Reader comments
The BCS sure won't fix itself, so Congress has to step in

Great article. I think congress should step in. If the BcS is preventing competition and fai play opportunities, a lawsuit should be sent and a change needs tot
take place! Go Sen. Hatch!!!

Bring on the Playoff and make it 16 teams!

11 conference champions and 5 at large bids. That way no conference can ever claim that it was LEFT OUT AGAIN!

Yeah, Hatch will fix it--- He'll get Teddy Kennedy and Bobby Bennett to work with him and when the election is over you'll never hear another word about this..... Hatch is deceptive to the core...

Either the BCS is a fraud, or it is not. If it is a biased fraud, and Utah broke the BCS twice, then that is all the more impressive for the U which busted the BCS twice.

If it is not a fraud, then the only problem is BYU has no one left to blame but themselves.

THANK YOU!!! I'm so tired of people saying how this isn't something that congress should get involved in. Do people understand that this is a multi-billion dollar BUSINESS? If there was no money inolved then congress wouldn't care. But the plain and simple fact is that hundreds of millions of dollars every year are automatically given to businesses because of their affiliations, not their fair business practices. I don't see anyone getting upset when congress interferes insurance or banking, but there's something that's sacred about the money given/taken in college football? Good for Sen. Hatch.

It's just a game!!
It's a playground and now you want Daddy to come out and say, "You won't let Johnny play? That's not fair?" Who set up the BCS? Let them invite who they will. Do you want the government telling you who to hire, fire, come to your church or club? Leave government out of it!!!!!!!

Great article and I support your thoughts 100%.

I hadn't thought of this issue the same way as the AF coach, but it certainly rings true.

It wouldn't surprise me if the BCS and its elitist conferences have or will begin making political contributions to members of Congress in an effort to buy votes in their favor.

In the next decade, will we even be able to recognize our country for the freedom's we use to enjoy. BCS, Obama and the democrats are on agenda to destroy every principle of freedom, fairness and equal protection that this country has worked over 200 years to obtain.

Wakeup, America, the life we used to know is degrading to socialism and elitism as we speak.

RE: BYU Loves ....
There always has to be the paranoid Utah fan who makes some such ridiculous remark. Why not just stand up for what's right for everyone (including the Ute's who deserved better treatment last year). Get a life!

Let the fans of college football take it up on themselves to fix the problem. Stop attending games. That'll get their attention. Congress, somehow, will make it worse.

Agree 100%, Sir Richard. It is NOT just a game. The livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people are effected. Government is to ensure equal protection under the law. That's the extent they should be involved. OPEC is improper. So is the BCS. It is unAmerican and Dick is right... it's tantamount to a refuge from the Soviet state.

The broader issue is why universities fund athletics in the first place. Don't try to tell me it is an academic subject.

People often scream NO GOVERNMNENT or MORE OVERSIGHT! But our government was established on three core principles that, if we remember, bring these issues into a clear light: equality, representation and balance. Does the BCS violate these principles?The answer to that question is the answer to whether or not Congress needs to intervene in this issue.

Milt is right.

Stop supporting the ONLY sport that doesn't give every participant a shot at the whole enchilada and the fat cats will be forced to do the right thing.

It killed me to not watch the Utes beat down Bama (when rightfully they should've been playing Urban's boys), but I made a commitment to stop feeding the greed, and followed through.

It's on you, the people, especially if you don't want the gov involved.

So many months have passed and you are STILL complaining about a freaking game? People are dying in Iran.. there are more and more people out of work every day and you complain about the BCS? Get a grip on reality.. there are bigger things than the BCS leaving UTAH out of their game?!?!?

Hatch won't trigger anything. This has been talked about for a long time, and if he was truly serious, he would introduce legislation and push it rather than try to make political hay with it. Walk the walk, Orrin.

Wow,

It's not the "game" that bothers me.

It's the principal of elitest exclusion that's at the heart of the matter.The same could be said of health insurance, or the fight for fuel, or lobbiests for corporate favoritism.

The BCS is simply another sign of the times.

Mommy, I didn't get my way. We need nanny government to make it fair. lol. Utah the land that loves federal dollars but hates the federal government wants the government to act.

What didn't the free market work? You don't like balance sheets now?

If you don't like the BCS quit. You can form another business model.

In the beginning, College football was a "free enterprise" system. A small school was allowed to compete and become known "Notre Dame". But college football evolved to where the “money” conferences “controlled” the college football scene. The NCAA National Championships were bestowed upon the survivor of the regular football season with the highest poll rankings (AP and UPI) after the bowl season was completed. The bowl assignments were awarded by conference collusions/contracts with certain bowls.

In 1984 BYU won the National Championship following the “rules of the game”. When given their choice, play National Champion BYU or score big bucks in the Orange Bowl; Washington followed the BCS model; "go for the money". It is always about the money; money and control.

Suddenly, it was a new world. The monopoly stewarts saw a new world on the horizon. They foresaw a free enterprise with TCU, Boise State, Utah, and BYU winning future national championships. They foresaw losing recruits, money, prestige, and power.

What to do? Their answer was to corner the market; create and control a monopoly; thus the BCS was born. Remember, when it acts and quacks like a duck (or a Monopoly); it is.

"Did you guys hear something? Me neither. HEY! Look at that elephant climbing that mountain...is that a clover he's holding?! Ah-hahahahaha!!! I mean, mu-ah-hahahaha!"

Kramer never got involved til after The Big 10 commissiner had already called the Rose Bowl on the Carpet for not wanting to jeoporadize it's status as the Grandaddy of them all. The concept of a Bowl Allience came out of the Big 10... and not the SEC. The Rosebowl drug it's feet despite the PAC 10 Commissioners agreeing to forming an Alliance. When the PAC 10 made that move then that is when the SEC first saw the inevitable...and Kramer being a bright and astute thinker came onboard with a lot of additional ideas and input...but the concept was already well on it's way before his entrance into the mix. The Rose Bowl after not originally going with the original concept eventually saw the writng on the wall too and joined even later after realizing that they had no real choice but to stick with the Alliance....The TV networks were also a major factor in convincing the Rose Bowl committee that it would be good for everyone all around within the Alliance.