It's that time of year again!  No, not the FedEx Cup Playoffs.  Rather, the kvetching about the format of the FedEx Cup playoffs!  We have arrived at the third iteration of the Playoffs and seemingly no one is still happy about the format - not even the two guys that have won an easy $10 million because of it.

This year, the FedEx Cup playoffs are a little different than last year's format that gave way too much credence to the Playoff events.  In '09, there is no points reset to start the Playoffs.  That happens before the Tour Championship, which will give players in the top five an assured $10 million if they win at East Lake.  But, if there is a half moon on the Wednesday before the Tour Championship, swine flu kills seven of the 30 players in the field, and Chuck Liddell lasts one week on Dancing With the Stars, then someone NOT in the top five can win the FedEx Cup.

In other words, the format is kind of confusing.  It has been from the get-go.  While I supported the FedEx Cup concept, the implementation hasn't worked so well.  I like the idea of a shorter season with a meaningful finale.  I don't like that the finale takes four tournaments and a confusing points reset to decide. 

I stand by the notion that the Tour Championship should be one of three formats:

• A 30 man free-for-all tournament that presents the winner of the Tour Championship with the $10 million;
• Some kind of stroke play/match play event that crowns a season champion in one big match for $10 million;
• The ADT Championship format that everyone seems to love except the LPGA Tour because they drove ADT away as sponsor

More than that, the Playoffs need to really be populated like playoffs.  As Shane Bacon points out at Fanhouse, way too many guys are getting into The Barclays.  Adam Scott - who I think I might have a chance to beat right now - gets in this week.  Even the NBA doesn't allow in as high of a percentage of its teams into their playoffs!  And the NBA playoffs are like a participation trophy!  Maybe you start with just Tour winners, as Shane suggest.  Perhaps it is the top 60.  And just shed the points system.  The money list works just fine.

Look, this thing can work.  Michael Arkush at Yahoo! says that golf doesn't need playoffs.  He's right.  We have majors.  But golf can still be interesting in late August and early September while Ohio State is beating Youngstown State 70-9 for the 40th straight year. 

The FedEx Cup isn't out to become the fifth major - the PGA Championship occupies that role.  It's trying to generate headlines.  What better way to generate headlines than to make it very selective, high stakes, and guarantee that Tiger Woods is a part of it?