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From Parade Magazine, March 15, 2009:

Football - the last major collegiate sport without national playoffs - may be the first to have its championship system determined by Congress. Right now, teams are chosen to play in a "national championship" bowl game by a combination of computer modeling and human polling. The major bowl games are big business - four years of TV rights sell for $500 million, and schools that compete in the biggest matchups earn millions. Fans say that the system isn't fair and, since schools accept state and federal tax dollars, the government should get involved.

"The bigger conferences shut the little guys out and get a big check each year," says Rep. Joe Barton (R., Tex.), co-sponsor of a bill to require bowl games to drop the term "national champion" or face penalties. Another bill currently before Congress would withhold federal funds from colleges that don't participate in a playoff system. President Obama has said that he favors a switch to playoffs, but many college presidents say the current system works fine and that the government shouldn't get involved.

At the risk of getting political, is this something for the Congress or should they stick to fixing health care and Social Security?