Comments on: Congress Condemns BCS

By: Radio Left

Radio Left — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:15:13 +0000

The BCS is awful, but its hardly a problem for Congress...

Crooks and Liars

I haven’t followed college football in quite a while, but I remember that when I was a fan, the sport’s post-season system — known as the “Bowl Championship Series” — was thoroughly annoying. Playoff systems are utilized i...

By: Balloon Juice

Balloon Juice — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:58:35 +0000

[...] (h/t James) [...]

By: Bill H

Bill H — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:37:41 +0000

This is no more stupid than many of the other things that Congress "investigates" or "forms committees" on. Congress does not exist, today, to direct the well-being of the United States. Congress exists to pursue the re-election of its members, to line the pockets of its members with money, and to pursue the self-aggrandizement of its members pursuant to those two purposes. The thought of Congress doing anything useful is actually laughable. They are too busy passing bills to, for instance, "recognize the groundhog as an ecological balancing influence in the state of" whatever Congress-critter sponsored the bill.

By: No Meat

No Meat — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:23:11 +0000

The sad part about this isn't that these members are wasting their time on an issue that has no bearing on their responsibilities as members of Congress. It is that they are doing it while ignoring the glaring injustice of the NCAA's enjoying billions of dollars of tax free revenue by engaging in blatantly commercial activities while organized as a not for profit enterprise.

Of course no member of Congress wants to be the one to criticize something as popular as the NCAA, but responsible oversight of the tax code is one of the few things Congress should be doing. It is galling these Members would weigh in on something so stupid while ignoring the ways the NCAA and their Congressional minders are really giving taxpayers the hose.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:55:57 +0000

I dunno, this sounds like it falls directly under the Interstate Commerce Clause.

I'm not arguing that they're Constitutionally excluded from looking into intercollegiate athletics, just that this isn't their businesses. If there were major fraud or betting scandals or some such, it could well deserve Congressional attention. The format used for deciding championships, however, clearly isn't their business. Especially when the system has more-or-less been this way for decades, with tweaks only around the margins. There's never been a playoff system in big-time college football.

By: Brian J.

Brian J. — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:26:43 +0000

I dunno, this sounds like it falls directly under the Interstate Commerce Clause. Of course, with the advent of the Internet, what doesn't?

By: Richard Gardner

Richard Gardner — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:31:08 +0000

Next up, Congress condemns the shifting of the Seattle Sonics to become the Oklahoma City Sooners. Noted (I'm guessing on the new name). Lots of political drama, no impact.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 03:12:10 +0000

I suppose that were an investigation ever mounted, it would find that the people who wrote the bill, lost a whole pile of money when their brackets melted.

{/snark]

By: Steve Plunk

Steve Plunk — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 01:15:03 +0000

I'd prefer the old system of individual bowl champions and just let the coaches and writers pick a national champion or co-champions. With each bowl champion there is something to celebrate about college football. Why do we need a national champion anyway? On any given day there are about twenty teams that could beat any other team.

By: KJ

KJ — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:30:01 +0000

Why not let them get involved. They can't fix any of our real problems so it seems reasonable to believe they will not be any more successful dealing with this either. Status quo maintained until the NCAA does something.

By: jpe

jpe — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:45:44 +0000

Look at the states they represent. This is just doing some due diligence to make sure they keep the low-information voters in their corner. "I don't know what he stands for, but I know he supports Boise football! Wooo!"

By: jainphx

jainphx — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:29:36 +0000

The government gets involved in so many things that they are not constitutionally powered to do, some how some way we have to get back to the original intent of the government.