A few days ago, I was listening to Marcellus Wiley (I think) talk about LeBron James on the radio. Marcellus doesn't get what the big deal is about LeBron and how he left Cleveland for Miami. Every athlete is free to move as they please, says Wiley. After all, they don't have a choice about the initial team they play for, so why shouldn't they be able to play anywhere they want when their time comes?
Marcellus is absolutely right. At the end of the day, any athlete has the right to up and leave for another team whenever they damn well please and if any fan were in the same situation, they'd do the same if the money was right.
But that's not the point, is it? That's not why Cleveland fans loathe LeBron and it's not why so many other sports fans are hoping and praying that James falls flat on his face in Miami.
What Wiley didn't talk about was the fact that LeBron just doesn't get it. He doesn't get that his actions were obnoxious and soul-crushing to Cavs fans. He doesn't get that going on live TV an making a spectacle of his move to Miami was downright cruel to the people who paid his salary, bought his jersey, wore his sneakers and praised his name.
Is LeBron truly deluded or does he just pretend not to know? That's a question for another time (though I honestly think because of his upbringing and because he's always been treated like the "greatest guy in the world," the answer is that he truly doesn't understand).
And so when I read Bill Hancock's blustery defense of the BCS today, I couldn't help but think the same thing about him that I do every time LeBron James opens his mouth about leaving Cleveland. "God, this guy just does not get it."
Hancock's diatribe has been torn to shreds by just about everyone already, so I won't bother. I don't need to explain to you that, despite his thesis statement, this season does not prove that the BCS works. Any system would have come to the same conclusion (aside from, you know, a playoff). All I'll do is pinpoint the exact moment you know for a fact that Bill Hancock knows he's full of crap (cause believe me, he DOES know...)
If this were the shady system that some people claim, how could Boise State have been only inches away? And if the system were designed to shut out schools from the so-called non-power conferences, how could TCU — undefeated and No. 3 in the BCS rankings — play in the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl?
Now, it's not what he says in this paragraph, it's what he doesn't say. Cause I'm willing to bet the first thing that popped into your head when you read this, like me, was, "Okay, so explain to me why this it's fair to TCU that they went undefeated and don't get a chance to play for the National Title?"
Hancock never attempts to answer that question. And that's how you know that he :
A) Knows he's full of crap.
B) Just doesn't get it.
TCU didn't start this season with the goal of playing in the Rose Bowl. They started the season with the goal of playing for the National Title. They then went out and did everything they possibly could to do so.
And the BCS let them know that their best is not good enough. Ever. At least not until they belong to the Big East.
But you won't hear Bill Hancock mention that. He'll tell you how great it was that Boise almost got the chance to play for the National Title because it didn't happen and therefore it's safer to pimp out the possibilities than the facts.
And let's be real here, Boise State would not have played for the National Title had they gone undefeated. Auburn and Oregon still would have played for the title and Boise would be getting ready for the Fiesta Bowl right now.
The fact remains...Hancock saw the pink elephant in the room (TCU) and decided to side-step it. By doing so, he played his hand. He admitted to all of us that he knows the system failed.
And by angrily firing back at the public in a "HOW DARE YOU, SIR!" manner while also conveniently forgetting to mention that his system screwed up, he proved that he just does not understand what we hate about the BCS to begin with.
The best part, of course, is that by trying to defend the BCS, Hancock just made the rest of us hate it even more than we did yesterday. Great job, Bill. Now go back to that underground bunker and go count all that money TCU's players made for you this year. I'm sure there's lots to get through.