BYU Should Be No. 1, Period

If the people voting in the coaches poll were interested in rewarding performance on the football field, their rankings would look much different than they do.

As I’ve written before – and, like it or not, will write again – the coaches poll – one-third of the formula used to determine who gets to play for the BCS championship – is hopelessly tainted by preseason polls.

Each subsequent poll, beginning with the one released Tuesday after the first weekend of play, is merely a tweaking of worthless preseason expectations rather than a fair-minded evaluation of performance and performance only.

If voters had watched the first weekend of games with an open mind, their rankings would look something like this:

(Continue to More From Les)

Saints, Hornets, Big Easy's Comeback

It’s hard not to notice the irony of the New Orleans Saints playing a preseason game in Oakland this particular weekend.

The last time the Saints played a preseason game in Oakland, they didn’t make it back to the New Orleans for more than four months. They, and the city, haven’t been the same since.

It was four years ago this weekend that the Saints left early for their game against the Raiders because a hurricane named Katrina was bearing down on New Orleans. By the time the game had been played, three levees around New Orleans had failed and wind and water had severely damaged the Superdome.

(Continue to More From Les)

Pete Rose Belongs in Hall of Fame

It has been 20 years since Pete Rose was kicked out of Major League Baseball for betting on it.

Rose got a fair hearing on the allegations that he bet on baseball, and he was rightly found guilty of doing so. But his worthiness for induction into the Hall of Fame has not – and cannot – receive a fair hearing because his punishment for gambling – excommunication from Baseball – prohibits his consideration.

That needs to change.

(Continue to More From Les)

BCS Rankings Hopelessly Tainted

The first college football game is still more than a week away and already the BCS is off track.

The BCS, of course, is a formula that is supposed to bring together the two most deserving teams to play for the college football national championship at the end of the season.

The BCS-vs.-playoff debate continues to smolder, but there’s no point in rehashing it here because the BCS isn’t going anywhere as long as the current contracts with the bowls and networks are in place (through 2014).

(Continue to More From Les)