CONFESSIONS OF A WEST COAST HOMER

Let’s just get this out of the way now. I’m a West Coast homer. I was born here, raised here and if I have my druthers (by the way, what are druthers?), don’t ever plan on leaving here.

If my team can’t win a championship, then I’m putting my weight behind someone else from west of the Continental Divide. Lakers over Celtics? Check. Diamondbacks over Yankees? You know it. Boise State over Oklahoma? Roll out the blue carpet!

When it comes to college football, I’m a proud supporter of the Pac-9. As a USC alum, there’s a certain blue and gold institution across town that I just can’t cheer for under any circumstances. Don’t believe me? December 5, 1998 was one of the best days of my life. Edgerrin James was my hero for running all over the Bruins and keeping them out of the BCS championship game. I had never cheered for “The U” before and haven’t considered it since.

I bring all of this up because college football season is upon us once more and when it comes to debating the best squads and conferences in the country, it’s a coastal battle like none we’ve seen since Death Row and Bad Boy were in their primes (minus the violence and death, of course).

This brings me to my beloved Pac-10 conference. Having acquired the label of “USC and the 9 Dwarves” has somehow relegated the league to second class BCS status. All this despite a 5-0 bowl record last season and not posting a losing post-season in any of the past six seasons. Not to mention consistently playing one of the most difficult non-conference schedules of any league in the country. Yet somehow they’re fighting with the Big East to stay out of the BCS conference power rankings cellar? Go figure.

I‘m not suggesting the Pac-10 is the best conference in college football. Few will argue that the SEC in all its over-the-top, renegade, self-congratulatory glory plays the most competitive (and certainly highest profile) football. After all, they have won the past three BCS championships and boast probably the best team on paper – defending champ Florida – coming into the 2009 season.

Not far behind is the Big 12. Last season’s conference round robin between Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech wasn’t some of the most exciting college football played all year.

But more than any sport in America, college football is ruled by lazy thinking disguised as tradition. How else did Florida State remain in preseason Top 25 year after year despite struggling to remain a .500 team? Why else is every year the year that Notre Dame comes back to prominence? What other reason is there for the same schools always pulling four and five star recruiting classes even in their last few haven’t been up to snuff?

“The Pac-10 isn’t very good” ranks right up there with “…due to the economy“ and “…or the terrorists will win” as easy ways to dismiss things. Florida loses at home to an unranked Ole Miss team and it shows how tough it is to run the gauntlet in the SEC. USC loses on the road to an unranked Oregon State team and they apparently weren’t as good as we all thought they were.

Then again, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when talking about a sport that would rather settle it in the polls than on the field. Somehow challenging yourself with only the teams in your conference proves how strong your conference really is. Even Homer Simpson wouldn’t abide by that logic.

In the meantime, the experts are already predicting that this season’s BCS championship game will come down to the winner of the SEC against the winner of the Big 12. That’s it. It’s all settled. Everyone else can pack it up and go home.

Just another sunset in the West.

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