Gene Stallings became the latest former football male to speak out against non-football people joining the selection committee for next season's NCAA Playoff.
The committee is important, obviously, and needs to be filled with people inside the football circle, because they know how things work. People inside the circle are much less likely to squeal on each other, like the good ol' days when BCS directors could drop thousands in strip clubs, send money to politicians and take each other out on cruises. What if someone needed to be bribed to get into the playoffs? More importantly, what if you really needed 30 minutes on the Lido Deck in the Caribbean?
Of course, those guys weren't even really responsible for actually picking teams back then, because the most in-tune with football device was making the rankings: a computer with a formula nobody knows.
Here's Stallings' flawless argument.
"Football's a great game," Stallings said. "Now, we're going to pick four or six or whatever it is. We're picking some committee members to make that decision and I worry about whether some of them are qualified to make this kind of decision."
Yes, qualifications. For one, if you've never played football, you can't possibly understand how the game really works. It's the same reason why all former US Presidents join the Washington Post, because you can't cover the President without knowing what it's like to be President.
That's why Condi Rice shouldn't be on the NCAA selection committee (nor on the editorial board at WaPo). Though she has managed international conflict, balanced a $20 million deficit at Stanford, and was ranked the most powerful woman in the world twice, she hasn't ever fielded a punt (though she has witnessed several fumbles). How she can possibly be expected to understand what is going on in the 100-yard green space when she's used to analyzing entire countries for problems is beyond me.
BTW: the three main voices in this fight are Stallings, Pat Dye and David Pollack, who respectively represent Texas A&M/Alabama, Auburn, and Georgia. Go South!
