Comments on: Things to Keep in Mind When Watching College Football Gameday http://thinkingbulldog.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/things-to-keep-in-mind-when-watching-college-football-gameday/ “We are inclined to think that if we watch a football game or a baseball game, we have taken part in it.” --JFK Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:46:51 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: reaganj40 http://thinkingbulldog.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/things-to-keep-in-mind-when-watching-college-football-gameday/#comment-50 reaganj40 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:33:06 +0000 http://thinkingbulldog.wordpress.com/?p=231#comment-50 I think it is important to make the distinction between general jack-assery ("Boise State's trip to Athens is the official coming out party for this program," Mark May, 08/05) and an attempt to influence who plays where and when ("Georgia is without a doubt the hottest team in the nation," Brownfinger Herbstreit, 11/24/07. "You cannot play for a national championship if you don't win your conference. The win/loss record does not matter," RayGoffKickedMyAss Herbstreit, 12/01/07). I have no problem with talking heads trying to create story lines to draw in the casual fan or the guy whos team is out of it. That is the reason I don't have a problem with Mark May keeping a straight face and claiming that Joe Montana is a poor man's Colt Brennan and that UGA will be upset. If I were a UCLA fan with no team to watch come new years day 2008, I would not find the arguement that the SEC is much tougher than the WAC so UGA will win a very compelling reason to tune in. The real problems for me start when ESPN and its gaggle of washed up players(May/Herbstreit) and coaches (Corso/Holtz) start full on engineering campaigns on the BCS matchups. We now have to take it for granted that one mid-major will be invited and praise and adulation will be heaped upon them for one whole month. Sometimes the plan works out well (Boise 06) and sometimes it is washed out in a glorious wave of conventional wisdom (Hawaii 07). Lets forget the fact that a teams like Missouri who are a gnats ass away from playing for it all are left out of BCS because a Cinderella story means that more shitty ads will be sold. ESPN should stick to innovations like the the glowing first down line and out of engineering post-season trophy match ups to increase Disney revenues. I think it is important to make the distinction between general jack-assery (“Boise State’s trip to Athens is the official coming out party for this program,” Mark May, 08/05) and an attempt to influence who plays where and when (“Georgia is without a doubt the hottest team in the nation,” Brownfinger Herbstreit, 11/24/07. “You cannot play for a national championship if you don’t win your conference. The win/loss record does not matter,” RayGoffKickedMyAss Herbstreit, 12/01/07).

I have no problem with talking heads trying to create story lines to draw in the casual fan or the guy whos team is out of it. That is the reason I don’t have a problem with Mark May keeping a straight face and claiming that Joe Montana is a poor man’s Colt Brennan and that UGA will be upset. If I were a UCLA fan with no team to watch come new years day 2008, I would not find the arguement that the SEC is much tougher than the WAC so UGA will win a very compelling reason to tune in.

The real problems for me start when ESPN and its gaggle of washed up players(May/Herbstreit) and coaches (Corso/Holtz) start full on engineering campaigns on the BCS matchups. We now have to take it for granted that one mid-major will be invited and praise and adulation will be heaped upon them for one whole month. Sometimes the plan works out well (Boise 06) and sometimes it is washed out in a glorious wave of conventional wisdom (Hawaii 07). Lets forget the fact that a teams like Missouri who are a gnats ass away from playing for it all are left out of BCS because a Cinderella story means that more shitty ads will be sold.

ESPN should stick to innovations like the the glowing first down line and out of engineering post-season trophy match ups to increase Disney revenues.

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