George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and Bill Bennett-
Oh wait, this is a sports column. But since we're talking about people who have their heads in the wrong places, let's use it as a segue to talk about two hot issues in sports and the respective men who cannot figure out where to stick their ego-enriched crania.
1) The men responsible for the annual BCS headache.
Something has got to be done about the Bowl Championship Series standings that are currently used to help determine the national champion.
The solution is called a PLAYOFF. How could you possibly not prefer an eight-team playoff to a set of complex formulas, statistical analysis and all other kinds of mumbo-jumbo devised by several dudes who have degrees in haven't-ever-watched-football-ology.
There is a long enough break between the regular season and bowl week to play both the quarterfinals and semifinals in December, and the national championship game can be played the first week of January.
This year's most likely victim of the BCS' faulty system, unbeaten ACC-leader Virginia Tech, could be the biggest snub since the "Bowl Championship Screw-up" began in 1998.
Earlier this season, Virginia Tech clobbered then-No. 15 Georgia Tech, 51-7, Sept. 24, and toppled No. 13 Boston College, 30-10, Oct. 27. If the Hokies beat No. 5 Miami at home this weekend, they will inch closer to an undefeated regular season, and star quarterback Marcus Vick will likely be disappointed by the reward: watching a historic Texas-USC Rose Bowl matchup starring Vince Young and Matt Leinart.
USC got the shaft in 2003 and passed it on to Auburn last year, so this could be the third straight season with a BCS headache. It's starting to feel like a migraine.
2) David Stern and his NBA gang for this dress code business.
It seems like every other company is going more casual these days, but the NBA front office has swung in the other direction. Under the NBA's new dress code the players must wear collars and cannot wear sneakers on their way to and from work.
Critics say the players have the constitutional freedom to dress however they choose off the court. But at the same time the NBA is a private enterprise whose owners have the right to set rules on employee dress.
The NBA thinks its doing this to better the image of the league, but is this situation creating a rift pitting the players on one side and the owners/executives on the other?
David Stern is making the players look subordinate to the executives. The fact that 29-of-30 majority owners are white, while about 75 percent of the players are black adds a racial element to this equation.
On the 2004 Racial and Gender Report Card, a study conducted by the University of Central Florida that examined the opportunities provided to women and minorities in sport, the NBA was the only men's sports league that received an A in race-a mark given to leagues employing at least 24 percent minorities. The league's two most recent major changes, the 19 year-old age minimum and the new dress code, might deem that grade meaningless.
We can't say that the policies are overtly racist, but I think we should acknowledge their racial implications. The policies may be directed at all players, but when most of one side is white and most of the other is black, it raises questions.
If the NBA front office wants to get some extra credit and bring that grade back up, it should present an image of the players and the owners on the same level.
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