Comments on: Congressman proposes bill ending BCS

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:08:34 +0000

Hey, we’ve started including pictures.

By: SirWhoopass

SirWhoopass — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:12:08 +0000

Really trying to increase that Wisconsin readership, eh?

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:46:36 +0000

No, his job is to do what’s in their best interest, not what they want him to do. Otherwise the representatives from Wisconsin would spend every session trying to lower the drinking age to 10 and legalize the sale of Thompson’s Water Seal for consumption at Packers games.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:39:08 +0000

Yes, the BCS does produce a national champion – just like the AP names a national champion.

Neither Joe Barton nor Sir WhoopAss need to recognize their national champion, but it does, in fact, produce a national champion.

And if they aren’t allowed to market the game as a national championship, well, I would say that would scrap the BCS system…

I think Sir WhoopAss has too much time on his hands.

By: SirWhoopass

SirWhoopass — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:37:32 +0000

Isn’t that a politician’s job? To represent his constituents? If the people of the Texas Sixth want their congressman to spent his time whining about college football, then he is doing what they elected him to do.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:31:33 +0000

No, if we’re being clear–this is a politician who knows he is improving his chances of getting re-elected to his cushy job if he makes it look like he’s trying to do something to help his team.

By: SirWhoopass

SirWhoopass — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:30:23 +0000

Are you saying that the BCS currently produces a legitimate national champion?

If not, then it is might be illegal anyway to advertise the system as a national championship. If not, then I am going to create the ZBCS and award national championships to the team every year whose fans get the most alcohol-related ejections during the season.

Of course Barton would like a playoff. But the news write-ups on this are wildly inaccurate when they state that he actually proposed a bill that would scrap the BCS and create a playoff system. It does no such thing.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:20:58 +0000

And why would he want to prevent them from marketing it as a national championship game?

Perhaps to get them to change the system?

To a playoff?

Let’s read between the lines a bit here. This is a Longhorn fan pissed because he feels his Longhorns got screwed out of the national title game so he wants to change the system so it would have worked out better for his guys…

By: SirWhoopass

SirWhoopass — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:16:23 +0000

To be clear, Barton isn’t trying to change the system. His bill simply makes it illegal for BCS to market itself as producing a “national champion” because doing so is fraudulent. The BCS does not have to change at all and continue business as usual.

Given that the BCS (plus the Bowl Alliance and the Bowl Coalition) has failed to clear up anything, I can’t say its the worst idea in the world.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:07:45 +0000

Umm, Texas Tech has no argument because their loss was by about 60 points to Oklahoma. While I would have enjoyed seeing the Red Raiders play for the title, Texas and Oklahoma were each competitive in their losses – they have far more leg to stand on than Texas Tech does.

Texas could still win the Associated Press National Championship. It’s not unheard of to see split national titles in the BCS era. They won’t win the BCS championship, but if it’s so bad, perhaps winning the AP title will be a bigger deal to them anyway.

I don’t think many argue that Barton is wrong in critiquing the BCS. I agree with that completely. It’s whether or not Congress should have a role in any kind of change made to the system. To that question I would answer sure – give them all the voice they want – as soon as they have all of their other work done.

That should happen sometime right around … never.