You probably would have to be following my posting habits a bit too closely to bother noticing, but the fact is, I post on the topic of playoffs a lot.  It's a hot-button thing for me.  Just about every thread on the issue attracts me to it like a magnet, and I'm powerless to resist.  Some people truly wonder why anyone could be against playoffs like I am, and many certainly wonder why I'm such a consummate dick about it half the time.  An explanation is owed, so that the next time I tear into your special playoff idea that you thought would generate applause and knowing nods of approval, you might still think I'm being a dick but at least you'll know why.  Bullets, away:

- I represent the persecuted minority.  Woe is us, the playoff deniers.  I recognize that the tide is against those of us who would prefer not to turn to a playoff in college football.  In order to pander to the majority, idealogues like Dan Wetzel and Pat Forde condescend to those of us who disagree.  I believe that a playoff is inevitable, somewhere down the line, due to the tide of support for it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it or not go down swinging.  But in order to be heard, it sometimes requires drastic measures.

- Gumdrop rainbow playoff ideas.  Hardly a day goes by without someone inventing their own playoff.  Having come up with their own special proposal and convinced themselves it's perfect, they become entrenched.  "I have a great idea, therefore I'm in favor of a playoff."  The problem is, people approach it like this:

- I see problems, X, Y, and Z with the current system.
- Here is a system that fixes X, Y, and Z.

They have given zero thought to the actual realities the NCAA operates under.  They might fix X, Y, and Z but they break A, B, and C.  They come up with ideas that break NCAA bylaws, ignore the considerations that the power brokers deal with, force unrealistic expectations onto the scene, and generally fail to take into account most of the factors that drive the situation.  Some are just playoffs for the sake of playoffs.  Extremely rare is the playoff proposal that it's not easy to poke a ton of holes in at first sight.  Extremely rare is the playoff proposal that the NCAA and conference commissioners wouldn't round-file the moment they saw it.  But everyone from POTUS on down has their gumdrop rainbow idea that they like, and having presented it, they see no reason why it shouldn't be implemented and therefore they are playoff advocates.

Even I have my own gumdrop rainbow idea, but it doesn't make me a playoff advocate - I recognize that what I want and what playoff eventually emerges are likely to be wildly different.  I suspect many people will find that the end result is as disappointing to them as the current system.  At least, though, I've tried to take what I think is the correct approach when designing a playoff, which is to try to think through what the commissioners and presidents would want out of it and then apply those rules to fit what I want into them, rather than start with my own burning desires and convince myself that the result is workable.

- The BCS folks are idiots.  The anti-playoff arguments they come up with are at best hit-and-miss and at worst totally off-mark.  They aren't much better at thinking through the eyes of a fan than the fans are at thinking through the eyes of the commissioners.  Someone has to take up their slack.

- Get off my lawn.  I'm a traditionalist at heart, and college football has the best ones.  I don't like the idea that we must tear down the old ways because somewhere along the line, we decided the national title is all that matters.  And further, many people think you can have it both ways.  Well, you might be able to, but not through the methods most propose.  Again, I suspect many would find themselves disappointed when the presence of a playoff removes some aspect of college football they thought would be kept.  In any case, though, I'm kind of reflexive about it - the default setting should be to keep what you've got if there are doubts, because once you change, you can't go back.

I don't think the BCS is the perfect system, and it could always use a fix here and there.  But anti-playoff is not pro-status-quo - an assumption made by too many.  That assumption, and others like it, permeate the pro-playoff ranks, and, because those ranks are the majority, are too often accepted as the truth.  Too many wrong ideas about why we don't have a playoff and why we should are in every debate.  I just can never resist shooting them down.