More of the Same B(C)S!

It doesn't appear that the college football championship will be decided on the field anytime soon. Instead, we'll allow computers and sportswriters to determine who wins the "beauty contest" and gets to play for the title.

This article from CBS Sportsline is interesting and enlightening. While more and more coaches are coming around on a playoff, the college presidents are very protective of their annual "vacation" to a football bowl game. For once, this may not be about money. Instead, it is about that other factor that absolutely corrupts - power.

Both Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said the schools they represent have no interest in further tampering with the relationship between the two conferences and the Rose Bowl, their longtime and lucrative partner.

"The Rose Bowl is the most important external relationship we have," Delany said. "It's more important than the BCS. We're going to honor it. We're going to salute it."

Tell me this isn't laughable:

Getting past the Big Ten and Pac-10's allegiance to the Rose Bowl is by no means the only thing standing in the way of a plus-one.

Hansen said there are concerns among the university presidents he represents about further extending the season, especially after Division I-A just made permanent the 12-game regular season, and the toll it could take on academics.

The Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls share the Rose Bowl's worries about the desire of fans to travel to two postseason games. Also, opponents of a full-fledged playoff -- and there are many in the ranks of college presidents, even outside the Big Ten and Pac-10 -- view the plus-one as the first step down a slippery slope.

(My emphasis). Just consider for a moment how the football playoff would be different from March Madness. That tournament lasts three weeks - in the middle of the semester. Fans seem to be able to find it in the budget to travel to three different venues in three weeks.

I believe the reason that everyone is talking about this week's Fiesta Bowl is that it was the closest thing to Villanova's "perfect game" or North Carolina State's "miracle shot" or any other "buzzer-beater" that you have seen in a championship football game. And people loved it. They want more of it.

The college presidents seem to be doing a nice job of having conference commissioners throw a bunch of excuses at the wall to see what will stick. The problem is, Boise State sprayed a nice thick coat of teflon on the wall and the commissioner's shit is in a pile at the base of the wall.

Give us a playoff!!!