Congressman proposes killing BCS

[Inky_Wretch]

WASHINGTON - Taking aim at a BCS system he said "consistently misfires,'' a member of Congress planned to introduce legislation Wednesday that would force college football to adopt a playoff to determine the national champion.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, didn't specify what sort of playoff he wants — only that the BCS should go.

"In some years the sport's national championship winner was left unsettled, and at least one school was left out of the many millions of dollars in revenue that accompany the title,'' Barton said in a statement released ahead of the bill's introduction. "Despite repeated efforts to improve the system, the controversy rages on.''

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He said the bill — being co-sponsored by Reps. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, and Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican — "will prohibit the marketing, promotion, and advertising of a postseason game as a 'national championship' football game, unless it is the result of a playoff system. Violations of the prohibition will be treated as violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act as an unfair or deceptive act or practice.''

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28161939/

 

[PeteyPirate]

Surprisingly, two of the three legislators supporting this bill are from Texas.

 

[Cosmo]

:

(FDP already beat me to it)

 

[Armchair_QB]

Watching the Big XII title game Saturday I saw an OU fan holding up a sign with a picture of a crying UT fan with the caption , "but, but...We're TEXAS!"

Nice to Joe has hopped on the Wahhhhmbulance too.

 

[DanOregon]

What a shock, it was a Texas legislator. And nice to see Bobby Rush carrying Obama's water.
Also not a surpise, Mike Lopresti reports that the Big 10 LOVES the BCS. (How many straight years have they gotten an at-large?)
The thing is, I think they're right about the "national championship" aspect. I guess they go after the World Series next. College football has become no better and no worse than boxing. The only quantifiable factor in the BCS is the computers and they picked Texas and Oklahoma as the top 2.

Sure its kind of a joke, but when Utah or BYU was hosed a few years back, Orrin Hatch raised a fuss and they added another game for non-BCS schools.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I'm pretty sure an Alabama congressman did this is '04, too.
Big shock: elected officials pandering to their constituents.

 

[ondeadline]

[blue]I'm glad that Congress is spending time on this since everything else in this country is going so well.

 

[Mark2010]

Don't these clowns have anything better to do?

Bail out Wall Street? Bail out the auto makers? Bail out the mortgage business? Bail out the Longhorns?

 

[Paper Dragon]

Maybe he should file a grievance with the Big 12, since they're the ones who selected the tie-breaker - not the BCS.

 

[ondeadline]

I understand from the FBI complaint, that Blagojevich had conversations with Mack Brown, but Mack was only offering appreciation for a BCS title-game spot. So Blagojevich said, "F him!"

 

[Mark2010]

Blagojevich is a moron. How the hell anyone like that gets elected as governor is beyond me?

Then again, I still haven't figured out how GWB got elected president twice! So I guess I don't get American politics.

 

[ondeadline]

Blagojevich is a moron. How the hell anyone like that gets elected as governor is beyond me?

Then again, I still haven't figured out how GWB got elected president twice! So I guess I don't get American politics.

CNN ran one of his ads from his campaign. He basically made it sound like he would be the anti-corruption candidate. Yeah, right.

 

[SockPuppet]

Maybe he should file a grievance with the Big 12, since they're the ones who selected the tie-breaker - not the BCS.

The Big 12 did not select the tiebreaker. The schools at their annual meeting in 1997 decided on the tiebreaker rules. They've been in effect as long as there has been a BCS.

Also, while it's obvious that this Texas lawmaker is pandering to his constitutents, there are also congressmen in Utah, Hawaii and Idaho willing to pander to their constituents.

If Congress wants to get serious about this and go after the schools' and bowls' tax-exempt status, this could have serious traction. And while I agree that this is about 199 on a list of top 100 problems, it would be nice to see Congress accomplish something worthwhile.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

At least it's not a BCS bailout.

 

[Starman]

Any legislator/federal officeholder introducing any legislation concerning sports, unless it is to limit/prohibit/terminate tax support of professional sports franchises, should be immediately removed from office.

And yes, this means you, Barack Obama. Get to ****ing work. Focus.

 

[forever_town]

Congress has no business legislating what form of playoff system the NCAA does or does not have.

They can, however, manipulate the NCAA by either cutting funding or threatening to cut funding to get the NCAA to comply.

But, having said that, Congress should be working on getting this economy back up and running and creating jobs. It should not be wasting time on college football.

 

[User 1019]

[blue]I'm glad that Congress is spending time on this since everything else in this country is going so well.

Thank you. Those piece-of-**** ****s should be worrying about things that matter.

 

[Bruce Leroy]

Of course, Congress should be worried about a million things before the BCS, but I still like this idea. Keep your damn BCS if you want to, major conferences, but ESPN can't hype the final game as the national championship game. It's just another postseason game. Guarantee that'd at least **** off the people who refuse to acknowledge a playoff as a better method. If the BCS has to remain intact, let's give the ****ers behind it something to pout about.

 

[Editude]

Who cares how it's promoted? If that affects whether you watch the game, then don't.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Surprisingly, two of the three legislators supporting this bill are from Texas.

They ain't wrong.