Wednesday, December 9, 2009

I Have Never Been So Mad

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4725887

This is probably the worst thing our current administration is doing. This debate is all because President Obama said he was in favor of a play-off system to pander to the voters during his campaign.

What business is it of our federal government of how 119 schools decide who they name as a champion? What about the economy you have failed to revive? What about this health care bill that is going to stymie necessary job growth and drive our budget deficits (which you claimed you were going balance) through the roof burdening future generations with untold taxes? What about the two wars you won a Nobel Prize simply for claiming you want to end, yet you have repeatedly ignored the generals on what will effectively end them and simply sent more men to fight? Don't these things take a little more precedent?

In 1620 a group of Protestant separatist landed in Massachusetts. In 1776 the colonies revolted from England. In 1787 a Constitution was adopted to form what we know as the American federal government. On April 6, 1917 America declared war on Germany and it's allies; in December 1941, we declared war on Japan. In 1945, the Cold War began, and became "hot" wars in Korea and Vietnam. What do all of these events have in common? They highlight the fundamental principle of America: government should have as little role in the lives of the citizens who give it its legitimacy. The preamble to our Constitution outlines the role of the federal government: "We the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

I did not see anything about football or play-offs or the BCS in there. There is no way that anyone is truly wronged by the BCS system. There are no riots in the street for a play-off. In general life goes on without skipping a beat when the BCS teams are announced. Therefore the federal government has absolutely no right in interfering.

In fact this interference also goes against America's firm belief in capitalism. The member schools of the BCS participate on their own free will; no one holds a gun the the commissioner of the ACC's head and says he has to put his best team in the BCS. Why do they do that? Because it makes money. We buy the tickets to the games, we pay the hundreds of dollars to travel to the game sites, and we turn on the TV when we can't be there. This is exactly what the free-market economy dictates. If we are so adamant for a play-off don't buy the tickets, don't watch the game, don't drink the BCS Kool-Aid. If it ceases to be a profitable venture, it will cease to exist. For the government to say a perfect legitimate system of supply and demand cannot exist because "it's not fair to everyone" suggests Marxist principles. Yes, I know it's extreme but essentially the government is saying that capitalism should not function in this case because it isn't an utopian situation. This is flat-out wrong and has no place in American politics.

Let me assure you, I firmly believe that there should be a play-off in the top level of college football. But this is not the way to do it. The government has no business wasting tax-payer's money even debating it; it is not their jurisdiction, nor their constitutional right to put their nose in a private endeavor such as this. The great thing about America is that everything comes from the people who are free to choose. So let that be the catalyst for the change to a play-off system. No one is going to give it to us just for complaining. We need to get out and make it happen. Vote with your remote. If you really feel so passionate about seeing a play-off then don't watch the BCS. I know this won't happen. Why? Because in the long run it just doesn't matter. Will the world end if it just so happens that TCU is actually the best team in the land and never got to prove it? No, it won't. Is it a great social injustice the because Florida lost one game they won't get a chance to defend their title? No, not hardly. It's sports, not life and death. And as a result the Congress shouldn't even pretend to take this seriously.