there is going to be controversy in who makes it to the championship game.   Every year we are faced with this discussion and every year nothing gets done.  How hard can it actually be to implement a playoff system!  Obviously the system we have in place now is not the best system.  These are the years of change in our country, right?  Well then we need to change the college football system as well.  To all of you who say it can’t be done and change will never come, I say to you…….Yes We Can!!!

Today in the soccer world, Manchester United FC defeated Chelsea FC for Champions League title.  I have to admit, this was the first time in my life that I actually sat down and watched an entire soccer match from start to finish.  And even more surprising to me, I loved every minute of it.  I was glued to the television from the first minute of the game to the last.  Now I did watch some of the games of the FIFA World Cup in 2006, but I did not enjoy any of those games as much as I did the game today (this may be due to the fact that the US did poorly in the World Cup and didn’t make it out of the group stage).  

The two teams today had some of the best players in the world going at each other, perhaps even the best player in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored his first goal ever against Chelsea in the 26th minute.  Chelsea answered right before the half when Frank Lampard scored his goal in the 45th minute of the match.  Regulation ended with the teams still locked in a draw at 1-1.  Thirty minutes of extra time were then added to see if either team could manage a goal before going to the penalty kick shootout.  Chelsea got very close to taking a 2-1 lead but came up short when Frank Lampard’s shot hit off the crossbar of the goal and bounced away.  Extra time ended deadlocked at 1-1.  

Then came the penalty kick shootout to decide it all.  Both teams had made their first two PK shots.  Then stepped up Cristiano Ronaldo, who had scored Manchester United’s only goal of the game, and he missed his PK shot!    Both teams then went on to make their next two PKs, and it all came down to John Terry, the captain of Chelsea.  With both teams tied at 4-4 in the shootout, all Terry had to do was make his PK shot and Chelsea would win 5-4 and claim the Champions League title, the most prestigious soccer championship in all the world.  He ran up to kick his PK, and as he kicked the ball he slipped and fell to the ground, unable to control his kick, and he hit the post of the goal and missed!  Man U made their next PK, which Chelsea answered and made theirs as well.  Man U upped the pressure again by making the following PK. Chelsea’s Nicolas Anelka had to answer to keep his team alive.  He ran up to take his shot, and Man U’s goalie Edwin Van der Sar predicted which way Anelka would shoot and blocked the shot, clinching Manchester United the Champions League title.  Chelsea had their opportunities to win.  They were so close, yet they just couldn’t finish the game off.  

This is the soccer game I experienced today.  The biggest soccer game on the biggest stage, and man was it exciting!  Now I have never been a huge soccer fan, but today may have changed my mind!