FSU players got unofficial 'state champs' rings. That's fine and good.

Hi, some college football players got some rings. Florida State players, in this case. People are unhappy about it, because there isn't an official state governing body to award a Florida championship, I guess? People are often unhappy about lots of things.

Florida State beat Florida and Miami, the only other Power 5 teams in the state. All three are rivals, and when they play each other in the same season, they play for a three-way trophy. The Gators and Hurricanes haven’t faced each other since 2013, but I don’t see how that’s FSU’s problem.

FSU also beat a pretty good USF, but didn’t play other Sunshine State mid-majors such as 0-12 UCF, so claiming a state title seems silly to some. That's sort of like saying Alabama can't claim a national title because it didn't play New Mexico State, but ok.

It probably is silly ... in the context of serious things that matter gravely. But in the context of college football? Indiana and Purdue play for a trophy that is a bucket. A very slightly dubious state title ring is not moving the needle.

The slight reach of a bowl ring is a tradition in this sport, as is the tradition of rivals or extremely casual fans getting too upset by all this jewelry changing hands.

Remember when everyone was furious about Georgia Tech claiming a state title despite not playing, uh, Georgia State and Savannah State? Yeah, that was an angry 25 seconds.

Even better, Tech did roughly the same in 2008, receiving rings after beating Georgia and then losing the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

It gets better. Consider the rings North Carolina made itself for sort of winning the ACC Coastal in 2012, despite being postseason-banned and unable to compete in the conference championship. People got mad, but the players did have the best record.

But the finest of all is the Bowl Participant ring, demonstrated here by Ole Miss and Iowa, who got blown out in the games noted right on the fronts of these:

Is a ring for anything shy of a national title less exciting than a national title ring? I mean, that seems obvious, but I got a ring just for getting married, which was extremely easy to do.

Should players be paid by somebody? Yeah.

Is getting mad about rings gonna make that happen? Nah.

Is college football a 150-year-old racket largely centered around engraving bold claims in metal objects in order to impress future teenagers, so that those teenagers might one day try to legitimize future bold claims to engrave in metal objects? Since day one.