The BCS Arguments

The college football season has culminated again and, as usual, casual fans and BCS “haters” have publicly trashed a system that rewards excellence instead of mediocrity. However, that’s not what this entry is about. Reading the arguments, complaints, etc. on social media outlets made me realize that many of the complaints were completely misguided. They use the BCS as a scapegoat because they don’t know better (ignorance is nothing new to our country where everyone likes to have an opinion on everything else – regardless if they know one iota about the subject).

The BCS is a rankings system used to determine the #1 and #1 teams in the nation. Period. That’s all.

Let’s first address the national championship game:
If I had a vote I would have placed Alabama at number two with Oklahoma State at number three. I’m in favor of the rematch because it’s between the two best teams in the country. If you disagree I have to call into question your football acumen and how much tape you watched between the two teams in question. Period. When picking the top two teams I ask myself two questions: Who has earned the right to play for the national championship and who is the best team? You can not choose just one of those questions. Many people think you can, but you can not and it’s just that simple. When breaking down the two teams just on talent and how they have played I saw a distinct gap between LSU, Alabama and the rest of the nation.

What are some of the arguments I see against Alabama?
“They didn’t win their conference.”
This is a fact, but to say that the second best team in the nation can not be from the same conference, or even division, of the number one team is ludicrous. It’s one of the most asinine things I’ve heard from people. You have to get rid of your notions that a team has to be a conference champion, all things are NOT equal. Furthermore, this notion makes me laugh because the same people clamor for a playoff and say, “It works for all other sports!” and neglect to mention that in all of those other sports you don’t have to win your conference. It’s a ridiculous notion that narrow-minded people refuse to believe the two best teams can hail from the same division.

“I didn’t like the first game, I’d rather watch Oklahoma State.”
I’ve added that to the list of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard. You don’t have a national championship game based on who you want to see, and furthermore we have increasingly shifted to an offensive culture in football. If you don’t throw the ball around and score 40 you aren’t “exciting” and that’s nonsense. The Alabama/LSU game was exciting to me and furthermore it was a very physical and technical battle between two teams that know each other well. The national championship is about the best team in the nation, not the most exciting offensive team. If that was the case Oregon would play for the national championship every single year (and we saw how that worked out against Auburn didn’t we).

“They lost at home!”
I’m sorry to inform you all but home-field advantage is not that big of a deal to championship caliber teams.
“Oklahoma State was playing right after a tragedy!”
My heart goes out to OSU and the women’s basketball team but I do have a big issue with this argument. First and foremost… OKLAHOMA STATE HAD 17 POINT LEAD IN THAT GAME! Once again, showing that a lot of people probably didn’t even tune in until the upset was about to happen. It’s not as if they were blown out. Number two: championship caliber teams overcome adversity. And lastly, for me, I almost feel that the 2OT loss hurts them more than a regulation loss. They had a SEVENTEEN point lead, blew it and were lucky enough to force an overtime where they had momentum. But they didn’t win. Against a 6-6 Iowa State team. Championship teams beat inferior opposition and it’s that simple. Alabama lost by three in overtime to the best team in the nation, OSU lost to an average team where they held a 17 point lead at one point in the game.

But that’s where I’ll leave that. Simply because LSU and Alabama are playing for the national championship as they should be… as the two best teams in the country. Some Coaches and Harris Poll voters do need to be evaluated and have their votes revoked though, and that’s an issue that needs to be addressed sooner than later. I’m more qualified to rank teams than some of those ballots that I’ve read.

OK, now I’ll address the rest of the BCS. Again, it’s a ranking system designed to put the #1 and #2 teams in the national championship game and that’s all. However, many dislike the BCS because of the “BCS Bowls” and the selection process. On that notion I will AGREE. However, the anger, tweets, emails, etc. saying “down with the BCS…” followed by a complaint about the selection process is misguided at best.

I do agree with a “cap” on teams from one conference being in these high-profile bowls because it prevents one conference from taking home 50+ million dollars while another conference gets nothing (potentially). I just think that is fair. However, selecting teams like Michigan and Virginia Tech because they have a big fan base and a national “brand” is appalling. You are not going to get rid of the conference champions having an automatic bid because they won’t allow it (and to you playoff lunatics they’ll get an automatic bid into the playoff and leave a deserving team out too so that does nothing to fix the problem), but at-large teams should be based on highest ranked. So what would the BCS bowls look like this season?
BCS National Championship: LSU vs. Alabama
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Wisconsin
Sugar Bowl: Boise State vs. Kansas State
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Stanford
Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. West Virginia

Only the Sugar would change, but would you rather have the #7 and #8 teams play or the #11 and #13 teams play… and we won’t even get in to how Virginia Tech is #11 while Clemson is #15 as that’s mind-boggling on its own. And it also rewarded the BigXII with a second team as opposed to giving the ACC a second team in a year that they did not deserve it.

Anyway, it seems I have gotten off on a tangent and I’ll just end it with this.

I’ll repeat it again: The BCS is a rankings system designed to give us the #1 vs. #2 match-up and it did. It’s not the BCS’ fault that these rules allow the selection committees to select random big name universities to play in their games. It’s a misguided argument for a playoff because a team like Boise got left out of a “BCS Bowl” because they didn’t earn the right to play for a national championship. Period. Bottom line. If you are one of the many, MANY arguing a point similar to that then it is apparent you don’t understand the system.

Just so you know where I stand: I’ve always been in favor of a +1 system ON A YEAR-BY-YEAR basis (and I recently heard Mark May make this point and it scares me we agree on this). There is no need to penalize two undefeated teams if they have separated themselves and there is no reason to penalize LSU in a year such as this. Under my +1 system we could settle this by having Alabama vs. Oklahoma State this Saturday (they were close enough in the polls) where the winner still have over a month to prepare for the national championship clash vs. LSU. And spoiler alert: Alabama wins that game with relative ease.

Back on topic, I’m tired of reading arguments for a playoff or “blowing up the BCS” because people hate the SEC for being too good, for leaving an at-large team out, and so on… those are all stupid arguments that show how much those “fans” actually know about all the teams they are yelling about and the system we have. I would like to see arguments directed in the proper places. If you don’t like the selection process, argue that. If you don’t like 1 v. 2, then please come at me with a clear system that works and makes sense (and rewards excellence and not mediocrity). If you don’t like the SEC dominating, well, just leave me alone because it’s not their fault for producing great teams every year. I’m a fan of the ACC. I don’t sit around and complain about the SEC because I can recognize what they are doing. Florida State, the ACC and others around the nation need to step up their recruiting and coaching and come to play every week at their level. Until that happens they will continue to dominate college football – and as long as they continue to prove it on the field I have no issues with it because I WANT to see the two best teams play each other at the end of the year. Apparently, unlike many of you.

 

Conference Realignment: High School

Born & raised here in Wellston, Ohio I have grown up in this football culture. And I love it. Truly do. That’s why I have a passion to try and cover the local area as seen by my “pitch” or “idea” for WSAZ. But this blog post will be to talk about preserving one of the most historic conferences in all of Ohio high school athletics.

The Southeastern Ohio Athletic League (SEOAL) was founded in 1925 with eight members: Athens, Gallia Academy, Ironton, Jackson, Logan, Nelsonville, Portsmouth and Wellston. Naturally, over the years teams came and left. I only heard tales of Wellston playing in the SEOAL from my father as they were in the Tri-Valley Conference by the time I was old enough to remember anything and I always loved the thought of Wellston competing against these schools in a league setting. That’s not to downplay the TVC but Jackson are our rivals and Ironton and Portsmouth are two of the most important and historical schools in our area.

Over the past couple of years there has been increasing talk that the SEOAL is on the brink of folding and going away forever. Ironton and Portsmouth returned to the SEOAL in 2006 along with Chillicothe and Zanesville to bolster the league and give them two divisions. I was not a strong supporter of Zanesville being included because of where they are geographically located. Athens left for the TVC after the 2007 season, Zanesville left after the 2008 season and Ironton returned to independent status after the 2009 season leaving the league with six schools.

The talk recently has been for Logan, Chillicothe and Warren to leave for other leagues. While sad to lose a founding school in Logan I believe that the powers to be should look at stabilizing the league long-term with new additions and maintaining the history of the league. So for the purpose of this re-alignment lets assume that Logan and Warren accept invitations for another league putting the pressure on the SEOAL to determine their future… and this is my plan:

First and foremost I believe all leagues should have no more than eight members. That gives you seven weeks of league play and three open dates to schedule other schools. I believe that’s the optimal set-up, especially for our region. The current schools are:
Chillicothe, Gallia Academy, Jackson and Portsmouth.

I have heard that Portsmouth has tried previously to get in to the SOC but the other local schools in Scioto County have blocked them which was one reason for them to re-join the SEOAL after 78 years out of the league. If that’s the case then I am happy to have them remain in the league. This leaves four open spots for expansion. Now who should be invited?

I am sorry to say TVC but you are about to be raided. I would invite Athens, Nelsonville-York, Vinton County and Wellston. Why?

By inviting these four you are adding history, solid athletic teams and a sense of balance in travel. Besides Portsmouth, all teams are within 40 minutes (by my calculations) of one another. All but Vinton County are founding members as well. It also keeps scheduling similar to what it is now.

What about competitive balance? Jackson would immediately be seen as the power, as they are now, but they would get stiff challenges from consistent programs like Nelsonville-York and Athens. Also, outside of Nelsonville-York, all schools would fall within DIII and DIV. One any given year any school can compete with the others as we have seen in the last decade. And, as I mentioned above, you still have three open dates to fill. That would allow Portsmouth to continue its storied rivalry with Ironton and other schools could follow suit with past rivalries or area schools.

The two biggest reasons I believe this is the right way to go (if Logan or Warren defect – and I would add all but Vinton County if only one left) is because it adds history back to the league as well as local schools to cut down on travel. Travel is one of the major factors a school like Zanesville left. With all these schools being familiar with one another it will also foster new rivalries, or rekindle those that were lost, in the new, now stable, Southeastern Ohio Athletic League.

 

Penn State: We are… Pathetic.

Let’s get this out of the way immediately: Sandusky is the focus of the investigation. The main story is about the children and the heinous actions that they were subjected to. Sandusky will have his day in court but the stories about Penn State and Joe Paterno have an immediacy factor to them and that’s why they are being talked about and reported on. Trying to figure out and understand why nothing more was done to protect these kids and others when they knew. That’s why this is a major story, it’s not about football or athletics, it’s about why these adults didn’t do more when they had knowledge. Sundusky will see his day in court down the road. However, as a sport management graduate and an avid sports enthusiast I’ll focus on Paterno and Penn State in this “blog” post.

Below I have linked to a couple of things I think everyone should check out about this story, but let’s start with the testimony of McQueary and Paterno. What will follow in quoted text is disturbing and disgusting, just fair warning:

On March 1, 2002, a Penn State graduate assistant (“graduate assistant”) who was then 28 years old, entered the locker room at the Lasch Football Building on the University Park Campus on a Friday night before the beginning of Spring Break. The graduate assistant, who was familiar with Sandusky, was going to put some newly purchased sneakers in his locker and get some recruiting tapes to watch. It was about 9:30 p.m. As the graduate assistant entered the locker room doors, he was surprised to find the lights and showers on. He then heard slapping sounds. He believed the sounds to be those of sexual activity. As the graduate assistant put the sneakers in his locker, he looked into the shower. He saw a naked boy, Victim 2, whose age he estimated to be ten years old, with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. The graduate assistant was shocked but noticed that both Victim 2 and Sandusky saw him. The graduate assistant left immediately, distraught. The graduate assistant went to his office and called his father, reporting to him what he had seen. His father told the graduate assistant to leave the building and come to his home. The graduate assistant and his father decided that the graduate assistant had to report what he had seen to Coach Joe Paterno (“Paterno”), head football coach of Pemi State. The next morning, a Saturday, the graduate assistant telephoned Paterno and went to Paterno’s home, where he reported what he had seen.

Let’s pause here. HE JUST LEFT!? This isn’t a teenager who witnessed this, it was a TWENTY-EIGHT year old man and he did NOTHING to stop a young boy from being raped in the shower. Disturbing, disgusting, cowardly and many, many more words to describe this. I’m a skinny man who has never been in a fight before but I don’t care how big and strong anyone else is because if I saw this happening I would immediately try to stop it with all that I have in me. But this “man” turned and went to his daddy and NOT UNTIL THE NEXT DAY reported it to someone in power. I would like to think you would immediately call the police that a young boy is being raped. This is so mind-boggling and depressing.

Joseph V. Paterno testified to receiving the graduate assistant’s report at his home on a Saturday morning. Paterno testified that the graduate assistant was very upset. Paterno called Tim Curley (“Curley”), Penn State Athletic Director and Paterno’s immediate superior, to his home the very next day, a Sunday, and reported to him that the graduate assistant had seen Jerry Sandusky in the Lasch Building showers fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy.

This immediately stinks of of cover-up. I doubt he said “something of a sexual nature” when he saw what he saw. This just smells that he didn’t want to say what he was told. And that’s just my personal opinion.

Approximately one and a half weeks later, the graduate assistant was called to a meeting with Penn State Athletic Director Curley and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz (“Schultz”). The graduate assistant reported to Curley and Schultz that he had witnessed what he believed to be Sandusky having anal sex with a boy in the Lasch Building showers. Curley and Schultz assured the graduate assistant that they would look into it and determine what further action they would take. Paterno was not present for this meeting.

“We’ll look into it”. Of course you will.

The graduate assistant heard back from Curley a couple of weeks later. He was told that Sandusky’s keys to the locker room were taken away and that the incident had been reported to The Second Mile. The graduate assistant was never questioned by University Police and no other entity conducted an investigation until he testified in Grand Jury in December, 2010. The Grand Jury finds the graduate assistant’s testimony to be extremely credible.

Felt that needed to be bolded. Oh, and they made him give his keys back. Oh, thank you so much “men” in power for doing the absolute bare minimum in protecting the innocence of these children… taking his keys away, you’ve got to be kidding me.

Curley testified that the graduate assistant reported to them that “inappropriate conduct” or activity that made him “uncomfortable” occurred in the Lasch Building shower in March 2002. Curley specifically denied that the graduate assistant reported anal sex or anything of a sexual nature whatsoever and termed the conduct as merely “horsing around”_ When asked whether the graduate assistant had reported “sexual conduct” “of any kind” by Sandusky, Curley answered, “No” twice. When asked if the graduate assistant had reported “anal sex between Jerry Sandusky and this child,” Curley testified, “Absolutely not.”

Shameful. Downright pathetic.

Schultz testified that he was called to a meeting with Joe Paterno and Tim Curley, in which Paterno reported “disturbing” and “inappropriate” conduct in the shower by Sandusky upon a young boy, as reported to him by a student or graduate student. Schultz was present in a subsequent meeting with Curley when the graduate assistant reported the incident in the shower involving Sandusky and a boy. Schultz was very unsure about what he remembered the graduate assistant telling him and Curley about the shower incident. He testified that he had the impression that Sandusky might have inappropriately grabbed the young boy’s genitals while wrestling and agreed that such was inappropriate sexual conduct between a man and a boy. While equivocating on the definition of “sexual” in the context of Sandusky wrestling with and grabbing the genitals of the boy, Schultz conceded that the report the graduate assistant made was of inappropriate sexual conduct by Sandusky. However, Schultz testified that the allegations were “not that serious” and that he and Curley “had no indication that a crime had occurred.” Schultz agreed that sodomy between Sandusky and a child would clearly be inappropriate sexual conduct. He denied having such conduct reported to him either by Paterno or the graduate assistant.

“not that serious”. That’s a quote. The allegations were “not that serious”. I get more angry every single time I read this. Speechless. And this is just from ONE of the victims. This doesn’t count the others dating back to when he was a coach before he “resigned” and so forth.

Although Schultz oversaw the University Police as part of his position, he never reported the 2002 incident to the University Police or other police agency, never sought or reviewed a police report on the 1998 incident and never attempted to learn the identity of the child in the shower in 2002. No one from the University did so. Schultz did not ask the graduate assistant for specifics. No one ever did.

I can’t begin to fathom what goes through the minds of these people. Beyond ridiculous. Just from these testimonies alone you would think the Board of Trustees and more would come forth and IMMEDIATELY fire everyone involved. EVERYONE.

Spanier testified that even in April, 2011, he did not know the identity of the staff member who had reported the behavior. Spanier denied that it was reported to him as an incident that was sexual in nature and acknowledged that Curley and Schultz had not indicated any plan to report the matter to any law enforcement authority, the Commonwealth of Pemisylvania Department of Public Welfare or any appropriate county child protective services agency. Spanier also denied being aware of a 1998 University Police investigation of Sandusky for incidents with children in football building showers.

Spanier is a joke. The entire “power” at Penn State is a joke. This is a man who released a statement this weekend saying the AD and VP had his full support.

Sandusky holds emeritus status with Penn State. ln addition to the regular privileges of a professor emeritus, he had an office and a telephone in the Lasch Building. The status allowed him access to all recreational facilities, a parking pass for a vehicle, access to a Penn State account for the internet, listing in the faculty directory, faculty discounts at the bookstore and educational privileges for himself and eligible dependents. These and other privileges were negotiated when Sandusky retired in 1999. Sandusky continued to use University facilities as per his retirement agreement. As a retired coach, Sandusky had unlimited access to the football facilities, including the locker rooms. Schultz testified that Sandusky retired when Paterno felt it was time to make a coaching change and also to take advantage of an enhanced retirement benefit under Sandusky’s state pension. Both the graduate assistant and Curley testified that Sandusky himself was not banned from any Perm State buildings and Curley admitted that the ban on bringing children to the campus was unenforceable.

I, again, bolded some disturbing things.

The Grand Jury finds that portions of the testimony of Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are
not credible.

You think!?

This whole sham at Penn State is pathetic. How students and the community organized any sort of rally in support of Paterno or anyone else is extremely saddening and only reflects how disillusioned they are at State College. Allegations spanned over 15 years but he was a part of Penn State in a capacity of power for over 30 years and remained on campus as soon as LAST WEEK. How many children, who are now men, were effected by this monster? How many more people came forward but were hushed by these people in power? I can’t fathom that this just happened to start one day, I suspect this has been happening for a LONG time and nothing had been done. It’s a frightening thought and sickening.

Don’t cry for Joe Paterno. Don’t talk about his legacy. His legacy is this. His legacy is not protecting these innocent children from a monster he helped to enable over the years. I have no respect for him. I have no respect for his staff. I have no respect for Penn State. They should do the right thing and clean house AT THIS MOMENT. Not next week. Not letting Joe Paterno end the season with his team, but to FIRE him immediately. Spainer, Paterno, McQueary and everyone else needs to be shown the door unceremoniously today.

Links/Stories to check out:

– The sickening, full, grand jury report

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7205085/growing-penn-state
– Grantland.com story by Michael Weinreb

http://t.co/hD8Vvbky
– Matt Millen on Sportscenter. I don’t see eye-to-eye with him at the beginning or end but I gained respect for him around the five minute mark. Worth a watch.

http://t.co/dmfuijcb
– Jay Bilas on Mike and Mike in the Morning. I hope you all go and listen to their entire broadcast with Bilas, Chris Fowler, Todd Blackledge, Cory Giger, Kirk Herbstreit and others discuss this. It was eye opening, it was engaging and it was done well.