GP1
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Funny, someone gets a good thread going about conference realignment and pretty soon it gets distracted into reinventing college football.
Sorry for getting distracted on that.
Isn't conference realignment part of repackaging a part college football? Traditional rivals like Texas and Texas A&M will no longer play as part of realignment...That's not a fantasy, it is reality. The game has changed a lot in the past five years and we need to change with the times. The game wouldn't be reinvented, it would just be played at a different time. I'd go watch a college football game tonight if I wasn't at the beach and one was offered near me. I'd be willing to bet a lot of money a lot of Americans would do the same thing. I'd also be willing to bet a lot of money a lot of Americans would watch the games on television. The USFL was a successful league and if people were open minded enough, we could experience a similar success. With the personality of our coach and his media style, we would be one of the schools people talk about going forward in this league.
All of our discussion centers around how MAClike teams survive in the new world of college football. Mainstream solutions believe teams jumping from one conference nobody wants to watch to another conference nobody wants to watch and then trying to compete against BCS and NFL for attention is the solution. Isn't that already what we are doing? Are we not insane if we don't take a drastic step to save our brand of college football by not trying to compete for national attention against the NFL and BCS? When President Kennedy said we would go to the moon and bring the person back in 10 years, it seemed like a far-fetched idea..then we did it.
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The blue and gold of UA will look SO much brighter in the sunlight, out of the grey that is the MAC.
Great post. It would look especially bright in the spring and early summer.
You're a good poster STZ, what do you think about a spring football league in college? I think the market is there.
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One major problem with spring football is how would it work around the NFL schedule? The combine is in February, the draft in April. You have rookie mini-camps going on right now. Then a couple more mini-camps throughout the summer before camp begins in late July/early August. I doubt the NFL is going to alter its schedule. Good luck trying to recruit any kid with pro aspirations to play in a college league that greatly prohibits him from getting a shot at the NFL.
Kids who play hockey and baseball in college get drafted every year while their sports are still going on.
Screw the NFL. We aren't going to play their game any longer. We really shouldn't be worrying about what everyone else does and do the right thing for ourselves. Only 52 kids were drafted out of non-bcs D-1A schools this year (180 for BCS conferences). That would be less than one player per team in my spring conference. Where are these kids going to go play to get the national visibility they could get in my spring football league? They have no other choice.
On a positive note, a player could graduate high school, get two summer terms in and the fall term in before he ever has to start to practice for football season. That's a year and a half of school. It's a good way to raise graduation rates and get kids focused on school early.
Stop looking for little reasons to not do this. Kids getting drafted is a little reason. All of the big reasons and history, point to it being a success.
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@lance99 and @trimmy10, thanks for the explanation about the tiered system. I agree that's the kind of thinking that can help spark interest. I was a big fan of the ABA when it was going up against the NBA. I especially liked the ABA's pioneering use of the 3-point shot, and the fact that they encouraged more of a finesse game whereas the NBA was letting the big bodies batter each other in the lane. There are ways to do that in football, as well, as the Canadians have shown. Of course, the wrong rules could also totally screw up the game.
I respectfully disagree. The problem isn't with the rules of the game. Football is already a much higher scoring game than in years past.
We need to take our product to market at a time when people want to buy the product. Running up against BCS and the NFL isn't the way to do that because they take all of the air out of the room. Playing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights isn't the way to do that. People want football in the spring and they would want it on Friday and Saturday nights. The USFL was successful and the Arena League gets good ratings. People watch spring games on tv for crying out loud. There is a market for a spring football league in the United States. Leagues like the mac, wac, cusa, etc should join together and show their game in the spring when people badly want football. Making one big league with the same marginal teams as before and trying to compete against BCS and NFL is the definition of insanity.
We should join together and sell the tv rights to a network like Fox. We could change the league's name to something patriotic...Fox loves marketing that kind of stuff and they are really good at it. Have a red, white and blue ball. Fox is shameless and would promote the heck out of a spring league. The would have sideline reporters that make Erin Andrews look like the wicked witch. It would be the best thing for all of us.
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Right now it's the Big East, who despite all their problems, is still miles ahead of the MAC or C-USA. But there's also the possibility of a split into an eastern and western conference. I would like to be in an eastern conference with ECU, Old Dominion, and Marshall. Even being in C-USA as an eastern division with them is better than being in the MAC. It's a matter of differentiation from the other MAC schools. Familiarity breeds contempt, and the people of Ohio are familiar enough with the MAC to know it's a bad conference full of uninteresting local teams.
By the time the Big East is done, there will be little difference between it and cusa. I want out of the mac as well. Heck, I want out of the ncaa and to play our games in the spring as part of a 45-60 team conference/division with a national championship game on July 4th, but that is a whole other issue.
I have heard that part of the reason why TW was brought to UofA was to get us out of the MAC. His background working in conferences was seen as a plus when he was hired. Further, there are people on the BOT who are dead set on joining the Big East regardless of it's condition by the time we get into it. Short sighted, but that is the view of some in power. I wouldn't let TW make a decision on which fantasy football league a person should switch to.
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Because it's full of schools who aren't satisfied with where they're at. They all work towards improving and eventually exiting to a better conference.
So basically you are saying it is a never ending building process with no real goal? Aren't we already on that ride? What would the better conference be??
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Ban College Football?
Safety, exploitation at center of debate on college football ban
Thanks for the post Dr Z. Safety should always be the #1 priority of any organization. Too bad, for too long, it wasn't a priority in college football. Builing stadiums and "facilities" was the priority and now we are where we are. The NFL is way ahead of the ncaa in terms of safety at this point. The exploitation in college comes from the fact schools are using humans to bankrupt their universities in order to pad the resumes of athletic directors. There is a huge case that most schools lose money with a football team. If that is a given, who benefits?...The ADs and extremely highly paid coaches are the ones benefiting. The players are being exploited to make money for the coaches, ADs and TV networks. They are the only three making money at this point. It's hard to say the universities exploit them when they lose money on football programs.
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I believe LBJ is a nice connection for KD but other a pair of shoes and possibily a set of uniforms LBJ's impact isn't what I wish it was. LBJ does show up occassionally during the summer and plays in some pickup games and is very approachable but that's about it.
If his donation is some shoes and a set of uniforms, his donations are zero. He has enough pull with Nike that he could get them to give these products to UofA.
I've never been impressed by his showing up and playing some games. The guy is a professional basketball player and plays to stay in shape...Summer is the eve of basketball training camp so he really has to keep himself in shape. While in Akron, UofA provides him the closest place he can go play in a professional setting and against some players who can provide him some challenge. He isn't really giving anything when he does this. In many ways, he is taking our court time from us for little in return.
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Its kinda the same dilemma the Browns have had the last couple of years. They went out and got another QB.
Let's just hope we don't destroy a QB every two years like the Browns do.
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(out of 124 in 2012, in case you're counting).
I'm counting and my count says there are too many D-1A football programs.
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The rich get richer and the poor get poorer in college football as well.
This is why we need to stop playing the BCS game and have a spring league of our own.
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Good article, but his conclusions are all wrong. I guess he addresses it some in the article in relation to the situation at Maryland, but the problem isn't college football itself. It's the Athletic Directors who spent the last 10-15 years spending money like drunken sailors who have bankrupted the sport in college. Maybe the book exists, but I would like to see a book analyzing the past twenty years of spending on facilities in college athletics and what the returns have been. My guess is the biggest returns come in the form of athletic directors building something, putting it on their resume and then running to the next job before they have to actually pay for what they have built. There was a housing bubble and I think in the near future, we are going to see a facilities bubble. Athletic Directors are as bad as bankers.
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LeBron works out & plays pickup basketball with our team over the summer, brings in friends like Kevin Durant, D-Wade, C-Bosh & Chris Paul & is friends with everyone on the team. (Hint: has anyone noticed the slight uptick in athletic talent KD's been able to recruit over the last two years?)
There better not be ANYTHING more explicit going on beyond what LeBron already does, or the NCAA would hit us with the death penalty quicker than I can make this post - they already made he & Coach Joyce move the King James Classic off of our campus.
James has been in the NBA a lot longer than two years so I don't see the connection. I do see the connection between our winning and better players though. The talent pool has become better with time during KD's coaching period.
What ncaa rules are being broken by having a James sponsored basketball tournament on campus?
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Exactly. I honestly think that all of these teams should earn a jump to FBS. If they want to move up, they should have to serve as an independent for 2-3 seasons to get a good idea of competitiveness and fan support. If they show they deserve to be there, then CUSA or the MAC should give them a shot. How a school that has NEVER fielded a football team before gets to start out in FBS and got a CUSA invite before us is just baffling. Is our football team really that bad?
The quality of our football team isn't the problem.
I'll say it again. Spring football and screw everyone else. Start in April and the weather gets progressively better as the season progresses. Start in September and the weather gets progressively worse as the season progresses. I just looked at the Weather Channel. Many of you could be sitting in Lot 9 right now on a beautiful 74 degree spring day in Akron eating some dogs/burgers and throwing back some beers before a real college football game. UofA could be the place to be in the fall for soccer games, basketball games in the winter and football games in the spring and early summer. I may write an article about how I would do this and submit it to Deadspin to see if they publish it.
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I value assets, and I like them even better when I know for sure that the assets have been leveraged to produce results.
So do I. Results have to measureable in a way that has to be statistically relevant. I see James connection to the basketball program as nothing but an interesting sideshow that has no negative impact on the program. Fans like a good sideshow, but they do little to further the cause.
I believe we get good players here because they want to be involved with a winning program primarily. Playing a pick-up game or two with James over a four year period can't possibly by their primary motivation and I don't even want that kind of player on the team. We need winners, not stargazers.
I don't know why I always have to be the one to bring these things up, but here it goes. Nobody will say these national references of James/Dambrot do more for Dambrot than the basketball program. This article will do almost nothing to bring in a top level recruit or even have enough impact on the memory of someone to cause them to buy one ticket next season. Who is sitting around and saying, "I want to go watch the guy coach who told LBJ he has to do a better job of rebounding"? I don't think this person exists. After eight years and this same article getting republished in some for or another 1,000 times, he would have bought the tickets already. It doesn't hurt the program, but it doesn't help either.
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The coaching culture needs to be changed as well.
Thanks. The coaches are as stupid as the players. They are former players.
I didn't like Goodell when he started as commissioner, but I understand why he is doing what he is doing and why it is needed. He needs to get bums like Harrison and Vilma out of the league before someone gets killed by their stupidity. The players are mostly morons who happen to be really good at playing football. Ray Lewis is one of those morons and we celebrate his silly, phony, pre-game rants for some reason. There is a good career in pro wrestling waiting for him when his NFL career is over (He's mostly a hanger on now anyhow).
The ncaa needs to stop worrying about tv contracts and builing ADs resumes and get around to protecting the players from themselves.
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The level of competition is already diluted enough
I agree. There are too many D-1A teams and most of them aren't capable of competing at the hightst level. It's more about delusional ADs and not about creating competition. True story.... A few months back, I had the AD at uncc come and speak to a professional organization I belong to. She is a wonderful person who is at the end of her career and is trying to leave her legacy with the football program and a new stadium. I think it is leading her to making bad decisions about the football program and the move to cusa is one of them. I asked her about my idea of a separate division for BCS level schools and she said something like, "We don't want to be looked at as different or less than them." In real life, I have trouble hiding my facial reactions when someone says something that makes no sense, but in a professional setting, I try to not say something that might offend. I could feel my face start to get a confused look on it and all I said back was, "Interesting" (this very thing happened to me in a conversation with TW as well, but that is another story). At that moment, her architect walked up and started talking to us and saved me from expanding beyond "interesting". Perfect timing or missed opportunity to save a uncc from doing something really stupid?
This is why creating a separate division is so important for college football. It will create a structure that will save schools like uncc from their own athletic directors and their legacy/resume building. It will also restore competitive integrity to the game.
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The USFL (of which I was a big fan) is an interesting analogy. I agree that football, if done right, will succeed at any time of the year. So would the "spring game" become the "fall game"?
It's already a year around game. Heck, ESPNU shows spring practices, which are horrible to watch. Why not show real games?
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I've been resistant to this concept of yours for some time now. But now I'm thinking it might be time to give it some serious thought. If you break away, then you don't even necessarily have to market yourselves as inferior to the ex-BCS schools. Think "AFL" when that league just got off the ground. The key would be the same as it was for the AFL. If this new association could manage to land a national TV deal, it might be able to not only survive but compete. You could even alter the playing rules a little to set your new brand apart from the NCAA.
I totally agree. Is there room in college athletics for a spring/summer football conference that doesn't play when the BCS schools play? I think there might be so instead of being like the AFL, it could be like the USFL. The USFL was doing just fine until Trump and his ego destroyed it. If this is all about TV money, let's get some. ESPN has to show something. I'm sure a college football conference would draw better than MLB or NHL for NBC Sports. I'm sure college football would draw a better audience than college baseball, or gymnastics, or cheering, or whatever they show in the spring. If college athletics are for developing young adults through sports, then does it matter when the games are played? The players already go to school year around, so it isn't like they have to go out of their way to be on campus. They could play in April right after the Final Four, May and June with a Fourth of July "National Championship". I'm in...
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Thanks for the video. I always struggle to watch really stupid people talk for that long, but I made it. At the end of the day, the guy sees the game as a way to give his family some sort of financial freedom..even if it means permanently hurting others. This is what the Romans used to do with Gladiators. It debases our football and society when cheap shot artists like Harrison are celebrated. It's a sport, not cockfighting.
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Size/weight limits, equipment changes, something has to change.
I agree and I think I have a solution. The NFL should have a real PED policy. If it is about money, then make it about money...any player caught with a single PED in his system is suspended for 16 games. Second infraction and the player is out of the NFL for life. The size of the players will immediately begin to get smaller. The length of careers will get shorter and there will be less head injuries that cause people to kill themselves.
It is obvious when I watch a game that there are guys out there juiced up to no end. My team is the Steelers and James Harrison is one of the more juiced up players I have ever seen. The guy went from having a bad leg injury that was keeping him out of games to squatting 450 pounds in about four weeks...without juice, that is impossible.
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It's a broken-down legacy from a different era.
When I was growing up, my small town had a store in the "uptown" of the little village call Ben Franklin. It no longer exists, but if it did, it too would be a broken-down legacy from a different era. Today, Ben Franklin would be like a Dollar General. Enough said about that.
I don't even know what to call CUSA at this point. With so many teams, it is beyond a conference and is more like some sort of an association of a lot of schools now crippled with a bad idea of a conference....or, the could really be on to something (see below).
I want a separate division for schools in the MAC, cusa, etc. to play in. I also want out of the NCAA. Why couldn't the MAC, CUSA, WAC, MWC, etc. join together and form their own league and call it Conference USA and only play each other? It could be a national league with four divisions with a two week playoff for a national championship at the end of the season. Sure beats what we currently have now. If we wait around for the BCS type of schools to let us into their club, we are never going to get through the front door. Let's take control of ourselves and screw the rest of them.
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THESE are the kinds of things that could leave enough of an impression on an Akron kid to become a Zips fan as they grow older, instead of becoming a robot-like bandwagoner and rooting for that team down south.
I'd like to think it is an opportunity for the players to see what a real challenge looks like. Turning a 1-11 team into a winner is a huge challenge, but nothing like what some of those children face.
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I'm not saying Seau took steroids, but it is unusual for a human to be in the type of physical condition he was in for 20 years as a professional. Guys take steroids to lengthen their careers. The longer the career, the more head injuries. The more head injuries, the more likely it is to have mental problems from the hits. Steroids also cause guys to be more violent on and off the field (Seau was arrested at one point for beating his wife). More violence causes more head injuries. The article above also shows the steroid abuse can lead to depression when players stop taking them.
The NFL needs to rapidly clean itself up and the NCAA needs to follow as quickly as possible or the sport is doomed. It's a sport, not cock fighting.
Conference Re-Alignment?
in Akron Zips Football
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That's part of what a spring football league does.