There was the typical outrage last week when the NCAA allowed three new bowls into an already bloated and watered-down postseason lineup.

There is almost shock in some quarters that bowls in Honolulu, Charlotte, N.C., and San Francisco had been certified for the 2002 season. For those keeping score, that's 28 bowls ... meaning almost half of Division I-A will be bowling next season.

Too much excess? Maybe, but don't blame the NCAA for this one. It had no choice. Some lawyer, somewhere, was probably more than willing to claim restraint of trade, challenging the NCAA's authority over a postseason it really doesn't control.

"Sure, somebody might bring (legal) action," said New York attorney Jeffrey Kessler. Kessler and his firm filed an antitrust suit against the NCAA in January 2001 on behalf of basketball's NIT. The suit alleges that the NCAA is killing off the NIT, thus restricting trade, by enacting legislation that would eliminate the preseason tournaments by 2004.

"Quite frankly, I don't know why the NCAA has any interest in certifying postseason bowls to begin with," Kessler said. "They don't have any championship events (in I-A football). What's the NCAA's business?"

In football, the NCAA basically sets playing rules and oversees the financial conditions of bowls. The BCS and bowl system takes it from there.

Basically, any group with a $2 million letter of credit can get in line for a bowl. Even then, the rules are loosely enforced. Last year, the NCAA allowed its April certification deadline to slide until October for the then-new Tangerine Bowl. The official announcement of the Tangerine's existence came 2½ months before kickoff.

Those loose guidelines had to be running through the minds of the NCAA's board of directors when it lifted a bowl moratorium. The groups from San Francisco, Honolulu and Charlotte lined up to make their presentations to the NCAA Postseason Certification Sub-Committee chaired by Penn State athletic director Tim Curley.

"We really don't have much say in the matter," John Kasser, the sub-committee's former chairman, said last year. "Right now, we don't have any way to limit the number of games."

"The NCAA doesn't have any choice but to let them in, but it's a joke," said Gene Corrigan, a former NCAA president. "Two or three coaches that go to bowls this year will get fired."

More might not necessarily be better, but who cares? Coaches, cities and sponsors go into the postseason with their eyes wide open. There's a little thing called free enterprise. Next year Fort Worth officials are expected to apply for a bowl at TCU's Amon Carter Stadium. Never mind that the 44,008-seat stadium averaged 11,374 empty seats two years ago when the Horned Frogs won the WAC title.

There's no doubt some of the 28 bowls will flame out and perish. But that makes them no different than competing coffee shops or discount clothing stores.

Only the strong survive. If the economic climate supports only 17 bowls, fine. If it supports 35 then that's OK too. The point is that the NCAA should -- and, in fact, does -- have little influence on these entities attempting to run a successful business.

"In football I don't understand their interest at all (in the bowls)," Kessler said. "It's called the marketplace. The fans will watch them and go to them or they won't. Sponsors will either pay for them or they won't. Other teams are playing in bowl games; why shouldn't other teams have an opportunity?"

Believe that the NCAA is watching the legal climate closely. There is still the lingering affect of 1999 when a federal court awarded $55 million to a group of assistant coaches that had their salaries unfairly restricted by the NCAA.

You get the sense that whenever the NCAA wants to do something, it has to run it past the legal department.

Part of Kessler's lawsuit is seeking to repeal an old NCAA by-law that binds teams to the NCAA Tournament, if invited, "or in no postseason competition in that sport." Obviously, the NIT, once more popular than the NCAA Tournament, could benefit.

"(Another tournament) sort of reduces their leverage in getting more than $6 billion in rights fees on the next contract," Kessler said. "Monopolists generally do not like competition."

What should be a bigger concern to the NCAA is some bowls not meeting minimum payouts ($750,000 per team).

"Some will survive and some will go by the boards," Curley said.

There is also the concern of the declining sponsorship market. Part of the Tangerine's certification delay was that it had trouble finding a sponsor. AT&T made news when it left the venerable Rose Bowl without a title sponsor.

But if the bowls keep bellying up to the postseason bar, why should the NCAA not allow them to drink?

Enjoy the postseason landscape. There's no doubt it's going to change.

Upon further review, the SEC is in big trouble

Critics overstated that recent SEC scandals had made the league look like the old outlaw Southwest Conference that collapsed under the weight of its cheating in the mid-1990s.

Until now.

The SEC already has relinquished its claim to the top football conference in the country (the Big 12 is best). Now it is in danger of experiencing some real damage to its pet sport.

LSU took the unprecedented initiative last week to visit the NCAA office in Indianapolis even though no investigation of the school was ongoing. Talk about being proactive.

There is no doubt that LSU is in some serious doo-doo with allegations of academic fraud in the football program. The school seemed to confirm that when it hired high-profile NCAA trouble-shooting attorney Mike Glazier this week.

Glazier has handled some of the biggest academic fraud cases in recent years, including the wide-ranging Minnesota case. LSU's woes could mushroom into that big of a mess. Two LSU instructors have alleged that Tigers athletes, particularly football players, engaged in plagiarism. Both say they were pressured to keep quiet about their claims.

And yes, if you're wondering, LSU would be eligible for the death penalty (a.k.a. "The Big Haircut") if found guilty of major violations. It is still within the five-year window of probation after the basketball program was found guilty of major violations in September 1998.

Elsewhere around the league:

• Alabama is appealing wide-ranging penalties resulting from its third major violations case in seven years.
• A sportswriter -- yes, one of us -- has been accused of giving $4,500 to former Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin. Tennessee already has been docked two scholarships by the NCAA for improper recruiting of former player Eric Locke.
• Kentucky has lost 19 scholarships from a program that already was struggling.

Throw a dart at football pocket schedule and you're likely to hit an SEC school in trouble off the field.

"The problems we've had with the NCAA, hopefully we get a handle on it," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "It has been a problem. We don't want to become a league that continues to be in trouble."

We wrote last week that it's still all football in the SEC. We hereby retract that column and put the SEC on notice of its national reputation. It is clearly a renegade league that offers little more than lip service to cleaning up a tradition of cheating to get ahead in football.

And this is with one of the most powerful persons in college sports in charge, Roy Kramer. Some say this is happening because Kramer is a powerful figure. No matter what your view, it's no surprise that the SEC search committee is looking for a college president to replace Kramer.

The committee will supply the darts.

A tragic legacy

The passing of former Washington defensive back Curtis Williams left behind some small shred of good.

The NCAA's catastrophic injury insurance carrier changed its coverage plan in August in reaction to Williams' condition. Williams wanted to live at home and live with his brother after a spinal cord injury in 2000 left him paralyzed. At the time, the NCAA's insurance plan didn't provide proper coverage if Williams lived at home.

Mutual of Omaha changed that when it added a Private Duty Nursing Benefit to the coverage plan. The change is retroactive to any athlete catastrophically injured after Aug. 1, 2000.

Shortly before Williams died on Monday, he was able to visit his former teammates at spring practice. During the 2001 Rose Bowl, Williams watched his former team from a private box. Washington players saluted Williams from the floor of the Rose Bowl.

"I choose to take this time to celebrate Curtis and his memory," coach Rick Neuheisel said shortly after Williams died. "As his brother David told me today, 'He's somewhere right now and he's running, fast.'"

Only on Mission Beach

San Diego State is one of the few schools where a day at the beach could turn into an NCAA violation.

The NCAA is looking into allegations that offensive line coach Damon Baldwin conducted organized workouts at a local beach in March. Offseason workouts outside of spring practice are not even allowed to be viewed by coaches.

According to published reports, Baldwin handed out practice schedules that included summer "sand training" in the early morning.

That's not a violation, it's a recruiting incentive. No word on who was supposed to bring the volleyball net, sunscreen and surfboards.

Quick hit

• The NCAA's leading returning punter doesn't want you to know about his worst kick last year. While averaging 44.8 yards per attempt, Utah State's Steve Mullins mixed in a 9-yard shank. Otherwise, he had at least one 50-yard punt in every game last season. "If we ever get inside the other team's 10-yard line and we need to really pin them down, I can do that," Mullins said.