Thursday, June 25, 2009

Time for Congress to Challenge Hypocrisy, Only Money Matters with the BCS

I mentioned the other day that, more often than not, I enjoy the people I encounter while doing my job. There are notable exceptions to that rule. High on that list would be college presidents in general—with a few exceptions and presidents of BCS colleges—with no exceptions.


I swear these people must have to pass a rigorous test in pomposity and hypocrisy before they are sworn in. Here’s the oath they take: “I David Frohnmayer promise to lie, obfuscate and say anything that comes into my head to defend the BCS, regardless of what might be right for the so-called ‘student-athletes,’ representing my school.”


David Frohnmayer, if you don’t know, is the president of the University of Oregon and is currently the chairman of something called the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee.


Yesterday, Frohnmayer put out a statement after the latest meeting of the group AGAIN defending the BCS and AGAIN saying there’s no reason at all to change the system. Maybe Chrysler and GM can hire this guy to put out statements saying that everything is just fine in the automobile business.


What is SO aggravating about guys like Frohnmayer and his BCS partners in crime is their extraordinary arrogance. Consider the following paragraph from Frohnmayer’s statement: “In the last six years I’ve read pundits, hear the pronouncements of broadcasters and collected several cubic feet of e-mail printouts from advocates of an NFL-style playoff system. Even those that go beyond sound bit certitude share two intertwined and fatal deficiencies: they disrespect our academic calendars and they utterly lack a business plan.”


Okay let’s break this down. Not first that Frohnmayer refers to an “NFL-style playoff system.” That’s his way of saying he would NEVER want the game professionalized. Oh God Forbid the BCS, which is completely underwritten by corporate America, should be professionalized. How about a Division 1-AA style playoff system? (Forget the NCAA’s silly new names). Or a Division 2 or a Division 3 playoff system? The D-3 schools, whose kids have NO scholarships and have to be serious students have a playoff system—like 1-AA and D-2 that runs right into December. How much you want to bet the graduation rate of the schools that make the D-3 playoffs is a LOT higher than the BCS’s top ten schools?


But that’s the least of it. The comment about disrespecting the academic calendars makes me want to throw something at this guy. How about the academic calendar for the basketball tournament? That’s in MARCH and APRIL, right near the end of the school year! A playoff could easily be held in January, mostly between semesters. STOP SAYING THIS IT IS A COMPLETE LIE. If Frohnmayer made a statement like this before Congress he would be—and should be—held in contempt. I certainly hold him in contempt. If he made it in a courtroom he would be charged with perjury.


Finally, the business plan. Give me a call Dave, I can put a business plan together for you in about 15 minutes and I know ZIP about business. Are you kidding me? By the way is President Obama a pundit or a broadcaster?


Frohnmayer, showing his rapier wit, jokingly said he had heard from fans at Auburn and his own school, Oregon who thought their teams belonged in past BCS championship games. No mention of Utah or Boise State. I guess they don’t exist, right Dave? Riddle me this Mr. BCS oversight chairman: How do you go UNDEFEATED in any sport and not even get a chance to compete for a championship?


What a jerk. I will say this one more time: This is one time when President Obama and Congress need to intervene in athletics. They need to tell these pompous hypocrites that if they don’t set up a playoff NOW the IRS is prepared to investigate whether they should retain 501C3 status. You see with the BCS presidents once you get by the “sound bit certitude,” only one thing matters: MONEY.


Clearly they’ve never been caught in a truth in the past or in Frohnmayer preposterous statement.


Okay, I got that off my chest. But I’m still mad. I think I’m going to find a picture of Frohnmayer, get my daughter to put together a Frohnmayer doll and throw things at it.

5 comments:

Sammy said...

Junior: Don't you think your boy Obama has better things to do than this????

John's friend said...

John, John, John. Dave Frohnmayer is a good and honorable man. You would like him. College football has the most meaningful regular season of any sport. Why turn that into trivia by putting all the marbles into December and January? Remember the mega-games in college basketball regular seasons of yore? They're mostly gone now. Same would happen in football. And do you think many on campus would focus on finals if State Tech was in a playoff game December 16? It's NOT the money; much more money would come from a playoff. If the BCS went away, you wouldn't get a playoff--you would get the old bowl system. That's not what we need.

CEW said...

John's Friend,

I disagree completely. The pull of college football is the great rivalry games. Those don't change with a playoff system. It is indefensible to have undefeated teams be left out of the championship conversation. D 1-AA playoffs are a joy to watch. I can only imagine how great it would be for the big boys.

Stop the madness.

VJN said...

If all the posts are this thrilling I'll be checking in every day.

Ohio_boy said...

Bravo, bravo, huzzah, huzzah!! The fans know it is all about money, the sportswriter know, heck, even my mom knows, and she doesn't even watch college football. It seems the only ones who don't "know" it's all about the money are the ones running the show...except for the ones profiting from it...