Viewpoint: BCS decision justified

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    By Leslie Street

    Pensacola, Fla.

    It is reassuring to know that The Daily Universe will always provide ample opportunity on the opinion page for its editors to express their opinions on the supposed injustice of the BCS, especially considering that opinion is so one-sided compared to views around the country.

    Has anyone stopped to notice that the only people lamenting the injustice done to BYU’s football team are BYU fans themselves who hardly can be considered to look at the matter objectively?

    Before anyone starts questioning my “school pride” or assuming I know nothing about football because I am a woman, I just want to put on record a few ideas. First of all, yes, the BCS bowls do pay out more money, but their officials also expect that each bowl game will raise a significant amount of revenue. Although BYU may have a loyal entourage of fans, we hardly exemplify the “beer buying” potential of other big football schools (This is especially key in considering why Sugar Bowl officials have no interest in bringing the team to New Orleans).

    Yes, the BCS is based on elitist notions of which conferences boast the best football, but can anyone deny the conferences they pick do play the best football? Look at the SEC, for example — we ourselves are proudly boasting we finally beat an SEC team (one of the most unsuccessful of the season, I might add). Obviously, we don’t gloat similarly when we beat a team from our own conference. Somehow the mystique of San Diego State or UNLV just does not quite equal that of a Florida or other big conference school. We ourselves would value wins against those teams differently.

    My point is simply this: Yes, I accept that we are limited by the current “system” of college football. And yes, there is a lot of unfair economic analysis that goes into that system. Yet I have serious problems with BYU thinking, as a matter of pride, that we are entitled to anything.

    Sports are about competition, and competition can breed blatant unfairness. Everyone has different notions about what we should “value” in the competitive enterprise of choosing bowl games. I have even more of a problem with the valuing of BYU football to the extent that we forget that the worth of a university is not linked to the amount of respect its football team receives.

    Can’t we just be happy with what the team has accomplished and stop looking for external sources to vindicate the successes of our team? Furthermore, if you really want an injustice that needs media attention, I can think of many situations that command a great deal more concern and affect far more people’s lives than football.

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