Earth to ESPN

[sami]

That’s a good list too. I think people flock to greatness, especially when it’s accompanied by strong clashing personalities. Styles make fights. Showtime LA vs Blue Collar Boston. The buttoned up Yankees in ‘03 ‘04 vs the Idiots Red Sox. Harbaugh being an eccentric psychopath vs Ryan Day being the guy he loves to antagonize.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of that is missing in pro sports these days. NFL is still king and will remain so, but there’s not really a Pats vs Colts, maybe Buffalo vs Chiefs, but overall it seems like Chiefs fatigue and dislike of fan bases has become the main reason for disliking teams . I’m really hoping that the resurgence of the Washington football team will reignite some old rivalries that I grew up with.

The constant movement of players has slowly but surely killed off pro sports rivalries, as there is no 'hate' any more like there was in those Yankees-Red Sox series or the Lakers-Celtics, as infrequently as they even see each other any more. I'm a lifelong Sixers fan (although my passion for the NBA died many years ago), but Sixers-Celtics games in the '70's and '80's were must see TV, especially if they met in the playoffs. Cowboys-Redskins has been pretty much dead for decades now.

I agree that the networks have little choice but to play up Duke-UNC and Ohio State-Michigan, but as far as national type rivalries, there really aren't any others of note in college sports other than Army-Navy. Auburn-Alabama or any other SEC rivalry isn't even a blip in the rest of the country outside of the Southeast, but college rivalries have always been regional, something they will eventually kill off with all the consolidation.

The powers that be are bound and determined to make college sports more and more like the pros, and the dissolution of regional rivalries will most likely be among the casualties.

 

[sami]

What makes college rivalries so much better than pro ones are the fans. Being an alumni of the school or a fan of a school that you grew up with or live close to seems to make them generate more emotion and a greater sense of nostalgia. The players (especially in college, both pre and post-portal era) come and go, but what really makes the rivalry tick are the fans. Especially with in-state rivalries where the opposing fans are in close quarters. The thing about college rivalries too is that most of the really good, passionate ones pre-date football and go back to the founding of the schools as institutions (Texas/Texas A&M, Alabama/Auburn, Ole Miss/Miss St). Football is simply a manifestation of the rivalry; it goes deeper than just football. Especially in the case of Texas/Texas A&M and Ole Miss/Miss St, there are big cultural differences between those fanbases that adds to the hate.

Agree. For this reason, permanent rivalry games in schedules can never be removed. The day they go to some 'revolving' schedule to insure parity and every school playing every other school in these consolidated monstrosities a certain number of times is the day they kill college football.

Texas must see OK and A&M annually, we must see Bama, KY, and Vandy (I guess), Miss. St.-Ole Miss, UGa-FL, Bama should have us, Auburn, and LSU, etc., etc. Take those games away, and college football will basically be supported by gambling for as long as that lasts.

 

[sami]

Didn’t FSU have some ridiculous run where they went 14 straight years where they finished in the top 5? If there were a 12 team CFP back in those days I’m sure Bowden would’ve had more titles.

I wonder how many we might have won if there had been even a 4-team playoff between '92 and '02.

 

[sami]

Every time I go into the basketball forum that is abundantly clear.

Truth. I started avoiding the hoops forum after losses, now I pretty much just stay away. The troll count just keeps growing.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

The constant movement of players has slowly but surely killed off pro sports rivalries, as there is no 'hate' any more like there was in those Yankees-Red Sox series or the Lakers-Celtics, as infrequently as they even see each other any more. I'm a lifelong Sixers fan (although my passion for the NBA died many years ago), but Sixers-Celtics games in the '70's and '80's were must see TV, especially if they met in the playoffs. Cowboys-Redskins has been pretty much dead for decades now.

I agree that the networks have little choice but to play up Duke-UNC and Ohio State-Michigan, but as far as national type rivalries, there really aren't any others of note in college sports other than Army-Navy. Auburn-Alabama or any other SEC rivalry isn't even a blip in the rest of the country outside of the Southeast, but college rivalries have always been regional, something they will eventually kill off with all the consolidation.

The powers that be are bound and determined to make college sports more and more like the pros, and the dissolution of regional rivalries will most likely be among the casualties.

I’m hoping that these TV people can find a way to blend the two. I don’t have issues with creating more good games as long as it maintains what made the product so attractive to begin with. I don’t agree with some of the things that Sankey has done these past few years, but the one thing that he has done is to make sure that the SEC footprint is contiguous . Missouri isn’t what I would call Southeastern, but it does border Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas . I think it’s important to maintain that compared to what the B1G has done recently.

 

[sami]

I’m hoping that these TV people can find a way to blend the two. I don’t have issues with creating more good games as long as it maintains what made the product so attractive to begin with. I don’t agree with some of the things that Sankey has done these past few years, but the one thing that he has done is to make sure that the SEC footprint is contiguous . Missouri isn’t what I would call Southeastern, but it does border Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas . I think it’s important to maintain that compared to what the B1G has done recently.

I hear you, but I honestly don't give a schiit about the Big 10 or have any interest in competing with them. They have become a farce adding Pac 12 schools and a school like Rutgers, who should be a G5 program.

I like the idea of a 9-game SEC schedule because I love SEC football, but as far as playing a Big 10 teams every year? Couldn't care less. They have 3-4 teams that are worth a damn, and aside from Ohio State and Oregon (fake Big 10 team that they are), the football they play is like watching paint dry.

Regarding the SEC, nothing would make me happier than eliminating the Big 12 schools Texas, A&M, Oklahoma, and Missouri, and going back to being truly contigious. CFB has become less interesting to me the more it has consolidated and attempted to nationalize what has always been essentially a regional game. Aside from the gambling aspect, you're never going to make the northeast or the west coast give a damn about the sport, yet those are the fans that the networks and conferences are chasing.