Boola Boola brought back some memories I actually remembered. One day some of my brother's friends came over to our house when I was in High School. The guys were Northwestern fans, decked out in purple and riding in a convertible on a beautiful autumn day. They asked him if he wanted to go to the homecoming game with them. But, he had to agree to wear a long racoon coat. They were celebrating NW's history in retro-wear. My brother wanted nothing to do with the long hairy coat. "I'll go!" I shouted, Yeah, okay, I guess a girl can wear the coat. So they put me in this huge weighty racoon coat and I hopped in the back seat, and off we went 33 windy miles with the top down South along Lake Michigan. NW football there started in 1882. The Team was known as the Big Ten in Chicago. The fur coats were popular with the college students in the 1920s & 1930s, It was known as the Fur Pimp Coat Phase. If a man could afford one, he had one. Boola Boola was a common song heard back then, but it was officially adopted by Yale in 1910 when it was first recorded. NW's song was "Doin' the Racoon". Ara Parseghian was the coach from 1956-1963 at this particular time,...the 20th Head Coach of NW and the youngest at age 32 in 1955. He lowered the intensity of practice as game day approached to let the players "build up psychologically" something he learned from Paul Brown. The young Otto Graham tried out at NW during a special HS football game held there one year. The Mascot, named "Wildcat" was a name coined by a Chicago Tribune reporter in 1924 when he wrote "the players appeared as a wall of purple wildcats" describing one of their games. (Of course, the reporter's name was not given to receive the credit...)
Here's the Song "Doin' the Racoon":
College men, knowledge men,
Do a dance called raccoon;
It’s the craze, nowadays,
And it will get you soon.
Buy a coat and try it,
I’ll bet you’ll be a riot,
It’s a wow, learn to do it right now!
Oh, they wear ’em down at Princeton,
And they share ’em up at Yale,
They eat them at Harvard,
But they sleep in them in jail!
From every college campus comes the cheer: oy-yoy!
The days of Chip Hilton working his way through State U with a part-time job while being an All-American in three sports is over, I guess??? :-) RIP, Clair Bee.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and be the one guy on TML today who's gutsy enough to proclaim this crazy conference shuffle/money grab is bad. It's one more example of the deterioration of universities as primarily centers of higher learning. The absurdity of their movement into operators of minor league sports teams is obvious. That's not their mission. Universities in the US are already a big mess. There's the failure of colleges to contain their insane spiraling costs of an education; there's the suppression of free speech and pushing of specific agendas nationwide. Now we're seeing the addition and expansion into this insane money-chase sports world and the coming corruption/damage, some already happening as uber-rich alumni obsessed with creating winning minor league football at good ol' State U bend rules. IF you think the NCAA had their hands full before, you aint seen nothing yet. This willingness to bend the rules is just starting, and when it gathers speed, it's gonna be a freight train. The product will soon be so tainted, it'll be unrecognizable to the crazed lovers of the old system. By putting the cart in front of the horse, colleges have lost their way. Everything has changed, mostly for the worse. Mark my words. When colleges become minor league franchises and are unable to provide affordable higher education to all but the rich, the foundation of the system has become firmly mired deep in the mud. It may not be next week, but sooner or later this thing will collapse. The days of the attraction of rooting for our favorite college teams, knowing the kids are not jaded yet by the distractions, responsibilites, and booty of pro sports, are over.
Pogo complaining about speech suppression? Welcome to the fight, my friend. I thought you were defending Kate's post about speech suppression several months ago. Speech should be free everywhere - on college campuses, on-line, and in person. Free speech also includes alleged "misinformation" which can usually turn out to be true information six months later. Elon's ownership of Twitter/X has been a godsend for free speech.
There is more to unpack in your post/screed, but I will simply say that I agree that college costs are out of control. Various reasons for that starting with too many administrators.
Still, I am happy to see UC play the likes of Utah, Arizona, Kansas State, and TCU in football rather than anyone in the AAC or even in the old Big East (save Pittsburgh - I enjoyed that brief rivalry). Basketball will be lit. I hope Wes can keep up.
I've heard selective hearing can be very unhealthy, lol. I suggest you see an ear doctor asap. You once again are hearing distortions and wild untruths. I worry about you. Again, as always, I'm there for you as you navigate thru yet another of your health crises. 😊
My crystal ball seez a massive restructuring of the Big 2 sports (b-ball, fball) in the near future, and likely changes to all college sports barreling down the pike at lightyear speed. The current configuration cannot and will not last long. It's unweidy, unfeasible, and deeply broken geographically. It makes no sense for student athletes in particular. Not only that, you can't just dump 4 powerful, politically connected Pac 10 programs (Cal, Stnfrd, OSU, WashSt) out into the street without their power players and lawyers getting pissed and rattling congressional chains. I saw where somebody proposed one big NCAA league, with NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, MIDWEST, SOUTHWEST, and WESTERN CONFERENCES. I agree. That's the way to do it. Flying 3 time zones as a student to play a lacrosse match or a basketball game on a weeknight or a couple baseball games is nutso. Not only does it add unnecessarily to the surging costs of operating universities, which get passed onto the student tuition, it makes zero sense. I expect this major realignment happening within 5-6 years. Either that, or college sports as is should split off from colleges and operate as professional minor league franchises. You can't have it both ways, which is what universities are trying to do.
Good rant, Pogo. The ship of tradition swamped in the Sea of Greed decades ago. The search was canceled and the loot recovered by pirates. We've been dealing with the pirates for so long now that we don't recall accepting their terms. It's the only game in town and they run it. Dysfunction is insidious. It robs the memory.
I love the metaphors, Patrick. But. As a lifelong UC fan, what traditions were swamped by greed? The days of football and hoops independence post-Missouri Valley, the Metro Conference rivalries, the Great Midwest hoops (admittedly, that was a fun era with hatred everywhere), C-USA, the lite beer version of the Big East, or the orphanage called the AAC? I am not sensing tradition anywhere except movement forward.
UC has lost its rivalry with Miami in both football and hoops due to differing resources, no longer plays Dayton in hoops (much less twice per season), and we no longer yell "Louisville sucks" no matter who the opponent is. Are we really missing out on anything with those "losses?"
They were all specific moments in time but was that time better? My dad used to talk about UC playing Bradley and Drake in some foregone era. Should UC have remain wedded to those games/rivalries or should it continue to up its stature at their expense? I vote the latter even it is painted as greed.
I'm speaking more as a consumer than as a UC fan. Although I will say that crashing the party was more exciting than being asked to join it. I resent the way that all aspects of our culture have surrendered to the concentration of Money and Power. Anything that draws any attention whatsoever is robbed of what made it interesting the minute the first camera shows up. So while I suppose I should be happy that UC has been accepted into the rarified atmosphere of the Big Time, I'm leary of the company they'll be keeping. And less than enamored of what the Chefs have done with the pie. And now that I've ODed on metaphors, I'm going to bed 😉
I agree - good for UC but damaging to other traditions. Games that mattered and were big rivalries when we were growing up in the 70s are no longer played. Oklahoma-Nebraska, Texas-Arkansas (although that will come back with Texas going to the SEC), Pitt-Penn State. Oklahoma-Ok. State will vanish, and Washington-Wazzou will remain but will become lopsided due to the disparity in financial resources. Heck, even the Rose Bowl was slated to never again be a Big 10-Pac 12 game with the latest CFP expansion (before the Pac 12 evaporated).
All of that said, most of those games I listed were important at a moment in time. Time is always moving forward and new rivalries are formed and new big games develop. OSU-Penn St. was not a thing in the 70s nor was Florida State-Miami. I am struggling to think of other new rivalries created due to conference realignment because most of the teams that moved have not been very successful. Nebraska is exhibit A of that.
Good point about the new rivalries created by re-allignment. But I still see too much concentration of power. And considering that even after he knew that UC was going to the Big 12, Luke Fickel fled to Wisconsin, I think he knows that Clifton is destined to remain an outpost on the NCAA map.
That last metaphor was just a remnant of my glut of them yesterday 🙂
It does rob the ol' memory bank, doesn't it? More succinctly, we've become so jaded we pretend everything's fine as things slowly creep down the out-of-control road of disintegration. Some collapses are fast and have finality immediately. Others are slow and imperceptible, until we suddenly find out it's already late stage cancer and there's little time left. It doesn't take a genius to know this, just an honest person with normal observational skills. It amazes me how many people are deluding themselves that this kind of stuff is "normal". This greed trip marriage that major media networks and colleges have dove into together, while tuition becomes more unaffordable and the needs of the vast majority of student athletes are ignored, is part of the bigger picture we read about every day in the digital news. Our worship of the false god of college football and basketball will lead to the same place all lies lead to eventually. Trust and integrity are the victims every time. It stuns and saddens me how many people don't care or choose not to notice the path we're on.
I’ve been thinking about this today in the context of Bob Knight. In his heyday, he donated half of his salary to the library. And required players to go to class and graduate, and 98% that stayed for four years did.
His fidelity was to prepare them for later in life. That entire system has been corrupted by money, and how big college sports have gotten. A young dude could make $10M or more by the time they’re 20, who needs a degree is an easy out for that person.
Re: college tuition. I’m connected with my alumni association at Butler. When asked for feedback, I always say do you want the aspirational student like me with modest means, or the east coast guy who got rejected by their favorite State U and “settles” for Butler because $60k is normal to them. And the unspoken answer is, we want that east coast student, all fucking day.
I agree absolutely. And we both know it goes way beyond college football. I think one of the reasons you see so much phony patriotism and religious zealotry is that people are dying for something to stand for and our culture offers so little.
I feel bad for the players in non-revenue sports having to deal with insane road trips unless the conferences come up with regional divisions for them somehow. But I can’t object to anything that helps put $ in the pockets of the players whose sports actually generate the revenue.
I'm a casual OSU fan, so I like the idea of a regular season game against the likes of USC. But unless the tournament expands to 16 teams, I have to think die-hard fans of the team will be less welcoming of the notion. It's hard enough to get into the Tourney now. Sweating games in LA, Seattle or Eugene hardly sounds like fun to fans already dealing with Ann Arbor, State College, East Lansing or Madison.
Another downside, IMO, is that this will mean fewer good games being played at 3:30. Prime time games are just not as much fun for me to watch. Even at my age, I try to have better things to do on a Saturday night than watch football. I love sitting on the deck with a steak, a beer and an after-dinner cigar while watching USC / Notre Dame at South Bend. Or OSU / Penn State. That doesn't happen as much as it did. And will happen even less now.
I fully support the idea of 6 Majors. Pretty much as your proposed schedule suggests.
I love college football, I love the pageantry, the traditions, rich refracted autumn sunlight bouncing off of campus buildings--the Keith Jackson-ness of all of it. I also do not have a college team to call my own. As a kid I liked Holtz's ND teams, then they kinda fell off...then I did NOT go to UC, OSU or anywhere else that had a football team and the allegiance-building phase of my life passed me by. This allows me to fully (albeit vicariously) enjoy whatever meaningful matchups each weekend has to offer. I really don't see how die-hard say, OSU fans can get really jazzed up in anticipation of that mammoth upcoming tilt against Youngstown St. (OSU -47), and that's where I win. Because I'll be jazzed up about whatever relevant games are going on that week. For this reason I am all about the re-alignment. I want good games and tight point spreads. The pageantry and tradition of students doing kegstands on the quad at 7am will persist no matter what.
I'm good with the 4 majors. But I am a weird one who will watch any golf and don't really care about how big the tourney is. Miguel-Angel Jimenez in Italy, Tiger at Augusta, Schauffele at Pebble Beach, Eddie coming in on 9 at our Neumann Monday night league, some guy trying to make a putt while I'm driving down the road. I just love watching golf because I play golf and automatically place myself in their situation. It's one of the few sports whose spectation value is so clearly driven by the participation of the spectators.
"Or, maybe you’d rather see the Bearcats host ECU. In the name of tradition."
That line flat-out made me laugh out loud at work, for a good half-minute. That's about the only way ECU and tradition can be in the same sentence.
As far as the college football landscape goes, to quote the infamous Tracy Jones, "it is what it is." I think, in the back of our minds, we all knew this day would come where mega-conferences would emerge, and your Miami of Ohios, Western Kentuckys, et. al., would be passed by like hitchhikers on the highway.
As a UC fan and alum, I appreciate that they were able to finally pick the lock on the door and get into the main power structure, but, it wouldn't have made my life any worse if they ended up on the side of the road like a Miami (Ohio), either. It wouldn't have taken away my memories, sentiment or friends from my time at UC, and I've never been one to attach my self-worth to where I went to college, what conference they're a part of, or how many championships they've won. Maybe that's the lifelong Cincinnati fan in me, where I've seen some sparse magical moments of winning hidden in the much larger haystack of losing (sometimes in the most ignominious manner) our teams have endured over the last four decades.
But hey, if it somehow betters UC and its (cough) secondary mission of education by being in the Big 12 -- and ditto for the other schools joining these mega-conferences -- I'm all for it. Not going to hold my breath by any means, but you never know!
This is quite a different take from the old "Is a $40K-per-year education worth nothing?" lament The Morning Man used to espouse on the quasi-am front. No, it's not been an abrupt 180, but it's a little disorienting all the same. I may need a little time.
Change is neither inherently good nor inherently bad. It's just inherently different from what was. Time will reveal the relative merits - and there will be plenty of opportunity for "Why did we ever..." and "I told you so" - but for now I just want the dust to settle and get my bearings in this new normal before trying to assess the value, good or bad.
Terribly for the RIGHT NOW LOUDLY landscape of social media, but prudent for keeping my sanity.
You’re right; the games will go on. I will still be able to watch TBDBITL and the Bucks; however, I will also be able to watch my local team, the CU Buffs, now that they are back in a league with TV coverage! Deion Sanders gives the best coach interviews!
Feudal Lords and Serfs reference. Followed by Pearl Clutching! Haha!!
One of my favorites was when you described the Covid-era social distancing that required NFL teams to take two chargers instead of one with the headline “Mike Won’t Like This”
Excellent summary, Doc! I agree completely. Let’s face it, the word collegial has always been a bit of a sham in reality and now that GREED has reared its ugly head in the academy, the hypocrites are on the run. As for loyalty to one’s historic competition, well, GREED was always there in the shadows, and we were just waiting for deliverance. Hypocrites will say they need the money for Olympic sports but who believes that? Stanford dominates the Director’s Cup standings year after year but what did that do for them?
GREED does have downsides. How long does before the FSU approach becomes the standard? You know, our brand is better than your brand – we should get more than you. Those elite doormats like Vandy and Northwestern, how strong is their brand? Why should gold standards like tOSU and the Tide share evenly with them? Beyond that, why call them student-athletes after all when independent contractor is more appropriate? And about that non-profit tax status, how long before the world figures out what we’re up to? Someone call the IRS, please.
Capitalism takes over the academy! Nothing under the table anymore! Free at last! GREED is finally here to save us! Hallelujah!
Doc, I was expecting more of an OG rant from you but, and confessing that I’m a few autumn’s more OG than you, I actually reluctantly agree with you. As a UC student way back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I enjoyed watching UC/Miami on a Saturday at The Nip while, at the same time, anxiously waiting for the OSU/ Michigan score to be announced and cheering wildly when we heard a 50-14 OSU win. Those are great memories. BUT...fast forward 50 or so years and I’m still attending some games and completely excited for UC’s future in a POWER Five conference. Have I been corrupted? I don’t know.
I had season football tickets from the final Minter years until just before Tubervlle tried to destroy the program. I was at their Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl games and I guess I caught the fever. Whatever, now I realize that I might as well get with program.
But, I do still savor those memories of days gone by.
My OG is showing. NIL and the transfer portal is ruining college sports. Only transfer when a coach does. Or, old school, make the coach sit out a year before pursuing the next jackpot. Get off my lawn!!
College football is moving to an NFL model. Eventually there will be 2 or 4 conferences that vie for a College Super Bowl trophy. Smaller schools may have a similar structure, similar to D3. The days of tuneup games like Alabama vs. Appalachian State will disappear. The money is too big to not have interesting match-ups from the get-go. The networks won't be able to afford it. Maybe that's not a bad thing.
Boola Boola brought back some memories I actually remembered. One day some of my brother's friends came over to our house when I was in High School. The guys were Northwestern fans, decked out in purple and riding in a convertible on a beautiful autumn day. They asked him if he wanted to go to the homecoming game with them. But, he had to agree to wear a long racoon coat. They were celebrating NW's history in retro-wear. My brother wanted nothing to do with the long hairy coat. "I'll go!" I shouted, Yeah, okay, I guess a girl can wear the coat. So they put me in this huge weighty racoon coat and I hopped in the back seat, and off we went 33 windy miles with the top down South along Lake Michigan. NW football there started in 1882. The Team was known as the Big Ten in Chicago. The fur coats were popular with the college students in the 1920s & 1930s, It was known as the Fur Pimp Coat Phase. If a man could afford one, he had one. Boola Boola was a common song heard back then, but it was officially adopted by Yale in 1910 when it was first recorded. NW's song was "Doin' the Racoon". Ara Parseghian was the coach from 1956-1963 at this particular time,...the 20th Head Coach of NW and the youngest at age 32 in 1955. He lowered the intensity of practice as game day approached to let the players "build up psychologically" something he learned from Paul Brown. The young Otto Graham tried out at NW during a special HS football game held there one year. The Mascot, named "Wildcat" was a name coined by a Chicago Tribune reporter in 1924 when he wrote "the players appeared as a wall of purple wildcats" describing one of their games. (Of course, the reporter's name was not given to receive the credit...)
Here's the Song "Doin' the Racoon":
College men, knowledge men,
Do a dance called raccoon;
It’s the craze, nowadays,
And it will get you soon.
Buy a coat and try it,
I’ll bet you’ll be a riot,
It’s a wow, learn to do it right now!
Oh, they wear ’em down at Princeton,
And they share ’em up at Yale,
They eat them at Harvard,
But they sleep in them in jail!
From every college campus comes the cheer: oy-yoy!
The season for the raccoon coat is here, my boy!
(AAhhhh...how simple life was then....)
The days of Chip Hilton working his way through State U with a part-time job while being an All-American in three sports is over, I guess??? :-) RIP, Clair Bee.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and be the one guy on TML today who's gutsy enough to proclaim this crazy conference shuffle/money grab is bad. It's one more example of the deterioration of universities as primarily centers of higher learning. The absurdity of their movement into operators of minor league sports teams is obvious. That's not their mission. Universities in the US are already a big mess. There's the failure of colleges to contain their insane spiraling costs of an education; there's the suppression of free speech and pushing of specific agendas nationwide. Now we're seeing the addition and expansion into this insane money-chase sports world and the coming corruption/damage, some already happening as uber-rich alumni obsessed with creating winning minor league football at good ol' State U bend rules. IF you think the NCAA had their hands full before, you aint seen nothing yet. This willingness to bend the rules is just starting, and when it gathers speed, it's gonna be a freight train. The product will soon be so tainted, it'll be unrecognizable to the crazed lovers of the old system. By putting the cart in front of the horse, colleges have lost their way. Everything has changed, mostly for the worse. Mark my words. When colleges become minor league franchises and are unable to provide affordable higher education to all but the rich, the foundation of the system has become firmly mired deep in the mud. It may not be next week, but sooner or later this thing will collapse. The days of the attraction of rooting for our favorite college teams, knowing the kids are not jaded yet by the distractions, responsibilites, and booty of pro sports, are over.
Pogo complaining about speech suppression? Welcome to the fight, my friend. I thought you were defending Kate's post about speech suppression several months ago. Speech should be free everywhere - on college campuses, on-line, and in person. Free speech also includes alleged "misinformation" which can usually turn out to be true information six months later. Elon's ownership of Twitter/X has been a godsend for free speech.
There is more to unpack in your post/screed, but I will simply say that I agree that college costs are out of control. Various reasons for that starting with too many administrators.
Still, I am happy to see UC play the likes of Utah, Arizona, Kansas State, and TCU in football rather than anyone in the AAC or even in the old Big East (save Pittsburgh - I enjoyed that brief rivalry). Basketball will be lit. I hope Wes can keep up.
I've heard selective hearing can be very unhealthy, lol. I suggest you see an ear doctor asap. You once again are hearing distortions and wild untruths. I worry about you. Again, as always, I'm there for you as you navigate thru yet another of your health crises. 😊
My crystal ball seez a massive restructuring of the Big 2 sports (b-ball, fball) in the near future, and likely changes to all college sports barreling down the pike at lightyear speed. The current configuration cannot and will not last long. It's unweidy, unfeasible, and deeply broken geographically. It makes no sense for student athletes in particular. Not only that, you can't just dump 4 powerful, politically connected Pac 10 programs (Cal, Stnfrd, OSU, WashSt) out into the street without their power players and lawyers getting pissed and rattling congressional chains. I saw where somebody proposed one big NCAA league, with NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, MIDWEST, SOUTHWEST, and WESTERN CONFERENCES. I agree. That's the way to do it. Flying 3 time zones as a student to play a lacrosse match or a basketball game on a weeknight or a couple baseball games is nutso. Not only does it add unnecessarily to the surging costs of operating universities, which get passed onto the student tuition, it makes zero sense. I expect this major realignment happening within 5-6 years. Either that, or college sports as is should split off from colleges and operate as professional minor league franchises. You can't have it both ways, which is what universities are trying to do.
Good rant, Pogo. The ship of tradition swamped in the Sea of Greed decades ago. The search was canceled and the loot recovered by pirates. We've been dealing with the pirates for so long now that we don't recall accepting their terms. It's the only game in town and they run it. Dysfunction is insidious. It robs the memory.
I love the metaphors, Patrick. But. As a lifelong UC fan, what traditions were swamped by greed? The days of football and hoops independence post-Missouri Valley, the Metro Conference rivalries, the Great Midwest hoops (admittedly, that was a fun era with hatred everywhere), C-USA, the lite beer version of the Big East, or the orphanage called the AAC? I am not sensing tradition anywhere except movement forward.
UC has lost its rivalry with Miami in both football and hoops due to differing resources, no longer plays Dayton in hoops (much less twice per season), and we no longer yell "Louisville sucks" no matter who the opponent is. Are we really missing out on anything with those "losses?"
They were all specific moments in time but was that time better? My dad used to talk about UC playing Bradley and Drake in some foregone era. Should UC have remain wedded to those games/rivalries or should it continue to up its stature at their expense? I vote the latter even it is painted as greed.
I'm speaking more as a consumer than as a UC fan. Although I will say that crashing the party was more exciting than being asked to join it. I resent the way that all aspects of our culture have surrendered to the concentration of Money and Power. Anything that draws any attention whatsoever is robbed of what made it interesting the minute the first camera shows up. So while I suppose I should be happy that UC has been accepted into the rarified atmosphere of the Big Time, I'm leary of the company they'll be keeping. And less than enamored of what the Chefs have done with the pie. And now that I've ODed on metaphors, I'm going to bed 😉
I agree - good for UC but damaging to other traditions. Games that mattered and were big rivalries when we were growing up in the 70s are no longer played. Oklahoma-Nebraska, Texas-Arkansas (although that will come back with Texas going to the SEC), Pitt-Penn State. Oklahoma-Ok. State will vanish, and Washington-Wazzou will remain but will become lopsided due to the disparity in financial resources. Heck, even the Rose Bowl was slated to never again be a Big 10-Pac 12 game with the latest CFP expansion (before the Pac 12 evaporated).
All of that said, most of those games I listed were important at a moment in time. Time is always moving forward and new rivalries are formed and new big games develop. OSU-Penn St. was not a thing in the 70s nor was Florida State-Miami. I am struggling to think of other new rivalries created due to conference realignment because most of the teams that moved have not been very successful. Nebraska is exhibit A of that.
I hope you dreamed of more metaphors last night.
Good point about the new rivalries created by re-allignment. But I still see too much concentration of power. And considering that even after he knew that UC was going to the Big 12, Luke Fickel fled to Wisconsin, I think he knows that Clifton is destined to remain an outpost on the NCAA map.
That last metaphor was just a remnant of my glut of them yesterday 🙂
It does rob the ol' memory bank, doesn't it? More succinctly, we've become so jaded we pretend everything's fine as things slowly creep down the out-of-control road of disintegration. Some collapses are fast and have finality immediately. Others are slow and imperceptible, until we suddenly find out it's already late stage cancer and there's little time left. It doesn't take a genius to know this, just an honest person with normal observational skills. It amazes me how many people are deluding themselves that this kind of stuff is "normal". This greed trip marriage that major media networks and colleges have dove into together, while tuition becomes more unaffordable and the needs of the vast majority of student athletes are ignored, is part of the bigger picture we read about every day in the digital news. Our worship of the false god of college football and basketball will lead to the same place all lies lead to eventually. Trust and integrity are the victims every time. It stuns and saddens me how many people don't care or choose not to notice the path we're on.
I’ve been thinking about this today in the context of Bob Knight. In his heyday, he donated half of his salary to the library. And required players to go to class and graduate, and 98% that stayed for four years did.
His fidelity was to prepare them for later in life. That entire system has been corrupted by money, and how big college sports have gotten. A young dude could make $10M or more by the time they’re 20, who needs a degree is an easy out for that person.
Re: college tuition. I’m connected with my alumni association at Butler. When asked for feedback, I always say do you want the aspirational student like me with modest means, or the east coast guy who got rejected by their favorite State U and “settles” for Butler because $60k is normal to them. And the unspoken answer is, we want that east coast student, all fucking day.
I agree absolutely. And we both know it goes way beyond college football. I think one of the reasons you see so much phony patriotism and religious zealotry is that people are dying for something to stand for and our culture offers so little.
I feel bad for the players in non-revenue sports having to deal with insane road trips unless the conferences come up with regional divisions for them somehow. But I can’t object to anything that helps put $ in the pockets of the players whose sports actually generate the revenue.
I'm a casual OSU fan, so I like the idea of a regular season game against the likes of USC. But unless the tournament expands to 16 teams, I have to think die-hard fans of the team will be less welcoming of the notion. It's hard enough to get into the Tourney now. Sweating games in LA, Seattle or Eugene hardly sounds like fun to fans already dealing with Ann Arbor, State College, East Lansing or Madison.
Another downside, IMO, is that this will mean fewer good games being played at 3:30. Prime time games are just not as much fun for me to watch. Even at my age, I try to have better things to do on a Saturday night than watch football. I love sitting on the deck with a steak, a beer and an after-dinner cigar while watching USC / Notre Dame at South Bend. Or OSU / Penn State. That doesn't happen as much as it did. And will happen even less now.
I fully support the idea of 6 Majors. Pretty much as your proposed schedule suggests.
I love college football, I love the pageantry, the traditions, rich refracted autumn sunlight bouncing off of campus buildings--the Keith Jackson-ness of all of it. I also do not have a college team to call my own. As a kid I liked Holtz's ND teams, then they kinda fell off...then I did NOT go to UC, OSU or anywhere else that had a football team and the allegiance-building phase of my life passed me by. This allows me to fully (albeit vicariously) enjoy whatever meaningful matchups each weekend has to offer. I really don't see how die-hard say, OSU fans can get really jazzed up in anticipation of that mammoth upcoming tilt against Youngstown St. (OSU -47), and that's where I win. Because I'll be jazzed up about whatever relevant games are going on that week. For this reason I am all about the re-alignment. I want good games and tight point spreads. The pageantry and tradition of students doing kegstands on the quad at 7am will persist no matter what.
I'm good with the 4 majors. But I am a weird one who will watch any golf and don't really care about how big the tourney is. Miguel-Angel Jimenez in Italy, Tiger at Augusta, Schauffele at Pebble Beach, Eddie coming in on 9 at our Neumann Monday night league, some guy trying to make a putt while I'm driving down the road. I just love watching golf because I play golf and automatically place myself in their situation. It's one of the few sports whose spectation value is so clearly driven by the participation of the spectators.
"Or, maybe you’d rather see the Bearcats host ECU. In the name of tradition."
That line flat-out made me laugh out loud at work, for a good half-minute. That's about the only way ECU and tradition can be in the same sentence.
As far as the college football landscape goes, to quote the infamous Tracy Jones, "it is what it is." I think, in the back of our minds, we all knew this day would come where mega-conferences would emerge, and your Miami of Ohios, Western Kentuckys, et. al., would be passed by like hitchhikers on the highway.
As a UC fan and alum, I appreciate that they were able to finally pick the lock on the door and get into the main power structure, but, it wouldn't have made my life any worse if they ended up on the side of the road like a Miami (Ohio), either. It wouldn't have taken away my memories, sentiment or friends from my time at UC, and I've never been one to attach my self-worth to where I went to college, what conference they're a part of, or how many championships they've won. Maybe that's the lifelong Cincinnati fan in me, where I've seen some sparse magical moments of winning hidden in the much larger haystack of losing (sometimes in the most ignominious manner) our teams have endured over the last four decades.
But hey, if it somehow betters UC and its (cough) secondary mission of education by being in the Big 12 -- and ditto for the other schools joining these mega-conferences -- I'm all for it. Not going to hold my breath by any means, but you never know!
This is quite a different take from the old "Is a $40K-per-year education worth nothing?" lament The Morning Man used to espouse on the quasi-am front. No, it's not been an abrupt 180, but it's a little disorienting all the same. I may need a little time.
Change is neither inherently good nor inherently bad. It's just inherently different from what was. Time will reveal the relative merits - and there will be plenty of opportunity for "Why did we ever..." and "I told you so" - but for now I just want the dust to settle and get my bearings in this new normal before trying to assess the value, good or bad.
Terribly for the RIGHT NOW LOUDLY landscape of social media, but prudent for keeping my sanity.
You’re right; the games will go on. I will still be able to watch TBDBITL and the Bucks; however, I will also be able to watch my local team, the CU Buffs, now that they are back in a league with TV coverage! Deion Sanders gives the best coach interviews!
Feudal Lords and Serfs reference. Followed by Pearl Clutching! Haha!!
One of my favorites was when you described the Covid-era social distancing that required NFL teams to take two chargers instead of one with the headline “Mike Won’t Like This”
You’re a funny dude.
Excellent summary, Doc! I agree completely. Let’s face it, the word collegial has always been a bit of a sham in reality and now that GREED has reared its ugly head in the academy, the hypocrites are on the run. As for loyalty to one’s historic competition, well, GREED was always there in the shadows, and we were just waiting for deliverance. Hypocrites will say they need the money for Olympic sports but who believes that? Stanford dominates the Director’s Cup standings year after year but what did that do for them?
GREED does have downsides. How long does before the FSU approach becomes the standard? You know, our brand is better than your brand – we should get more than you. Those elite doormats like Vandy and Northwestern, how strong is their brand? Why should gold standards like tOSU and the Tide share evenly with them? Beyond that, why call them student-athletes after all when independent contractor is more appropriate? And about that non-profit tax status, how long before the world figures out what we’re up to? Someone call the IRS, please.
Capitalism takes over the academy! Nothing under the table anymore! Free at last! GREED is finally here to save us! Hallelujah!
Doc, I was expecting more of an OG rant from you but, and confessing that I’m a few autumn’s more OG than you, I actually reluctantly agree with you. As a UC student way back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I enjoyed watching UC/Miami on a Saturday at The Nip while, at the same time, anxiously waiting for the OSU/ Michigan score to be announced and cheering wildly when we heard a 50-14 OSU win. Those are great memories. BUT...fast forward 50 or so years and I’m still attending some games and completely excited for UC’s future in a POWER Five conference. Have I been corrupted? I don’t know.
I had season football tickets from the final Minter years until just before Tubervlle tried to destroy the program. I was at their Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl games and I guess I caught the fever. Whatever, now I realize that I might as well get with program.
But, I do still savor those memories of days gone by.
I love administrative sports news, Just don't get enough of it. Not so interested in hearing how Chas was able to catch a pass one handed.
Great Blog today …. All things change embrace the change and show me the MONEY …
My OG is showing. NIL and the transfer portal is ruining college sports. Only transfer when a coach does. Or, old school, make the coach sit out a year before pursuing the next jackpot. Get off my lawn!!
College football is moving to an NFL model. Eventually there will be 2 or 4 conferences that vie for a College Super Bowl trophy. Smaller schools may have a similar structure, similar to D3. The days of tuneup games like Alabama vs. Appalachian State will disappear. The money is too big to not have interesting match-ups from the get-go. The networks won't be able to afford it. Maybe that's not a bad thing.
The tradition of watching Bowling Green grab a big check for being blasted by Ohio State might disappear. What a shame.
Haha, is that sarcasm I hear?