Imagine that

In “BCS basket cases” [March 13] Chris Dufresne has offered up one of the best pieces of satire I’ve read in years. His sendup of the geniuses who run college football had me laughing out loud. I would have recommended sending a copy to every Division I college president in the country, but something tells me they probably wouldn’t get the joke.

SID DUTCHER

Anaheim

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All kidding aside, your article about a mythical BCS basketball title points up an unmistakable fact -- the BCS is a much better way to choose a champion than is a 64-team tournament. No doubt, March Madness is exciting, but was the Florida-UCLA championship game last year really indicative of the two best teams in the nation, or merely the two that were hottest during the two-week tournament?

So here’s a suggestion -- playoffs in both sports. In football, pair off the six major conference champions and two at-large teams (more opportunities for endless debate), and do not expand it to more than eight teams. In basketball, cut it back to a 32-team field with only the elite teams involved. Do we really believe that a sixth-place finisher in the Big Ten or a fifth-place SEC team deserves to be playing for the title?

The NCAA will never let it happen, so let’s tip it off and may the best third-place conference team win!

RICHARD SCHULTZ

Sherman Oaks

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You have already eviscerated the sports section down to six pages -- or is it a still-hefty eight? -- and still find room for the nonsense of that basketball BCS fiction. What a total trivial use of space!

ARTHUR F. NIEMANN

La Canada Flintridge