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Who'da thunk it? The BCS is a federal crime

By Glenn Logan

I saw this today and just laughed out loud, then cried.  It seems that some in Congress have decided that it would be a good idea to legislate a playoff system for college football.  I kid you not.  Some representatives from Hawaii, Georgia and Idaho were all unhappy with how the whole BCS thing turned out last year, particularly for their favorite team.  So, being the good public servants that they are, they have together decided to introduce a bipartisan resolution that says the BCS violates federal antitrust law, and require a Justice Department investigation of the BCS.  I know, I know ... it sounds insane, but I swear, it's true.  Here is the summary from the article above:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Forget government corruption or corporate fraud. Three members of Congress want the Justice Department to investigate whether college football's Bowl Championship Series is an illegal enterprise.

Reps. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, are introducing a resolution rejecting the oft-criticized bowl system as an illegal restriction on trade because only the largest universities compete in most of the major bowl games. The resolution would require Justice's antitrust division to investigate whether the system violates federal law.

The measure also would put Congress on record as supporting a college football playoff.
This is a classic example of why I forbid political discussion on this blog -- politics and sports are like oil and water -- they don't mix.  Look, I am as opposed to the current system as the next guy.  I would love to see a limited playoff instituted at maybe 8 teams.  But the idea of spending federal resources to investigate a college sports setup is so incredibly absurd, in my opinion, I have no choice but to laugh in complete amazement at these supposedly responsible people, then cry at the bad judgment we had to put such idiots in our national legislature.  I think you could put monkeys or hippopotami in place of these guys and the place might actually function better.

Dear Right Honorable Mr. and/or Mrs./Ms. Congressperson -- leave college sports the heck alone!  Go investigate some professional baseball boob or agent who lied about shooting up 'roids, or laundered money, or some NBA official for gambling.  College football's post season may be a mess, but we don't need Congress turning it into a farce.  Fan pressure will eventually get it fixed.  Just keep your musty mitts off our pastime!  It's bad enough that we have reactionary fans carping all over the Internet -- we don't need the feds crawling all over our schools trying to make sure every action in college sports is a pean to perfect egalitarianism.  

Where will this all end?  Next thing you know, we are going to have a Congressionally-mandated trophy for every team who participates in the NCAA tournament, just so the losers don't feel bad.  Please.  Stop.  Now!

Update [2008-4-20 23:17:50 by Truzenzuzex]:  Our friend T. Kyle King over at Dawg Sports has a similar, but considerably more detailed and interesting view, particularly considering that one of the legislators in question is from Georgia.  Recommended.

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