Sports update: BCS Is Finally Likely to Get A College Football Playoffs (Fingers Crossed)

Hello,

I haven't posted about sports lately. Here's just a few random thoughts. I predict that tonight Miami will win Game 5 and the NBA Finals. When the Heat grab the title, will people please lay off LeBron James? With a title he has won everything he can possibly win. He already has won Olympic Gold, 3 MVP's etc. Just enjoy watching one of the transcendent players in NBA history. He's not my favorite player or person but he's a magnificent athlete. Not to mention he's a teammate to the almost equally amazing Dwayne Wade.

But an athlete that we should mock and revile is the Vikings Percy Harvin. I hate these fantastically paid, prima donna athletes. They make millions of dollars playing athletics and they still complain? Percy Harvin, please shut the hell up.

From the bizarre world of the fox guarding the henhouse comes the news that the BCS commissioners have endorsed a 4 team playoff system. The commissioners consensus has to be approved by the BCS presidential oversight committee. (Those last four words are oxymoronic.) They probably will approve, but with the BCS you can't plan for rational thought.

From Ivan Maisel's excellent article on espn.com: (Thoughts in italics are mine.)


"The commissioners -- and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick -- deserve credit for finding that consensus. They rarely agree so readily on anything beyond which five-star resort to hold their meetings. (First of all I'm so tired of Notre Dame getting special treatment just because of their pedigree. The comment about agreeing only on five-star resorts is hilarious and spot on.)

The consensus is a tribute to their belief that the BCS had outlived its usefulness. Or it may be a tribute to how the commissioners and Swarbrick tired of defending the BCS against an effective guerrilla media campaign for a playoff. (Maisel is right on again.)

For 14 seasons, the BCS has been as inefficient and unwieldy as the federal tax code. The commissioners concocted a formula of polls and computer ratings to pick the teams and thought no one would notice the lack of transparency. It took them 10 years to get it right, and by the time they did, the opponents had gathered too much momentum to be stopped." (Yes, the only people who have ever benefitted from the BCS is the BCS itself and perhaps the SEC Conference.)

I must have missed something because I've never understood how the BCS got in charge of deciding who plays for the National Championship. Their reign has been known mostly for self serving greed and stupidity. The fact they have ignored the public outcry for a playoff for several years now shows how little they care about the actual sport. The BCS is only in business to make themselves as much money as possible. They've been remarkably successful at that, but have been a complete disaster in finding a true national champion and creating a fair system.

The only reason they are making any concessions now is due to congressional pressure. Don't fool yourself that either common sense, fairness or what college football fans actually want played any part in this change.

Putting the BCS in charge of deciding who plays for the college football national championship is equivalent for greedy CEOs of large companies deciding how much money they make in bonuses. Again Div 1A college football is the only sport that decides their champion not by playoffs. Just think about that for a minute.

Also as Pac 12 commissioner Larry Scott, who is symbolic of the stupidity and greed that has kept the BCS in business, admits that many people won't be happy until the playoffs expand to 8 or 16 teams. He's absolutely right. Again it shows that the BCS has too much power as they continue to drag their feet into the 21st century.

I can't help but compare college football's fubar non-playoff system to the most exciting 3 weeks in sports. That's college basketball's March Madness. Although they have made it a bit unwieldy by going to 68 teams, March Madness is a thing of beauty to behold. Especially that first weekend where there's basketball from 10:00am to 10:00pm Thursday through Sunday. Many of these kids are playing their guts out in what for many will be their last shot at glory.

In spite of all the evidence of the gloriousness of March Madness, the BCS has continued dragging their feet. Indeed if the "oversight committee" approves the 4 team playoff, it won't take affect until 2014. (The BCS will make up some lame excuse to justify the delay, but I don't believe a word they say.) They continue to say that they know what they are doing, in spite of overwhelming proof that they don't. The BCS is the Randy Jackson of sports. Personally I'm glad that due to outside pressure, the outmoded BCS is finally being pressured to do the right thing.

themusicaddict.