Bill Hancock
1) Dan Patrick Radio Show - 11/20/09 - http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/blog/86581/index.html - There will be multiple quotes from this interview and times in ()'s are where the quotes can be found in the downloaded mp3 file
a) "College Football wins in 6 overtimes, uh, you know they have to go for 2 after five." (1:05 - 1:15)
--Bill Hancock does not even know the rules of the sport he oversees the "championship" for. After 2 overtimes (i.e. beginning with the 3rd overtime possession) teams must attempt the 2 point conversion and are not allowed to kick the extra point.
b) "We were in Miami for a game, and a Virginia Tech player injured his ankle riding a jetski. And at the same time we were there an NFL team came into play a playoff game. And they arrived on Saturday night, got there at about 8 o'clock, had their dinner, got up the next morning, had the pregame meal, went to the stadium and then flew home. Here we've got college students at the beach for a week, riding jetskis in our bowl system; on the other hand, we've got these NFL athletes who are there for 11 hours, playing the game, and then going home. Our experience for the young people playing college football, is much better." (2:15-2:55)
--Playoffs would eliminate the possibility of jetski injuries, a bowl game tradition. Thus, we can not have playoffs because jetski injuries would cease to exist.
c) "If you think the BCS is controversial, wait til you get a playoff. It'll be even more contentious." (5:45 - 5:51)
--Playoffs would have even more controversy than the BCS. Hmm...Under the BCS during the last 6 years (2004-09), there have been more undefeated non-champions (5), than champions (3). Yet that controversy pales in comparison to a system which would end with AT MOST 1 undefeated team. Perhaps he ought to take at look at this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCS_controversies
d) "I love the dialogue, We love talking about this." (11:03-11:06)
--Hmm..I would have never guessed that from their dismissive quotes and the fact that they routinely cite articles & journalists in their favor that criticize the BCS system in their own articles.
2) http://digitalsportsdaily.com/college-football/17892
a) "The BCS is fair," Hancock said. "People call it criminal, a cartel and unfair, and the fact is, it’s not. It’s fair."
--Over the past 11 years, Baylor (0 bowls) has earned more BCS revenue than TCU (10 bowls). Fair.
--Oklahoma got selected over Texas to play in the 2009 BCS Title game despite the fact that they have the same # of losses and lost to Texas during the regular season. Fair.
--Nebraska is selected to play in the 2002 BCS Title game with a ranking of #4 in both human polls (AP and Coaches), after not winning it's own conference, and losing its final game of the regular season by 26 points. Fair.
--Oklahoma gets selected to play in the 2004 BCS Title game with a ranking of #3 in both human polls and after not winning its own conference and losing its final regular season game by 28 points. Fair.
b) “A result of the playoff would be more injuries, more Wes Welkers happening in college football,” Hancock said “It would happen. Imagine if a Wes Welker happened to Kellen Moore or Mark Ingram or Colt McCoy. Imagine where we would be. The best team in that case would not win..."
--Since Colt McCoy did in fact get injured in a BCS Game, that should pretty much lay to rest the insane idea that playoffs would make college football worse because of a greater potential for injuries. Also, he seems to imply that Texas really was the better team since they lost Colt McCoy and lost the game. Finally, it shows a contradiction in Hancock's thinking regarding playoffs & injuries. On the one hand, he argues repeatedly that with a playoff system, teams will rest starters and possibly lose late season games which have no effect on their playoff status to lessen the chance of injuries, similar to what the Colts did against the Jets (Note: Ignore for now the fact that this would never happen in NCAA CFB for a variety of reasons). However, on the other hand, he argues that a playoff system would create more chances for injuries due to the increased games. So which is it Bill?
c) "Conflicts with final exams, it’s a real deal."
--Has anyone seen BH crused against ending the Div 1-FCS, Div 2 or Div 3 football playoffs becaues they conflict with final exams in a single article, interview, radio appearance or press conference? Or him arguing to move the starting date of bowl games further back to avoid conflict with final exams? Here are the Final Exam dates for teams that played in pre-Christmas bowl games.
New Mexico Bowl - 12/19/09
Fresno State - 12/14-12/17
Wyoming - 12/7-12/11
St. Petersburg Bowl - 12/19/09
Rutgers - 12/16-12/23
UCF - 12/8-12/14
New Orleans Bowl - 12/20/09
Middle Tennesse State - 12/11-12/17
Southern Miss - 12/7-12/10
Las Vegas Bowl - 12/22/09
Oregon State - 12/7-12/11
BYU - 12/14-12/18
Pointsettia Bowl - 12/23/09
Utah - 12/14-12/18
Cal - 12/12-12/19
Aloha Bowl - 12/24/09
SMU - 12/11-12/17
Nevada - 12/10-12/16
So of the 6 pre-Christmas bowl games, one could make a reasonable argument that 4-6 teams (Rutgers, Fresno State, Middle Tennessee, BYU, Utah, Cal) had practice times affected by Finals---i.e. had 4 days or less from the end of finals until the day of the game. Bill Hancock appears to be fine with 4-6 out of 12 teams having their practice schedules/Final Exam study time compromised. Yet, he has major problems with the exact same scenario (4-6 out of 8-12 teams) happening if the games were part of a playoff.
3) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122103146.html
a) "I don't want to be critical, but if the conferences and the universities had created a voice 12 years ago when this started, I think the arrangement would be better received today. Because I think we were silent for so long that the critics scored a lot of points because we were just on the sidelines."
--Ah, now I get it. The only reason people don't like the BCS system is because there has not been a paid PR mouthpiece to advocate for its propaganda until now. I actually wish BH had been around back in 2001 or 2003 to hear him explain how Big-12 teams who lose their final games 20+ points deserve to play for the BCS Title Game.
b) Hancock listened patiently as a counterargument was posed. Then he smiled.
--This isn't an actual quote, but I find it funny that after listening to an argument against the BCS, Hancock doesn't actually respond or refute the argument. He just smiles, as if his warm smile will melt even the coldest hearts of those mean-spirited, uninformed, playoff supporters.
4) Mayhem in the AM Radio Show - 11/25/09 - http://www.790thezone.com/instantreplay/Episodes.aspx?PID=1345&pn=4
a) "We absolutely know that there are some people who don't understand it and therefore, don't care much for it." (0:20 - 0:26)
--Got that? The 63% of sports fans who want a playoff are just ignorant morons who don't like the BCS because they don't understand how a team can make the BCS Title game after losing their final game by over 20+ points (Nebraska 01, Oklahoma 03) or how a team doesn't get a chance to play for a National Title after going undefeated and beating 2 conf. champions (Boise 09).
b) "The fact is, it is fair." (0:44-0:47)
--See my argument above, section 2(a)
c) "We're absolutely taking suggestions. I love to listen, I love to talk about this." (1:27-1:32)
--I believe statements like this are what acronyms like LOL and ROFLMAO were created for. Also, I will have a separate post coming up on questions that I have asked @insidethebcs which they have not responded to in any way.
d) "I say which 8 teams this week would you put in the playoff? when would they play? where would they play? It sounds great on paper, but the fact is that putting it into reality is very difficult" (2:38 - 2:50)
| Which 8 teams? | When would they play? | Where would they play? | End date of Final Exams |
| 1-Alabama vs 8-Georgia Tech | 12/19/2009 - 8PM | Tuscaloosa, AL | ALA-12/11/09 GT-12/11/09 |
| 2-Texas vs 7-Ohio State | 12/19/2009 - 4:30 PM | Austin, TX | UT-12/15/09 OSU-12/10/09 |
| 3-Cincinnati vs 6-Oregon | 12/19/2009 - 1:00 PM | Cincinnati, OH | UC-12/12/09 OU-12/11/09 |
| 4-TCU vs 5-Boise State | 12/20/2009 - 8PM | Fort Worth, TX | TCU-12/18/09 BSU-12/17/09 |
Whew. That was difficult. Only took me 15 minutes. Note that only 3 of the 8 teams would have 4 days or less from the end of Final Exams as compared to 4 of the 8 teams in the first 4 bowl games played this year--including Rutgers who played their bowl game in the middle of Final Exams.
e) "You know I like the plus one personally, that's a 4-team playoff obviously. The problem you have with it is the concert that it wouldn't stay at four. Every bracket has increased; we call it 'Bracket Creep'. You know, look at the NCAA Basketball tournament, which I used to manage of course, and I loved it. But the fact is, bracket creep would happen. It would start at four, then it would go to eight, then sixteen, then who knows what and then, what happens to the regular season. (8:46-9:14)
--So BH admits that he actually favors a playoff system to the current BCS model; he's just scared of it growing in size and thus, has resorted to the slippery slope fallacy.
More updates to come with quotes by Ari Fleischer and others...
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