College Football 2018-19

[Michael Hopcroft]

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

Urban Meyer retiring after rose bowl

 

As a Ohio State alum, I hope he goes away quietly at this press conference today.  He should have been fired for his behavior and hopefully he will not try to fire up the Neanderthal fans that feel he has been wronged.

Is there a criminal penalty for not following up on your duty as a Mandatory Reporter? Not that any jury in Columbus would ever convict him, because -- hey, THE Ohio State University!

 

Urban Meyer represents the worst of the "Victory over Morality" culture that dominates coaching in college football. If he can't prevent or punish violent behavior in his coaching staff, how can he possibly speak about morality to his players? If a college coach's only job is to win football games, then we have a problem -- a serious problem.

[Cancer]

Some of us have known for decades that we have had that problem.

[Pariah]

* cough * Gary Barnett * cough *

[unclevlad]

Yeah, I think it's a bit too strong to say Meyer represents the worst, as that seems to single him out.  He's another in the long line, is how I'd rather put it.  Barnett, going back a ways, yes.  More recently, Rick Pitino.  A different aspect, but the North Carolina academic scandal.

 

And yes, college sports has serious, core problems.  They've been there for decades, but the explosive proliferation of broadcast time, translating into massive growth on the financial side, is much more recent.  We can't ignore, at the big schools, the influence of mega-donations...Phil Knight with Oregon, T. Boone Pickens at OSU, etc.  They expect success.  They also tend to force all the other programs to upgrade...expensively.  Whether through broad fundraising or a big-time SUGAR DADDY.  It's a money game now.  That inherently invites cheating  and/or unethical behavior because the rewards are too great NOT to.  (Ryan Braun.)

[Badger]

Why haven't we heard from Iuz today?

 

 

I am also wondering who is Lolth pulling for in the playoffs (though I hear she is a University of Richmond fan)

[Iuz the Evil]

Boooooooomer. (I love Billy Sims, every time he just gets noisy in the fancy ass awards ceremony)

 

Heisman Park in Norman is getting crowded.

 

Lloth, I believe is a fan of Richmond as you indicate. Not much playoff motivation there.

 

Baphomet cheers for Clemson (Tigers = beasts), Dagon likes Alabama (depths = Crimson Tide), and Kostchtchie the Fighting Irish (Wrath).

 

Not sure who dad is rooting for these days, Graz'zt  usually cheers for whoever is playing my team. We've got that kind of relationship.

 

Anyway, demon lord association with storied franchises aside... today was a pretty fun day.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Who should stay away from Twitter?

 

Pretty much everybody...

[Iuz the Evil]

14 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

Who should stay away from Twitter?

 

Pretty much everybody...

Yeah, there's a reason my only social media platform is LinkedIn

[Cancer]

That's one more than me.

[Pariah]

I only have two social media platforms:

 

1. The Book of Face

2. Hero Games Forums 

 

And that's enough for me.

[Starlord]

Eastern Washington Eagles beat Portland State to earn a possible 1st round bye in the FCS playoffs.  Can anyone tell me what advantages they may have by playing on their home field?

 

 

Psst:  they're the team in red...IF you can find them.  ?

[Pariah]

Eastern Washington will host Maine on that field next weekend in the FCS semifinals. The winner gets a ticket to the championship game, likely against perennial powerhouse North Dakota State (or maybe South Dakota State).

 

In early season games, temperatures on that field have been reported near 120°F (49°C). Yikes!

 

Also, the high school where I teach has an artificial-surface football field in school colors.

[Starlord]

On 12/9/2018 at 4:15 AM, Michael Hopcroft said:

Who should stay away from Twitter?

 

Pretty much everybody...

 

Mike Gundy, head coach at Oklahoma State, sums up my feelings on Twitter perfectly.  

 

 

PS:  He's also rocking the same haircut I wore most of the 80s.  

 

[unclevlad]

Starloard, I hope you have good liability insurance for all the retinal burn you caused with that pic......

[Cancer]

7 hours ago, Starlord said:

Eastern Washington Eagles beat Portland State to earn a possible 1st round bye in the FCS playoffs.  Can anyone tell me what advantages they may have by playing on their home field?

 

 

Psst:  they're the team in red...IF you can find them.  ?

 

W00t!  Eastern Washington U!  Get a road map of Spokane County, draw the perpendicular across I-90 that passes through EWU.  Flip that point across I-90 on the perpendicular, and that's where I went to high school.

 

The whole area is a dump.  (The geological province is the Channeled Scablands.  See?)  But red and white were my high school's colors, so I shouldn't complain too bitterly ... though I will.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I visited EWU for a theatre festival/competition on behalf of my school at the time (Pacific University), that I was representing in their theatre criticism competition. I didn't win, but they told me I was pretty good at it. If I had completed my senior year, I probably would have given it another go. The main thing I remember about the campus was that it was very cold in February.

The plays I saw were Amadeus, Delimax (an original play about the Holocaust that wasn't all that good), Waiting for Godot (of which I completely missed the point, to be corrected by my professor on the way home), and Cloud Nine (which would never get a production today due to, among other things, a long string of pederasty jokes). The productions were from several different small colleges who had companies similar to the unofficially-organized repertory company at Pacific. The better plays, obviously, were the better productions.

 

 

[Badger]

On ‎12‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 6:51 AM, Starlord said:

Eastern Washington Eagles beat Portland State to earn a possible 1st round bye in the FCS playoffs.  Can anyone tell me what advantages they may have by playing on their home field?

 

 

Psst:  they're the team in red...IF you can find them.  ?

 

That football field must have been near the Overlook Hotel.

[unclevlad]

So if you want to watch Football For FUN!!  

 

Tonight's the Stagg Bowl, AKA the Div III championship.  NO athletic scholarships...altho there are workarounds.  But pro chances are vanishingly small.  Still a fun game to watch.

 

There's also a very uncivil border war in the FCS semis...South Dakota State vs. North Dakota State.  In Fargo...but fortunately indoors, given that we're talking Fargo, mid-December, at night.  And, well, if you want to risk permanent eye damage.......Maine's playing at Eastern Washington.  Yes...the evil, hideous, ugly red stuff.  That's tomorrow.  Fortunately the first of the bowl games also kick off tomorrow, with several of the....less than compelling games.  The New Mexico Bowl.  (It's up in the Albaturkey.  It must be dissed.)  New Orleans Bowl  Las Vegas Bowl.  Ohhh, ahh.  Things don't get crazy until after Christmas this year.

[Badger]

New Orleans and Las Vegas, 2 cities where crazy (edit) always seems to happen.

[Pariah]

The New Mexico Bowl features 10-2 Utah State, ranked in the top 25 for much of the latter part of the season, against 9-3 North Texas. It could very well be one of those "first team to 50 wins" games. It's a much better matchup than that game usually gets.

[unclevlad]

And watching the New Mexico Bowl saves my poor old eyes.

 

Besides, the official question of New Mexico is, Red or Green?  Green!!!!

 

EDIT:  man, one thing I dislike about early bowl games.  Utah State's head coach bailed, moving to Texas Tech, and took a big chunk of the staff with him.  Never liked that.  Granted, these bowl games in particular are borderline exhibition games.

Fun exercise...seeing the effort ESPN goes to, to avoid showing shots of the crowd.  There was one just now (yeah, the game's on) from a ground-level shot across the field.  Attendance is...soft.  Let's just call it that.  As is actually fairly common for these.  The game's in UNM's stadium, and UNM winter commencement was last night.  So there's no one on campus.  Also interesting...and scary from the organizers' perspective...they have no title sponsor.  That's not good for longer-term viability.

[Iuz the Evil]

On 12/4/2018 at 9:51 AM, Michael Hopcroft said:

Is there a criminal penalty for not following up on your duty as a Mandatory Reporter? Not that any jury in Columbus would ever convict him, because -- hey, THE Ohio State University!

 

I missed this earlier. Varies by state is the answer.

 

https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/laws-policies/statutes/report/

 

For Ohio:

 

Failure to Report  
Rev. Code § 2151.99
Any person who fails to report suspected child abuse or neglect, as required by § 2151.421, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth  
degree.
Any person required to report by § 2151.421(A)(4) [requiring reports by clergy] who fails to report when knowing that a child has been  
abused or neglected and knowing that the person who committed the abuse or neglect was a cleric or another person other than a  
volunteer, designated by a church, religious society, or faith to act as a leader, official, or delegate on behalf of the church, religious  
society, or faith, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree if the person who has failed to report and the person who committed  
the abuse or neglect belong to the same church, religious society, or faith.  
The person who fails to report is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree if the child suffers or faces the threat of suffering the  
physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or condition that would be the basis of the required report when the child is under the  
direct care or supervision of another person over whom the offender has supervisory control.

[Pariah]

2 hours ago, unclevlad said:

And watching the New Mexico Bowl saves my poor old eyes.

 

Besides, the official question of New Mexico is, Red or Green?  Green!!!!

 

EDIT:  man, one thing I dislike about early bowl games.  Utah State's head coach bailed, moving to Texas Tech, and took a big chunk of the staff with him.  Never liked that.  Granted, these bowl games in particular are borderline exhibition games.

Fun exercise...seeing the effort ESPN goes to, to avoid showing shots of the crowd.  There was one just now (yeah, the game's on) from a ground-level shot across the field.  Attendance is...soft.  Let's just call it that.  As is actually fairly common for these.  The game's in UNM's stadium, and UNM winter commencement was last night.  So there's no one on campus.  Also interesting...and scary from the organizers' perspective...they have no title sponsor.  That's not good for longer-term viability.

 

The fact that you saw the game on television and are commenting about it online makes up for the fact that there aren't that many seats filled at the stadium. For these third-tier bowl games, ticket revenue isn't really the point, I think.

[Badger]

4 hours ago, unclevlad said:

And watching the New Mexico Bowl saves my poor old eyes.

 

Besides, the official question of New Mexico is, Red or Green?  Green!!!!

 

EDIT:  man, one thing I dislike about early bowl games.  Utah State's head coach bailed, moving to Texas Tech, and took a big chunk of the staff with him.  Never liked that.  Granted, these bowl games in particular are borderline exhibition games.

Fun exercise...seeing the effort ESPN goes to, to avoid showing shots of the crowd.  There was one just now (yeah, the game's on) from a ground-level shot across the field.  Attendance is...soft.  Let's just call it that.  As is actually fairly common for these.  The game's in UNM's stadium, and UNM winter commencement was last night.  So there's no one on campus.  Also interesting...and scary from the organizers' perspective...they have no title sponsor.  That's not good for longer-term viability.

 

Maybe, I am antiquated, but I'd feel duty-bound to finish the season out, at least.

[unclevlad]

2 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

The fact that you saw the game on television and are commenting about it online makes up for the fact that there aren't that many seats filled at the stadium. For these third-tier bowl games, ticket revenue isn't really the point, I think.

 

 

It's not necessarily the primary revenue stream, but it is important, as I understand.  I think loss of a title sponsor probably means more, tho.  

It is true, tho, that most of the pre-Christmas bowls are easy tickets.

 

Badger:  my feeling too.  It's also a reason why I'm on the players' side in a number of ways.  They're almost indentured...not quite, but transferring before graduation is a bear.  Coaches can move freely.

 

It's gonna get worse because signing day's moved up.  ESPN televised the announcement of the #1 rated HS player during halftime of the NM Bowl.  It's not binding;  the early signing period (which IS binding) starts on the 19th.  Still  quite early in the bowl season.  So there's exceptional pressure on a school that booted their sorry excuse of a loser in yet another pointless attempt to keep up with the handful of Dynasties, to get their next exercise in futility in place ASAP.

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2806294-explaining-how-college-footballs-early-national-signing-day-works