Although I try to follow all Pitt sports, I am — like most Pennsylvanians — primarily a football fan. Thus, once the season is done and all the recruiting gets wrapped up, I tend not to post all that often… unless some Nittany Lions get stupid or something like that. And since (1) there were (unfortunately) no large-scale riots at this year’s Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts and (2) I don’t know enough about basketball to say anything worth reading, I’ve been quiet for awhile. I sincerely doubt that anyone missed me, since I sincerely doubt that anybody other than the authors reads this site.
 
But I thought that I’d better get my two cents in on college football’s new and improved BCS formula. The Associated Press summarizes the changes as follows.
 

“There will be fewer numbers to crunch in the revamped version of the Bowl Championship Series formula… Under the new formula, which goes into effect this season, the coaches’ poll, the AP writers’ poll and a combination of computer rankings will each count for one-third of a team’s overall BCS ranking. Strength of schedule, team record and quality wins, three components used under the old system, have all been eliminated.”

 
I think that most of us can agree that any system of determining a national champion without a tournament is inherently flawed. That being said, university presidents are obviously going to continue stubbornly refusing to give the vast majority of college football fans, players, and coaches what they really want. And since us fans are too disorganized to ever put together a boycott or something like that, we’re stuck with whatever scraps the university presidents let fall from their table.
 
So what can we say about our new BCS formula? Well, it’s certainly simpler, and that’s a good thing. However, it also gives the media much more power. And I’m honestly not sure how good of a thing that is. Assuming that all regional biases will continue to cancel each other out, I have a hard time believing that a cinderella — like last season’s TCU, Northern Illinois, or Miami of Ohio — would ever be taken as seriously by a media poll as it would by a computer poll. Ever notice how much higher TCU was ranked in the BCS than it ever was in either the AP or the ESPN/USA Today polls?
 
I’m not media-bashing (although it is funny to see the media falling over each other to congratulate the university presidents for their new media friendly formula). I’m just saying that it’s human nature to take a long-standing power like Ohio State, Michigan, or Miami more seriously than a TCU. Or (face it) a Big East team. And that isn’t entirely fair.
 
Yeah, I know. What’s being fair have to do with college football? And since when is it blogworthy to note college football doing something that solidifies the current hierarchy of football schools?
 
Incidentally, for those of us who live some distance from Oakland and get a little homesick sometimes, how cool is the new webcam on top of the Cathedral of Learning? You can actually wait in a queue to control where the thing points and the zoom and so on. And the wait is never very long. Try pointing it down Forbes Avenue on a sunny afternoon. You can almost smell the “O” grease and filth. Wonderful.
 
Finally, hail to the 4D’s Lounge — a large restaurant/bar located right beside the 17th Street Expressway, which is the major entrance to downtown Altoona. The 4D’s is building a big new outdoor patio facing 17th Street, which has been named (and prominently signed as) “The Pitt.” The DiVentura family, the good people who own the 4D’s, are Panther fans. Personally, I just love seeing that sign over the entrance to one of the most Penn State-friendly cities in the Commonwealth.
 
And I highly recommend the Friday night fish fry.