Sunday, September 7, 2014

Cupcake Saturday: CFB World Flips Out Over Pat Haden on USC Sidelines

One of the few alleged controversies in Saturday's slate of crappy college football games came from the USC vs. Stanford game, a game eventually won by the Trojans 13-10.

The debate, and it is a loud one, began when Haden came down from his box at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The reason for the alleged controversy: A segment of the sportswriting public have raised the question of Haden's objectivity as a member of "College Football Playoff Committee".

To which we say: You just noticed this now?

Haden told ESPN he came down to the field after receiving a text from someone on his compliance staff stating the Trojans coach Steve Sarkasian wanted to speak to him.

Why Sarkasian had to talk to Haden late in a close game is a bit of a mystery, but that's the story.

Cameras showed Haden come down and start appear to start questioning the referees about a unsportsmanlike conduct call against the coach.

Which again begs the question, why would Sarkasian need his Athletic Director to defend his honor?

Anyway, the holier than thou voices of concern are now popping up through sportswriters who say Haden can't be neutral when in his committee role. The Playoff Committee is comprised of 13 people who will be the final voice in deciding which 4-teams make this years College Football playoff.



Haden's on-field involvement wasn't illegal. Though technically the text message is. However, per the NCAA, there's no real penalty that can be levied. Haden's appearance was just plain weird.

But the whole implication about objectivity is laughable. Very laughable. Yeah, sure the "Playoff Committee" members who have a vested interested in a potential playoff team have to recuse themselves. But anyone who believes there aren't biases brought into that room is completely ignorant.

While the whole "Committee" system isn't perfect, it's a heck of a lot better than the alleged "Computers" that decided things previously. And it's 1,000 times more effective than the idiotic sportswriters voting ever was.

We offer this final word on Haden's goofiness. Deal with it. Stop whining Sportswriters, this is the system and world we now live in. It's far from perfect, it will NEVER be perfect. But claiming an Athletic Director would be totally biased against everyone but his team because he came down to argue with refs at a game....is just plain idiotic...

Haden explains himself to ESPN:



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