Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
Politico.com ran a story on Thursday about former Oklahoma quarterback and current lobbyist J.C. Watts.
Why should you care about this guy? Well, this is the main man standing in the way of all those angry congressmen and the BCS. See, Watts was hired by the BCS five years ago to defend it from all of the politicians attempting to change the system. In exchange for his services, the BCS has paid Watts $620,000 over the past five years.
Watts addressed last week's hearings and said in the article that he wasn't sure why Congress would bother with the BCS:
Watts thinks the problem is that politicians take on the BCS as legislators but end up forming their views through the prism of sports fans.
This rah-rah legislating was somewhat on display last week, during a hearing of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, which comes under the House Energy and Commerce Committee. There, Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) sported a helmet of his beloved University of Houston Cougars - who play in a non-BCS conference - while other committee members indulged in an alma mater shout-fest during opening statements.
"I don't expect them to check their being a fan at the door when they are elected to be a member of Congress," says Watts. "They wear kind of a dual cap when they are talking about the BCS or the NCAA basketball championship. I respect the right to be a fan. My only thing is to say, don't do it in a knee-jerk way."
It's actually an interesting article about the BCS' side of things and I hope Politico finds the Mountain West's lobbyist from Arent Fox and does a similar story.
Watts defends the BCS, but he also takes a middle-of-the-road stance about the subject in general. He said his role is about education. I imagine the Mountain West's lobbying firm would say the same thing, only it's educating about equality not monopoly.
And really, don't you want to know if the Mountain West shelled out $124,000 for representation? I actually think that's a steal in exchange for all the publicity and support the effort for BCS equality is getting.
Watson joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four seasons covering the Missouri Tigers and the Big 12 Conference for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She also covered college football recruiting for the Dallas Morning News.
