How to take down the BCS
It’s easy to see why the BCS is one of the worst things that’s ever happened to college football. The vast majority of fans agree that it needs to be changed or completely replaced. There exist differing views regarding what system should replace the BCS, and of those, Sloppy Joe’s is one of the best. However, we’ll never see that or any proposal like it come to fruition until the current BCS structure gets the boot. There are also many differing opinions on how to make this happen. Let’s tackle those (pun intended) one by one.
- Boycott the National Championship game – While I respect Dan for this suggestion and see how it could make a difference theoretically, I just don’t see it happening practically. At the end of the day, too much of us love to watch quality college football even more than we hate the BCS. Our love for football is what fuels the hatred in the first place. Sadly, not enough people will jump on this bandwagon.
- Boycott the sponsors of the BCS bowls – A good example of this would be to use UPS instead of FedEx or to stop buying Tostitos products. Again, you have the problem of not enough people jumping on the bandwagon. It’s highly unlikely that enough people will join together to make a noticeable dent in the sales of these huge companies during the BCS timeframe.
- Purchase anti-BCS apparel and wear it to the BCS games - This is a good thought, but all these different websites are offering for everyone to purchase their T-shirts in an attempt to make this happen. All these shirts come in different varieties and colors. At the end of the day, they’re just getting you to buy their merchandise under the guise that everyone else will, too and everyone will be unified. Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that everyone managed to purchase the exact same shirt and wear it to the exact same game. It still wouldn’t do anything meaningful. It’s just reinforcing what everyone already knows: that we hate the BCS. We would continue to be ignored by the powers that be.
- Do nothing – With all the conference realignment speculation going on, there’s a chance that the BCS will HAVE to change as a result. Or maybe Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff’s lawsuit or Senator Hatch’s antitrust inquiries will produce a favorable result without anyone else having to worry about it. This is a lazy approach, though. I’d rather not rely on chance.
- (this is my solution) Reach out to those in high places - I know this is pretty vague, but hear me out. The BCS Officials have made it plainly clear that they couldn’t give a flying fart about the fact that everyone hates their system. They just claim that everyone who doesn’t like it is too stupid to understand it. Dirty elitists…. Anyway, in that case, we need to reach out to those who possibly will listen to us. Write your university president and athletic director in the school where you have or are attending. Write the coach of your school’s team. Write your conference commisioner. Write the NCAA president!! It’s true that they may ignore us as well, but there’s a better chance of them listening than the BCS screwballs. These are people in power who have a potential to make a difference. Additionally, reach out to your Congressmen (and Congresswomen, if you want to be politically correct). If you don’t know how, this link will help. Tell them to follow Senator Hatch’s lead. It’s our elected representatives’ job to represent their constituents (us). Emphasize how much you hate the BCS and want it to be changed. If they say it’s not worth their time or that Congress shouldn’t get involved, spread the word about their response and don’t vote for them next elections. Elections are coming up this November. Find out who of those running for office will get involved in fighting the BCS in Congress, and then vote for those who will. And when you’re reaching out to these people, I have a few suggestions: 1) don’t make your letters/e-mails lengthy. There’s a better chance of getting them read and considered if they’re shorter. 2) Make it personal. Again, there’s a better chance they’ll get read. 3) Don’t just tell them you hate the BCS, let them know briefly that you support Dan’s system and why. If we’re going to replace the current system, we might as well get it done right the first time. I’d hate for them to go to all that work and then just get a 4-team playoff.
If we can all do #5, and get everyone we know to do the same, then we have a chance of getting something done. It’s unfortunate that Congress may be our only hope to debunk these losers. The majority of conference commissioners, college presidents, athletic directors, and coaches have shown us in different cases that they’re content with the status quo. Congress may just be our last resort. As Senator Hatch stated, “No one wants to see Congress get involved here, including me. But if this response [Hancock's response to the Hatch/Baucus letter] is any indication, there may not be any other option.”
Are there any other ways that the average shmuck like me could help take down this system?
Comments
I agree with you that I hate the BCS. Beyond that, I disagree with everything in this article.
In the grand scheme of things, the BCS issue isn’t that important. Write your congressman? Make voting decisions based on a politician’s stance regarding the BCS? Talk about misplaced priorities. The BCS is not one of the “issues of our time.” Personally, if a politician decides to spend a significant amount of time focused on the BCS they deserve to get voted out of office for wasting time. The BCS is insignificant politically.
“No one wants to see Congress get involved here, including me. But if this response [Hancock's response to the Hatch/Baucus letter] is any indication, there may not be any other option.” Nonsense. Hatch as well as the Utah AG only care about this because they live in Utah. All this is nothing more than “bread and circuses” to get stupid voters to vote for them.
I appreciate your response and respect your opinion, but I obviously disagree with you. There’s not a single thing wrong with writing your congressman about this issue. While I admit that basing your vote on this issue is a bit extreme, it can be a good tiebreaker if you’re deciding between two equal candidates.
Why is it unreasonable to ask a congressman to spend time on an issue involving cheating a public university in his state (taxpayer money involved) out of millions of dollars??? We’re not asking them to pursue it at the expense of everything else. As PlayoffPAC states (URL below), they can “walk and chew gum at the same time.” The fact that they have weightier issues to tackle doesn’t mean they can’t spend a little time here and there on an issue such as this one.
http://playoffpac.com/government/default.aspx
Additionally, if you think that’s such a bad idea, I’d like to see what you come up with. That’s not a challenge, it’s an earnest request. So many people (I’m guessing you’re one of them) can only complain about the current system, but when put to it, they don’t think of what they can do to fix it. Watch “Patch Adams” — focus on the solution, not the problem.