Don’t Watch the CFB Championship Game
There’s a psychological concept known as “delayed gratification” and I want to briefly argue that, even though you may love college football and love watching it at its best and most competitive, that you will receive more gratification by boycotting the CFB playoffs than by watching.
The original experiment went like this: kids were placed in a room with a marshmallow. They could eat the marshmallow at any time and ring a bell, and they were done. Alternatively, they could wait an unspecified amount of time for the researcher to return and they would receive two marshmallows. Watching the CFB playoffs in its current form is analogous to eating a single marshmallow.
This Stupid System Persists Because we Keep Watching
Like its fans, the NCAA also does not get the concept of delayed gratification. It allows for a system that lacks parity, competitiveness, and fun to appease their top performing programs. OSU, ‘Bama, and Clemson have a lot of fans, but their dominance over the rest of the NCAA has led to apathy among other fan bases. We know a thing or two about ennui.
If the NCAA were to make reforms that allow for greater parity and competitiveness, more people would watch college football and it would make more money. There is a clear precedent for this in the forms of the NFL and the NCAA Basketball tournament. However, the guys in charge of NCAA football are clearly football guys, not economists. They see that marshmallow (big chunk of money) in front of them and they can’t help but to gobble it up. They don’t realize that they could easily wait fifteen minutes and receive two marshmallows.
Part of the problem is that we fans keep giving the NCAA a marshmallow. If fanbases outside the two championship teams refused to watch the championship game, then it would be a ratings dud and they would be forced to take a hard look at their business model. The stupid system persists because we allow it.
“But I’m just One Person”
This is the common argument given against boycotts and voting. You are just one person, just one data point out of millions, but it takes many people making the same decision to enact change. That’s what happened to Clinton’s “blue wall” in 2016 and Trump’s “solid south” in 2020 (please accept this analogy as politically neutral and do not debate its merits below). As well as boycotting the CFB playoffs, encourage everyone you know to do the same thing. If they’re not a OSU or ‘Bama fan, it probably sounds reasonable. Do weird things like write extended message board posts on your favorite CFB message board encouraging others to boycott.
What if a Miracle Occurs and Michigan Makes the Playoffs?
Watch that, obviously.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:44 PM ^
I wasn’t going to anyway, but thanks for some reasons besides not caring about this game at all.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:25 PM ^
I have to hate watch and root against OSU. I can't help myself. I wish I was a stronger man.
January 11th, 2021 at 9:44 PM ^
It's OK. You may not have denied yourself a marshmallow when you were 15, how can you be expected to start now?
January 11th, 2021 at 7:45 PM ^
Thank you for providing the tl;dr right in the title for us so we didn’t have to scroll down for it
January 11th, 2021 at 7:47 PM ^
Shouldn’t all titles be the tl;dr version?
January 11th, 2021 at 8:09 PM ^
Not the one-word titles.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:46 PM ^
Don't tell me what to do...
January 12th, 2021 at 5:14 PM ^
Same thing I tell people when they say "Have a nice day".
January 11th, 2021 at 7:46 PM ^
Thumbs up for use of the word ennui.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:47 PM ^
Why do so many people think their terrible opinions are threadworthy?
January 11th, 2021 at 7:47 PM ^
You can’t not make me not watch.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:50 PM ^
Since we are never going to beat OSU again and have little reason or need to really hate them anymore because of that, I’m actually hoping they beat Alabama because the SEC can go fuck itself.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:05 PM ^
You are truly the master of BPONE.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
False.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:34 PM ^
The Granddaddy is your king. Accept your king.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:10 PM ^
Even though we know they're going to beat us, we can hope they lose to everyone else.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:19 PM ^
This will ALWAYS be the correct answer.
January 11th, 2021 at 9:41 PM ^
I actually used to enjoy rooting for Ohio State after we beat them. Loved me some Eddie George after he got Biakabatuka-ed. It's been so g*d-d@mned long....
January 11th, 2021 at 7:50 PM ^
What if you stream it and don't pay for cable?
January 11th, 2021 at 7:57 PM ^
My general theory of psychological theories derived from questionable experiments: they’re true when they help me make a point, and utter crap when they run counter to my beliefs.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:07 PM ^
Exactly!
January 11th, 2021 at 8:16 PM ^
Ahh...socio-political theory
January 11th, 2021 at 8:30 PM ^
Basically human nature. There is a distinct evolutionary disadvantage to being open minded to opposing ideas.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:52 PM ^
Roll Tide.
Hoping to see all these Bama players (that had Michigan a close 2nd in recruiting who really valued academics) beat OSU.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:31 PM ^
DaShawn Hand has been in the NFL for 3 years now...
January 11th, 2021 at 8:41 PM ^
Najee Harris says hello
January 11th, 2021 at 9:39 PM ^
Alex Leatherwood waves hi too and if we’re including Bucks so does Barron Browning.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:43 PM ^
The Doak Walker recipient has not.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:52 PM ^
Sounds like a Schrodinger's Cat Experiment.
Go Bama, I'll be watching so I can root for OSU to lose, man I feel dirty saying that, sigh.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:52 PM ^
Hadn't planned on it. Garbage game within a garbage system to cap off a garbage season.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:53 PM ^
I was up until 1am last night in a state of Browns euphoria and I hate Ohio State.
One large Port Charlotte 10 and I will be asleep soon.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:54 PM ^
I don’t have a Nielsen box so this doesn’t apply to me.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:33 PM ^
It's unlikely that anyone has a Nielsen box on this entire board.
January 11th, 2021 at 9:15 PM ^
I got a letter saying they wanted us to be a Nielsen family about 12 years ago. We never followed up on it, though, because that was about a month before I moved to Toronto.
I'm not watching the game, but I am kind of half-assedly following it on ESPN Gamecast like I do a lot of sporting events nowadays.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:57 PM ^
I don't want to watch out of fear that OSU will blow Bama away. I won't be able to stomach it. I will be following and watching eagerly if Northwestern Justin Fields shows up.
January 11th, 2021 at 7:58 PM ^
It's just boring at this point. The other bowls were more interesting.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:01 PM ^
I don't watch covid year much. Alabama win
January 11th, 2021 at 8:02 PM ^
TLDR I’ll do what the hell i want
January 11th, 2021 at 8:03 PM ^
Wasn’t planning to anyway. The Michigan state game killed interest in seeing CFB for about 10 months.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:07 PM ^
I probably won't be able to watch because I don't have cable or a streaming subscription that includes ESPN, but I would tune in just to watch Devonta Smith. That kid is incredible.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:08 PM ^
ill watch it because i love football and its not my fault michigan put a very poor product on the field this year. Of course i would be crazy happy if michigan were playing in it, but that is not the case.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:10 PM ^
My husband is watching therefore.....I will watch something else on the other TV. Or read a book.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
Fuck saban and everything to do with bama but I hate Ohio state so much more. ROLL DAMN TIDE!
January 11th, 2021 at 8:16 PM ^
I never thought I’d be ok with OSU winning, but I’m there. We suck, but it’s not OSU’s fault. I’m done grinding that axe until it matters again.
January 11th, 2021 at 9:18 PM ^
I never thought I’d be ok with OSU winning
Just stop right there. You SHOULD NEVER be okay with OSU winning. FFS what is the matter with all these 'fans' who are 'so tired' of various things that they actually want the root of all evil to win. Anybody here rooting for Ohio State needs to immediately turn in their fan card.
What the hell is wrong with these people
January 11th, 2021 at 9:45 PM ^
Forgive them, for they have been bludgeoned.
January 11th, 2021 at 10:03 PM ^
I didn’t say I ‘want’ them to win. I said I’m ok with it. Apathetic. I’m not actively cheering for them, but why spend so much energy rooting against them? I can’t change the outcome of the game. Continuously rooting for someone else to beat them because we can’t seems a little pathetic. We we become competitive again, I’ll gladly root against them.
January 11th, 2021 at 9:45 PM ^
Yep, and to the people talking about rooting for your conference, fuck the big ten too. They fuck us every chance they get. Fuck 'em and roll damn tide.
January 11th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
I liked that this was a logically well-thought out argument on why not to watch the championship. I’m still going to watch it, but I upvoted because it is more intelligently defended applying a study and reason than most board posts.