Grade-iron
If I were a professor at a college, as one of my future parallel selves surely will be, I would spice things up every fall semester. Instead of grading A-F, I would grade as such:
A: BCS Championship Game
B: BCS Bowl
C: Bowl eligible
D: Demotion to I-AA (i.e. Championship Subdivision)
F: Demotion to DII (or DIII, if the score is a blowout)
Seriously, “bowl eligible” is such a sad phrase because it seems to imply merit but really only rewards mediocrity.
Pretty soon there will be 59 bowls to go around – and all but ONE “Bowl Subdivision” team will NOT make it to a postseason game. Really put some pressure on those also-rans that way.
(On a side note, “eligible” is a very tough word to type. One’s right hand has to bend at all sorts of weird angles for the word to have any kind of flow. “Legible,” with almost the same letters, is exponentially easier to type. And one can type “stewardesses” with just the left hand!)
