HIP Replacement
Posted August 28, 2005, 5:13 PM ET

The 2005 college football season gets underway this week. And, while we should be talking about USC trying to win a third straight national title, or who will emerge from the SEC East, or if the Hokies can defend their ACC title...instead, we're talking about the first major controversy involving the BCS.

The Harris Interactive Poll. Or, as I like to call it..."HIP".

"HIP" replaces the AP Poll in the BCS world of selecting the best teams to play for the national title. Last week, HIP announced the 114 voters that comprise this "esteemed" group. The 11 major conferences (and Notre Dame) nominated hundreds of individuals that could become "Hipsters". The credentials needed to be nominated include being a former athletic administrator, player, coach or member of the media.

Last week, the list was unveiled and immediately there was laughter and disgust from all corners of the college football landscape. We all know that until there is a true playoff in place, there will never be peace and quiet from the folks that despise the BCS...but the HIP officially took college football to a new low.

Just a sampling of the Hipsters drew brutal criticism. For example: Terry Bradshaw from FOX Sports was named, and Bradshaw commented that he loves watching college football on Saturdays on ESPN. Sure you do, Terry...I doubt that FOX has any production meetings on Saturday in order to prepare for Sunday's NFL on FOX Pregame Show. I'm sure when the FOX executives tell Terry he's needed on set to rehearse, that Terry tells them to wait until halftime of the Georgia-Boise State game.

Brentson Buckner of the Carolina Panthers is a Hipster. I'm sure Buck has all day on Saturday to lounge around the house, hotel or locker room watching college football games from noon to midnight. You see, Buckner is a current NFL player and we all know these pro guys have nothing to do the day before the game except to watch college football games around the clock.

Buckner, a Clemson graduate, even commented that he wouldn't give the arch-rival Gamecocks a vote unless they were able to defeat the New England Patriots. Some people chuckled at the one-liner...some people didn't. It is obvious that Buckner is taking his new Hipster role very seriously...not.

John Mackovic is a former coach and he is quoted as saying that when he saw the original list of 114 Hipsters, he thought many on the list were already dead. John, they might as well be.

A number of HYPE employees had to take themselves off the Hipsters list. One of them was former Gamecock coach Lou Holtz. You see, HYPE has all of a sudden taken the moral high ground of not wanting any association with the BCS or their ridiculous rankings. ESPN, I mean HYPE, no longer is the "home of the BCS"...somehow, I have a feeling that the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" would have a different take it they were still the TV rights holder of the event.

But the best story of HIP involves a guy by the name of Jason Rash.

You know Jason Rash, don't you?

Of course you don't...nobody knows him but HIP.

Jason Rash was nominated by the Sun Belt Conference.

Rash isn't a former coach, player, or administrator, nor is he a member of the media. Jason Rash is the son-in-law of the head coach of Troy. No, I'm not making this up...and nobody from the BCS or the Harris Interactive Poll group did any background check on Rash.

Obviously, Rash had to step down as a Hipster.

So, before we kickoff the 2005 season...college football finds itself embarrassed again by a system that is so flawed, so stupid and so out of touch with what it truly needs...

A "HIP" replacement.