NBC News Longhorn shout-out
by Bobster on Dec 3, 2008 12:57 AM CST
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PrintLawmakers Throw Penalty Flag At BCS
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/12/02/1696506.aspx
"When President-elect Obama proposed last month that the BCS college ranking system should be replaced with a less byzantine playoff route to the championship bowl game, a lot of football fans in ruby-red states like Texas and Idaho started seeing change they could believe in.
Lovers of the University of Texas Longhorns were outraged to learn over the weekend that their team, despite an identical 11-1 record with top-rated Oklahoma -- and a win OVER the Sooners to boot -- was ranked below them in the BCS list, giving Oklahoma a ticket to the Big 12 Championship and a likely shot at the national title game."
So a bipartisan group of members of Congress are asking the President's help to revive a bill that would have DOJ investigate the BCS system for anti-trust violations. Can't hurt, might help.
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well, moral outrage ain't doing squat
aside from pitchforks and torches, not sure what would get the BCS’s attention. As long as the TV $$ keep rolling in, they think they’re immune.
Any practical ideas welcome…
Love it.
So as the burnt-orange crowd in Austin cheers Obama’s position on the matter, a few players in Washington are noticing too. Obama’s pigskin prescription was music to the ears of Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) who introduced legislation earlier this year to call for a DOJ investigation of the BCS system. His argument – and that of cosponsors Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Jim Matheson (D-UT) and Mike Simpson (R-ID) – is that the current bowl system, besides being unfairly based on computer models, actually violates the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by depriving schools in leagues not eligible for an automatic BCS slot of the financial benefits of a bowl game. The fate that could befall the unfortunate Boise State Broncos, for example, Abercrombie calls a clear case of such "restraint of trade."
If there were government hearings on steroids, I wouldn’t mind seeing them on this.
Do we really want this?
Oh come on. We are all frustrated, but the answer everytime we are unhappy is not a law suit or federal intervention. Do we really want politicians deciding NCAA champions? Do we really want tax-payer money spent investigating the BCS? If we complain too loudly about unfairness, we may find UT ahead of OU but behind Ball State, Biose State, and Utah!
"Only angry people win football games." --DKR
Cardinals
I’d imagine this is the same situation as any other professional sports league. And yes, I would take a NC any way we can get it at this point. Sometimes when conventional methods fail you have to think outside the box. Also, think of the glory that would come from being propelled to the NC by Washington. We could be America’s team!
it comes down to money
unless the executives raking in the money keep doing so uninterrupted, they don’t care what anyone says (there was an infamous tshirt, “We don’t care. We don’t have to care. We’re Exxon.”).
So the only thing that may work, because it threatens their bottom line, is an anti-trust investigation. I’m for whatever pulls them up short at this point, because this year it’s Texas, next year it will another team that gets screwed over by this asinine ‘system’.
Congress does have the power to regulate interstate commerce
But messing with the postseason? Sorry. The Supreme Court would strike that one down in a heartbeat. In fact, it wouldn’t even get to the Supreme Court. Some Court of Appeals would strike down the legislation, and the nine in Washington wouldn’t grant cert. Really.
More importantly, this is stupid. Congress has no business messing with the mechanics of sports, no matter how much money is involved. And no, steroids use has nothing to do with the mechanics, although I thought those hearings were a waste of time as well.
agreed, the steroids hearings were pointless
and in SW Colorado, the local Congressman can’t even get the broadcast stations to carry Broncos games, because they fall under the NM TV market.
Still, the legal possibilities are tantalizing, and weirder things have happened. Nobody thought that showing a French movie at an arthouse theater in Cleveland would result in Potter Stewart proclaiming about pornography, “I know it when I see it.”
I’m thinking more about the deterrence factor here than anything. It’s the potential threat to their bottom line that would get their attention.
Under Title IX you'll find a lot of discretion.
It’s not that they need to do anything directly, just raising the question about where the monies go and who isn’t getting them will put a lot of pressure on the present system.
You want the Texas Lege? We could declare war on Oklahoma.
But then we might be forced to keep it because no one but no one would take it off our hands. And then the Texas Lege would really be fuck*n crazy.
Maybe just the prospect of having the Feds sniff around
Will make the BCS officials sweat and do something… because the Feds do like to bully sometimes.
by TheElusiveShadow on Dec 3, 2008 2:10 PM CST reply actions
Why Not?
The senators that brought this up have all been from states that have been screwed by the system. Yes the elected politicians do have better things to do but the system that is in place does make it more difficult for those schools to get their hands on the smae money as the big schools do. If the DOJ will do this to microsoft and at&t then why not do it to college football. It is a billion dollar business and those schools want a chance to their hands on part of the pie as well. We shouldnt be thinking that this would change anything this year but hope that it changes what maybe in the future!
Its not spread the wealth.
The other conferences int the country are not being allowed to play on the same plain. That is why this they want it looked into. Is it? Hell I dont know? Im not that smart.
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