Christmas is over, time to clean up the BCS mess

The Capstone Report recently mentioned that I might have a thing or two to say about the BCS now that, in his words, "the apocalypse has arrived." If only that were so.

Before I go on, let me explain what I was hoping for. I was hoping for the kind of situation that would force conferences like the SEC, who are top-heavy but not nearly as much as conferences like the Big Ten and the Pac 10, force change. I wanted to see Hawaii or Kansas playing for the Mythical National Championship, and I wanted to see the SEC shut out of it by weaker teams playing weaker schedules. I wanted a genuine apocalypse, a cataclysm that would force a change in the way people see the BCS, like Hawaii or Kansas playing in the BCS championship game. I'm not demeaning either one of those fine teams, but you can't compare the schedule they played to that of, say, LSU or Georgia or even Arizona State or USC.

But alas, it was not so, and as a result, we must face at least one more year before an outcry will reach sufficient volume to produce changes. Despite the reasoned arguments of Henry Gomez and Mergz at the excellent Saurian Sagacity, Jai Eugene at Loser with Socks, and Senator Blutarsky of Get the Picture, nobody will listen, and there will be little outcry. Thanks to MSM pundits like Teddy Greenstein (who's inane arguments against the BCS set new records for sports pundit lunacy) and Jason Whitlock. After reading these articles, you might think that these guys were actually watching some other sport, like maybe soccer, and occasionally writing about football by perusing box scores. What is even more disturbing is the fact that the official BCS website lists these defenses of their flawed scheme as "News". As Henry Gomez of Saurian Sagacity points out, what other sports governing body shamelessly plugs media defenses of their setup. It is unseemly, unfair, and should probably inspire conspiracy theories.

But unfortunately, the outcome of the BCS has produced a result that will appear to most football fans as only slightly flawed, and arguably not as flawed as many other times in it's history. What that means, my friends and neighbors in the blogosphere, is that change has been delayed yet another year. Outcries will be poo-poo'ed by the likes of ESPN and others in the established sports media, who seem for all the world to have a vested interest in the current setup. "Fairness" doesn't appear to be the most important thing, and that should be frightening to every sports fan. Nobody likes playing a rigged game, but college football teams do it every year, and what we get are indefensible defenses of the BCS, all lined up neatly as though ordained from above.

This will be my last lament of the BCS this season, as fans will quickly move on to other things. But trust me, we will revisit this again next year, and hopefully we will get a little help from a benevolent God (whom I am convinced is a football fan) who must sometimes feel the need to intervene and supply the impetus for change our BCS system so badly needs. I thought it might be this year, but alas and alack, we are to be denied even the least of that.