Some ‘Splaining To Do

Yup, it’ll be an interesting summer indeed for the NCAA, who yesterday found out that their  busy schedule of chasing down criminal scofflaws and other ne’er-do-wells is going to be interrupted by another investigation.

Well, not really an investigation… more like a series of questions that no one really expected. Sure, we knew that there were rumblings about the BCS being “looked into”, but most people figured that those disappeared right about the time that Utah was given a seat at the adults table.

Well, we were mistaken, as yesterday the Utah Attorney General informed the NCAA that they are filing an anti-trust lawsuit against the BCS. Not like that group of folks didn’t also have their hands full at the moment.

In the letter from the AG, the NCAA was asked these questions:

1. Why does the Football Bowl Subdivision not have a playoff, when so many other NCAA sports have NCAA-run playoffs or championships?

2. What steps, if any, has the NCAA taken to create a playoff among Football Bowl Subdivision programs before or during your tenure? To the extent any steps were taken, why were they not successful? What steps does the NCAA plan to take to create a playoff at this time?

3. Have you determined that there are aspects of the BCS system that do not serve the interests of fans, colleges, universities, and players? To what extent could an alternative system better serve those interests?

Great questions, all, and I’m guessing the answer will probably be the ever popular “I dunno… we’ve always kind of done it this way” that works so well in PTA meetings and so forth.

It’ll be interesting to see how an organization so notorious for having issues policing itself will be treated under the scrutiny of an organization that’s notorious for having issues policing itself.

Given the NCAA’s proclivity to respond to major violations by punishing lesser institutions severely, you’ve got to wonder if the Harlan County JayCees are ready for the federal hammer to fall on them as a result of this inquiry.