I didn’t.

I voted for and hopefully helped to elect representatives to think about running this country in a way that keeps the running of it out of the way of living in it as much as possible.

Texas Republican Joe Barton is pushing through a bill that would get Congress involved in whether or not there should be a college playoff structure to their football season. Ummm, don’t you have FAR more important things to worry about?

Barton’s argument is that college football is a multi-million dollar industry and since they’re tasked with congressional oversight of other large industries, then why wouldn’t they get their hands dirty on the college gridiron?

Here are some quotes from the article:

“With everything going on in the country, I can’t believe that Congress is wasting time and spending taxpayers’ money on football,” Bill Hancock, the BCS executive director, said in a phone interview. “We feel strongly that managing of college sports is best left to the people in higher education.”

and

“We just can’t imagine that the members of Congress will think it’s their job to dictate how college football should be played,” Hancock said.

and from our President

“I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit,” Obama said at the time. “I think it’s the right thing to do.”

I’m very interested in hearing everyone else’s opinions on this matter. I think similar to the steroids issue in baseball, this is not what I want my government worrying about instead of other things. At least not until they’re all sitting in their congressional chambers twiddling their thumbs with nothing else to do.

Image: Source images from sxc.hu

Post from: EveryJoe

Congress Should Get Out of College Football

ACC Commissioner and current BCS coordinator John Swofford (with Frank Beamer)

The job won’t be an easy one, and some are opposed to any one person being in such a position full-time. Says former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese,

“I don’t think anybody should serve at the head of the BCS — one of the commissioners — unless you’ve sat in that room for a certain amount of time. Putting anybody in that position and not having had them live through it is not being fair. It is a hard, hard thing to do.”

Right now, one of the main problems is that a commissioner may be asked to defend the BCS against people from their own conferences. A permanent person in this position could be more impartial to whatever situation arises.

Honestly, if the BCS officials actually want the current system to survive, they need a full-time person defending it. I’m not going to go into how flawed the system is right now, so let’s just leave it at that.

Post from: EveryJoe

Does the BCS Need a Full-Time Defender?

Everyone needs to stop knocking on what Ohio State has done on the football field. They have played in seven BCS bowl games this decade. They have wont he Big Ten for four straight seasons. They have a national title while playing for two others. The only games they have lost in the past four seasons have been to teams that finished either in the top 10 nationally or in a BCS bowl. The last time Ohio State lost to a team that didn’t play in the BCS was in November 2004 at Purdue. Everyone gets on their case because they have lost three straight BCS games, two of them being the national title game. Before that, the Buckeyes were 4-0 in the BCS era. Few teams have as much sustained success as the Buckeyes, and they are once again favored to win the Big Ten.

Unfortunately, last year was supposed to be the year. They had a senior-laden defense that struggled against a very good USC team. The offense then couldn’t score against Penn State and any hope of the national title was lost. It is a cruel fate, but because the Buckeyes have had so much success within the Big Ten they unfortunately must win it all or the season is a failure. They no longer have the luxury of middle ground or a rebuilding year, especially since their rebuilding years are so good. Such will be the case this year.

Image: Newscom

Sophomore quarterback Terrelle Prior is talented enough to make sure that Ohio State maintains its 53 game winning streak against teams that don’t play in BCS bowls for that season. There is a reason that teams like Penn State, Oregon, and Michigan tried desperately to woo Prior to campus. He is a difference maker that can do anything he wants to with a football. He came on the scene during a blowout loss at Southern Cal last season and could make a huge difference by playing the whole game against the Trojans in Columbus this year. Dan Herron and Brandon Saine ware good running backs to build around as well. Ohio State’s offense has long thrived on ball control and keeping the other team off the field. The Buckeyes should be able to do while still maintaining a big play element with its receivers.

The defense has a number of holes to fill, but Ohio State always has players that are ready to step in and play. Thaddeus Gibson is the type of defensive end that eats left tackles for breakfast and gives quarterbacks nightmares. The defensive tackles are more than good enough to hold themselves against the run and allow the ends to get to the quarterback. Austin Spitler is the next great Ohio State linebacker, while Chimdi Chekwa is a fantastic cornerback to lead the secondary. Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell are safeties that can play against both the run and the pass. The defense may step back just a bit, but it is still more than good enough to beat most teams.

Aaron Richardson is a sports writer for www.sportsfantreasures.com. He would like to invite you to check out their Ohio State Buckeyes Store and Ohio State Buckeyes Apparel online today!

Post from: EveryJoe

Ohio State Preview

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Penn State
9. LSU
10. Mississippi

Texas received four first-place votes, and Oklahoma and USC each had one first-place vote. We’re going to see match-ups between many of these top ten teams, but by then, we could see some of these schools fall from grace. Are there any surprised coming from down below? Is this Notre Dame’s year? What about Oklahoma State or Utah?

In my opinion, though, this top ten list is pretty spot-on. I would have voted for Florida as number one, even if I’m not a fan of the school, and it’s only natural to have Texas and Oklahoma as two and three, consider that they both have a Heisman winner or nominee coming back for another year. Only tie will tell, though.

Picture via Wikipedia.

Post from: EveryJoe

Coaches Poll Predicts Florida as #1

Image: Newscom

Under the nex rule, which will be in effect from 2010 to 2013, if the Pac-10 or Big Ten has their conference champion playing in the National Championship game, the Rose Bowl must take a non-BCS team, if one qualifies. Otherwise, the game will still be Pac-10 versus Big Ten.

As it should be.

What? I’m a purist when it comes to the Rose Bowl.

Post from: EveryJoe

Rose Bowl Rules Change

Image: sxc.hu

• Team Speed Kills: A Recap of the Senate BCS Hearing (including a video link if you want to watch it too)
• The Wall Street Journal: College Football Goes Down the Hatch
• Mr College Football: It’s Time to be Honest about the BCS
• Senatus: Hatch Calls for Justice Department Investigation of BCS
• NCAA Football Fanhouse: BCS Hearing are about the Money
• Betsy’s Page: Keep Congress Out of College Football

Another good website to hit up? We Demand Playoffs, which takes the stance that fans need to be vocal about wanting playoffs for the NCAA to actually create a better system. They cover much of the playoff/BCS-related news, as well has have a healthy dose of opinion.

Got a link you want to add to this list, leave a comment below.

Post from: EveryJoe

Talking about the Bowl Championship Series

Image: Newscom

After it was rejected, David Frohnmayer, BCS presidential oversight committee chairman, said:

“There was no overall support for the proposal, although some conferences were interested in considering certain elements of it in the future — particularly those related to revenue, access and governance of the BCS arrangement.”

According to Frohnmayer, all of the conferences and Notre Dame wrote reports in support of keeping the current post-season system. However, a large part of that may be wanting to fulfill televison contracts. Frohnmayer says that the current post-season arrangement is the best that has ever existed.

Right…

Post from: EveryJoe

BCS Rejects MWC’s Playoff Plan

Image: Newscom

Starting in 2010, all of the other BCS bowls will also be on ESPN. Says ESPN’s VP of programming and acquisitions:

“Having all BCS matchups on one home, especially within ESPN’s year-round college football environment, is the very best scenario. Fans will welcome ESPN’s all-encompassing approach, and the additional opportunities and value resulting from our multi-platform presentation will benefit the college football community and our business partners.”

Personally, I wish that they’d stick to network television simply because I get those channels in HD, but I don’t get ESPN in HD. And obviously the BCS should cater to me.

Post from: EveryJoe

Rose Bowl Moves to ESPN

Image: sxc.hu

Before 2005, coaches could keep their votes confidential, but the BCS pushed for the rule change after 2004, when the Rose Bowl bid was questionable. The coaches voted to reveal their final regular-season votes, which have been printed in USA Today.

However, this has caused some awkward situations. Coaches have been criticized for voting against teams in their own conference or picking unpopular choices, and having to reveal their votes has made the entire process more political.

Now, coaches can once again keep their picks a secret. This wasn’t the only rules change, however. Some of the other changes include:

• Eliminating the “bonus voter,” which placed a non-human vote based on the ranking success of a conference’s schools based on the previous season.
• Continuing to allow voters to be selected randomly
• Continuing to allow coaches to vote for their own teams
• Adopting a “round to even” rule for conferences with an odd number of teams (for example, a conference with 11 teams would get 6 votes, not 5 1/2)

The Harris Interactive Poll, which is also a part of the BCS formula, will continue to publish voters’ choices. To read more about the AFCA changes, check out this post.

Post from: EveryJoe

Final Coach Ballots to be Confidential

Sonia Sotomayor, Image: Newscom

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who was nominated today to fill an empty seat, is on board with solving sports-related problems. In 1995, she helped to end the MLB strike. Her ruling against the owners effectively ended the strike, which lasted 232 days.

Sotomayor also was involved with the ruling that players must be out of high school for at least three years before they can be drafted or signed as a free agent. A lower court had previously allowed Ohio State runnng back Maurice Clarett to enter the draft, even though he hadn’t been out of high school three years yet.

Post from: EveryJoe

Supreme Court Nominee could Save the BCS