AG, BCS, and Budget Cuts

So, this year's legislative session is starting to gear up, and it's going to be ugly. Most departments are looking to cut budgets, and a tax increase is looming. I have several friends employed by the state that are nervous that they may be drawing unemployment come Summertime.

So, you'd think that leaders of some departments would be showing how fiscally sound they've been.

Which is why it flabbergasts me as to why Mark Shurtleff would think this would be a good time to prove his limited-government street cred by getting the government involved in college sports:

Antitrust laws require free and fare competition and that applies to businesses. Shurtleff said,” The Supreme Court of the United States has already ruled that those laws apply to NCAA College sports. Isn't that what college sports is supposed to be about, fairness.”

But, some say college football is about money and power. Shurtleff knows he'll face a strong opponent in court. The BCS recently added a former White House Press Secretary to their team. Shurtleff said,” I mean they just hired Ari Fleischer for crying out loud. I'm sure they paid him a ton of money. The lobbying money to congress is huge.”

BCS Administrator Bill Hancock is ready for the fight he says. " The real fact is that those conferences who complain are receiving more money from postseason football than ever before, far more than they've received before , because of the BCS."

Nevertheless, Shurtleff says no matter how tough the competition is there will be a lawsuit. How confident is he that he’ll come out a winner? Shurtleff said,” Very Confident.”

Shurtleff says if Utah has to go it alone, they will. However, he says he's trying to get help from the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice. No word on when the lawsuit will actually be filed.

What's next? Getting the Government involved in religious rites such as marriage? Oh, wait, I forgot. Crap.....

Anyway, looks like I know one department that could use some budget trimming, if the AG's office has this kind of money to kick around.....

Hatch Saving America

Kirk Walters, The Toledo Blade

Boise State National Champions!

I am here this evening to declare that Boise State is the third team to have won the national Be Our Best (B.O.B.) college football champioship 2006.

Boise State was one of four teams that were invited to play January 1, with the winners returning on January 8 to play for the national B.O.B. championship. The proposed matchups were to be Florida vs Ohio State and Michigan vs Boise State. However, since all four schools decined the invitation, the national champion was declared by a private vote of the BOB panelists, which consists of college football enthusiasts.

When asked about the contriversial choice, B.O.B. founder and panelist Bob Aagard had this to say: "When it comes right down to it, Boise State had the best record. Unlike the other polls, we take into consideration the teams' records, and we don't discriminate based on region or conference. Boise was a unanimous winner."

In 2004, USC narrowly defeated the University of Utah for the title. The University of Texas won the trophy in 2005.

-Bob

Ashdown, the MWC, and the BCS

(Cross-posted on my sports blog, Bob on Sports.)

Over at DailyKos, I was reading through Pete Ashdown's diary about Hatch's recent poll numbers (losing 45-48% to "someone else."

And a poster said this, which got me thinking:

My only suggestion is for Mr. Ashdown to pledge to aggressively fight to get the Mountain West Conference into the Bowl Championship Series on an equal basis with all other conferences with automatic bids. Hatch held some hearings, but the simple fact is that the unholy exclusionary monopolistic BCS was allowed to come into existence on Hatch's watch and it continues.

This has resulted in untold millions of dollars being funnelled into schools other than Utah and BYU (and all other MWC schools) simply by reason of the existence of the exclusionary oligopoly.

This is an issue that is Utah-specific and should be aggressively pushed by any challenger to the odious Hatch, who has been a miserable failure in attempting to overcome the horrendous effects of the monopolization of the college football industry.

This is the kind of thing that polititions don't usually talk about, but would get people interested.

Pete, please do it.

-Bob