Interesting Letter from the DOJ to the NCAA

[IndySooner]

http://www.mainjustice.com/2011/05/04/doj-raising-antitrust-questions-about-football-bowl-system/

[JRAM]

I say screw the DOJ and Hatch. What a bunch of losers. WE DAMN SURE DON'T WANT A PLAYOFF. HOW IGNORANT. SOMEONE NEEDS TO START THINKING ABOUT THE PLAYERS PLAYING THAT MANY GAMES!

[SoonerofAlabama]

I say screw the DOJ and Hatch. What a bunch of losers. WE DAMN SURE DON'T WANT A PLAYOFF. HOW IGNORANT. SOMEONE NEEDS TO START THINKING ABOUT THE PLAYERS PLAYING THAT MANY GAMES!

...or the old system either, though. Remember where there could be eight different national champions in one year, depending on which source crowned which.

[BASSooner]

Despite what you want, DOJ has no business telling the NCAA what kind of system that they should run for entertainment. I would think that they have more important matters to deal with

[agoo758]

The DOJ took away my online poker profession on April 15th, and now they want to touch my damn football! :mad: :(

[Penguin]

If this leads to a playoff, I have absolutely no problem with this. The NCAA is a dictatorship and, like it or not, the U.S. federal government is the only entity on Earth that can intervene.


People can bark and howl about "don't they have better things to do?" all they want, but the NCAA does not and will not listen to fans. What other choice is there?

[Jacie]

Sounds like someone touched a nerve. Well, you may not like the DOJ getting involved in Division 1-A (the level of which amounts to a letter asking three relevant questions) but more than a few people who dearly love college football might disagree with you.

For some more analysis, here's a link to an article by Matt Hinton (Dr. Saturday).

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Justice-Department-is-asking-more-questions-abou;_ylt=Al89Pype_xK7pEm7N7hjgswcvrYF?urn=ncaaf-wp1211

If you didn't read it, he sums it up with this zinger:

A billion-dollar enterprise being run through taxpayer-funded, nonprofit institutions is a legitimate area of governmental concern.

[Flagstaffsooner]

The Obama tyranny continues. That man has screwed up everything. Keep your dirty fingers off Football!

[finster]

Miami home and home
ND home and home
FSU home and home
Boise State types,pay them 250K+ to show you aint scared

At least act like you belong with the big dogs or shut the f*ck up
I would like to see a play-off system myself,But the Feds going all hate crime on us can only end in stupid.

[IndySooner]

Looks to me like the NCAA doesn't mind the idea of a playoff:

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2011/may/ncaa+statement+on+department+of+justice+bcs+letter

The BCS is going to get a TON of pressure from this. Another really good article is here (http://deathtothebcs.com/blog/) reason why this lawsuit, win or lose, could be the end of the BCS.

I favor a playoff, obviously. I think that most that don't would love it once they saw how great it would be!

[ouwasp]

Like I said in another thread, I've been in favor of a playoff since the late '70s when OU went 11-1 several times and finished #3...

Leave the second-rate bowls alone for the mediocre teams. Let the Big-Boys and wanna-bes battle it out on the field.

My friends that don't want a playoff must be of the same ilk as those that were against the steam engine, antibiotics, and the internet.... ;)

[MeMyself&Me]

The NCAA wouldn't mind a playoff if it's member institution voted to have one. It's the member institutions that don't want one. I kind of find it funny that the DOJ is asking the NCAA why haven't you put together a playoff.

Because our members don't want one... duh!

[MeMyself&Me]

I think that most that don't would love it once they saw how great it would be!

I think a lot of people that want a playoff would not be so happy once they got it. As for the rest of us, we already see what a playoff does in other sports. We like college football better.

[Soonerfan88]

The NCAA wouldn't mind a playoff if it's member institution voted to have one. It's the member institutions that don't want one. I kind of find it funny that the DOJ is asking the NCAA why haven't you put together a playoff.

Because our members don't want one... duh!

Yep, those crying to the DOJ need to be scheming with their fellow universities to take down the Big 6 conferences.

The ends don't justify the means - even if you want a play-off, the government has no business overruling a majority vote of the members of an organization.

[texaspokieokie]

Yep, those crying to the DOJ need to be scheming with their fellow universities to take down the Big 6 conferences.

The ends don't justify the means - even if you want a play-off, the government has no business overruling a majority vote of the members of an organization.

This ^^^

do we really need the feds ****ing up more of our lives.

[SoonerPride]

As a private enterprise whose post-season set up can be changed by a vote of the member institutions, I really don't see where there is any legal standing for anti-trust action.

Those lower tier FBS teams who want in on the BCS action simply have to persuade enough other NCAA member institutions to vote to change the system.

It is really that simple.

[tfoolry]

Looks like Congress has an opportunity to cut funding to the DOJ if they have time to spend on that garbage.

[Flagstaffsooner]

The NCAA wouldn't mind a playoff if it's member institution voted to have one. It's the member institutions that don't want one. I kind of find it funny that the DOJ is asking the NCAA why haven't you put together a playoff.

Because our members don't want one... duh!
The ncaa would love it. More control and money for them. Screw that $hit.

[MeMyself&Me]

The ncaa would love it. More control and money for them. Screw that $hit.

OK, so the NCAA would love a playoff if its member institutions would vote for one.

BUT, their members don't want one!


Are you happy? :O



I think you're just poking fun at the NCAA but the point is the same, the DOJ asking the NCAA why they haven't organized a playoff is a bit silly.

[Scott D]

the DoJ should work on important matters...like the NFL Lockout. :rolleyes:

[Sooner_Tuf]

NAIA has a playoff. 'Nuff said.

[MeMyself&Me]

NAIA has a playoff. 'Nuff said.

The NCAA also has a playoff, just not in the Football BOWL Subdivision.

[Cornfed]

NAIA has a playoff. 'Nuff said.

And most peoples attention span leaves with their team.

If they do force a type of playoff say 8 teams or whatever are they still not limiting the entry?

[MeMyself&Me]

I don't think the DOJ can 'force' a playoff. The DOJ may be able to force the BCS to dissolve but that's not the same thing.

[Scott D]

once again, the NCAA isn't in charge of Division 1A football. Perhaps they'd have a playoff, if OU and Georgia hadn't sued them in the early 80s.

[captain_surly]

A billion-dollar enterprise being run through taxpayer-funded, nonprofit institutions is a legitimate area of governmental concern.

The schools may be taxpayer funded but I don't believe the BCS or the bowls are. And I know the OU Athletic Department isn't. I personally don't think it's any of the DOJ's business and those *******s most certainly are taxpayer funded. The BCS and the bowls themselves need some reform but it's better at determining a national championship than what came before it.

In my opinion the BCS has been a pretty good deal for the Sooners and I am not in favor of a playoff. I think it would make the off season much less pleasant for everyone but the winner.

[Flagstaffsooner]

College football and the bowls are a tradition of America. The little snots, johnny come latelys like utah can rot in hell. utah sould have played with the big boys during the regular season.. Now that utah is in the Pac10 and they get their behinds done without anal-lube by suc, oregon and Cal maybe Orin Hatch will STFU.

[Scott D]

Actually I like what is going on now...the "Big Six" Conference Commissioners are saying 'yeah, keep this up and we'll get rid of the BCS and leave you with what you had before'. Or as the SEC Commissioner put it, there's a lot that the "Big Six" conferences gave up in regards to tie ins and such, in not only creating the BCS, but giving the Utah's and Boise State's of the world the chance to be in one of those bowls.

[ictsooner7]

The Obama tyranny continues. That man has screwed up everything. Keep your dirty fingers off Football!

He sure has, like catching bin Laden, saving the American auto industry, keeping our economy from a second republican depression, getting tax rates to their lowest level since 1950 and best of all showing his long from birth certificate!

[Sooner_Tuf]

I wonder Hatch will respect the people that voted against him and resign immediately?

[StoopTroup]

You all should march on Washington and do something about this outrage.

[tcrb]

Makes me think of a couple of Ronald Reagan quotes:

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

and:

"The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

[ictsooner7]

Makes me think of a couple of Ronald Reagan quotes:

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

and:

"The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Finally, something we can all agree on, stopping subsidizes to big oil. Ask your fellow Okies about that cut in spending. HAHAHA

[finster]

I like to think Ron's last word's were not “I can only hope that punk *** politicians can only choose the champion”.

[RedstickSooner]

I love it when our gummint does such a great job of looking out for our interests. This is awesome on so many levels:

1) A college football playoff would be the NCAA's wet dream, because (presumably) it would open the process up to the NCAA getting a slice of that pie -- as it currently stands, most of the NCAA's money comes from the basketball playoff. They get pretty much squat from college football ever since we broke their chokehold on the TV contract.

2) The current system artificially skews the free market to give podunk pissant craptacular sisters-of-the-blind schools access to top-tier bowls that would otherwise crap themselves giggling if you suggested they extend an invitation to Boise State or Utah.

3) To suggest that there is *any* legal reason why a playoff should be foisted off on college football is asinine. The only thing the DOJ could argue is that the BCS is a form of collusion, in which case all they would accomplish is to force us back to the glory days when some mediocre Pac-10 / Big-tenleventwelvethirteen team "won" a split title by having a good season and then breezing past whatever cupcake they faced in the Rose Bowl, with no way to create a matchup between them and the other top-notch team that year from whatever other power conference had produced it.

I loathed, loathed, loathed the Rose Bowl for giving us all those split titles over the years. If the DOJ manages to force us back into that stone age, well... Heck, I'm so pissed off at the idea I can't even think of some example of a reaction on my part. I'm literally at a loss for words.

Bah.

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

My favorite government moment was when they were giving immunity to "known" drug dealers of steroids so they could get names of users. Could you imagine if a DA gave immunity to a huge Cocaine distributor so he could get the names of his 700 clients haha