Mailbag: Skip to last letter if you don't have a BCS opinion

Updated April 24

I'm convinced that the two most contentious topics in the country are abortion and the BCS. Bring up either at a party, and you're likely to get smacked in the mouth at some point.

These are the best responses from my story this week on the Three Stooges, er, three Congressmen.

From: Alan

Four reasons the BCS has to go:

1. The NCAA requires certain things of a school seeking Division I status; A certain level of financial commitment and a minimum level of fan support are just two of them. Most of the schools that meet those requirements gave their all to get there. Having the BCS horde the money and the exposure is already choking off some non-BCS Division I schools.

2. When a non-BCS coach begins to succeed, BCS money easily pulls him away and into the BCS frat house. Two good examples are Urban Meyer (Utah to Florida), and Dan Hawkins (Boise State to Colorado). Even more telling is how the BCS money is further distancing the haves from the have-nots in other sports. Nebraska basketball, which had played in the NCAA postseason only once, was able to hire away Doc Sadler from UTEP, which had a HUGE basketball tradition by comparison, simply because they could offer him double the money, BCS MONEY!!! $400,000 vs. $700,000.

3. To play in a non-BCS bowl promises those fortunate teams just enough money to pay their way there and back. Some bowls can't even do that. A BCS berth not only rewards the BCS team but its conference. A few years back a 2-9 North Carolina team got $9 million-plus because of its BCS affiliation, while non-BCS conferences and teams started saving aluminum cans.

4. I have heard that the powers that be in the BCS are also the same powers that run the NCAA.

Money Man:

1. I don't have any problem with the NCAA setting minimum standards for entrance into Division I. Remember, these are MINIMUM standards that are pretty easy to meet for an institution that truly has enough money and fan interest to start a program.

You're talking about the argument used by the Michigans and Texases. Why should they share money equally with, say, a Florida Atlantic? Michigan and Texas sponsor football at the highest level -- filling stadiums, getting on TV, reaping in bowl money. FAU considers 7-5 a successful season.

At some point the FAUs must become loss leaders to establish themselves. Look how long it took Miami, Virginia Tech, etc.

Some of these schools are looking for immediate handouts when the tradition of the sport dictates that things change glacially.

2.It happens in every business. It's called a free market. You do well, you find a new job that pays more, you move on. Utah and Boise State being in a BCS conference wouldn't have kept Meyer and Hawkins at those schools. Florida and Colorado are better jobs than Utah and Boise.

3. I don't know about your North Carolina example, but where do you suggest that money go? Carolina is the member of a 12-team conference that has multiple bowl affiliations. It should share in the spoils because it plays the teams (and shares revenue with) the teams in that conference.

Oh, and by the way ALL conferences share bowl money. Just like in your neighborhood, some folks make more than others.

As for the lower-paying bowls, no one is holding a gun to the heads of the ADs who agree to play in them. They go in knowing that they're probably going to lose money. A bowl game is seen as a reward for players and fans. It helps recruiting.

4. You're absolutely wrong on that one. The BCS schools don't "control" the NCAA. No one controls the NCAA. If Oklahoma "controlled" the NCAA, why did it end up appealing the penalties in the Rhett Bomar case?

I've said this many times, but the NCAA has little or nothing to do with the BCS.

From: Scott

With respect to your story on the BCS, you are full of it. The BCS isn't fair, and it probably is an antitrust violation.

Memphis was in the finals in basketball. This same sort of story will never play out in the BCS -- the BCS won't allow a non-BCS school into the championship unless every BCS school has two losses and a non-BCS school is undefeated -- even then, it is questionable.

However, I don't see the non-BCS schools fighting it too much as long as the BCS throws them some money every now and then -- let's call it hush money -- and as long as there is always some hope that more hush money is coming. So let's be honest or at least pessimistic, it is not about competition when it comes to the non-BCS schools, it is about keeping them quiet.

Why else would you ever have let Hawaii in a BCS game in the first place? Oh wait, you got a T-shirt from it. Keep up the good work.

Scott on the rocks:

Hush money? Hawaii's $4.4 million bowl check is more than hush money. It's the school's biggest payout in history. How is that antitrust?

The last two years have shown that the non-BCS schools are closer than ever to playing in the national championship game. Don't forget that half of the BCS formula is the polls. The human polls, as part of the BCS, determined that Hawaii didn't play a strong enough schedule to be ranked high enough.

Hawaii's undefeated season isn't the same as Auburn's undefeated season (in 2004). If an undefeated season qualifies you for the national championship game, what if there are four such teams, or five?

Ask Boise if it was disappointed not playing in the 2007 national championship game. It did more for its program that night in the Fiesta Bowl than it did in the previous 100 years.

From: daworldismine

Apparently you don't see that by writing about three Congressmen and their lack of knowledge on antitrust issues, you don't see that you in fact are exposing your gross lack of knowledge on the subject.

The BCS is still, in fact, a corporation, not a governing body. This is a corporation that somehow has its tentacles on everything that has to do with making money off college football. Where is the NCAA in this? Counting their hush money? Why aren't the WAC ADs complaining anymore? Counting their hush money? If we were looking for a way to make the most money off of football, then we have it. If we are looking for a fair system for amateur athletes to compete, then we are far from it.

World Domination:

Did you and Scott get together and copy off each other. What is it with the hush money? When did the BCS become organized crime?

From: djclippert

Dennis, I think you are missing the bigger picture here. The BCS has made every bowl game, besides the BCS title game, meaningless.

I used to love watching the Rose Bowl. I have to say I did not even watch it this year. I didn't care. That bothered me, too. New Year's Day has not been the same since the BCS. These non-BCS schools just want a fair shot at the national championship.

They are tired of feeding off the scraps from the BCS schools. Here, throw them a BCS game here and there. They will be happy. BS!!! Or should I say BcS?

Clipped:

News flash: In the old system, almost all the bowl games were meaningless, too.

The BCS did deliver a national championship game. That's something we had only a handful of times before the BCS debuted in 1998.

From: rjr

You have no idea what antitrust is, do you?

Yes, right here with Webster's at my finger tips:

Opposed to or regulating trusts specifically designating or of federal laws, suits, etc. designed to prevent restraints on trade, as by business monopolies, cartels, etc.

From: Cory

Truly, these three Congressmen are idiots, but you are almost as big an idiot. Do you hear anyone complain that Division II, III or college basketball never crowns a champion? Are those exclusive? Give me a break, Dodd, you are worse than John Saunders. At least he's Canadian, a built-in excuse. What's yours?

Cory in the house:

I'm Comanche Indian.

(Gratuitous Fletch reference)

From: Brian

One question for you Mr. Dodd? In regards to your piece you wrote on April 21, 2008, you stated, 'It's college football where just about everyone these days is happy.' My question is, where the hell have you been? I can think of about five people, out of the hundreds that I talk college football with, who are happy with the BCS system.

The only ones I can think of who are happy are the members and presidents of the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences. They have their own PR company ESPN, and no matter how good or bad their teams are, we are spoon fed by ESPN how great they are every year. We end up with Ohio State in the BSC Bullsh-- championship game. How did Ohio State get there?

Experts like yourself are allowed a say so in it. You drink the ESPN Kool-Aid without hesitation. YOU, your kind, sportswriters and broadcasters, told us that Ohio State is worthy of being in the BSC game for the past two years ... how did that turn out anyways?

I'm glad Congress is getting involved. If your kind tells me that Ohio State is one of the top two teams in the country, when the evidence on the field clearly indicates otherwise, does that give your national championship vote credibility?

Brian with an I:

Gee, I sure wish I had the power to pick national champions. Ohio State seemed as good a pick to play in the game as anyone else. Who would you have picked since there were exactly 13 teams in the BCS standings with two or fewer losses?

The argument was over the No. 2 slot, where there were seven teams with two losses (not to mention 11-1 Kansas and 12-0 Hawaii).

By the way, I stopped drinking Kool-Aid about the time that giant pitcher crashing through walls started giving me nightmares.

From: Ann

I'm an Auburn alum and we are the only school to truly be screwed out of a chance to play for the championship since the inception of the BCS. Sure it has problems, but it is the best we can do until a better solution comes around. The VERY last thing we need is the government getting involved. How sad is it that our Congressmen invade our one true relaxing pastime?

Ann One:

Please tell these guys ...

Neil Abercrombie
Lynn Westmoreland
Mike Simpson

From: Dana

I remember how all the geniuses predicted Urban Meyer would take years to take Florida to the top. A secret: Offense is winning championships. (Colorado's Dan) Hawkins will be turning heads this year.

Out of Order:

What, you don't have an opinion about the BCS? Get the hell out of here.