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Topic: A good series in the Dispatch

Topic: A good series in the Dispatch

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Pataskala
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Member Since: 7/8/2010
Location: At least six feet away from anybody else
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A good series in the Dispatch

Posted: 11/7/2011 10:50:31 PM

Todd Jones spent last week going to each of the five nationally televised games that were played in Ohio on consecutive days (four MAC games and the O$U game). He filed a story after each game and wrapped it up today with an interesting look at the financial aspects of college football:

http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/stories/2011/11/06/fin...

For me, the most poignant part is this:

"For the MAC, the need for revenue translates into playing 13 weekday games in November to fulfill its eight-year, $8 million television contract with ESPN.

And so there was an Ohio player on Wednesday, still clad in full uniform, doing a radio interview near midnight in the press box after a 35-31 win over Temple. He had an 8 a.m. class the next morning and a test later that day.

A week earlier, the NCAA passed legislation strengthening academic requirements, so the sight of the player highlighted the occasional mixed messages inherent in the system."

The strains on athletic department budgets at MAC-level schools these days often makes it difficult to figure out which is the noun and which is the adjective in the phrase "student athlete."

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

anorris
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Location: Bristol, CT
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RE: A good series in the Dispatch

Posted: 11/8/2011 12:47:06 PM

Pataskala wrote:

The strains on athletic department budgets at MAC-level schools these days often makes it difficult to figure out which is the noun and which is the adjective in the phrase "student athlete."

Moderately strange argument, since the schools most flush with cash that play only on Saturdays largely have no trouble determining which comes first.

TWT
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Location: Alexandria, VA
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RE: A good series in the Dispatch

Posted: 11/8/2011 1:03:09 PM

Its simple. MAC schools spend what they need for an 85 scholarship program hosting crowds of 15,000 to compete in their conference. Big Ten schools host crowds of 70,000 and compete to win in a vastly richer conference so they make more money but need to spend all that much more money. MAC schools are not using Ohio State's football spending as a measuring stick. BCS conferences have a different level of access to the post season than a MAC school and that affects recruiting. There is no denying that. Within FCS you have leagues as diverse as the CAA and the Ivy which are ineligible for the playoffs. The MAC doesn't have to match the Big Ten funding level to remain in FBS. It only has to keep up with the minimum standards of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Why so many sports writers fail to understand this I don't know.

Most Memorable Bobcat Events Attended
2010 97-83 win over Georgetown in NCAA 1st round
2012 45-13 victory over ULM in the Independence Bowl
2015 34-3 drubbing of Miami @ Peden front of 25,086

Bobcatbob
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Member Since: 12/21/2004
Location: Coolville, OH
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RE: A good series in the Dispatch

Posted: 11/8/2011 4:21:11 PM

Excellent point, Wes. I read the entire series hoping for some insight. In the end, I concluded that, although it was a good read, the writer (ex-sports reporter Todd Jones, I think) was leading Dispatch readers to feel sorry for the MAC as if we are unhappy with our lot in life and secretly pining to be Ohio State. While that is true for some of us, (to each his own) I think it misses the point of MAC schools pursuing amateur athletics for their own sake.

I agree that Ohio and the rest of the MAC are only "disadvantaged" in comparsion to behemoth BCS schools and that's a comparison I don't really care to make. On the other hand, the average A&M fan can't grasp why the rest of the world wouldn't want to be them.

Deciduous Forest Cat
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Location: Ohio
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RE: A good series in the Dispatch

Posted: 11/8/2011 10:09:15 PM

Bobcatbob wrote:

In the end, I concluded that, although it was a good read, the writer (ex-sports reporter Todd Jones, I think) was leading Dispatch readers to feel sorry for the MAC as if we are unhappy with our lot in life and secretly pining to be Ohio State.

Isn't this what the dispatch writes about everything that isn't ohio state?

Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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Member Since: 2/3/2005
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RE: A good series in the Dispatch

Posted: 11/9/2011 10:00:49 AM

Bobcatbob wrote:

I thought it was well written and the angle he took needed to be covered, but I agree he needed to point out more of the positives to being the little guy. No major scandals (for an array of reasons -- less media scrutiny, less focus on win-at-all-costs, more perspective), an affordable product (no $60 tickets to be had around Athens, unless they get you in for the entire season) and perhaps a more realistic view on college athletics.

I don't think the series did a disservice to its readers, but I do think it perhaps left out what the MAC and its ilk are able to accomplish when money isn't being thrown at it.

BobcatSports
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Member Since: 2/2/2006
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RE: A good series in the Dispatch

Posted: 11/9/2011 10:41:24 AM

Cut the Dispatch writer some slack, it's a Columbus thing. Remember, the esteemed OSU President himself Gorden Geek proclaimed Boise St. last year not "BCS Bowl Worthy" due to the fact that they built their record feasting on teams made up of the Little Sister's of the Poor Conferences.

Interesting that just in last years SuperBowl between the Packers and Steelers I think the MAC had something like 15 players between the two rosters. It was the second most represented conference on the SuperBowl roster behind BCS behometh SEC. Not a bad showing for a "dirt poor" conference.

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