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[ Originally posted 08.01.03 ]
Beano & Muse: Same idea, different words
'Beano's Beat' beats up on BCS ©2003 Bonesville.net
There is at least one considered
opinion that college football pundit Beano Cook and East Carolina chancellor
William Muse share with one another. It's in the style they express it that
they diverge.
ESPN's rough-edged but revered college football
artifact/military history sage, Cook tends to be a blunt and sarcastic curmudgeon about all
topics and teams except his beloved Fighting Irish. However, a query from a
visitor to Beano's Beat, his periodic online chat forum on ESPN.com, drew
a response that proved Beano doesn't salute all things associated with Notre Dame
particularly the Bowl Championship Series deal that much of the media
characterizes as discriminatory.
In this week's jam session, a
fan going by the handle 'Taylorsville, Utah' asked Beano what he thought of
the idea that all non-BCS schools should declare a moratorium on playing BCS schools until an
agreement is reached opening up the path to the national championship to all
I-A members and leveling
the economic playing field.
"I think that would be an
unwise move," Beano replied. "That would hurt the budgets of the smaller
schools. Those non-BCS schools have a legitimate complaint. The word
monopoly comes into my mind. So does the phrase classic cartel! ... The BCS
was formed for two reasons, greed and if we ever have a tournament, to not
have the NCAA run it."
Ironically enough, the sports-minded Muse
was CEO at Auburn when that school's conference, the SEC, was near the
epicenter of the formulation of the BCS concept. Not long ago, Muse
expressed sentiments that were, in principal, eerily similar in substance to Beano's
though the good Dr. Muse articulated his opinion in somewhat more
diplomatic terms.
I would favor a 16-team playoff, Muse
told Bonesville's Al Myatt. The BCS came about because the leagues foresaw a playoff coming with the NCAA controlling it
and distributing revenue as they do in basketball.
Myatt chronicled the ECU leader's
thoughts in his
View From The East column of Jan. 6, 2003.
Muse's current constituency, of course,
is collectively holding its breath in anticipation of East Carolina's fate
when the dominoes on the I-A landscape finish falling. The chain reaction
was made inevitable by the ACC's poaching motivated by BCS-related factors
of Miami and
Virginia Tech from the Big East.
ECU is a member of raid-exposed
Conference USA, one of the five loops shut out of the BCS's six-league
syndicate.
Cook, who joined ESPN in March
1986 after decades publicizing and reporting on college and professional
sports, serves as a college football studio commentator and occasional
sideline reporter. He also offers college football commentary on ESPN Radio.
Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:29:39 AM
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