Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, arguably the most powerful person in college athletics, doesn't appear to be the least bit concerned that President Obama favors a playoff in big-time college football.
"It's very hard to be disagreeable with a popular president, that's my first thought," he told USA Today. "The reality is that he has a pulpit and people listen. I think his strength is probably basketball brackets."
Delany suggested that the most powerful man in the world doesn't understand the "complexity" of the Bowl Championship Series.
"He probably has an interest as a fan. He's a scholar and a lawyer and a great politician, but I don't think he really understands the complexity of the issue."
Delany would prefer to stay out of any future Congressional hearings. He suggested that he has already done his time in Washington.
"I hope I don't get invited. It would be my third trip. I'll try to explain the complexity of it. I'll try to explain the importance of the Rose Bowl, the importance of the regular season, the importance of the bowl system.
"The people I work for are the presidents, the coaches, the faculty and the athletic directors. It's not unanimous, but there's a super majority in each of one of those groups that support what we're doing."
Delany should not be concerned that the president favors a playoff system. I find all the attention paid to the idea that the president favors a playoff system by the college football blogosphere to be ridiculous. Just because the president wants a playoff system, it doesn't be that he's going to go on a crusade to make it happen. Obama's comments were mildly interesting, but thoroughly without consequence.
With that said, Delany is utterly wrong all the playoff issue. He's not concerned about the integrity of the regular season or the role of the Rose Bowl, he simply does not want a playoff like many of the other bigwigs in college football. He's simply covering what he really thinks with excuses. If he expects anyone to believe the sincerity of what he is saying, he is an utter moron. I don't think he's an idiot, so therefore he doesn't care what people think. He's got college presidents behind him, everyone else be damned.
Posted by: NMS | May 21, 2009 at 09:52 AM
Another stuck up BIG 10 ass. The playoff is coming in 2010 by the UTAH lawsuit or a congressional investigation.
Posted by: David | May 21, 2009 at 09:53 AM
The Big 10 being condescending toward people that don't agree with their traditionalist way of thinking? What?!? Never would have believed it! Crazy! I know they believe they really believe the way they do things makes them better than everyone else, but who would have ever thought they'd condescend to the U.S. President? I didn't even think they felt the need to acknowledge the U.S. President's existence; that even bothering to acknowledge the President and condescend to him was beneath them.
In semi-seriousness, its the same reason they haven't added a 12th team (and I've heard this from alumni/fans of multiple Big 10 schools): with the possible exception of Notre Dame, they really don't think any of the potential teams they could add are good enough for the Big 10, academically or athletically - some think they stooped when they added Penn State. The sneering way they say it is priceless...
Posted by: ChrisB | May 21, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Well, and let's not forget the snootiness that the Big 10(11) and Pac-10 exhibit is what lead to the BCS in the first place.
Maybe if teams like Michigan would have had the cojones to face Nebraska in the Orange Bowl instead of traveling to an antiquated concept of a (Rose) bowl and almost choking to a #10 WSU, we could have avoided the BCS mess as a whole.
It's just like the Big 10(11) and the Pac-10 to be a pain in everyone's arse. They've helped ruin ESPN college football coverage, they brought the BCS upon us...is there anything good that these conferences have done?
Posted by: Matt | May 21, 2009 at 01:00 PM