For the SEC, the BCS is a Media Birthright

The Southeastern Conference just cannot help itself.

The SEC released a new T-shirt this week highlighting its superiority on the football field and six consecutive BCS championships its teams have won.

It's just a blue shirt with the SEC logo and the words, "Home of  5  6 consecutive national champions."

The conference is so arrogant it does not name its championship teams, because they are the magnificent SEC and you should just know. Just to recap: Florida won in 2006 and 2008, LSU grabbed the title in 2007, Alabama won in 2009 and 2011, with Auburn winning in between in 2010.

While the SEC continues to rub in its dominant run, it should be noted they never would have achieved six straight titles without exploiting one of the BCS' biggest flaws. They fooled the voters who are often fools themselves.

In the 2010 book “Death To The BCS,” sports writers Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan lay out an incriminating indictment of the Bowl Championship Series. While they dedicate an entire chapter to the fuzzy math used by the computers in the BCS formula, the authors also focus on the flaws of the human voters.

Starting in 2006 when the SEC's title run began, the conference fully committed to winning the public relations fight. As Wetzel and Co. point out in their book, at halftime of '06 SEC championship game commissioner Mike Slive held at halftime press conference claiming if Florida won, they deserved a BCS-title bid. Again that was at halftime!

A year later the BCS completely changed into a political contest. The reason, LSU coach Les Miles used a line his wife told him, and a full on media blitz convinced the pollsters his two-loss Tigers deserved a spot in the BCS title. That line, “we're undefeated in regulation.”

Now, fans have to put up with unabashed, political campaigns for schools to play for a title.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy made a mistake this past season, saying that Alabama deserved a spot in the title game. Clearly, he should have said the Cowboys were the only team undefeated in regulation and overtime.

Obviously in "Death To The BCS" book, Wetzel's gang come to the conclusion college football needs a playoff. And why that may not have saved most of us from sitting through four SEC schools raising the last six crystal balls, a playoff would give fans a more satisfactory end to the season.

However, the writers make a mistake pushing for a 16 team playoff, with all 11 conference winners getting a seat at the table.

If Division I football were to ever go to a true playoff, not the four team plus-one that is being discussed, the minimum number of teams would have to start at 20.

That would give the 11 conference champions a guaranteed spot with another nine at-large spots up for grabs among the major conferences.

Doing a quick look at last year, we would have been arguing whether the ninth at-large spot should go to South Carolina, Virginia Tech or Houston. There would be no reason to get excited if any of those teams were excluded from a playoff pipe dream.

It is tough to fathom that the SEC will relinquish its spot atop the BCS, especially with the Worldwide Leader in its corner. But we can dream of a day where an SEC team's title game berth was earned and was not a media birthright.

Putting the 'F' in Smurf Turf

Smurf Turf No. 5 was recently installed in Boise, and it's as ugly as ever.

Ask the question "Who we do hate?" on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow and you'll get an exuberant response, "Boise State!"

But what's seen as passion by some, is viewed as rancor and ill will by others. And that has a 40-year-old gridiron rivalry between the Idaho Vandals and Boise State Broncos in serious doubt after this season.

In fact it looks like it's dead already, when the Broncos make a proverbial step up and join the Mountain West Conference in 2011.

"I frankly don't care whether we ever play 'em again as long as it goes," BSU president Bob Kustra said this week to the Idaho Statesman editorial board. "It's a culture that is nasty, inebriated and civilly doesn't give our fans the respect that any fan should expect when visiting an away team."

Kustra wasn't done, "for me, this is not about football. For me, this is a cultural issue. ... What bothers me more than anything else, is that the fans are not about denigrating our athletic program. ... What bothers me personally is the denigration of our academic programming."

Boise State's president got one thing right in all of that. It is a cultural issue, just not of the inebriated type.

A lot of this "hate" has do to with geography.

Moscow sits in Idaho's panhandle, which was mistakenly made part of the state. A general culture of contempt has been brewing between the panhandle and the south since 1864, when bandits stole the capital from Lewiston (30 miles from Moscow) and moved it to Boise.

So what's really driving this college rivalry apart? Napoleon's complex.

Boise didn't open its doors until 1932, and started as a junior college. Since then it has battled against the establishment, to move up.

It's widely rumored (because these things are not published) that BSU has repeatedly struggled to earn accreditation for several of its academic programs. That's why Vandals "denigrate" Boise's academics, making them the butt of some pretty funny jokes.

But now on the Smurf Turf, the Broncos have its one area that it can beat Idaho. Football is Boise State's way to compensate for its "F's" in the classroom.

Before the Broncos bolt for the MWC, they want to stick it to their "big brother" one last time and then permanently shut the door, cutting off any risk of enduring another 12-game rivalry losing streak.

If this is indeed the end of the Idaho-BSU rivalry, it doesn't change a thing for me. I'll still hate Boise State.

Update - Friday, July 30, 2010

It now appears this column, “Can't hide Vandal pride,” is what started this rivalry brouhaha.

Part of this professional response was included in the Idaho Statesman article, but here's the full statement from U of I president Duane Nellis on the rivalry situation.

Some people are starting to take notice of what I've known all along, there's an arrogance growing in Boise. SI.com writer Andy Staples says Boise State is becoming a big-time program in all the wrong ways.

And some people are just having fun with the whole thing. “Nasty Inebriated” T-shirts are starting to sell in Moscow.

No longer Blue

By now endless columns and commentaries have been written hashing out the year in sports, 2007 style. It was another year to remember. From a historic Super Bowl to scandals (NBA referee Tim Donaghy, Tour de France, MLB Mitchell findings), legal troubles of Michael Vick, and fans watching helplessly as a hallow record was tarnished; the year was filled with drama.

However, 2007 was also a year for the little sports. Between racket dominance on Centre Court, an arrogant golfer running his mouth (sorry Rory), a surprising U.S. upset on the world stage and more Americans paid attention to football...I mean soccer than ever. This year certainly ran the gamut.

Rather than rambling on about some profound thoughts about 2007, the year of Blue (and Orange) is coming to close, thank goodness. To celebrate turning a new leaf here are the Most Surprising Athletes of 2007 picked by the FPS staff of one. In no particular order…

RB Adrian Peterson Minnesota – Quietly became an NFL athlete getting passed over by six teams when he was selected seventh overall. Peterson had those other teams shaking their heads throughout his electrifying year. On the field, Peterson set the NFL single-game rushing record (296 yards) and finished second in the NFC with 1,341 yards.

P Fausto Carmona Cleveland – Carmona came out of the shadows, helping the Indians win the AL Central. In 2006, the flamethrower went 1-10 with a 5.42 ERA. One year later, Carmona was a Cy Young contender finishing with a 19-8 record, 3.01 ERA with two complete games.

SG Brandon Roy Portland – The most complete player in the 2006 NBA Draft wasn’t taken until the sixth pick. After a Draft night trade shipped Roy to Portland, the guard wasted no time becoming Rookie of Year and has the Blazers poised for great 2008.

QB Dennis Dixon Oregon – Dixon entered the season under a microscope after playing baseball over the summer. Aside from running a fake Statue of Liberty play, Dixon guided the Ducks and their potent offense (averaging 42.3 ppg) to No. 2 spot in the BCS. Dixon’s true value was only realized after his season ending injury; the Ducks averaged two touchdowns less a game.

SS Troy Tulowitzki Colorado – It’s hard to believe Tulowitzki didn’t win Rookie of Year honors. The shortstop and defensive stalwart was instrumental during the Rockies charge to the World Series. On the season Tulowitzki hit .291 with 24 home runs and 99 RBIs with 11 errors in 155 games.

C Dwight Howard Orlando – Howard has come into his own in his third year as a profession. Howard is a ferocious dunker and his dominating the paint averaging a double-double. People knew he’d be good, but Howard has matured quickly and could easily become great.

M David Beckham LA Galaxy – It was really surprising that Beckham actually came to America. Unfortunately, Alexi Lalas bilked fans into thinking the star was a goal scorer. MLS games were sold out everywhere Beckham went and when the midfielder played he did what he does best, set up his teammates.