Congress should deal with real problems not meddle in sports

Media General News Service
Published: May 19, 2008

We have rising gas prices, rising food prices and a severe housing market problem.
We have a growing national deficit, a growing inflation rate and severe questions about foreign policies (secure borders, terrorism, etc.).
These are questions that can be answered by government, but Congress would rather discuss whether the Patriots taped other teams’ practices, whether a certain baseball player used steroids or human growth hormone or whether the Bowl Championship Series needs to be fixed.
We have two words to Congress: Butt out.
Do we really need Congress discussing football playoffs, especially when heavier issues lie in the balance?
An April 17 Associated Press report said Reps. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho were introducing a resolution to reject the BCS playoff system because only major universities are allowed to play in the biggest bowl games.
It is an anti-trust issue, they say.
Undoubtedly, Abercrombie is mad about Hawaii’s exclusion from the national championship title game. Hawaii filled the BCS requirements, but missed the title game.
They did, however, compete in the multi-million- dollar Sugar Bowl and were embarrassed on a national level by Westmoreland’s Georgia team.
The representatives can’t argue that small universities do not have a shot at bowl games.
Every conference has at least one tie-in, and most have at least two.
Last year, 64 of 119 teams played in a bowl game. That is more than half, and guess what, there is a new bowl this year, so two more get to go.
Do we really need our government legislating our sports?
These hearings cost a lot of taxpayer money. They consume a lot of time and hours that could be used to debate the use of switchgrass for making ethanol.
The time could be used to develop a strategy to solve the illegal immigration problem, and so forth.
In the end, the consumer has the power with the dollar .
We can choose not to spend our money on collegiate football gear and tickets because we don’t like the way the champion is decided. We can elect to not attend baseball or NFL games because we believe cheating is rampant in the game.
When we vote to not support the sports with our pocketbook, they will ask us, “What is the problem?”
Then we can tell them our beefs. We don’t need a federal lawmaker to do that for us.
Do we?