The shotgun is loaded… This could be the end… Just one minor mistake, and in just a fraction of a second, it will all be over. Minds are calculating — hearts are racing. Who will be standing in the end? Who will live another day? Who will be the one that will ultimately proclaim, "VICTORY!"?
The Captain calls for back-up, as he breathes warm air into his frigid hands. He steps back — surveying the field, as his training and strategies are replaying in his head — like a high-speed slide-show. "Go left?" He ponders. "No, the guard will surely stop us." If only he had one more rocket — one more bomb — if only he could avoid the inevitable blitzkrieg awaiting behind the enemy lines.
Okay, I love college football, and I have long since claimed that it is the most corrupt college sport, by far. In the current system, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rates all teams, and selects only two colleges to compete for the BCS National Championship, after the regular season. However, there are more than 30 bowl games in total. In the BCS Championship series (4 games total, with one championship game) each team receives a 17 million-dollar check. The other bowl game checks range from around $1-2 mill.
So, what’s the problem? The problem is that big conferences have ties to most bowls, and “smaller” conferences have virtually no chance to earn the “big” bucks. For example, the NCAA Basketball Tournament is an “equal-opportunity” venture. If you make it in the basketball tournament (65 teams), you get to play for the Championship, and you get paid. In football? Well, not so much. In football, money talks.
First, like I said earlier, only two teams get the opportunity to be Champs. Plus, with all of the “conference-bowl” alliances, smaller schools with good teams often sit at home — or play for "chicken feed" in smaller bowl games. Each bowl game chooses teams primarily on how many tickets they will sell, plus, the ever-lucrative TV contracts. Only about half the time does a team get a “bowl bid” for its accomplishments — it’s usually about its “marketability.”
Okay, so there’s your football lesson. The system definitely needs to be fixed, but should Congress be the instigator? Is this just another stepping stone on our socialistic pathway? Many think that the BCS should police itself, and many, like me, think that our Congress has bigger issues to deal with right now.
It’s not just the significance of the issue, it’s also the appearance. Do we really need to be focusing on football right now? We are dealing with struggling automobile companies, folding banks and job cuts across the board. And, our Congress is investigating football? Gee whiz! I don’t like the BCS system either, but this does not make me feel like my tax dollars are really working for me.
So, I think Congress should “punt,” and try to score this one later in the game — when we don’t have so many “injured” players on the bench (autos, banks, jobs). I think Congress should be focusing on the real battlefields, not the "football" fields.