Bipartisan stupidity and college football

I’m one of those people who likes to see bipartisan cooperation. I read about an example of it today, but the issue is far from important: College football.

I’m not an avid sports fan, and I’ve never followed college football closely. Yet even as a very casual sports fan, I know that the BCS playoff system is ridiculous. I also know that our elected leaders are wasting their time on a bill that would require college football to have at least one playoff game leading up to a championship game. That’s a decent idea. The only problem is that it’s none of Congress’ business.

The United States is fighting two wars, dealing with terrorism, working on a massive health care bill, and will start work on comprehensive immigration reform soon. Plus, I’m not sure if they realized it, but we’re also in a recession and are continuing to lose jobs. Despite all this, they’re working on college football.

The elected officials spending time on this would undoubtedly say they are aware of the problems facing the country and are addressing them. We would hear that they are capable of doing multiple things at once. I don’t doubt this, but even the most passionate supporter of legsislation to change college football’s playoff structure would have to admit that any time spent on this “problem” is time spent away from more pressing needs. Besides being unimportant, it is an area where the government shouldn’t be involved.

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch and President Barack Obama have been vocal supporters of this legislation, along with other members of Congress. It’s a shame that one of the few times both parties are on the same page is when the legislation doesn’t seem to matter much.