 |
 |
 |
|
"I know about Plastic Man and Hawk and rest of them. If you're in the Justice League wherever someone is in distress, you go."
| Advertisement |
|||
| |||
Justice League? Nothing like injecting a DC Comics superhero team into the argument.
The BCS, though, has lawyers who also believe its legal position is solid. You would think if there was a royal screw job going on, more on Capitol Hill would take up the cause. The truth is that the political climate just isn't right. Abercrombie doesn't care.
"One (sportswriter) said, 'You're mad because you suddenly won some games and so you think you should have been in it,' the congressman said. "How does that make it less valid? How does that make it less meritorious?"
Abercrombie's hometown Warriors advanced to last season's Sugar Bowl undefeated before losing to Georgia. In the process Hawaii collected their largest bowl check ever (more than $4 million). None of that would be possible without the BCS.
The system was last legally challenged earlier in the decade when Tulane president Scott Cowan threatened Capitol Hill action if the non-BCS schools weren't given a more equitable share and more access. Instead of adopting a modest plus-one system proposed by then ABC senior vice president of programming Loren Matthews, the commissioners added a fifth BCS bowl in order to accommodate a non-BCS qualifier.
The overall product has been watered down but Cowan's actions did create more access. Boise State and Hawaii played in BCS bowls for the first time. The combined guaranteed BCS take for Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, WAC and Sun Belt went up too -- from $5.16 million prior to the 2006 season, to approximately $9 million. If one of those conferences has a BCS participant in any year, they receive another nine percent in net revenues (approximately $9 million).
That's out of a total BCS payout of more than $100 million. Now you understand why Abercrombie is comparing the BCS to The Sopranos ...
"It's a racket," he said. "They've got a little cartel. It's La Costa Nostra ... "
... and slavery.
"You say Hawaii wouldn't even have gotten into the Sugar Bowl under the old system? It shows you what slavery is all about. In other words, we're going to let you out of the field and into the house. You ought to be grateful for that. Why should I thank somebody for the fact that they were screwing all of us and now they're going to screw some of us."
The unofficial BCS stance is to let Abercrombie and his bill fade away. But what if the congressman does plant the seed for the next administration? What if somewhere in that anti-trust act that protects us from monopolistic enterprises there is room to question the BCS?
"I think they probably hope this just goes away," the congressman said. "But we're going to try and not let that happen."
