A funny thing happened recently in the halls of the U.S. Capitol.
In a Congressional hearing, the House Energy and Commerce committee listened to arguments from Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson and ACC Commissioner (and BCS chair) John Swofford about the pros and cons of the current BCS system.
This isn't good news for anyone. This is college football crossing a line when they need to take several steps back.
A good friend of mine brought this up, asking why a) this was a government issue and b) didn't the government have other things to do?
I, for one, could not agree more.
While our economy is slumping and unemployment is rising, the halls of Congress are discussing the economic state of college football. And, through a long day of questions and answers, arguments and rebuttals, Congress came up with ... well, nothing.
Is anyone surprised by that?
Does football really need a bailout? No, it needs fine-tuning, but it doesn't require pages of legislation that will be read by about half the people who vote on any of it.
Yes, there is no question that college football is a money game wrapped around an amateur sport. The bigger conferences thrive while the smaller ones struggle. Since the Utahs and Boise States of the world have no shot ... none ... at winning a title, they marched to Congress with the accusation of the BCS violating anti-trust regulations.
Valid? Well, there's no doubt that the bigger conferences leave nothing but a sliver in the BCS cash pie. But does the answer really lie in the form of the United States government? Do we really want college football to become another government program?
John F. Kennedy encouraged Americans to give to their country, and not have the government do it for them. Ronald Reagan said government wasn't the solution to the problem, but was the problem. And now, we, as sports fans, have to remember the words of presidents past and find a solution to this mess on our own.
There's talk about four-team playoffs and eight-team playoffs, the plus-one system, and a whole bunch of ideas in between. I say, for now, let's make it simple. Get the conference commissioners and Myles Brand in a room. Lock the room and don't let them out until a new playoff system that benefits all is agreed upon. No computer rankings. No government hearings. No bailouts. No C-SPAN. And definitely no long drawn-out lectures from ego-centric members of Congress. They have more than enough on their hands.
We need football to remain one of the few places untouched by Washington. The burden lies on all of us to get this settled the right way.
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