BCS needs to take a long walk off a short pier

First appeared on October 20th, 2010
in The Lebanon Reporter

Would somebody please do the sports world a favor and put the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) out of its misery. It is high time the NCAA scrap this epic failure and (pardon my gratuitous use of yet another tired analogy) go back to the drawing board. Just like landline telephones and the Californian Condor, it would appear the best days are behind the BCS.


It’s like an old racehorse somebody needs to put out to pasture or a dinosaur from Detroit gargling gasoline as a Prius zips by silently in the passing lane. It’s the old hunting dog that can’t see, hear or smell but his master somehow lets him back into the truck every season.

So the BCS rankings have finally come out and, despite a well crafted rumor that it would be Boise State, Oklahoma is the team we are here-to-after decreed to bow to. Many expected Boise State to start out on top, early in the game, only to let them slide down as others crept their way up; the ultimate in lip service.

In reality if ever the BCS should give Boise State their title chance there would appear to be no better place or time than now. With no clear cut favorites in the field a “David v. Goliath” title game would actually generate more interest than whatever powerhouse schools are thrown at us at the end of the year.

Instead it would appear the BCS is rapidly approaching NASCAR Chase for the Cup-like status in the world of sporting events capable of generating mass yawns and disinterest amongst an otherwise rabid fan base. Of course I have no solutions to offer. Had I any- a part time pretend sports columnist I would not be. Instead I’ll take a play out of Cesar Millan’s off camera playbook and simply continue to beat the BCS with a rolled up newspaper.

The worst part about the entire system is that nobody can explain it. It’s like the Theory of Relativity, we all know it exists and that Einstein was a genius for discovering it-but none of us can begin to explain how it pertains to our everyday lives. It would seem the only way the BCS could possibly get any worse is if it hired Mel Gibson to do its PR.

In fact I can explain the BCS formula about as well as a monkey can order Chinese from a menu printed in Mandarin. Certainly the NCAA knows if they make the BCS selection process as complicated as humanly possible, most people won’t bat an eye when they announce their Title Game. And those who do are easily paid off or find themselves breaking rocks in a Siberian labor camp.

Simply put the everyday fan may want to see Boise State in the Championship game, but the people who really matter to the NCAA do not. And by “people who really matter” here we mean advertisers. Yes, all the grandstanding ESPN did surrounding the initial BCS selection show was meant to sell advertising dollars, not fill a void in your life.

So in the long run if you really think Boise State will ever actually appear in the BCS championship game you are probably the same person who believes in the U.S. government or Unicorns. The only way the Broncos will ever make the title game is if Nebraska, Ohio State, Alabama and Oklahoma put together an All Star team to play them first. Talk about a delicious match up; of course for the time being a Californian Condor egg omelet will simply have to suffice.