I don't do a lot of linking to good writing elsewhere, primarily because I'm usually slow to find things, and there are already other sites that do a phenomonal job at aggregating that sort of thing. And the dirty little secret is that I don't read nearly as much sports journalism as I outght to - I'm much more likely to wile away an hour on politics, or technology, or actually doing the work that keeps me employed.
That being said, the past few days I've come across a good chunk of writing worth point out, from stranger parts of the internet:
- King Kaufman is one of the best sports columnists writing today, and as the lone sportswriter at a news and politics magazine doesn't cover college sports nearly as much as I'd like. However, the past three days he's written great stuff on Alabama's coaching hire and the need for a football playoff. My coming around in favor of paying D-I athletes, which Kaufman also discussses in the link above, was in part on some of the writing he's done on the subject, and something I'll have to get around to writing here.
- In the spirit of giving equal time to the opposition, Chuck Klosterman believes he's the only anti-playoff advocate left. If only that were true. He may think that in part because he's using arguments from the mid-90's; no eight-team playoff would eliminate any of the minor bowl games he's so fond of, and all ten of the games he was excited about would have had tremendous playoff implications, and have ben just as important as they were under the current system, if not more so - do you really think Ohio State wouldn't still be in the national championship game if they had lost to Texas?
- The Onion AV Club lists its twelve favorite defunct bowl games, in all their goofy-named glory. It's not a coincidence that they include three of the four bowls my imaginary universe revived - these games have a charm you just won't get with something named the "Capitol One Bowl."
- Finally, Robert Weintraub at Slate argues for the importance of the center in the NFL. In doing so, he lays the blame for the Indianopolis Colts' postseason futility on Tar Heel alum Jeff Saturday. Saturday was named to his second Pro Bowl this year, and fellow SBNation blogger Stampede Blue has a quick recount of Saturday's move three years ago to guard for a playoff game against the Broncos to shut down the Denver defense.