On Iowa Daily Briefing 6.21.12 -- Thanks for playing, Plus One

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, center, speaks in Lincoln, Neb., Friday, June 11, 2010, with Nebraska's athletic director Tom Osborne, left, and Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman, right. Nebraska made it official Friday and applied for membership in the Big Ten Conference, a potentially crippling blow to the Big 12 and the biggest move yet in an off season overhaul that will leave college sports looking much different by this time next year.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

I really have to wonder what the relationship is between the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl.

I get it. I understand the tradition and the pomp and circumstance of the Granddaddy. The parade is great (I hope they still have an Underdog giant balloon). The Rose Bowl Stadium and the setting, wonderful. Picturesque. Iconic. Check, check and check.

Of course, the news yesterday is why I'm bringing this up. The 11 BCS conference commissioners achieved consensus on a four-team playoff. But . . . the Plus-One model will be discussed when university presidents meet in Washington next week, because "The plus one will still be discussed at the presidents' meeting because the Big Ten supports it," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said.

Why? The Big Ten wants to protect the Rose Bowl. From what? Money? Prestige? The Rose Bowl will be fine. It will be in the mix for a semifinal when it's logical (when the Big Ten and Pac-12 have top-four teams). It will continue to occupy the early evening slot on ABC.

The case for the "Plus One" has merit. It's college football. You love college football for being the unique beast that it is. There isn't a playoff (even with four teams, is that a playoff?). There are polls and computers and biases. Those will be out the door likely in favor of a committee, but that's not the point.

College football is supremely lovable (and probably the No. 2 sport in the country) because it's unique. It's the most debated sport because of the way it's set up and that's what makes it wonderful.

It trades on your fanatical heart and your logical mind. You see a murky scenario that has your team, let's say New Mexico State, 12-0 and playing for the crystal football. New Mexico State pushing it? OK, Iowa.

“My preference would be to not have a playoff,” Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said last month. “My preference would be to have an ‘and one.' Keep the BCS, keep the bowl system intact. I love college football and I love the bowls. I think it's a unique part of that sport that makes it so popular and so special.

“Every week when we go out to play, I view it as a de facto playoff game. I like the system we have a lot.”

But Barta isn't naive. It's coming and he knows it. The Big Ten knows it.

“It sure appears to me there's a lot of momentum and sentiment and maybe a tipping point to have a four-team playoff,” he said. “If that's the case, my preference would be to keep it within the bowl system.”

The Plus One has a champion in Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman. The Big Ten wants it discussed. The Pac-12 wants it discussed. I think we're just going through the motions here.

Which brings me back to the notion of protecting the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl will be fine, Big Ten. Your trophy case could use a crystal football (national championship trophy). I suggest you focus on that.

HLINKS

Today is the longest day of the year, daylight-wise. Unless you're reading this in the Southern Hemisphere.

-- All this sudden unity among BCS leaders in endorsing a four-team college football playoff is noble and all, but there are a few little details to be ironed out.

Like, as Rachel Bachman of the Wall Street Journal, points out:

But even if the format gains approval, the men must tackle specifics of this uncharted undertaking: how teams will qualify for the playoff, how and which bowls will be included and how the expected bonanza of TV-rights money will be shared among conferences and teams.

• For an easy-to-read primer on the new playoff system, consult this piece by Andy Staples of SportsIllustratedCNN.com.

• From the same Web site is Stewart Mandel calling the playoff imperfect, but a step forward for the sport.

• Matt Hinton of CBSSports.com calls it "one great leap."

• ESPN's Chris Fowler says it well for a lot of us:

-- This Q&A with Warren Buffett getting interviewed by Omaha World-Herald columnist (and Buffett employee) Tom Shatel is a few days old, but I didn't want it to slip through this net.

Here's an excerpt:

Q: Many Husker fans would like to see you do what Boone Pickens does for Oklahoma State. They wonder why you can't write Husker football a big check.

A: Generally speaking, the message I give to (Buffett's foundations) is to give to the people who don't have a natural funding constituency. Nebraska football has a natural funding constituency.

Boone's a pretty good friend of mine. He's invited me to some games down there, and they were pretty good games. But that's what interests him. I say more power to him.

Dan Cook wants to give money to Nebraska football. That's terrific. It has a lot of appeal. If it had no appeal, I might put it on the list.

(Buffett also pointed out that his foundations do contribute to NU, but it is unlikely the football program derives any benefit. He said funding through his foundations has aided “a couple thousand” students in need going back to the 1960s.)

My take: Good for Warren Buffett. If every billionaire had his good sense, this would be a much-better world.

-- Who are the Shipping 20 Trust? My new best friends in Cedar Rapids, that's who!

This is how you win a lottery jackpot. You find a legal way to stay semi-anonymous.

But you 20 wonderful people, you know how to find me. If, you know, you'd like to contribute to the Sportswriter 1 Trust.

-- Finally, this is Bill Murray, inductee into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame as an owner.

It's a long video. If you jump toward the last one-third of it, you'll get the best of it. Some of it is surprisingly heartfelt for Murray, then he closes with a corny joke.