Congressional junket to the Rose Bowl?

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Just when you get to thinking that Congress is spending too much time away from the Capitol, news like one of today's Associated Press reports comes out and you wish that all 535 congressmen might have just gone home for the holidays. Indeed, the wire service is reporting that the a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will gavel to order hearings on the Bowl Championship Series.

Yes, that's right, congress will be investigation the college football bowl system.

Now don't get me wrong, I think the BCS is a crock. In fact, I published a sports column in today's Badger Herald essentially saying as much in a slightly playful, sardonic and self-mocking manner.

But that doesn't mean that congress needs to butt its head into the picture.

It's one thing for the House to investigate baseball and steroids – an age-old anti-trust exemption coupled with the usage and presumable trafficking of an illegal substance is at least in the ball park of Congress' jurisdiction (no pun intended). But college football?

This is a horrifying precedent to set. At this rate, a congressman discontent with the outcome of a Redskins vs. Cowboys game will be able to hold hearings on why officials didn't call pass interference on the penultimate play of the game. The slope is very slippery indeed.

Besides, with a war in Iraq, record-high gas prices, a Social Security system headed toward bankruptcy and homeless shelters in every major American city, I can't help but to wonder if the House's time might be better spent elsewhere.