Condoleezza Rice skips Middle East conference to rank NCAA football playoff contenders

[Auggie]

No joke

The annual November conference in the United Arab Emirates will have to wait. Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, one of the 13 members of the inaugural College Football Playoff committee, has some football teams to rank.

"Something has to give," Rice told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "This year I just didn't make it because it would have come right in the middle of the time we were ranking."

Rice has taken all overseas travel off her schedule this fall and replaced it with a pool of 40 teams she's been monitoring closely for the College Football Playoff. In a wide-ranging interview with ESPN.com, Rice spoke about the difficulties of determining strength of schedule, how much value she places on conference champions and the methods she's using to determine the top four teams this season.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11665259/condoleezza-rice-talks-ins-outs-college-football-playoff-committee

[liberal N proud]

1. How is she qualified to rank football?

Just because you are a fan and have an oil tanker named for you does not qualify you to rank football teams.

[El Supremo]

2. Condoleezza Rice Spends First 15 Minutes Of College Football Committee Meeting Asking What The Fuck

Condoleezza Rice Spends First 15 Minutes Of College Football Committee Meeting Asking What The Fuck She Is Doing There

NEW YORK—Saying that she could use a short reminder of why she has a significant sway in the shaping of the collegiate sports landscape, sources confirmed that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spent the first 15 minutes of a College Football Committee meeting Monday asking board members to explain what the fuck she was doing there. “Before we get started, I just want to quickly ask: Does anybody have a reasonable explanation for why I’m sitting here to deliberate the rankings of a bunch of football teams?” said Rice, adding that she was hoping for further clarification on what possible aspect of her decades of work and life experience made her appear remotely qualified, or even interested in, a job that entails determining whether LSU is a better football team than Michigan State. “Just to clarify, they decided to replace a computer algorithm with 13 people from across the country, and that group needed to include a former Secretary of State and a retired lieutenant from the Air Force. And now, I’ll be relied upon every week to hash out the relative strengths and weaknesses of each team in the SEC, ACC, and Pac-12. That make sense to anyone?” Sources confirmed that a visibly frustrated Rice then leaned back in her chair and asked to see the chart of offensive efficiency ratings so she could “get this stupid fucking thing over with.”

http://www.theonion.com/articles/condoleezza-rice-spends-first-15-minutes-of-colleg,36775/

[Auggie]

7. +1

[El Supremo]

3. They'd do better with Katy Perry

http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/pLgcXSQ_ZkRVwE4lmmTwdw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/

[wilt the stilt]

4. she has no actual knowledge of anything

her knowledge for her role as national security was "she read a book and had an opinion. She never even played a sport. ever no qualifications and we have seen her ability to analyze. 100,000 dead.

[El Supremo]

5. Quote

"As I was telling my husb— As I was telling President Bush."

Newsweek, May 3, 2004

[Jamaal510]

9. That's not true;

"she has no actual knowledge of anything her knowledge for her role as national security was "she read a book and had an opinion."

she was quite a fountain of knowledge in regards to creating wars and how to lie about them.

[JonLP24]

17. She couldn't exactly play college football

and I don't think it should be a requirement.

She actually has more experience in the sports administration field than she did prior to National Security Adviser & Secretary of State roles. Provost at Stanford is in control of athletic operations and part of the hiring process, notably head coaches.

I always hated the idea of a selection committee. Too much potential for bias and mistakes.

I'd keep the BCS rankings or average the 2 major polls + Sagarin which would currently look like

1. Auburn
2. Mississippi
3. Baylor
4. Florida State
5. Mississippi State
6. Alabama
7. Notre Dame
8. Oklahoma (a TCU or somebody could actually be higher as I didn't go too far down)

FSU is hurt w/ the 13 Sagarin ranking but later in the season this won't be as much of an anomaly and favor an unbiased ranking system w/ the 3 polls. Or go w/ the BCS which uses & combines more rankings.

[radicalliberal]

6. She's got her priorities straight.

[KamaAina]

8. WTF? The BCS didn't even issue rankings until Week 6 or so.

Also, can't one rank college football teams while in flight?

[joeybee12]

10. In a just world she'd been ranking those teams from inside a prison cell..nt

[Auggie]

11. Best post of the thread

[joeybee12]

12. What do I win!!!

[Auggie]

13. What I think you always secretly wanted ...

A San Francisco Giants logo!

[TBF]

14. Better that she stick to sports and leave politics

to someone qualified and competent.

[hughee99]

15. I'd rather rank college football teams too.

What's Rice going to do in the Middle East? She has no authority, little (if any) influence over current policies in the US or other countries. He'll, if she had gone, people would probably be complaining that the Bush people are still trying to fuck things up even though they're not even in office anymore.

[JonLP24]

16. As one of the selectors

This job has precedent. No different than a league commissioner attending to relevant tasks rather than something like this.

Personally, I'd do away w/ selectors and use the BCS poll to select the top 4 teams.