CONGRESS NOSES UNDER THE BCS TENT

Here we go again with our Congress spending our tax dollars to investigate a subject that should be the provenance of other organizations. Our political leaders continue to grandstand with extravagant Congressional Committee investigations.

This past week Congressman Bobby Rush D-IL who is Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee said the following about their investigation into the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), “We have to be willing to take some action on this. We’re asking for fairness and equity on this issue.”

First of all, would you not like to know just how much money this Committee has spent holding these hearings? I’ll bet the total expenditure would be astounding. With all the problems facing our government both nationally and internationally, is there really any justification to study the efficacy of college football’s Bowl Championship Series? Your Commander suggests that this issue is something that should fall under the direction and jurisdiction of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Currently the NCAA is under some duress, because President Miles Brand is experiencing unfortunate and very serious health issues. This in itself may be an appropriate cause to delay a thorough study of the recent concerns surrounding the BCS discussion. This is a highly emotional subject and one that has far reaching legal complications. If a decision is reached to switch the BCS to a play-off format that will immediately impact numerous legal contracts that exist covering a substantial number of bowl game commitments. Additionally, if the bowl games are scrapped, there will be huge losses in charitable donations that have historically flowed from those events. How can events such as the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Rose Bowl as well as numerous other lesser Bowl Games survive under a play-off format?

These questions and other numerous obstacles call for appropriate consideration and determination. There is no doubt in my mind that the likes of Rep. Bobby Rush are not qualified to address this very complicated matter. First of all he is the same clown that earned a questionable reputation as the leader of a recent Black Caucus delegation to visit Cuba and played cozy with both President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel Castro. This is the same Bobby Rush who was a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and was co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party in 1968. This individual is nothing more than another Illinois opportunist who has wrapped his persona into the camouflage of politics, just like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and, you know, that other guy who came out of the Chicago Community Organizing pretense. (Does the new president ring a bell?)

Congressman Rush is not the only bad guy in this matter, because Congressman Joe Barton R-TX is in this because his “favorite” team was slighted by the BCS last season. Let us get honest about this discussion, and stop spending unnecessary taxpayer money. Any decisions regarding the BCS should be in the hands of sports experts or even the frequently inept self-serving NCAA, not the egocentric Halls of Congress.

COMMANDER GRANGER