College bowl season is upon us

Capital One Bowl Week begins this week and while no teams got hurt this year by the BCS, I propose cutting it before a team gets bowl-ed over.

College football is the only sport that has a vote to pick the national champion. Its also the only sport that waits three and a half weeks to play its championship game.

Dropping the BCS doesn't necessarily mean dropping the bowl games. It is still possible to correlate the bowls with the playoffs, just like the Final Four in college basketball.

Others would argue that the college season is already long enough. But it would never hurt anything to trim a few games off each schedule to accommodate a postseason. Besides, a playoff could be finished in the time it takes to play all the bowl games now.

A playoff system is simplistic. No number-crunching, no politicking and no hanging chads on the ballots. Just one team against another like it should be.

Your system is simple as well -- get lots of rest early because you have a busy week ahead:

Thursday

The egg nog is gone, the stockings are empty and you're surrounded with torn wrapping paper and empty boxes. Christmas is over and you don't know what to do next. Don't you hate that feeling? Here's my remedy for you: more than 12 non-stop hours of high school basketball.

The seMissourian Christmas Tournament begins bright and early at 9 a.m. at the Show Me Center with No. 1 Charleston taking on No. 16 Chaffee.

This year the tournament is fairly balanced. Of the 16 teams, No. 6 Bell City brings the most wins and boasts the best record (6-1). BC plays Woodland (4-4) at 6 p.m.

Several coaches forecast a strong chance for upsets, including Kelly coach Nick Lanpher, who has been around the tournament for more than 30 years: "There's a lot of good teams you have to watch this year ... there's a chance for a handful of upsets."

Kelly is seeded ninth and its first round game against No. 8 Advance would be an upset if the Hawks can pull it off. Advance coach Jim Hall is seeking his 500th career win but his team (3-2) will have its hands full against a deep Kelly squad (3-3) at 9 p.m.

The most exciting game of the day could come from No. 7 Scott City and No. 10 Meadow Heights. If Meadow Heights can find a way to contain forward D.J. Walton, then the Panthers might just pull it out. Scott City is the only unbeaten team in the tournament and although the Rams have a tough bracket, they could go fairly deep. The game is in prime time at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on the tournament check semissourian.com (where the bracket will be updated after each game) or the tournament preview in your driveway on Thursday.

Friday

There will be no giveaways or promotions on this night. Just hope the Grizzlies don't give away the game. They host T-Mac and the Magic at 7 p.m.

Down the road

Championship Monday in the seMissourian Christmas Tournament is next week with four games in one day. The ninth-place game -- that's the championship of the losers' bracket -- is at 3 p.m. The fifth-place game will be played at 4:30 p.m. The third-place game is at 6 p.m., with the championship at 7:30 p.m.

Next week there will be two bowl games in the area. I'm saying it now -- take advantage of it.

Monday is the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl between Arkansas and Minnesota at the Coliseum in Nashville at 1 p.m. On Tuesday, Memphis hosts the AXA Liberty Bowl. TCU and Colorado State play at 2:30 p.m.

David Wilson is a student at Central High School. His column "The Week Ahead" appears every Monday.