Arizona’s sports franchises have surprisingly been dragged into the debate around the controversial new immigration law, showing that when political issues so pervade a community, a sports franchise — from the owner to the players — can’t pretend they are somehow above or below the fray.

Ari Fleischer‘s last high profile job was not an easy one – Press Secretary during the dog days of the Bush administration. Now he has another tough gig, as he and his public relations firm take the lead in the PR effort of the much-maligned Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

How’s it going so far? Not so well.

Even before the Bowl Championship Series, the system that determines which two teams play for college football’s national championship, launched official Facebook and Twitter pages last week, it was no secret that many people think the system is broken. Fan response to the pages, maintained by BCS executive director Bill Hancock, simply confirmed the widespread discontent. And boy, was there a lot of confirmation.