If you would like to see the Bowl Championship Series done away with and replaced with a playoff system to determine the FBS national champion — and unless you are infatuated with power and greed, why wouldn’t you want the current system scrapped? — you need to realize that this is a battle of class warfare.
With Nike U (Oregon) and Auburn seemingly locked into the national title game because of the BCS — and candidates like Boise State and TCU locked out — this is a battle between the elitists and the populists.
The elitists believe only certain programs are worthy of playing for the national title, based on the company they keep. Like class warfare, they believe in sharing the wealth among the wealthy.
The populists have this silly belief in a system that includes more participants who have earned a shot at the national title by their play on the field, and that those teams should have a chance at the wealth. The populists believe in George Mason in the NCAA Final Four in 2006.
The populists celebrate Cinderella. The elitists are the cruel stepmother.
The only way to battle such elitism, then, is to make use of any power the populists have at their disposal.
That, my friends, is the vote for the Heisman Trophy.
If enough Heisman voters believe in a national championship playoff system and the dismantling of the BCS — and I would bet the majority of those voters are populists — then make a statement with your Heisman vote.
Refuse to vote for any player who will be participating in the national championship game under the current system. And make your reasons known for why you voted the way you did — as a form of protest of the BCS. And let the elitists know that as long as they embrace this system, their elite athletes will never enjoy the fruits of this reward.
They will have to keep themselves warm with the privilege of playing for the national title. Meanwhile, the Heisman will be set aside for those players denied that privilege because of an autocratic, heavy-handed system of selection.
Yes, it’s terribly unfair to those kids in the national championship game who are Heisman candidates. And yes, it may be a small and futile gesture. But it is one of the few weapons you have available to fight the BCS. Furthermore, it will get attention, which, when fighting the powers that be, is the best you can hope for.
For those who don’t want to see these sort of politics in the Heisman decision-making process, that ship sailed this year when the Heisman Trust vacated Reggie Bush’s 2005 trophy and removed all mention of it from its website because of an NCAA probe that showed Bush received gifts and money from agents while playing for USC, among other violations.
And if there was ever a year to make the statement, it is this year, with the uncertainty surrounding Heisman favorite Cam Newton. The swirl surrounding the Auburn quarterback already raised concerns in voters’ minds about whether or not they would be awarding the trophy to a candidate who, like Bush, could only wind up having it vacated down the road.
It may be unfair to Newton, but he simply is a casualty of this battle. There are many other college football players who are on the outside looking in because of the BCS system. That’s unfair to them as well.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN 980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
