Blue Charger...trying to wrap my head around NCAA snub.

It is 18 hours since I learned Hillsdale had been passed over the NCAA regional selection committee and I still can't believe the Chargers will be sitting at home next Saturday...outright conference champs of the GLIAC.

There lies the biggest head-scratcher. The notion that outright champ doesn't mean automatic qualifier. Realizing that has no bearing on selection goes against what most of see as one of the many engrained fibers of sports.

One of the major inconsistencies is that the NCAA gives automatic berths in all but D2. Heck the NAIA does it.  FCS and D3 have automatic qualifying bids. D2 is essentially the only one and we just can't wrap our heads around something that is ALMOST universal. ALMOST.

Automatically qualifying has been engrained in us thanks to that final weekend of NCAA basketball before the tournament. We see Northern Arizona and Santa Clara win and punch their tickets. It is everywhere and it makes sense to us...because it just makes sense.

Division II has out-thought itself here. All of the math formulas may have looked great on a chalk board but when it comes to real people and getting the best teams on the field at the end of the year it falls way short. It reminds me of zero tolerance laws where the best of intended formulas ends up short of the eye test...the common sense test. I have long felt that one of the flaws of the NCAA is that it is run by a bunch of egg-heads. Mathematicians and Social Scientists with too much time on their hands do way too much tinkering and attempt to achieve some crazy utopian model within the framework of college sports.

I said a couple of weeks ago that I would take a conference title over a trip to the playoffs. I meant it. That was also when there was a 5 way tie at the top of the league. I guess in the end I will still make that bargain, although it is my only choice. Winning this league, and being lucky enough to be outright champions is a huge accomplishment considering 11 weeks ago we didn't know who our quarterback was going to be and that we only lose a handful of seniors.

Charger fans are lighting up the D2football.com Message Boards in rage...and I feel that rage. I would really feel it if I just saw my son's football career end at the keystroke of a regional committee.

This process is broken because it tries to do everything with numbers. Football isn't a numbers game. It is a people game.

There is nothing more we can do Charger Nation about who plays on Saturday, Week 12 of 2011. There is a lot that can be done about Week 12, 2012 though.  I hope our guys take this snub and remember how it feels every time they strap on their running shoes or pick up a weight and turn it into fuel for next season. Learn from this Chargers. We can't let any Saturday be less than our best. Don't give the committee and the math problems any chance to keep us out of the playoffs next year.

Come to think of it, I hope we don't play on Week 12 next year either. I hope we are all sitting at home watching the first round, waiting to see who comes to Muddy Waters Stadium to face the top seed in the region.

Charge on my Blue and White faithful.