Was talking with some friends the other day about the tourney and the subject of championship difficulty came up. Football, basketball, baseball, which one is the most difficult to win ? With football, the polls are so important and are, to a degree, out of a team's control. In basketball, you have to win 6 straight games in the tourney, no hiccups. Baseball, under the current format, requires a team to beat an opponent 2 outta 3 in the final round. I'm sorta leaning toward football as the most difficult because (1), if you lose one game you might be out of the running and (2), you could win every game and not make the championship game. Whaddayathink ?
I agree that football is the hardest b/c there is no playoff system. You don't have complete control over your own destiny. Of the playoff sports, I'd say men's basketball is the hardest. Parity has made the NCAA tourney really exciting. It's not nearly as predictable as the women's tourney. College baseball is becoming more balanced, but the same elite teams usually find their way to Omaha.
I go with football for the aforementioned reasons. However, the run in basketball is also a nail-biter--but at least a team has control over it.
Well, when you've got a sport in which the top-ranked teams in the country have no say-so in the championship round, I'd say that's pretty difficult.
I say football, because there are so few games played, that you basically have to be perfect all season long. And I agree that basketball is the hardest playoffs... again, you have to play perfect in the playoffs (as football pretty much does all season).
The argument against football, however, is that it hinges pretty heavily on preseason ranking and therefore, is subject to bias. You can end up in the championship game over another team, despite having an identical record to that team, and having had a weaker strength of schedule (gee, who could I be talking about?). So I guess it can be easier for some teams, and more difficult for others. Basketball has very little to do with ranking...just ask Duke! If this were football, they'd at least have at least been in the championship game.
i'd have to say football because you have to impress people just to get to the game. in basketball and baseball, you can win ugly through out a tourny and get to the big game. in football, 3 teams can go undefeated and the one that looks the least impressive wont make it.
