Hoping for some change in sports
Published 5:29 pm Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Yesterday was a pretty big day for America with the inauguration of Barack Obama.
It seems that the attitude of the nation is one of hope, and indeed, that was one of Obama’s catchphrases during his campaign.
One of the biggest words associated with him is “Change.”
I’m not going to delve into politics, but instead give a few thoughts about what this change in office might mean for us sports fans.
Maybe now we can get something done about the BCS.
During a Monday Night Football interview just before the election, Obama mentioned the need for change with the BCS system and perhaps implementing a playoff system.
I don’t know if it’ll fly, but I certainly hope he’ll try to improve the system.
Going off on a slight tangent here, look at Utah.
The Utes did all they could this year: they won every game put before them.
Does that mean they’re the national champions? I guess not.
I’m not sure they could beat Tebow and the Gators, but it’s like trying to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop — the world may never know.
The system needs a change, and now the leader of our country is interested.
I understand that he has much bigger fish to fry than trying to get a playoff system implemented, but hopefully the issue will remain on his mind.
Obama is also a fan of basketball.
There have been several publicized pictures and stories about him playing during the course of his campaign.
There was also an excellent article on ESPN.com yesterday encouraging the reform of youth sports in America, from re-emphasizing PE in schools to funding more public playgrounds and parks in cities.
This sort of thing has been done before, under Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower.
Hopefully, the sports world will see some impact from this new transition of power.