Cuba, Fidel Castro, and the BCS "Championship"

Something's missing here. It's hard to put your finger on it, but there's no denying it's there. The final game in college football's 2008 season will be played tonight, and it's somewhat anti-climatic. It shouldn't be, but it is.

Somewhere, in all of this mess, there should be a few more games played. Like Utah vs. USC, and the winner takes on tonight's winner. Wouldn't that be something? Two extra games, and all of this nonsense would go away.

But it won't go away, and instead, it sits like a pit in your stomach. The outcome will supposedly crown a champion, but it really wasn't fair to begin with.

It's almost like election day in Cuba. You've got a ballot, but unless you're a registered member of the Communist Party, you can't vote. There's only one name on the ballot—Fidel Castro. Oh sure, there's an election, but the candidate is the only name on the list. So when he wins in a landslide, did he really win when there wasn't another viable choice?

Can the Cuban voter write-in a name? Sure, but he'll regret it for the rest of his life. This is their system, and Cuba really doesn't care what the people want—they've put themselves in charge of what's right for the people.

The AP represents the freedom fighters in Cuba, and while we hope they crown a different champ to make a statement—like a write-in name in a Cuban election—it will fall on deaf ears.

The BCS has done the same thing to America. They have determined that two teams are the best in the country by virtue of perceived conference strength. Utah, despite going undefeated, cannot be a BCS Title game contender. Utah is like capitalism to Cuba—it may look good on paper, but it's not right for the economy, so "no soup for you."

It doesn't matter what the people want, the BCS knows better. We all would love to see Utah play USC, and that winner play Oklahoma or Florida. Now that would be fair, more meaningful, and more logical. Instead, the teams get six weeks off while we, the masses, have to stare at the Orange Bowl's 15,000 or so empty seats.

The  BCS Championship Games have been duds lately, if only because one team was significantly overrated and overhyped. If Florida smokes Oklahoma, does that mean Florida is the best team in the country, or does it mean the BCS once again, failed to find a worthy opponent for the Gators?

If Oklahoma smokes Florida, does that mean the SEC wasn't as strong as the BCS thought it was? Does Florida, a one loss team, really have a case to be crowned champion when Utah went undefeated?

The "best" team has the best record. Hard to deny undefeated. It doesn't matter if their conference is perceived as weak—the Utes still played everyone and beat everyone, and when given the chance to play against an SEC team who was undefeated in regular season, proved they could win. Convincingly. End of debate.

It doesn't matter that if the Utes were an SEC team, they would have never survived the grueling conference play. ALL conferences' play is difficult. While the MWC talent level may differ from those in BCS conferences, the level of competition is the same.

Two Little League championship teams have just as much competition between each other as two World Series teams. The intensity is the same. The parity is the same. LSU vs. Alabama is just as competitive as Utah and TCU.

So here we are, on the big day, and after the game, a BCS Champion will be crowned. We will congratulate the winner, console the loser, and then go on with our daily lives knowing that the final result was a result of two teams being "chosen" to play in the game.

Did they earn their lot? Yes, but no more so than Utah and USC. Critics will say that USC didn't take care of business against Oregon State, but did Florida take care of business against Ole Miss, and did Oklahoma against Texas? No. In fact, only Utah did and they still aren't in the game.
So much for fair campaigning.

Like a communist island sitting amidst a sea of democratic states, the BCS has made itself the ruling hand and decided what's best for the masses despite massive outcry. The masses are left out of the election process, and those who do vote, like the coaches who signed that BCS contract, are forced to write in one name as No. 1.

It's not their real choice—it's prescribed doctrine. It may not reflect what they really think and it doesn't matter what they think. They will vote as prescribed by the rules.

Who says America is the land of the free and the home of the brave? Only the AP can answer that.

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