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Comments January 15, 2004 Let me start by expressing our gratitude to you for trying to improve, and hopefully completely correct, the entirely unnecessary perpetuation of a system that prevents its most important members, the young men who compete as players on the field, from having the opportunity to decide for themselves who deserves to wear the title of NCAA Division 1 Football Champion each and every year. As former athletes ourselves, we understand the necessity of such an opportunity in order for the experience of athletic competition to be true and complete. We hope your efforts are not in vain. To that end, my brother and I have worked out a system that respects the concerns (academic, bowl system traditions, on the field championship determination, etc.) of all parties involved, and we respectfully ask you to consider it. The attached Word document contains every detail of the proposal, and we hope it is clear. If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact either one of us. Note that while we share the desire of all parties involved to have this issue resolved within the NCAA, our primary concern is that it indeed be resolved, and correctly. In that vein, should we not see mention of this proposal, or one containing all of its components in some form, for discussion in the following month, we will send it to the several government officials who have already expressed a desire to see these problems resolved, and a willingness to take action to solve them, if needed. We also understand that the system described in our proposal is not one that may be able to be implemented immediately, but it certainly can be targeted for implementation within the next several years. Thank you again for all of your efforts to date, and your desire to see this issue through to resolution. Please consider our proposal as an aid in those efforts. January 5, 2004 I fully support your ideas and initiatives involving the discrimination and wrong-headed ideas of the BCS. I have drafted a letter, suggesting a nationwide boycott of the advertiser's products by those not given real consideration by the BCS. I feel it is entirely appropriate. If they don't consider our schools for inclusion in the BCS, which they sponsor, then I don't believe I can consider their products for inclusion in my budget. I think economics is the best way to defeat the BCS. It is, after all, an illegal restraint of trade in the college football market. What they should remember is that there is more than one market involved here. Nokia, Citibank, Fedex and Frito-Lay could be hit hard in the pocketbook if the non-BCS schools started advocating a boycott of their products. ESPN (and particularly Disney, its parent company) could be seriously hurt by publicity campaign aimed at pointing out their un-American activities (discrimination). January 4, 2004 I emailed the following to ABC sports this morning and wanted you to be apprised. Thanks for standing up to them FINALLY! To Whom it May Concern: I for one have had enough of this BCS nonsense. It was bad enough two years ago when Nebraska got pasted by Miami - now, it's likely there will be a "split" national title, a condition the BCS supposedly eradicated, with one of the "co-champs" not even a CONFERENCE champ. I will watch the LSU vs. Oklahoma game today, for the purpose of discovering who is advertising during the game. I am then going to boycott purchasing any of their products for the next year, and email those companies and tell them why. Additionally, I will watch no ABC television during the course of this year. And if the BCS is still around next year, I'm going to do the same next year, for as long as it takes to get a real championship system in place - a playoff. I intend to send a copy of this email to CF-16, an organization dedicated to bringing a 16 team playoff to college football. I am also sending it to Tulane University, whose president heads an anti-BCS coalition, as well as to my state congressman. It goes against all good sportsmanship to tell one collegiate athlete that competes in the same division that they are unworthy to play for a national championship simply because they play for a non-bcs school. The likes of Marshall, Fresno State, Tulane, TCU, Boise State and others can no longer be ignored. This system is destroying the best sport out there - collegiate football. I am not alone in my feeling, and I am suggesting to everyone I know who enjoys sports to take a similar course of action and appeal others to do the likewise. I would propose a 16 team playoff. It certainly works well for NCAA basketball. I would even pay hundreds of dollars to travel and watch my team play. It would generate much more revenue...which would be good for college football and good for ABC. Thank you for your consideration. |