It is now time for the U.S. Senate and House to get back to real work----like screwing with Toyota and borrowing more money from China. I’ve got a solution to their inquisition of the BCS.
In case you haven’t heard, the Big 10 (11) and Pac 10 are supposedly searching for additional teams for their leagues. Their due-diligence will be of the garden variety that so many fans, and SENATORS / REPRESENATIVES do not wish to understand. The questions will be “what can the new additions bring to the table?” and “what will our bottom line look like 5 or 10 years from now if we add them today?”. Pertinent to those questions will be TV markets added, costs of travel to add the teams, geographic fit, scholastic fit, etc… But rest assured, the bottom line will be about money---just like the Senate’s grilling of the BCS. Somebody else has it and we want part of it.
The BCS is what it is. They have nothing to do with the NCAA and nothing to do with College Football----other than using both to make some money and pay the willing participants------a lot. They are simply the pimp for the girls who are going to work with or without a pimp. Sounds a little like what the federal government does with the Internal Revenue Service to me. Cities use the BCS to generate good games (which means games that people will actually pay to watch---you see, someone must have money before this whole process starts) to improve tourism so they can reap a financial reward based on someone else’s labor; the government uses the IRS to extract money from my labor so they distribute as they see fit, based mostly on how much each Senator squeals. No crying allowed. No appeal system. Just STFU and send them my money. They take from me and give to someone else, regardless of who had the most to start with. They expect everyone to participate and support the state of Utah or Texas just because their Senator was one of the most successful squealers------ but they don’t like it much when they perceive someone is taking something from them. So, lets help the schools in question get the politicians out of the game. No one “took” anything from you. You have never done anything to earn a fair shot. Or, maybe, you really don’t want a fair shot-------you are like the welfare recipient. Maybe you think someone should just give you something simply because they have more than you.
Attention Boise State, BYU, TCU, Utah, et.al., There are three openings in BCS conferences. Those openings are up for grabs. You have the opportunity get your names in the mix and participate in something you have whined about wanting to be a part of. Your representatives have gone so far as stating that, unless the BCS lets you guys play, they will attempt to destroy the BCS. So, now is your chance. Prove to those conferences that you belong. Then, just maybe, some of us will begin to believe it, too. Then, and only then, once you’ve gone through the rigors of playing USC on the road, and following that up with a home stand of Stanford, Oregon State, and UCLA ----or, go to Happy Valley for a game that really means something to the opponent in mid-September, and then follow that up with 6 or 7 more games against teams that will have as good a group of athletes as you have, week in and week out for 2 and ½ months, can you say you really belong. If you happen to find yourself at 12-0 in early December, then you can have the pleasure of going to a neutral site (can you say snake pit? Might Boise or Ohio State have more fans at a game in Indianapolis three weeks before Christmas?) and playing another team with athletes just like yours, in another elimination game, before you get to claim a “right” to play for a national championship.
Year in and year out, Vanderbilt is as talented across their first 22 players as any mid-level team in the country, except the elite. After playing six or seven SEC games, they are lucky to be able to field a team. Miami used the 3 game a year schedule for 15 years (early 80’s to mid 90’s) to make themselves a name. When they finally stepped up to play in an almost conference, they didn’t fair quite so well. If any of you really, really, really want that, now is the time to step up. Now is the time to ask. Now is the time to let it be known that you want to pay your dues. Now is the time to step up and work for what you claim you want. Do it. Do it today. Or not.
You see, in the words of Nick Saban, we don’t really care what you do. We are simply tired of politicians sticking their noses into places they don’t belong because you guys won’t do something to help yourselves. You want in the BCS? Openings are now available. If you haven’t done the pre-requisite work to get noticed-----from a facilities angle, from a fan-base angle, from an academic angle----that is not our problem. If the geographic fit is not what it should be, that’s not our problem either. The schools in the BCS conferences have sold themselves and made names for themselves for well over 100 years to ensure they are able to participate in the best anyone has to offer when the opportunity comes along. If you don’t make the cut, it won’t be because there is bias. It will be because you have not done the work or you don’t really want to be involved at the level you claim-------best of luck to you.
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