No computer geeks allowed

It's very obvious nowadays that technology has taken over the world. The latest gadgets and gizmos are being distributed faster than Deion Sanders runs the 40-yard dash. College students are perhaps the most notorious for constantly using the latest technology in the place of human interaction. \nBut what does it say about our society when we talk online to a person less than 100 feet away from us? It means that the country's reliance upon technology has grown to a sickeningly high level. Sadly enough, sports are no exception to this.\nAs I sat down to watch the Wisconsin Badgers play last Saturday morning, I realized how badly technology is corrupting college football. As most IU and Big Ten football fans know, instant replay is being implemented this season for all Big Ten conference games and any televised games involving Big Ten squads. \nMany of the coaches were in great favor of replay, including Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez. However, Alvarez's disgust and frustration with the new technology was evident in the Badgers' blowout victory Saturday. The Big Ten technology adviser and referees wasted about a half-hour of the players' and the fans' time. At one point, Camp Randall Stadium filled with boos in response to a replay that took more than 10 minutes to complete. \nOf course the ESPN announcers, including Bob Davie, supported the Big Ten officials and argued to fans that the replay would benefit the conference overall. Davie added that last year Big Ten games were already shorter than other NCAA games, so the installment of the replay wouldn't affect them much. And we wondered why Davie didn't work out at Notre Dame.\nThe infamous Bowl Championship Series should give fans an even bigger reason to be disgusted with the technology of college football. The BCS acts as more of a calculus test than the determinant of the top college football teams in the land. Last year the BCS awarded a split national championship to Louisiana State University and the University of Southern California, despite USC being ranked No. 1 in the polls. \nThis year the officials wised up and put more emphasis on the human polls, which took away some of the computer's power. Of course humans make mistakes -- everybody is allowed from time to time. But I would prefer that college football fans be upset with each other rather than with a non-existent object. I find it funny how fans treat the BCS as if it were a physical object or even a person. The BCS is not someone whose house we can egg or of whom we can draw comedic caricatures.\nThe most painful realization in all of this is that it's only the beginning. The referees' jobs are becoming much easier because they are not relied upon as much to make the correct call -- a computer can decide whether they were right or wrong. Coaches and fans will have a little more say in the rankings starting this season, but they have only so much control in the matter. \nThis battle will go on year after year, with coaches and fans fighting for more say in the polls. The solution should be this: Let the fans, coaches and media decide who should top the rankings and leave the computer geeks out of it. \nIn the end, if there are problems, the fans, coaches and media only have themselves to blame. Sports fans will find something to complain about anyway, so there's no avoiding it. But for now, the computers have most of the power, and the fans will just have to make do. The fun part is that you never know what could happen. \nSo if by chance there is some Y2K4 bug, maybe the Hoosiers will make the Rose Bowl.