The knee-jerk reaction when lawmakers nose into a sports issue is for those of us who earn our daily bread through athletics to shoo them out of the kitchen. I try to avoid that, as long as I can determine that said politico doesn’t have an issue like college football playoffs on the front burner while ignoring more important things such as the economy and education. (Especially since mind-your-own-business is not only the preferred strategy for fending off politicians’ interest employed by pack hack journalists, but also that of BCS power mongers.)

So when John Mizuno sent out a "news release" about introducing a resolution supporting a plus-one playoff system, I had to find out if the Hawaii state house rep is a TCU grad or something. As it turns out, Mizuno went to the University of Hawaii and was on the football team in 1983 as a backup running back.

The next question: Why is the Chairman of the Committee on Human Services using state resources to talk about college football?

The cynical answer is because that’s what everyone’s talking about, and he’s pandering to our interests. This is where we get into the gray area of the difference between "pandering to" and "addressing." It all depends on the amount of importance you put on improving the way college football’s champion is determined.

Mizuno’s answer is that he sees it as an opportunity to do good — in other words, provide human services. His resolution proposes that the plus-one championship game allow for at least 10 percent of seating to go to members of the armed forces and 10 percent of profits to go to scholarships for handicapped students who need financial aid.

"It relates in this way," Mizuno said. "We have oversight of money that goes to the universities. We think this would be the right thing to do."

Since UH is a member of a nonautomatic BCS qualifying conference and will be for the foreseeable future, a playoff could conceivably benefit the Warriors more than the current system.

But I don’t see how Mizuno expects to gain any traction without coordinating efforts with like-minded legislators around the country. Until and unless he does that, Mizuno — who introduced a similar resolution supporting Boise State last year — stands to be accused by his Hawaii house peers of grandstanding to just have his name mentioned around water coolers. Personally, especially since he pointed out the elections are over, I don’t doubt his sincerity, just the why of it. If it were UH that was undefeated after a BCS bowl game, I’d see it.

Mizuno said he knows there are other more important issues to deal with locally. And, he didn’t say this, but he obviously knows there’s no political risk, because being for a college football playoff is as popular as being pro military service members — and Mizuno manages both in his resolution.

» Don’t be surprised if Jake Ingram is back on an NFL roster real soon.

The former UH long snapper had a rough year, getting released by both the Patriots and Saints. But he worked out with two teams last week and is very, very close to signing with one. Could happen today.

» After watching the excellent "Pony Excess" documentary about SMU and the death penalty again yesterday, it’s reinforced why June Jones saw such an opportunity to rebuild a once proud program.

» Joel Botelho, a great quarterback at Castle, was one of the best pound-for-pound, inch-for-inch athletes I ever saw play. It’s sad anytime a father of three young children dies.

» It’s been more than a week, but I’m still trying to wrap my mind around how UH can graduate 28 of 28 seniors, yet let two of them become academically ineligible for the Hawaii Bowl. Doesn’t make any sense. And you can’t tell me that missing everyone left of the center on the line of scrimmage didn’t debilitate the Warriors offense.

» As Dave Koga reminded us in yesterday’s Insight piece, there will always be disagreement on if the money spent annually by the state to promote sports events here is worth it.

This part of the equation is often forgotten or ignored by detractors: the charity components of the pro golf tours and the NFL. The Sony Open has helped spur millions in grant money to Friends of Hawaii Charities, and the NFL contributed the first million dollars for a youth center in Nanakuli.

Reach Star-Advertiser sports columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com, his "Quick Reads" blog at staradvertiser.com and twitter.com/davereardon.