Let’s take a minute this morning to congratulate the University of Central Florida Golden Knights on their National Championship in College Football.
Now, if you are thinking “Aren’t Georgia and Alabama playing in the ‘College Football Playoff Championship Game’ on Monday night?” don’t worry–you aren’t losing your mind. UCF is actually becoming the first team to “self-identify” as a national champion.
The Golden Knights argue that because they are the only undefeated team left in college football–and because they beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl and Auburn is the only team to defeat both Alabama and Georgia this year–they deserve to call themselves “champions”–even if no one else in the world is going to recognize that. UCF is even going so far as to hold a parade at Disney World on Sunday and a banner-raising ceremony at their stadium Monday night during the “illegitimate” National Championship Game in Atlanta.
When you think about it, the Central Florida “title” is the perfect confluence of two cultural fads: self-identification and everyone needs to be made to feel special. If gender, race and heritage are no longer based upon DNA and anatomy, why should championship status be based on playoff results, strength of schedule and power rankings? If UCF “feels like” they should be national champions based upon their own standards, then who are we to criticize or even question them?
And speaking of feelings, we wouldn’t want the Golden Knights to feel like their effort wasn’t the best that anyone has ever seen. They tried hard. They were told from day one that they are very good players. And to see someone else given the ultimate credit and glory is inherently “unfair”. It shouldn’t matter that Alabama or Georgia beat much better teams throughout the season, or that they would pound Central Florida into the turf if the two met in a game with more on the line than the Peach Bowl trophy. “We played so we deserve a championship too!”
Now in UCF’s defense, the winner of the Georgia-Alabama game won’t be NCAA Champions either. That is because the NCAA does not recognize a national champion in “College Bowl Subdivision Football”. In fact, it is the only sport in which the NCAA does not have its own championship playoffs. The College Football Playoff that is currently employed is a creation of ESPN, its corporate sponsors and the five main conferences that share in the huge advertising revenues created by the three games. Unfortunately for Central Florida, they are not a member of one of those five conferences–so they can (and were) shut out of the “playoff”.
So I guess if we are giving a “mythical” national championship to one school on Monday night, it should be okay for another school give itself a fake title too. I wonder if Rachel Dolezal and Senator Elizabeth Warren are available as Grand Marshalls for that parade?
