Playoffs in Congress

bellyseries

bellyseries

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From a political blog:

BARTON AND THE BCS.... Barack Obama continues to share some of his concerns about the "Bowl Championship Series" and the need for a college-football playoff, and it appears he's not the only policy maker with an interest in this.
Texas Rep. Joe Barton -- a Texas A&M grad and Aggies fan -- agrees with Barack Obama about the need for a real college football championship game.
To that end, the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee is introducing legislation "To prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, the promotion, marketing, and advertising of any post-season NCAA Division I football game as a national championship game unless such game is the culmination of a fair and equitable playoff system."
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I can appreciate folks taking an interest in sports, and given recent events, I can imagine why football fans in Texas, in particular, are unhappy with the system. But I think Barton's interest is getting a little out of hand.
Back in December 2005, the Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection -- which refused to hold substantive hearings on much of anything -- scrutinized the BCS. In December 2008, Barton unveiled a bill to force the NCAA to institute a playoff system. Now, the conservative Republican has a new bill to limit the use of the phrase "national championship game."
In defending his hearings on the subject a few years ago, Barton, then-chairman of the full committee, said, "Man doesn't live by policy alone. Sports is an important part of American society."
Perhaps, but it's certainly not this important. If Obama wants to use his bully pulpit to apply some pressure on this, fine. The BCS is stupid and some presidential nudging would make fans happy. But let's remember that it's a decision about a game for colleges to make, and maybe Barton can find some other issues of interest.
 
bellyseries said:
From a political blog:

and maybe Barton can find some other issues of interest.
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Disagree. In the past 6 months Congress managed to give away 1 trillion dollars we don't have because of, in part, mistakes they made and things they did not do they were supposed to do.

I'd rather they delve into steroids and bowls and other minutiae. Its a lot cheaper to tinker with the BCS and they can't screw it up any more than it is now.


:pat:
 
bellyseries said:
But let's remember that it's a decision about a game for colleges to make...
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I think the bigger issue is how much money changes hands during the bowls. Not necessarily whose hand they get passed to, but who makes that decision and how.
 
The worst thing for any business or group is to get the government involved in solving problems. "I am from the government and here to help" is the worst sentence ever spoken.

But with the new administration I and others fear more government 'help", college sports is one place the government should stay out.
 
The V said:
The worst thing for any business or group is to get the government involved in solving problems. "I am from the government and here to help" is the worst sentence ever spoken.

But with the new administration I and others fear more government 'help", college sports is one place the government should stay out.
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I don't give a damn about business or any of that garbage, they just need to stay out of sports.

I say we bring back the Bowl Alliance.
 
They need to have the top 6 BCS ranked teams have automatic bids into a playoff and incorporate a lottery for the 7th and 8th teams to be picked from the 7th-12th BCS ranked teams. I think that should make everyone happy. If you're not in the top 12 you don't deserve a shot anyway. That would make for some extra money to be made in Vegas as well. Whatcha think?
 
im putting my money on McCain!

1. he's mad b/c he lost his last game, when was the last time he lost two in a row?

2. he's a fighter, and he wont give up

3. it sounds so close to McBain i cant vote against him out of fear

mcbain_gun.jpg


oh, i thought that congress was having a playoff to see who wins the vote
 
This is just as dumb as when Bush went on his big steriods-in-baseball witch hunt.
 
beej67 said:
This is just as dumb as when Bush went on his big steriods-in-baseball witch hunt.
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Actually in fairness, steriods and other drugs are killing our youth so there was at least real motivation by Bush and Congress to investigate.

The football champion thing truly is a joke however. Imagine this going all the way down to high school football when teams are chosen for different playoffs, etc. Once you start you can't stop. This is college presidents issue and nobody else. Just wait til the southern cities get their lobbyist out in force. Obama is a dumbass for talking about this right now. He doesn't need the votes today on anything, but the issue is a waste of time.
 
Actually in fairness, steriods and other drugs are killing our youth so there was at least real motivation by Bush and Congress to investigate.
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In fairness, steroids are essentially never seen in youth baseball, but are much more often seen in high school football, so at least Obama has the sport right.

Even so, it was not a national issue. It's an issue of local law enforcement. Just like you rightfully state, that the BCS is collegiate issue, not a federal one.
 
beej67 said:
In fairness, steroids are essentially never seen in youth baseball, but are much more often seen in high school football, so at least Obama has the sport right.

Even so, it was not a national issue. It's an issue of local law enforcement. Just like you rightfully state, that the BCS is collegiate issue, not a federal one.
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I don't believe an issue has to be a "national" issue per se. Katrina was not a national issue but certainly La needed federal help.

Steroids in sports certainly could be an issue big enough that the feds felt compelled to get involved. Certainly the Surgeon General would or could have some input. I'm not supporting federal involvement in steroid investigation, just suggesting that at least that issue had a federal leg to stand on. I just can't see the feds getting involved in a college football playoff issue.
 
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