With the economy reeling, foreign powers building nukes, and no oversight over $700 billion in bailout money, Congress is fast at work trying to use state force to restrict the rights of the BCS and athletic directors.

MITCHELL BLATT

Texas Rep. Joe Barton compared the BCS system to communism as he wrote a bill attempting to outlaw the BCS Championship.

Here we have a man who is trying to control a private enterprise through government force, and he’s complaining about communism. Nice.

But if the government already has a majority stake in General Motors, what’s wrong with them trying to take over college football?

Joe Barton warned the NCAA: “If we don’t see some action in the next two months, on a voluntary switch to a playoff system, then you will see this bill move.”

A voluntary switch would seem best except for the fact that having the government threaten you to do something is, um… not voluntary.

Illinois’ Bobby Rush complained about the big conferences having automatic bids, saying, “How can we justify this system … are the big guys getting together and shutting out the little guys?”

Yeah, if I create a football team with my friends, the NFL won’t let me play with them. It’s the same concept. The BCS is a league and thus they decide which teams get certain advantages. The NFL is a league, and they do the same thing, deciding which teams can play in their select group of 32 teams and which can’t.

The BCS may not be a good system in your opinion. I say it’s good because it makes the season more exciting. I’m not going to debate further. The point is that it’s a privately created system created with the consent of university athletic departments. What in John Madden’s name does Congress think gives them the authority on an issue like this?

Perhaps the funniest line in the article is this:

Yet it is unclear whether lawmakers will try to legislate how college football picks its No. 1 before the first kickoff of the fall season. Congress is grappling with a crowded agenda of budgets, health care overhaul and climate change, and though President Barack Obama favors a playoff, he hasn’t made it a legislative priority.

Seriously, Congress is so stupid that they actually have to put a line in there putting college football right there with budgets and health care as if it’s on the same level.

Article: BCS Bill in Congress

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