03 January 2007

Better championship options

I like the soccer model for several reasons, and the FA illustrates most of them: in the FA, there are three domestic championships awarded, plus several international ones.

The first is for the best league record in the Premier League; that team has won the League Championship.

Premiership teams can also win a playoff championship against either all the teams in the country, called the FA Cup. It is single elimination, and is one of the most prestigious and exciting playoff championships in the world because it includes all teams at all levels (imagine Mount Union knocking off Florida—it happens in the FA Cup. Heck, imagine Lewis and Clark knocking off Florida). Permiership teams can also win a championship against the best teams in the country, the League Cup. This is also single elimination, but is only played against the top two leagues. This cup is, somewhat obviously, not nearly as prestigious or as impressive to win.

The best thing about the combined FA Cup and League Championship is that to win the former, you have to beat teams from all over, including non-league sides (people who really do play for fun and work a non-sports 9-5 job the rest of the time), and to win the latter, you have to be the best in your league.

Very few teams win both: it's only happened ten times in England in the history of the FA (since 1871). But winning just one is impressive enough.

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