Blog Update

With Blazers news hard to come by, we are going to fill the void by posting about other sports, notably college football and the Oregon Ducks. We'll also comment on other sports stories that are relevant but it will most likely be West Coast centric and even Northwest specific. With that in mind, I'd like to comment on the Pac-10 possibly leaving the BCS:

Commissioner Tom Hansen says that if college football adopts the plus one model the Pac-10 will leave the BCS "no question." I'm hopeful that this is just posturing on Hansen's part but this is ludicrous for several reasons.

1. The Pac-10 is not the SEC. The Pac-10 is essentially USC and nine others. If this happens, I guarantee USC leaves the conference and becomes an independant and the Pac-10 dissolves as a conference not long after.

2. If this was the SEC the football powers that be might listen. The SEC is easily the best conference in college football, produces huge ratings and produces dozens of NFL players each year. The Pac-10 doesn't have the depth or talent that the SEC does. The Pac-10's talent is in their coaches who are innovative and creative offensively.

3. The Rose Bowl ceased to be "traditional" years ago. True, it's still played on New Year's Day but the game has involved a Pac-10 and Big-10 school just three times since 2001. It's time to progress and buy into what the whole world wants to see.

The Pac-10 has tried to remain as traditional as possible. They have balked at adding members and splitting into a North and South. They don't play a conference championship game. They now play each team in football, something that no other big time conference does. In basketball they still play each team twice, once at home and once on the road for a total of 18 conference games. They also still play on the tradtional nights of Thursday and Saturdays with only a few exceptions. You rarely (if ever) see a Pac-10 team playing on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday nights.

As a fan of the more traditional approach, I understand what the Pac-10 is thinking. However I think Hansen's stance is misguided and wrong. The Plus 1 model is actually a worthwhile investment for college football. It gives us a small playoff without getting into the logistics of an eight or 16 team playoff.

The Pac-10 would be wise not to bite the hand that feeds it, and continue to feast off USC in football and UCLA in basketball...as sad as it is to admit.