By T. R. Shaw Jr.
Perhaps I’m
entering my “Grumpy Old Man” era, but I’m disappointed with the direction of college
football.
Michigan and Ohio State was, and
still is everything in college football.
The Victor typically won the Big Ten when there were still ten schools,
and earned a trip to the Rose Bowl, the Granddaddy of them all! Who cared about ranking!
I didn’t make it to Michigan, but I
ended up at Central Michigan where I took the passion I learned for college
football in Ann Arbor to Mount Pleasant.
I’ve been a loyal Chippewa season ticket holder and supporter since I
graduated. I attend most of the games, as any loyal alumni should.
CMU’s Kelly-Shorts Stadium is no
“Big House”, but it has provided many great “Central Saturdays” over the years,
including last decade, under Brian Kelly and Butch Jones. CMU produced superstars like Antonio Brown,
Dan LeFevour, Joe Staley, and Eric Fisher the 2013 #1 Draft pick in all of
college football, and most recently Cooper Rush, now a rookie quarterback with
the Dallas Cowboys. Chippewa Nation longs
for another “Championship Culture.”
I still attend at least one of the
games each season in Ann Arbor, as my sister inherited our family tickets and
actually earned a Maize and Blue sheepskin. Every game used to be reliably, a 1:00
Saturday date, etched in stone. Then TV
came and changed all that.
Today, game times aren’t even announced
until a few days before, making it very difficult to plan ahead or invite friends. Will it be a noon game? 3:00 game or possibly
a night game? This is a question the
Michigan fans are asking, and for many their patience is growing thin. At least the Wolverine faithful still have
Saturday games. Rarely, has there been a
weeknight game in the Big Ten.
The Mid-American Conference is now playing
a lot of weeknight games. I’m disappointed
the marquee MAC game, Central Michigan versus Western Michigan, will be played
on a Wednesday night in November!
College football has lost all respect for fans with weeknight games for
TV.
A few years ago, the CMU-WMU game
was played on a Tuesday night on ESPN2.
Then, it was the only college game in the nation that night, yet it played
second-fiddle to ESPN which carried Poker.
I always thought that was rather insulting and a huge missed opportunity
to showcase “real” college football.
The Athletic Directors and NCAA
argue they make money on TV, but they are doing it with supposed “student-athletes”
who have to skip classes, travel, and recover after weeknight games. It makes no sense and the NCAA ought to be
ashamed about what they are doing to these kids for the sake of
“exposure.”
It’s not just the players, the fans
are also forgotten with these games.
Most of the midweek games have half-empty stadiums; few will travel
great distances on a weeknight, they simply can’t. Add to that, the constant “TV Time Outs”
destroys the pace of the game and make these games 4-5 hours of torture for those
who show up. After several of these long
pauses to pitch beer and car insurance, many fans around me once started
yelling, “Just Play the Game Damn It!” Night
games sometimes end after midnight. This
also destroys some of the economic impact in the college town as everyone heads
home after the game.
My concern
is that TV has so invaded the college atmosphere that we’ve lost the true
essence of the game. Back in the Bo and
Woody era, you sat on the edge of your seat as you watched the crusade unfold. You didn’t have the long breaks, things kept
moving and you couldn’t take your eyes off it.
I’m concerned young fans will never have that experience, for some it’s
become like watching a baseball game.
I’m also
concerned that many long and devoted alumni and fans will turn away from
attending and supporting programs. I’m
hearing more and more say they will stay at home and watch the game, as all of
them are now televised and they don’t have to deal with the hassle, expense,
and uncertainty of game time. Many
cannot afford to take the kids and the neighbors to games anymore, like when I
was growing up. That’s a true shame!
I sincerely
hope the current fan rift in the NFL doesn’t spill over into college
football. Longtime fans are burning
their tickets and jerseys and boycotting the games over the player and owner
activism, right or wrong. Add to that
the massive amount of money in sneaker and uniform deals might finally get some
scrutiny after the NCAA was “willfully ignorant” when the FBI began arresting
basketball coaches. You can bet that
will affect football too! More to come
on that!
Schembechler
once said, “College football is a religion, and Saturday is the Holy Day of
Obligation.” The next few years will determine
if the flock stays together; whether fans and alumni will continue to dump
obscene amounts of money into licensing and tickets when the program and TV
isn’t paying attention to the customer.
It’s a business plan that might have dire consequences down the road. A generation may be lost and once loyal
alumni are no longer willing to write the big checks.
I still
love college football and can’t think of a better place to be than in one of
the great athletic cathedrals on a fall weekend, sitting in the sunshine. The faithful will continue to come, so long
as the message and sermon continues to inspire.
College football needs to return to
being college football and the rich traditions which made it the product we
can’t get enough of. Enough with late night and week night games! Let’s make fall
Saturday afternoons special again!
T. R. Shaw Jr., is CEO of Shaw
Communication in Battle Creek, Michigan.
He blogs at: The Reluctant
R(L)eader at www.read-mor.blogspot.com
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