Congress and the NCAA

Congress is hosting a hearing of NCAA sports - football primarily. The problem is that the BCS is making too much revenue, and there is some question as to whether or not these football programs ought to maintain their non-profit status. Saban's ludicrus salary didn't help matters.

After the hearings, the congressmen will grumble, but none wants to go into the next election cycle as the one that killed college football. So nothing will happen. Still, those that grumble will be correct. Calling college football a non-profit enterprise is silly. They have multi-million dollar budgets, and they produce no great service. They are part of the entertainment industry.

Some will complain that the student/athletes should get a slice of the revenue. They are the ones doing the work, afterall. I am all for paying the student/athletes. We pay the coaches, why not the student/athletes. But when we do that, can we please also get rid of the student part of student/athlete while we are at it. If the athletes want to attend classes, let them pay tuition and attend. But students and athletes would be better served if we just separated these two activities.

Super Bowl

Of course, DR Jack must provide a Super Bowl prediction. So here it is. The game will be lousy, with lots of turnovers and errors. The commercials will fail to inspire, even though they will be expensive. Expect lots of beer commercials and perhaps a few from the ailing American automanufacturing companies - mostly truck commercials. The half-time show will put most folks to sleep, except those hoping desperately to see a wardrobe malfunction. But don't count on that.

In 150 years, when the Super Bowl is played in Denver every year because global warming will have flooded places like Miami, Los Angeles and New Orleans, and the temperature in Denver during February will be a happy 72, we will look back at the 2007 Super Bowl and say, "That was the beginning of the end for pro football, we just didn't know it yet." Why? Because the advertising revenue isn't keeping up with player and coaches salaries, the spectators at the game are not fans, but are simply there to see the spectacle, and the game never lives up to the hype.

Colts 21 Bears 13