Should Boise State be invited to the White House with Bama

The day after the Fiesta Bowl a prominent Yahoo sports blogger started a petition to ask President Obama to invite the Boise State Broncos to the White House along with Alabama's Crimson Tide. Reasoning that Boise beat TCU a team many felt, myself included, in the National Championship Game.

Idaho Senator Jim Risch became aware of the petition and signed on, asking Obama to extend the invitation, citing they too were undefeated and represented like Bama all the characteristics of a champion.

This was followed up with a letter by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch making similar request of the President.

Naturally this has been a hot topic of discussion on the Boise State Scout.com message board. A topic that is about equally divided.

Senator Hatch has received his answer, well sort of any how. A White House spokesman indicated to The Hill that Boise's presence at the ceremony is unlikely, but did not rule it out completely. "The president has previously articulated his displeasure with the BCS system, but he’s focused on more important things right now," White House spokesman Adam Abrams said in an e-mail.

As a die hard Bronco Fan of 41 years my heart says yeah, invite them. What a wonderful opportunity for them and what a life time memory it would be.

However to answer the question should Boise State be invited to the White House with Bama, the answer is no. inviting BSU with the Tide would not really be right, not that the Broncos don't deserve to be there, they just don't deserve to be there with the #1 ranked team.

Alabama did what it had to do to be ranked #1 and earn the honor of a White House invitation, they beat everyone in front of them and won the National Championship Game. They stand alone as #1 in all the polls unlike what happened in 2004 when two teams were invited to the White House.

For those of you that do not recall 2004, LSU won the BCS National Title Game and was voted numero uno. The USC Trojans won their BCS game and their coach Pete Carroll declared his men from Troy as National Champions. Helping Carroll have credence to his claim, the next day or so the AP Poll declared USC as their #1 team giving college football a split championship.

This year is different, we do have two Division 1 teams undefeated, one, Alabama, winning the BCS National Championship Game and two Boise State winning the BCS Fiesta Bowl. Both teams becoming the 2nd and 3rd to go 14 & 0 since 1900. Ohio State became the first in 2002.

I would like to see the President set a new precedent here for the remainder of his administration. I would like to see him invite Boise back to the White House after he honors the Crimson Tide as undefeated national champs. Recognising Boise for an undefeated season, setting a precedent that any team in the future that goes undefeated and is not ranked #1 will be recognised for that and that alone, having turned in a perfect season.

There is plenty of limelight to share for any team that does go undefeated, it just should not be at the expense of another team and in this case if Boise and Alabama were invited at the same time, it would be at the expense of Alabama the undefeated National Champions of 2009.

Comments are welcome and will be published.