4 Overshadowed BCSs

Before the Bowl Championship Series tarnished the "BCS" acronym for all time "“ or at least until college football institutes a playoff system "“ the Bangladesh Civil Service, Berkhamsted Collegiate School, and British Cardiovascular Society carried on in relative obscurity. As Florida and Oklahoma prepare for Thursday's BCS Championship Game, let's turn the spotlight on some of the lesser-known BCSs, both past and present.

1. Boston Computer Society

Jonathan Rotenberg founded the Boston Computer Society in 1977 at the age of 13 to provide an information-sharing forum for fellow owners of personal computers. While similar user groups emerged throughout the country in the ensuing years, none were as successful as Rotenberg's, which offered computer classes and meetings, and published three magazines. According to the Boston Globe, the Boston Computer Society boasted 32,000 members in 50 states and 40 countries at its peak in the early 1990s. Computer companies, including Apple, used the society's gatherings to make major product announcements; the Apple Macintosh made its East Coast debut at a Boston Computer Society meeting in 1984.

With personal computers becoming an increasingly regular part of everyday life and sources for information about computers growing by the day, Rotenberg decided to leave the group in 1990. "I had spent a long time puzzling through what a redesigned BCS might look like," he recalled in the Globe, "and I wasn't able to come up with an answer." Sound familiar? Facing serious financial problems and with membership down to 18,000, the society voted to dissolve in 1996.

What the Bowl Championship Series could learn from this BCS: Computers are really cool and all, but they probably shouldn't decide college football national champions.

2. British Crime Survey

The British Crime Survey is an annual measure of crime in England and Wales. The survey, which was conducted biennially from its beginning in 1982 until 2000, is comprised of questions for crime victims about the circumstances of any crimes they experienced in the past year. The survey has proved to be an especially valuable measure of domestic violence and sex crimes, which are often unreported to the police.

The British government has used the information collected in the British Crime Survey to establish specific crime reduction programs and to measure these programs' effectiveness from one year to the next. The survey also provides a measure of the public's perception of the criminal justice system and attitude toward crime. According to the survey, crime in England and Wales has been nearly cut in half since 1995.

What the Bowl Championship Series could learn from this BCS: Crime may be down in England, but assaults (USC on Penn State), robberies (Utah being denied a shot at a national championship), and indecent exposure incidents (Virginia Tech and Cincinnati playing in the Orange Bowl) are all on the rise in college football.

3. Bulk Cash Smuggling

Bulk Cash Smuggling is the undeclared transfer of more than $10,000 in currency "“ most often in the form of cold hard cash "“ into or out of the United States. The U.S. Patriot Act of 2001 made the practice—which is a means of avoiding U.S. currency reporting requirements—punishable by a prison sentence of up to 5 years. In addition, the offender is required to forfeit to the U.S. government all currency or other monetary instruments involved in the attempted operation.

In 2005, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement teamed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to launch Operation Firewall, a program designed to curtail Bulk Cash Smuggling. In 2007, Operation Firewall resulted in the seizure of nearly $50 million. For comparison's sake, that's about $15 million more than the combined payout Florida and Oklahoma will receive for playing in Thursday's game.

What the Bowl Championship Series could learn from this BCS: A failure to declare "“ be it money or a legitimate national champion "“ is criminal.

4. Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur comprises the southern half of the Baja California peninsula. Since becoming a Mexican state in 1974, the formerly isolated region has slowly evolved into a destination hotspot for tourists. The state is home to the resorts Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, as well as the city of Loreto, which was the first Spanish settlement on the Baja California Peninsula and the capital of Las Californias from 1697-1777.

Other points of cultural significance in Baja California Sur include a church in the city of Santa Rosalia that was supposedly designed by Gustave Eiffel, and the capital city of La Paz, where Hernan Cortes first set foot in 1535. If you saw the movie Troy, you're familiar with Baja California Sur; production for the film was moved from Morocco to the peninsula due to the impending war in Iraq.

What the Bowl Championship Series could learn from this BCS: After staging an absurd 34 games this season, the college football powers that be should make it a goal to keep the number of bowl games in future years below the number of Mexican states (31).