I am going to defend the BCS

I have never done it before and I'll probably never do it again but this story is absolutely riddiculous. This is nothing more than a pure publicity grab. I was critical of the steroids hearings but this is 10x worse because their is nothing inherently wrong with the BCS. I have my gripes with it but the system doesn't give anyone a leg up over the competition like steroids. The type of thing that should require congressional oversight would be if the system was inherently biased towards Nebraska or something like that.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=AmHkrP4vRksr0SKBVK.dVH05nYcB?slug=ap-congress-bcs&prov=ap&type=lgns

and my immediate, and current, reaction is.... WHY THE FUCK IS CONGRESS GETTING INVOLVED? Because, clearly, there is nothing else they could be doing right now

Thats all they have to do.

Such a simple solution, and it only adds one more game to the schedule.

But Congress has no business getting involved with this. The system is bad but it isn't inherently biased towards one particular team, that would've been something that Congress should perhaps get involved in.

the season is so short, comparatively, that polls are the only answer. how do you decide that LSU is better than Virginia Tech? Identical records, similar strength of schedules, how do you decide that LSU gets in and VaTech goes home?

Be a problem, but its rare that you get more than 4 teams that are truly deserving. Their may be some controvery, but it would be nothing compared to last year's fiasco

Very frequently you've get far LESS than four teams that are truly deserving. That is the case this year and also as recently as 2002, when only two teams were unbeaten before the bowl games identical to this year.

Why reward one loss teams and punish the unbeatens by making them play another game? Do you really want the great Miami team from 2001 needing to blow out Oregon to prove their worth? Or USC from last year needing to pick on someone else after destroying Oklahoma?

Just look at the power ratings from this year at USA Today, the Jeff Sagarin numbers. USC and Texas are each 8 points clear of the #3 team. College football is not as balanced at the top as college basketball. A playoff is unnecessary and would be superfluous. The entire season is a playoff and that's what makes it special. The Texas/Ohio St and USC/Notre Dame outcomes in the final minutes or seconds would not have had nearly the significance if a playoff potentially bails out the loser. Leave it alone.

They've all had successful playoff systems for years. There's no reason I-A can't do the same. No need to invent anything new.

I don't like the BCS. I am a rarity in that I just liked the old system where there were long-standing conference ties to the old bowls. Just call me a traditionalist (or a dinosaur, whichever you prefer). :)

I saw Nebraska and Michigan split the national championship because of those longstanding traditions. Atleast the BCS lets those 2 teams play. I'm glad that we get to see USC vs Texas instead of USC vs PSU and Texas vs LSU which is what we would've seen pre-BCS. But the BCS only works if the 2 best teams are clear cut which as evidenced by last year isn't necessarily always the case.

But yes Joe Barton is a nut.

a side I'd never be on!

Barton is a jerk.