Martini Chat: Time to Go Bowling in College Football

The following is an excerpt from this week's Martini Chat, an hourlong, online program on market and current events at 5 p.m. EST every Thursday, hosted by TheStreet.com columnist Chris Edmonds and reporter Eric Gillin. To participate, visit TheStreet.com just before the show begins, and click on the invitation. To read the entire Martini Chat transcript, click here.

Chris Edmonds: We're going to talk a little gambling here. We have two great guests, one you've heard from today already. Barry Lieberman, the general counsel of Coast Casinos, and also with us is Bert Osborne, the corporate sports book director for Coast Casinos, which owns the Orleans, which owns the Gold Coast and the Barbary Coast, three of my favorite places to come in Vegas. [Plus Ted Bridges, of Bridges Investment Counsel in Omaha, Neb., joins the discussion.]

Let me ask you first about college football and the BCS. Everyone thought as we add more pieces to the BCS puzzle or formula that it would become clear. And then in the last three weeks, all heck has broken loose. Upset after upset, and we don't even know who is going to the Rose Bowl. Does the BCS serve a purpose?

Barry Lieberman: It serves a purpose, but not one best suited for the fans. The true fans want to see a playoff. This is a bunch of baloney to enrich the pockets of the big conferences. ...