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Back in 1998, an experiment called the Bowl Championship Series was born, an attempt to quell all the bickering, arguing and questioning about why certain teams were winning the mythical national championship in college football...and why some teams were not, despite having the credentials to do so.

Here we are 10 years later, and those same questions seem to persist. But as the BCS turns 10, let's take a realistic look at this system and see if it is really the big, bad ogre many believe it to be.

Let's go back in time and remember why the BCS was created in the first place. The sole purpose then, as now, is to come up with a formula that will ideally match the best two teams in college football in a championship game. The other games do not matter in this equation; it is strictly matching up one versus two for a winner take all game.

We can argue the merits of this system all we want; we can argue about whether it is the right system at all, but in my view the facts support the case that most of the time, the BCS has worked. I know all about Auburn a few years ago and other teams have had a beef too, but overall, like the BCS or not, in most years the system has worked where the two best teams by most accounts have been matched up in the title game.

My mission here for you, as we "celebrate" the 10th birthday of the BCS, is to have you once and for all drop the notion of having some sort of playoff in college football. Ladies and gentlemen, it is just not going to happen any time soon, and it may NEVER happen. Don't waste your breath talking about a playoff, wishing for a playoff, or hoping for a playoff, it is not going to happen.

Oh there will be years when a team like Auburn gets hosed from playing in the game when it should be there, and we'll talk again about why the BCS should be blown up and a playoff instituted. But it will not matter; the BCS is here to stay. School presidents don't want a playoff and many of them want to preserve the bowl system as it is today; and unless those facts change, the BCS won't change.

So, as you approach the 2008 college football season, and look to enjoy the excitement of Gator football and the SEC, please go out and buy a cake, put 10 candles on it, and sing happy birthday to the BCS. You might as well celebrate it, because it is not going away.

I believe that no one is too old to change, and I am living proof of this because I have changed my mind when it comes to the BCS. As late as a couple of years ago, I was screaming for some type of playoff system and a staunch supporter of blowing the BCS up once and for all.

But now, brothers and sisters, I have seen the BCS light. Can I have an amen to that? I have chilled, cooled out, you know what I'm sayin? I am shouting from the mountain tops about the BCS, about the fact that the BCS makes every weekend in college football count, where one loss can knock you right out of a national championship picture and a big win can vault you right back in the picture.

I'm saying that the sport of college football has never been more popular, talked about, and loved as it is now, and the BCS has to be given at least some credit for this. So, once again I say to you, can I get a big BCS amen?

I can get ready for this college football season and not have to talk about the p word....p-p-playoff...I feel better already.

Happy 10th birthday, BCS...you might even be around to be a teenager!