Obama shalt not rule college football
Levi Ellis
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Sports
|
Great, it is his opinion. Everyone has opinions. However, what is concerning is in an interview on "60 Minutes" he said, "We should be creating a playoff system.... I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do" Excuse me? Throw his weight around?
Who is this guy to change college football policy? Our founding fathers, when they were composing Article II of the Constitution, they must simply have forgotten to pen in, "The President shall use his influence to determine national college sports champions." Perhaps we should hold a Constitutional Convention to remedy their careless oversight. Or perhaps the president has better things to do with his weight then throw it around on college football (things like national security and a present war in the Middle East come to mind).
Moreover, there is debate about whether it is the "right thing to do." The BCS uses a Borda method of ranking the teams, whereas a playoff is an elimination method. However, there is no way to choose a winner which does not have problems. Kenneth Arrow explained more than 50 years ago with his impossibility theorem. The Borda method is subject to strategic voting, and the playoff is potentially intransitive and incomplete. So yes, the BCS is flawed, but so is a playoff system.
Mr. Obama, here is a "serious fan of college football" who disagrees with you. Please keep your "weight" around defending this country. Do not throw it at college football, because the impossibility theorem applies even to the president, I am happy to say. There is no perfect method, and besides, don't you have more important things to do?
Be the first to comment on this story