The only member of Congress to vote against a resolution
honoring the undefeated Boise State University football team explained
his stance Wednesday. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) was the only
member to vote against the measure honoring the Broncos for winning the
2010 Fiesta Bowl, one of the top bowl games in the country. The
resolution passed Tuesday 385-1.
The team is somewhat of a cause célèbre of opponents of the Bowl
Championship Series (BCS), which uses a complex system of human and
computer rankings to select the contestants in major college football's
national championship. Twice the small school has gone defeated in
the last four seasons, but they have not been chosen to play for the
title.
"The general rule of thumb for Congressman Altmire is
that he votes against resolutions honoring teams that have not won their
sport's championship," his spokesperson Tess Mullen said in an e-mail.
"He doesn't want the vote schedule to evolve to the point where we have
35 separate votes honoring college bowl winners and 64 separate votes
for every team that makes the NCAA tournament." College football's
national championship system has been a hot
topic in Congress over the last year. Legislation has been
introduced to force the creation of a playoff system and tens of
thousands has been spent on lobbying.
President Barack Obama
himself has called for the creation of a playoffs to decide the title.
Altimire's
stance is likely to please supporters of the BCS, who say that the
system offers the best possible means for college football to declare a
unified national champion. Before the BCS was created in 1998,
multiple national champions were declared many times because there was
no national championship game, only a series of bowls.
But BCS
opponents say that the system is biased against small schools like
Boise State, who play in conferences that have smaller fan bases,
generate less revenue and have diminished ratings potential than teams
from big conferences, who are typically selected to play for the
national championship.
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