March Madness, the BCS, and Supreme Court of Wisconsin
Much talk about going on about the Supreme Court of Wisconsin and the recent election.
I want to talk about something else for a bit. Remember this time of the year back in 2000? The Wisconsin Badgers were just ending a run at the NCAA men's basketball championship. Also, in this discussion is NCAA Football. How does each league crown a champion?
In NCAA Football technicians feed a computer program a ton of data. The computer then appoints a champion. Yeah in the end the #1 and the #2 BCS teams square off and the winner is deemed the champion, but there is always a lot of contention that neither team is deserving.
NCAA men's basketball utilizes a much different process. The 65 best teams are determined by conference winners, conference tournament winners, and to fill out the rest of the brackets they rely on a committee. They tip the ball off and the excitement does not end until this Monday evening.
Which is better? I think most sports fans agree the basketball tournament is better and realize the BCS system is driven by an inability to put an end to the traditional bowl games. However, most understand in a ideal world, the college football championship would be determined by some sort of playoff system.
However, one year I noted fans calling for a BCS style appointment system for NCAA men's basketball. That was in the year 2000 when Wisconsin made it to the Final Four, but Wisconsin's way of winning (and the Big Ten in general) is not considered by many sports fans as fun to watch.
I recall reading a letter in The Sporting News from one NCAA Basketball fan demand the NCAA switch their basketball championship to a BCS style system so teams like Wisconsin would not compete for the championship. Sounded a lot like Wisocnsin's left sounds of late.
It seems of late the only way the left can get a favorite justice on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court is by the Governor's appointment. So of course they demand the constitution be amended. Don't like defensive basketball teams? Just change the way teams get to vie for the championship and invite only offensive juggernauts. Don't like losing at the ballot box just change the rules.
Of course, this change in justice selection is not simple. The method of choosing supreme court justices is spelled out in our constitution and therefore must be dealt with by amending the constitution. The same amendment must be approved by two consecutive legislative assemblies and then approved by the voters in a statewide referendum. Heck, who knows, by that time we may have a Republican back in Madison just in time to appoint yet another conservative justice.
Changing the method by which we select judges is not "changing the rules" (it is, but it isn't) as long as we do it in the constitutionally proscribed way. Another thing that comes to mind is all of the whining we heard about the electoral college back in 2000. Hey lefty, how is the process to amend the electoral college into oblivion coming along?
I want to talk about something else for a bit. Remember this time of the year back in 2000? The Wisconsin Badgers were just ending a run at the NCAA men's basketball championship. Also, in this discussion is NCAA Football. How does each league crown a champion?
In NCAA Football technicians feed a computer program a ton of data. The computer then appoints a champion. Yeah in the end the #1 and the #2 BCS teams square off and the winner is deemed the champion, but there is always a lot of contention that neither team is deserving.
NCAA men's basketball utilizes a much different process. The 65 best teams are determined by conference winners, conference tournament winners, and to fill out the rest of the brackets they rely on a committee. They tip the ball off and the excitement does not end until this Monday evening.
Which is better? I think most sports fans agree the basketball tournament is better and realize the BCS system is driven by an inability to put an end to the traditional bowl games. However, most understand in a ideal world, the college football championship would be determined by some sort of playoff system.
However, one year I noted fans calling for a BCS style appointment system for NCAA men's basketball. That was in the year 2000 when Wisconsin made it to the Final Four, but Wisconsin's way of winning (and the Big Ten in general) is not considered by many sports fans as fun to watch.
I recall reading a letter in The Sporting News from one NCAA Basketball fan demand the NCAA switch their basketball championship to a BCS style system so teams like Wisconsin would not compete for the championship. Sounded a lot like Wisocnsin's left sounds of late.
It seems of late the only way the left can get a favorite justice on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court is by the Governor's appointment. So of course they demand the constitution be amended. Don't like defensive basketball teams? Just change the way teams get to vie for the championship and invite only offensive juggernauts. Don't like losing at the ballot box just change the rules.
Of course, this change in justice selection is not simple. The method of choosing supreme court justices is spelled out in our constitution and therefore must be dealt with by amending the constitution. The same amendment must be approved by two consecutive legislative assemblies and then approved by the voters in a statewide referendum. Heck, who knows, by that time we may have a Republican back in Madison just in time to appoint yet another conservative justice.
Changing the method by which we select judges is not "changing the rules" (it is, but it isn't) as long as we do it in the constitutionally proscribed way. Another thing that comes to mind is all of the whining we heard about the electoral college back in 2000. Hey lefty, how is the process to amend the electoral college into oblivion coming along?
Labels: Appointments, Butler, Elections, Gableman
posted by Marcus Aurelius at 10:18 PM
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