Don't get me wrong, I love college sports. There is not anything in this world that can match a intense rivalry college basketball game for me. I love a lot of things about college sports... passion, players playing for pride and not money, the love for the game. I could go on and on but college sports is really beginning to SUCK!
I'm tired of the rat race. Every team that thinks they can move up to make more money is trying to move up. Each conference is trying to get better to earn a bigger television contract. What happened to college sports and their affiliation with school pride, love for the game and the attitude that it wasn't all about the money. Maybe it was about giving a great experience to student athletes or helping a under privileged athlete earn a degree and go on to a better life. What about natural rivalries? What about the game?
College sports administrators have forgotten the real reason that we love college sports. Look at the New Mexico State Aggie football program. We have been on the longest bowl-less drought in the nation and yet thousands of regional fans always come out to see the Aggies play the Lobos or the Miners. That is what it is about. That feeling of supporting your school and your peers on the field. It is about being an alumni and having school pride. It is about being proud of where you are from.
By realigning with where the money is instead of where your rivals and your best fit is schools are ruining college sports while the NCAA sits around and watches. They need to take control. It is ridiculous that Louisiana Tech has to travel to play Hawaii and they are in the same conference. How does that work? Or that UTEP and NMSU are about the same size school with similar athletic departments, they are 40 minutes away from each other and they aren't in the same conference. It is absolutely unheard of. Everyone is chasing the dollar rather than doing the right thing.
In pro sports you don't hear about the Colts wanting to transfer to the NFC East because they have a bunch of good teams. Which brings up a major point, in the NFL, MLB, NBA, etc., every team in the league has an equal chance to win the championship. In college sports they don't. The BCS is really the root of all evil. It is slowing tearing apart all of college sports.
The NCAA needs to take action. This is what I propose they should do. Place every BCS football team into a regional conference being mindful of the size of the university and their natural rivals... Obviously even though Toledo and Ohio State are close to each other they shouldn't be in the same conference. There is 119 teams in the D1 (and I added one more) so we would have 10 conferences with 12 teams
Pacific 12
--North--
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State
Utah
Boise State
--South--
California
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Arizona
Arizona State
Western 12
--North--
Idaho
Air Force
Utah State
BYU
Wyoming
Colorado State
--South--
San Jose State
Fresno State
Nevada
UNLV
SDSU
Hawaii
Southwest 12
--West--
New Mexico
New Mexico State
UTEP
TCU
Texas State
SMU
--East--
North Texas
Baylor
Houston
Rice
Tulsa
Memphis
Central 12
--South--
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Louisiana State
--North--
Kansas
Kansas State
Colorado
Nebraska
Missouri
Arkansas
MidSouth 12
--West--
University of Louisiana-Lafayette
University of Louisiana-Monroe
Louisiana Tech
Tulane
University of Southern Mississippi
Troy
--East--
University of Alabama-Birmingham
University of Central Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Arkansas State
Middle Tennessee
South 12
--West--
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Alabama
Auburn
Tennessee
Kentucky
--East--
Miami
USF
Florida
Florida State
Georgia
Georgia Tech
North Central 12
--West--
Iowa State
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Illinois
--East--
Michigan
Michigan State
Norte Dame
Purdue
Indiana
Ohio State
MidCentral 12
--West--
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Ball State
NIU
Miami (OH)
Bowling Green
--East--
Eastern Michigan
Toledo
Kent State
Akron
University of Ohio
Buffalo
Atlantic 12
--East--
South Carolina
Clemson
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Duke
Wake Forest
--West--
Vanderbilt
Louisville
Cincinnati
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Eastern Carolina
Northeast 12
--West--
West Virginia
Marshall
Navy
Maryland
Rutgers
Temple
--North--
Boston College
UCONN
Pittsburgh
Penn State
Army
Syracuse
So obviously some conferences such as the Central 12, South 12, North Central 12 and the Pacific 12 are going to attract the most media attention but I think we put together many natural rivalries together. Think about how much more intense rivalry games are when they really count for a lot, when they determine championships. Obviously there are still some flaws. It would be hard to have a perfect system in college sports but we can do better than what is going on now. With this system I have above I would suggest keeping the same playoff tournaments in everything but football... football would have conference championship games to send a representative to the NCAA College Football Tournament. You would have still have the coaches poll, ap poll, etc., to determine seeding. The tournament would have a play-in game for the 7,8,9 & 10 seeds.
8 seed vs 9 seed
1 seed versus the winner 8 vs. 9
4 seed versus 5 seed
3 seed versus 6 seed
2 seed versus the winner 7 vs. 10
7 seed versus 10 seed
Besides the tournament the rest of college football would receive bowl bids like how it is done now. I know it's not perfect so I would love to hear you feedback. Let me know what you think! Oh yeah and instead of teams realigning themselves they would be evaluated by a selection committee and realigned appropriately as needed.
-DJ
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Faith Hope and Love in Sports
The concepts of faith, hope and love are so vital to a successful relationship… with your sports team.
You should always remain faithful to your squad. As The Beach Boys said, “Stay True To Your School”. You wouldn’t cheat on your significant other (and if you would, you shouldn’t). So why would you ever root for another team besides the Aggies? The faithfulness of a fan base is part of what draws other fans to be a part of it. For instance, the Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and arguably have one of the three largest fan bases in baseball. Cubs’ fans are loyal to their team in both winning and losing years.
This type of loyalty leads to hope. The type of hope that makes you believe you are always poised for a comeback and the victory. This is the type of hope that encourages a positive attitude amongst the players, coaches, fans and mere spectators. It’s the kind of attitude that inspires, encourages and changes history. Fans with the positive attitude and an undying faith have no fear, no worries, nothing but confidence in their team.
The men’s basketball team has lost two straight games and head into the WAC tournament on a bit of a skid. Thinking positively, the Aggies just took a couple steps backwards to get a running start. A running start that could lead to the type of momentum that could bring a WAC championship, an appearance in the NCAA tournament or possibly more back to Las Cruces and New Mexico State University.
Think about all the miracles in sports: Flutie’s Hail Mary, the Immaculate Reception, NC State’s final shot in the 1983 championship to beat highly favored Houston. Miracles happen everyday around all of us, which leaves us no reason to ever quit believing.
After expressing this type of faith and hope in a team you develop a love and a passion for them. You are proud of them, their effort, their hard work and dedication. You are proud of the way the represented New Mexico State, our university. It’s an unconditional love. A love that has no strings attached but is its own entity. A love for your team that only can be explained by comparing it to temporary madness, a love that can explain everything when none of your actions or arguments makes sense. It’s an unconditional, unwavering, undying, endless love. Most of all the love you have for your college and sports team is a love that can see the flaws but simply decides to ignore in the fact that you see your team as perfect.
Love the Aggies during and through March Madness and year around by showing your faith and bleeding crimson. Don’t let numbers and statistics get in the way of believing in something bigger and better.
Keep living the dream Aggies,
Pistol Pete
You should always remain faithful to your squad. As The Beach Boys said, “Stay True To Your School”. You wouldn’t cheat on your significant other (and if you would, you shouldn’t). So why would you ever root for another team besides the Aggies? The faithfulness of a fan base is part of what draws other fans to be a part of it. For instance, the Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and arguably have one of the three largest fan bases in baseball. Cubs’ fans are loyal to their team in both winning and losing years.
This type of loyalty leads to hope. The type of hope that makes you believe you are always poised for a comeback and the victory. This is the type of hope that encourages a positive attitude amongst the players, coaches, fans and mere spectators. It’s the kind of attitude that inspires, encourages and changes history. Fans with the positive attitude and an undying faith have no fear, no worries, nothing but confidence in their team.
The men’s basketball team has lost two straight games and head into the WAC tournament on a bit of a skid. Thinking positively, the Aggies just took a couple steps backwards to get a running start. A running start that could lead to the type of momentum that could bring a WAC championship, an appearance in the NCAA tournament or possibly more back to Las Cruces and New Mexico State University.
Think about all the miracles in sports: Flutie’s Hail Mary, the Immaculate Reception, NC State’s final shot in the 1983 championship to beat highly favored Houston. Miracles happen everyday around all of us, which leaves us no reason to ever quit believing.
After expressing this type of faith and hope in a team you develop a love and a passion for them. You are proud of them, their effort, their hard work and dedication. You are proud of the way the represented New Mexico State, our university. It’s an unconditional love. A love that has no strings attached but is its own entity. A love for your team that only can be explained by comparing it to temporary madness, a love that can explain everything when none of your actions or arguments makes sense. It’s an unconditional, unwavering, undying, endless love. Most of all the love you have for your college and sports team is a love that can see the flaws but simply decides to ignore in the fact that you see your team as perfect.
Love the Aggies during and through March Madness and year around by showing your faith and bleeding crimson. Don’t let numbers and statistics get in the way of believing in something bigger and better.
Keep living the dream Aggies,
Pistol Pete
Taking Life Easy
Some people just take life too seriously. I wonder if they'll ever be able to joke around and laugh at themselves. It improves your mood 150%. It gives you a reason to live. When you can laugh and stay positive more people will want to be around you. So take the time to enjoy the little things today. :)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
In the Beginning...
Well, this is my first post ever... this time. I have tried to start blogging a couple time before but it just didn't work out. This time is a different story though.
Today has been really nice. I actually made it to church this morning for the first time in a couple weeks. I still got a lot to do though. I'm nearly out of clean clothes, have to write my article for the Round Up, an essay for Texas Tech and finish cleaning up my room. Mondays, WENSdays, and Fridays are so hard because I have to wake up so early. I never seem to wake up feeling like P. Diddy.
Overall I'm in a pretty good positive mood heading into the week. I really need to knock things out this week. I mean my to-do list was massive last week. I really need to do good in school from here on out too. Last week I really let myself down in nearly every class. It was really uncharacteristic of me.
The concerts were killer though. I got to meet both the Eli Young Band and Zac Brown Band. I really starting to get into this Texas Country scene. I mean you have to adapt to your surroundings and Texas Country is big here in Southern New Mexico and West Texas.
In other notes I starting to get really pumped for the summer. Brooks and Dunn are in Albuquerque on May 22 and I need to make plans to be there. I really just anxious to see where I end up next year. I mean I absolutely hate not knowing. The feeling of things being up in the air is scary but I God will put me in the right place.
Otherwise I'm super pumped for the week. I head to Reno on Tuesday and can't wait to do some work in the WAC Tournament. The NCAA's are my dream and it's time to make that happen.
I just remember I need to complete Module 5 for class so I better quit writing and get busy.
Until next time -
Today has been really nice. I actually made it to church this morning for the first time in a couple weeks. I still got a lot to do though. I'm nearly out of clean clothes, have to write my article for the Round Up, an essay for Texas Tech and finish cleaning up my room. Mondays, WENSdays, and Fridays are so hard because I have to wake up so early. I never seem to wake up feeling like P. Diddy.
Overall I'm in a pretty good positive mood heading into the week. I really need to knock things out this week. I mean my to-do list was massive last week. I really need to do good in school from here on out too. Last week I really let myself down in nearly every class. It was really uncharacteristic of me.
The concerts were killer though. I got to meet both the Eli Young Band and Zac Brown Band. I really starting to get into this Texas Country scene. I mean you have to adapt to your surroundings and Texas Country is big here in Southern New Mexico and West Texas.
In other notes I starting to get really pumped for the summer. Brooks and Dunn are in Albuquerque on May 22 and I need to make plans to be there. I really just anxious to see where I end up next year. I mean I absolutely hate not knowing. The feeling of things being up in the air is scary but I God will put me in the right place.
Otherwise I'm super pumped for the week. I head to Reno on Tuesday and can't wait to do some work in the WAC Tournament. The NCAA's are my dream and it's time to make that happen.
I just remember I need to complete Module 5 for class so I better quit writing and get busy.
Until next time -
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