Obama's first failure -- college football playoff

Last week on "60 Minutes," President-elect Barack Obama said he would throw his weight around to secure a college football playoff system. Mark my words: Obama will solve the financial mess, end global warning, and bring a manacled Osama Bin Laden to justice long before he will have a college footbal playoff. It's not going to happen.

Sure, the media wants it -- they are a playoff's most vocal supporters. And the media has stirred up many fans that don't know any better. But the most important people of all -- college and university presidents -- oppose a playoff system and thus it ain't going to happen. Not in my lifetime, anyway. Not in my son's lifetime. Not in my granddaughter's lifetime.

And why should it? College football already has the best, most exciting regular season of any sport. But the main thing the media and that part of the public can't seem to grasp is the financial picture. Colleges and universities make much more money under the current system than they have any chance of making under a playoff system. Look, the only ones who profit financially from the college basketball playoffs are CBS and the NCAA, and certainly not the participating schools which use the income they now receive from college football to fund participation in such things as the NCAA basketball tournament.

During "60 Minutes," Obama said the number of games in the regular college football season could be reduced to accommodate a playoff. Can you imagine the President-elect going to Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and telling him "Listen, we want to deny you the income you'll receive from another sellout at your 94,000-seat Royal Memorial Stadium so we can have a football playoff"?

Sure. Fine. Whatever.