GP1

I had a friend in college who had the motto as it related to picking up girls, "Go ugly early and avoid the rush". He figured he was never going to get a good looking girl and waiting around all night to get one would just leave him at the bar at 2 AM trying to pick up an ugly girl who nobody wanted earlier but now they look good to everyone. Why not just go for the ugly girl early and get it over with when the odds are in your favor?MAClike conferences need to build their own ugly girl before it is too late. We are all going to be stuck standing around with our peckers in our hands if we aren't careful.My friends had a different approach. We went to the bar very late and picked up drunk girls who saw us as more attractive and we did not spend a dime on their drinks. Way more effeciant and economcal. I actually think the same approach should be used in this issue as well. There is always more than one successful approach.Either way, we end up with the ugly girl. Let's dictate our future in lieu of it being dictated for us.

We are talking about college athletics, not calculus bees. WVU is good enough for the Big Ten.

No, Unfortunately I think its more than that. :bow:

Good article. Thanks for posting it.A current problem with the ncaa is there is no institutional oversight over the ncaa. Same goes for the bcs....I'm not even 100% sure of what the bcs is or who runs it. The people overseeing the ncaa are the institutions themselves and they really aren't doing a very good job of it. The animals are running the zoo at the ncaa and we see what happens. When things get out of control is when Congress steps in. The last thing I want is Congress to step in and start regulating athletics.

I had a friend in college who had the motto as it related to picking up girls, "Go ugly early and avoid the rush". He figured he was never going to get a good looking girl and waiting around all night to get one would just leave him at the bar at 2 AM trying to pick up an ugly girl who nobody wanted earlier but now they look good to everyone. Why not just go for the ugly girl early and get it over with when the odds are in your favor?MAClike conferences need to build their own ugly girl before it is too late. We are all going to be stuck standing around with our peckers in our hands if we aren't careful.

We are talking about college athletics. I would be the Exercise Science department at WVU is just as good as the departments at Big Ten schools. Take a second to look at what Colonial Wards major in. It isn't engineering.

It can always get worse. Remember, the guy who hired the coach would still be in place.Just a few points...1. For those of you who think Tressel would come to Akron, dream on. Let's pretend for a minute though. He wouldn't come to UofA unless he was made AD in addition to football coach. If you are interested in the overall health of the University, does that sound like a good idea to anyone? The guy is a cancer.2. For those of you who think we should discontinue the football program. You are shotsighted people and don't pay attention to what is going on in college athletics. Schools like UNCC are starting football programs because there is no way to survive without one. Please stop the stupidity by calling for the end of the football program.3. Turn the football stadium into a basketballl arena? My God is this a stupid idea. I won't even explain why. 4. Force the coach to hire new assistants? Why not just fire the coach? He wouldn't know what to do with the assistants.The answer to the current problem is for Dr. P to swallow his pride, or have the Board of Trustees jam it down his throat, and do what other schools do. Find someone to donate the money to buy out the AD and the coach. Until that happens, we are stuck with what we have.

The Big East should panic? Everyone who is in a BCS conference that is not the Big Ten, SEC, ACC or PAC (Insert number here) should be in a panic.Attention MAC fans. The reason everyone is going to the BT, SEC, ACC and PAC #? is because, in part, they don't want to be part of a level of football that has us in it. The answer is finding our own answer with MAClike conferences and make the best of a bad situation. There should be an emergency meeting of all non-BCS, D-1A schools to set a framework for the future with four mega conferences and potentially without the ncaa.

I really don't care what these silly little reports say. There is an old saying, "There are lies, damn lies and statistics". They are good enough for the Big Ten. I didn't know the Exercise Science degrees Big Ten players were getting are that hard to get.

Because they don't have the money to fix it and I don't think either knows how to fix it. Hell, they are the guys who broke it.I'm going to go get some wings and beer. Everyone else, do yourselves a favor and go have some fun. Life is too short.....

When you pull your QB and nothing gets better with the #2, the rest of the team loses what is left of their confidence. Never say it can't get any worse my fellow Zips fans.....

This program is bad beyond belief. Did I say we would win 2 games?......

Outside of Northwestern, I didn't know the Big Ten schools were Ivy Leaguelike. I don't know how the schools rank, but WVU lives in the same neighborhood as the rest of the Big Ten with the exception of Northwestern. Pitt ranks right up there with Northwestern.If by the "same neighborhood" you mean they live in the cart barn just out of sight of the expensive homes surrounding the country club, I agree with you 100%.Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, MSU, OSU, Minnesota and WVU can easily be said to have the same level of schooling. West Virginia is easy to make fun of, but we aren't talking Marshall.

It is starting to look like TCU may have made a huge mistake joining the Big East.TCU, Houston, SMU look like they could be strong big 12 replacements should Oklahoma and Texas AM leave.What Big 12? That conference is finished. I agree that TCU has made a huge mistake unless they can act quickly and get into another league ASAP.

Outside of Northwestern, I didn't know the Big Ten schools were Ivy Leaguelike. I don't know how the schools rank, but WVU lives in the same neighborhood as the rest of the Big Ten with the exception of Northwestern. Pitt ranks right up there with Northwestern.

Interesting. Makes sense for football and basketball. The ACC isn't quite the basketball conference it used to be and those two will compete well. The football is average. Boston College has done well in football since joining the ACC. I see Pitt and Syracuse doing the same thing.I always thought Pitt and WVU would be natural fits for the Big Ten.

Toledo did a real good job last night...right until Boise realized they had to open the playbook a little more to put them away. When they did that, the difference in talent level shined. Boise is a very talented and well coached team.Toledo is an example of a good MAC program. They don't always win the league and sometimes they have bad seasons. More often than not though, they fight hard and play with pride. When they changed coaches from Toledo Tom to this guy, there wasn't a drastic change in the style of play. They made a decision that freshening up the existing program instead of drastic change was all that was necessary. We decided on a five year "building process". We are idiots with a bad program. They are smart with a good program. Do the math. If you are a fan of Toledo, you have hope for the season because of the way they fight. I don't know how it will end for them because the MAC has some good teams in it this season, but there is hope.Well done Toledo.

One of the best points in a while on the board. I'm sure most of us know somone from Europe. Next time you talk to that person, ask them what they think about how Americans treat college athletics. They can't believe the time and money we put into them. They have college sports, but not as big as we do here.In many ways, I think our obsession with sports is hurting education below the college level and is something Americans should take a close look at as we fall further and further behind the rest of the world in education.

Deadspin has more today and two good links.The main point is this for us MAC fans. With all of the changes that are now on the table and not coming off the table, what are we going to do about it? What used to be talked about quietly or in theory is now front and center. Everything from players earning because of their ability, to how sickeningly the ncaa conducts itself, to potentially the BCS level teams breaking free of the chains of the ncaa is openly being discussed on the internet and at places like ESPN.Months ago, I told everyone college football was about to change fast and everyone laughed. Would you still laugh at that statement now? If MAClike conferences don't start putting some serious thought as to what they are going to do after the changes, it could get even worse for us.

Other than surviving a slippery trip through a birth canal, the average newborn hasn't accomplished much. However, if that child grows up and is so good at playing football he earns a scholarship to a University and contributes to making that university millions of dollars, that man should be allowd to capitalize on his success in some manner, including making money off of it somehow.PS, has anyone read the article I posted?

Fantastic question. The reason I don't watch any football below the level of the MAC is I find the base athletic and performance abilities of the players insufficient to hold my attention for more than five minutes.I went to a high school football game last Friday because a friend of mine has a son starting for a local high school and I promised I would go to a game. At halftime, I wanted to scratch my eyes out. It was absolute torture for me. I feel the same sensation when I watch DIII, II and 1-AA football on television. Maybe they are all nice kids, but I could care less...we are all supposed to be nice people and do the right thing. When that television goes on, I want to see a high level of athletic ability and skill. I'm not watching to feel good about SAT scores. People who watch games for those reasons remind me of the same people who think Terry Pluto is a good sports commentator.

I'm not sure what the intent was, but it literally is about what guys will tell their kids. It was also about the experience of the players themselves. This is a great topic and will be better after the season. It can go a lot of different ways and will be even better after an entire season.

Then gentleman from Green points out the current problem we face in the MAC. We are at the same level as the teams that are actually "football factories". We can't compete with what they have to offer. Wouldn't it be nice if those "football factories" went off into their own league and left everyone else out? Then we could focus on student athletes, who we'll never pay workers comp for if they get a lifelong injury. We can really take the moral high ground then. Those football factories will be able to stay in the sewer and afford things such as workers comp claims for lifetime injuries a player sustains while playing football. They won't have the moral high ground like we do by not paying the claims and having "student athletes". I feel great about where we stand and the current state of college athletics. It's such a fair system.BTW, this is the last time I will ever refer to the term "student athlete". From now on, I will use the term "colonial wards".

Very good point. It's just too bad we don't do more things with winning in mind.

I'd like to reserve comment until the end of the year. This can actually be a very good topic with a lot of ground to cover.