BCS 'haves' rule league that snubs Liberty, fears C-USA rise

[NavyCrimson]

Well - we'll see what happens -

here's the link to the c-usa board:
http://www.ncaabbs.com/forums/confusa/i ... 933c1890af

Calkins: SEC bullies showing their arrogance
BCS 'haves' rule league that snubs Liberty, fears C-USA rise
By Geoff Calkins
Contact
July 29, 2005

BIRMINGHAM -- Liberty Bowl director Steve Ehrhart should tell the SEC to go suck eggs.

Also, take a hike.

Also, jump in the lake.

Also, take their eighth-place team and stick it where ...

OK, that's impolite.

But I get worked up about bullying, about greed, about the kind of arrogance the SEC is demonstrating in its negotiations with the Liberty Bowl.

The SEC is happy to send one of its cruddier teams to play in the Liberty Bowl starting in 2006. But not if there's a chance the team will have to play the University of Memphis or another Conference USA team.

"So far, in all the bowls we have finalized our agreements with, we are playing teams from conferences that are from the original BCS group," said SEC commissioner Mike Slive. "I think that's sort of a signal our preference would be to do that."

Translation: There are two bowls bidding for the last SEC team, the Liberty Bowl and the Houston Bowl. If the Liberty Bowl wants to prevail, all it has to do is jettison Memphis and C-USA.

Does Slive have no conscience? The man was C-USA's first commissioner! Now he's trying to further marginalize the conference he helped create?

"The SEC is a democracy," Slive said.

Ahhhhhh.

He's just carrying out orders. How much are souls going for these days?

Because what we are seeing is the most powerful conference in the country trying to destroy a conference that is absolutely no threat.

The SEC already has everything over C-USA. Riches, facilities, tradition, arrests.

Now it wants to deny it access to the smaller bowls, too.

Why?

A blend of arrogance and fear.

Ole Miss doesn't want to risk playing Southern Miss.

Auburn doesn't want to risk playing UAB.

Tennessee doesn't want to risk playing Memphis.

LSU doesn't want to risk playing Tulane.

Because losing to those teams might be embarrassing, see. Because it might make it harder to pretend the C-USA schools don't exist.

The whole thing puts Ehrhart -- who was traveling Thursday and unavailable for comment -- in an impossibly hard spot. He plainly would like an SEC team to help fill seats. But would he have the nerve to abandon Memphis and C-USA?

The bowl is in Memphis. The main sponsor -- AutoZone -- is in Memphis.

If Ehrhart stands with Memphis, he will lose the SEC. If he stands with the SEC, he will lose sponsors and fans and any claim to local goodwill.

Slive apparently doesn't care.

"We never had to enter into any conversations with the Liberty Bowl," he said.

Gee, how very generous of you.

What a disaster for the University of Memphis. What indisputable evidence of what the BCS has become.

It's not just a method for determining the participants in the national championship game. It's the central instrument for dividing college sports into a world of Haves and Have Nots.

Bad enough that you have to be a BCS school to play for the national title. Now you have to be a BCS school to play in the Liberty Bowl?

Ehrhart simply can't go along with this. He has to stand by Memphis and C-USA.

And if the SEC wants to take its football game and go to Houston, Ehrhart and C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky should find the best antitrust lawyer they can.

Tell him to draft up a lawsuit. Tell him to send the complaint to Birmingham.

"The reality is we were happy with the bowl lineup we had," said Slive.

Awwww, Mike, just shut up.

To reach Geoff Calkins, call him at 529-2364

[PlanoStang]

" And if the SEC wants to take its football game and go to Houston, Ehrhart and C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky should find the best antitrust lawyer they can.

Tell him to draft up a lawsuit. Tell him to send the complaint to Birmingham. "

If this happens, I hope they do. Maybe they can rile up Tulane's president again.