"Tom Hansen is even responsible for the picture posting error!"

It appears that people are starting to catch on to what we have known for quite a while: Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen is a relic who continues to hamper the image and relevance of the conference. In fact, its to the point that whatever success the conference does enjoy is in spite of, rather than because of Hansen.

The attached list (scroll way to the bottom) takes Hansen to task for standing athwart any designs the BCS has toward employing a "plus 1" game to the current bowl configuration. Hansen has said that if the BCS chose to go with the "plus 1" format he was going to take his ball and go home, essentially withdrawing the PAC-10 from the BCS. Uhh... Tom, that horse left the barn when you signed on to the BCS. Forget the legality of withdrawing, he would be handing down a death sentence to a conference that outside of USC, has the collective Q-rating of the Big East.... oops, bad analogy. We actually saw a couple of highly entertaining, mid-week, prime-time games involving Big East teams last year.

And ESPN's Colin Cowherd had Hansen on his radio show a couple weeks ago. Cowherd's criticism of Hansen through the years on his show carried over to his interview, though, Cowherd couldn't help coming across as a bit of an ass with some of his sniping. Cowherd being Cowherd.

Many criticize the conference's weak bowl affiliation, although, we don't mind seeing the Pac's #2 team come down here to San Diego every December to play the Big 12's #3 team. However, its unfathomable that the conference that dominates the Pacific Time Zone does not have any national cable or network TV affiliation in either football or basketball. Led by USC's "anybody, anywhere" philosophy, the football programs have done an admirable job of scheduling challenging out-of-conference games to enhance visibility, no thanks to the conference office.

Because of its geographic locale and access to the high school football recruiting hot beds of the L.A. Basin, San Diego and to a lesser extent, the Puget Sound area around Seattle, there is no reason why the Pac-10 should not be more on par with the SEC. And similarly, with L.A., the Bay Area and Seattle, there is no reason why the conference should not be more on par with the ACC in hoops.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=2957159