There was a scene in a silly 1980s movie called "Mr. Mom" where the father is taking his kids to school for the first time.

As he approaches the school from the wrong direction, his kids are yelling at him that he’s going the wrong way.

"Don’t tell me I’m doing it wrong," the father said. "I’m doing it the Jack Butler method."

Seconds later, he pulls up to the teacher in charge who promptly tells him, "You’re doing it wrong."

Well, NCAA selection committees everywhere, let me second that emotion — "You’re doing it wrong."

Of course, that shouldn’t be a surprise to many. In fact, other than making lots of money with mega-events, I struggle to think of the last time the NCAA did anything the right way.

Obviously, the reason for bringing this subject up is the UL Ragin’ Cajuns softball team, their No. 14 overall seed and this week’s trip to No. 3 Arizona State for the Super Regionals.

With all due respect to the programs around the country, there’s just no way that UL is the 14th best softball team in the country, and it’s completely irresponsible for the committee to designate them in that range.

There are many reasons why there is no justice here. The bottom line, though, is that there’s no way that a team that has had the season UL is having with a 52-4 record should have to play the No. 3 seed in this round. It’s just not right.

We’ll start by playing the silly little numbers game that NCAA committees in all the sports play. What it really is when you look beneath the numbers is simply creative accounting. It can be used as they need it to be used when they need it to be used, or not used when they don’t feel like using it.

The game is called RPI.

Here’s how it works. A school from a smaller (softball) conference can have a great season with a great record — say 52-4 or 53-3 in Louisville’s case.

Is it even possible for that program to get a top five or so seed? No.

Because UL is in the Sun Belt, it gets penalized for not getting its RPI padded by getting to play conference games against teams with higher RPIs.

Very few of those teams with high RPIs are going to be willing to travel to a school like UL because they know can could lose …

I’m not going to blaze another trail down that old road. We’ve all spun our wheels on that dead end before.

So even when a UL has a once-in-a-decade type dream team and season and puts up a 52-4 record, it can only get an RPI in say the 10-12 range, because they’re penalized by its conference before the first game is even played.

But at least 10-12 is somewhere near the middle of the pack come Super Regional time, so that’s not too bad, right? One would think, but wrong.

The Cajuns ended the regular season with an RPI of 12. Did they get a 12 seed? No. They got a 14 seed.

So what happens is, the committee decides to double-penalize the smaller school, because of the dreaded strength of schedule card. Never mind the fact that the penalty for being in a smaller conference has been paid already, or their RPI with a 52-4 record would be about No. 4 in the first place.

No, it just gets penalized again, back to No. 14.

So I was curious about what happened to the school that did have a 14 RPI. That was Missouri. That school got a No. 9 seed.

Well that seems fair, doesn’t it?

Missouri is 46-12 and must have played an incredible non-conference schedule, right? Unfortunately not.

They have a grand total of zero non-conference wins against teams still left in the tournament. Their best non-conference wins were against UCLA and Washington. They lost to Northwestern in non-conference play — a team UL defeated here.

Missouri’s non-conference schedule included: Eastern Kentucky, Ball State, UC-Davis, SEMO, St. Louis, Missouri State, Mo.-Kansas City, Alcorn State, Boise State and Northern Illinois.

Wow, that’s impressive, isn’t it?

But why play tough non-conference teams, when you can pad your RPI with conference games and get a 9 seed wth a 14 RPI?

What a complete joke of a system.

One of the things that NCAA committees in all sports have been doing wrong for years is interpreting conference play. In no way am I saying that teams from major conferences shouldn’t have an advantage.

Faring .500 or better in a brutal league should get you into the NCAA Tournament, no question. Going .500 in the Sun Belt doesn’t even get you considered.

That’s fine. That’s fair.

But that’s where the advantages should end.

UL got a double-penalty for being in the Sun Belt and Missouri got a double-reward for being in the Big 12.

Other than holding their own in league play, Missouri did nothing to earn a 9 seed with a 14 RPI.

What the NCAA doesn’t understand is that conference play is different. A game against a conference foe with a 10 RPI is a completely different animal than a non-conference game against a team with an 10 RPI.

Conference is different. It works that way in high school, college and professionally.

The year Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl, the Saints beat them twice. That’s just division play.

When the Saints won the Super Bowl, the Bucs won in New Orleans. That’s division play.

Just look UL softball this year. Has it hit anyone that all four of UL’s losses came to teams from this weak Sun Belt Conference?

Think about it, UL went 15-0 in games against NCAA Regional teams from the outside the Sun Belt.

So what happened to all of these other donkey teams that UL beat — like Michigan, Arizona State, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Northwestern, Tulsa and Hofstra?

The answer is nothing. Non-conference play is just different than conference play.

If those Sun Belt teams would have had the same coaches and players and been from a different league, UL wouldn’t have lost to them.

Conference play is different and it’s got to be interpreted differently.

Teams should not get as much credit or get as penalized for what they do against league opposition.

Until NCAA selection committees in all sports understand this, they’re never, ever going to get this right.

The other thing this committee definitely got wrong is that it goes by the guideline of not even mentioning the past.

Boy, that’s brilliant thinking.

"Honey, are we going to leave town with that storm coming?"

"No dear, we’re staying. I’m not sure what that Katrina thing people keep bringing up is all about, but we’re staying."

"Don’t worry little kid, touch that hot iron again. It won’t burn you this time."

Ignoring history is very a short-sighted way of making decisions.

Here’s where this point applies to UL’s 2012 softball team.

Just think about it. UL has been in 22 of the last 23 NCAA tournaments. The Cajuns haven’t had a losing season since year two way back in 1982. The program has been to five World Series and outplays its NCAA-given Regional seed almost every year.

That program’s record is 52-4 right now, or the best in the school’s history.

Do you think that maybe this is a special team having a special season that shouldn’t be having to play a No. 3 seed in the Super Regionals?

Look folks, I get it. We select All-District teams in various sports throughout the year. When we get to looking at Class B and C athletes, that big question mark quickly pops into our minds.

"Who did they play? Are they really worthy of being honored at this level?"

Why isn’t this program past those questions already? Why isn’t the best of two decades of consistency good enough?

Why wasn’t the win over Arizona State this year good enough? Why wasn’t the 17-1 record against NCAA Regional teams good enough to convince the committee members that this team isn’t some fluke team that just took advantage of a weak schedule?

They dropped the ball badly, folks. There is no way around it.

I wonder if anyone on this committee even asked themselves the question, "Is UL one of the teams that deserves to have to travel to a top three seed in the Super Regional round?"

If not, then no one on that committee did their jobs properly. They completely botched it.

These committee members almost seem to take pride in telling us over and over that the polls don’t matter. I understand that other than in football, they really don’t.

I wonder, though, who knows more about college softball — those who vote on the polls or the athletic directors on this selection committee? Who watches more games? Who knows the teams and how good they really are?

I can tell you that in the case of UL’s softball team, the polls just about got it right. The committee wasn’t even close.

In no way am I saying that UL can’t beat Arizona State. I think it’s very possible and that’s the point. These two teams shouldn’t be playing right now.

The committee members just did it wrong. They can pat themselves on the back and feel good about sticking to their ridiculous little guidelines all they want.

They did it wrong. Their thought process is off. Their methods are faulty.

They blew it … once again.

Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for the photo gallery of Sunday’s regional championship game.