anti-ND blather (was Re: [NU Sports] Sugar Bowl ...)

[Arthur Miller]

Let's first address the unfairness of big-fanbase teams being selected over 
small-fanbase teams with better records:  On one hand, I agree that it's not 
fair, in the sense that (for example) Charlie Weis & the current players and 
staff at ND deserve preferential treatment.  They personally haven't done 
anything to deserve such treatment, and are riding the legacy of prior 
players and staffs.

Think about it a little deeper, however, and it seems perfectly fair that 
the ND or Nebraska as institutions *do* deserve preferential treatment.  
While Northwestern was declining to make the investments necessary to 
compete at the highest level, and while the Boise States of the world 
weren't even competing in I-A football, the Notre Dames and Nebraskas WERE 
doing these things.  In doing so, they built the foundation of the awesome 
spectacle that college football is today.  For better or worse, those 
programs have--dare we say it?--earned their large fanbases through decades 
of consistent success and unwavering commitment to excellence.

I'm not saying everything these programs have done along the way has been 
good and honorable, but let's not kid ourselves that NU has always been 
above reproach, either.  The NU administration of the late 70s and 80s 
seemed perfectly willing to allow the program to slide into a state of 
disrepair--but was happy to enjoy the financial benefits of being part of a 
conference where many other members were making sustained investments in 
their programs and building fanbases.  THAT's hypocrisy, people.

Let me also address the "compelling" nature of the Boise State situation as 
well:  Like many of you, I enjoyed watching them beat OU on Monday night.  
But there's an element of this that sticks in my craw, and it's this:  Boise 
State's gaudy record is entirely related to their being in a predominantly 
weaker conference.  Put them in the Big Ten, where they may have to up 
against the likes of Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Penn State on four 
consecutive weeks, and there's no way (pardon me, NO WAY IN HELL) they make 
a BCS bowl.  They might do well, might even finish 8-4 or 9-3, but their 
"compelling story" goes right out the window, and Boise State goes to the 
Sun Bowl to play Oregon State.

NU in 1995 was a compelling story, because it was a team that announced 
itself to the world with a stunning upset over a traditional power, and then 
slogged its way through a brutal conference schedule, eventually running the 
table.  To compare that team with this year's Boise State team is, IMHO, 
missing the point completely.

Did NU get "screwed" in 2000?  Yes, perhaps.  But theoretically we should 
have had an easier opponent than if we'd gone to the Outback, and in the end 
it's nobody's fault but our own that we lost 66-17.



>From: NEONRye at aol.com
>To: artmiller1 at hotmail.com, sjtruog at yahoo.com, nwu-sports at tssi.com
>Subject: Re: anti-ND blather (was Re: [NU Sports] Sugar Bowl ...)
>Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 00:43:45 EST
>
>Art,
>
>While you are correct that bowl games are "about money", that explanation
>doesn't make it right.  When NU was screwed out of the Outback Bowl in  
>2000, I
>think it was, and sent instead to the Alamo Bowl to get eviscerated by
>Nebraska, everyone lost--the Wildcats and their fans (us); fans of 
>well-balanced
>college football post-season games; and the credibility that comes when one 
>gets
>  what one earns--on the field.  We belonged in Tampa that year, not San
>Antonio, but because we didn't have the hype and the rep and the "traveling
>circus" of fans, we were sent indoors to get slaughtered by the Huskier  
>Huskers.
>  Notre Dame basically "buys" their way into the BCS as  it stands now.  If
>you feel that such a system is just and in the interest  of the game of 
>College
>FB, then you can continue to support such an unlevel  playing field.  As 
>for
>me (and apparently Stephen), I think the system  stinks.  The only 
>redeeming
>moments are when the Boise States of the world  upset the financial 
>"applecart"
>for the Powers such as Oklahoma and their  sycophantic supporters at the 
>BCS
>and on the Bowl Committees.  I cast my  vote for parity and for a rising up 
>of
>the "excluded".  The most compelling  story in last year's NCAA Hoops 
>Tourney
>was George Mason (not Florida), and the  most compelling stories this 
>College F
>B season are Boise State, Wake Forest and  Rutgers (3 schools that we 'Cat
>fans should identify with, as we know what it is  like to wear 
>"Cinderalla's
>shoe").  Notre Dame's "shortcut" into BCS $$ and  glory (although I am not 
>sure
>how much glory there is in continual bowl defeats)  should be eliminated 
>once
>and for all.   They need to make it the  "old-fashioned way", as the Smith 
>&
>Barney commercial put it--they need to  "earn" their invitation, not 
>inherit it
>every year.
>
>Paul Levinson

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