Really scared about footballs future

[jpfalcon09]

I have been slowly losing interest in college football. I used to be able to watch any game. Now it's down to bg Osu and the big games. To be honest after the first quarter last week I turned bg off. I may be alone on this orand it could just be me getting older and shrinking my interests but college football is not nearly as fun as it once was.

All sports lose their interest as you get older, priorities in life change, its nothing new. I'm a huge hockey fan but I'm not nearly as upset as I thought I would be that the NHL is locked out. More important things in life to worry about.

[hammb]

I have been slowly losing interest in college football. I used to be able to watch any game. Now it's down to bg Osu and the big games. To be honest after the first quarter last week I turned bg off. I may be alone on this orand it could just be me getting older and shrinking my interests but college football is not nearly as fun as it once was.

I'm with ya. I finally gave up my BG season tickets this year and to be honest I haven't missed the games one bit...I miss tailgating with the people from AZZ.com, but that's about the extent of it. I don't think I've watched an entire college football game at all yet this year.

My interest in sports hasn't wavered one bit, but college football is just becoming a shell of its former self, IMO. The sport is corrupt as all hell and the punishments for the teams that cheat the system aren't enough to prevent further corruption. I think the biggest thing that has hurt me is that I became a big time BG fan in the awesome Urban years and early Brandon era... I think what gets to me about that is that we're NEVER going to reach that level again. I have little desire in MAC titles, what drew me in as a fan was our ability to compete with Purdue, OSU, Northwestern, etc. Now that we're back to being a cupcake to the bigger programs the game just has no interest to me any longer. And I really don't see how, in today's college football environment, we'll ever get back to competing with those teams.

The BCS just furthers the gaps between the haves and have nots to the point where I have no interest in the sport. If they ever implemented a true playoff where every conference was represented I'd probably be back, but for now my main interest in the college game is watching the best players as they prepare for the NFL.

[jakehovs23]

What I think is wack is that most of the MAC can easily beat the lower half of the ACC, Big 10, and Big East. Example: if UConn would've beaten WMU, I think a lot of people would have almost considered that an upset. WMU is just the better football team. Indiana has lost to Ball St. twice in a row, and Ball St. would barely crack the top 5 in the MAC. Not to mention they beat South Florida, who is usually pretty decent in the Big East. We just have to change the mindset that any time a MAC team beats a BCS team that it's such a big upset. Instead, place us among the "elite" conferences and know we are better than a lot of those teams. The MAC is the most underrated conference in the nation. Just my opinion.

[Globetrotter]

What I think is wack is that most of the MAC can easily beat the lower half of the ACC, Big 10, and Big East. Example: if UConn would've beaten WMU, I think a lot of people would have almost considered that an upset. WMU is just the better football team. Indiana has lost to Ball St. twice in a row, and Ball St. would barely crack the top 5 in the MAC. Not to mention they beat South Florida, who is usually pretty decent in the Big East. We just have to change the mindset that any time a MAC team beats a BCS team that it's such a big upset. Instead, place us among the "elite" conferences and know we are better than a lot of those teams. The MAC is the most underrated conference in the nation. Just my opinion.

Could be true, but they do a bad job promoting that fact.

[Globetrotter]

I have been slowly losing interest in college football. I used to be able to watch any game. Now it's down to bg Osu and the big games. To be honest after the first quarter last week I turned bg off. I may be alone on this orand it could just be me getting older and shrinking my interests but college football is not nearly as fun as it once was.

I'm with ya. I finally gave up my BG season tickets this year and to be honest I haven't missed the games one bit...I miss tailgating with the people from AZZ.com, but that's about the extent of it. I don't think I've watched an entire college football game at all yet this year.

My interest in sports hasn't wavered one bit, but college football is just becoming a shell of its former self, IMO. The sport is corrupt as all hell and the punishments for the teams that cheat the system aren't enough to prevent further corruption. I think the biggest thing that has hurt me is that I became a big time BG fan in the awesome Urban years and early Brandon era... I think what gets to me about that is that we're NEVER going to reach that level again. I have little desire in MAC titles, what drew me in as a fan was our ability to compete with Purdue, OSU, Northwestern, etc. Now that we're back to being a cupcake to the bigger programs the game just has no interest to me any longer. And I really don't see how, in today's college football environment, we'll ever get back to competing with those teams.

The BCS just furthers the gaps between the haves and have nots to the point where I have no interest in the sport. If they ever implemented a true playoff where every conference was represented I'd probably be back, but for now my main interest in the college game is watching the best players as they prepare for the NFL.

I think you nailed it here. I watch college football for pro football. i want to know who I want the Bengals to get. And even that is/has been wavering. I can just look it up and watch videos 2 weeks before the draft now. You are exactly right that college football under the current system will never be like it was for BG in early 2000's. Thats when I was here too and I was spoiled, games were fun, teams were good and competitive and I loved the product on the field. Now my expectations are so low that they affect my interest. There are ways to fix this. They are drastic. 1)16 team all conference playoff, 2)Relegation like in European Soccer, 3)Balanced OOC scheduling controlled by the NCAA. 4)Allowing players to transfer from bowl teams to non bowl teams without sitting out a year. All of those things would pique my interest and I would be back. You get OSU in the Doyt I am there. Relegation would be fun as hell to watch. The problem is with all of those things the big boys don't benefit in anyway. I agree that there is little that we can do about it. We don't have the money. What we do have is 24/7 sports news reporting. If the AD's that are getting waxed in the current deal would simply band together and start getting on these shows and make a big deal out of this atleast it would be talked about. If 50-60 teams are going to clump together and leave everyone else out that leaves 60-70 teams out in the cold. We should have atleast some agressive push back so that it gets talked about in the media. Now we are quietly going into the abyss. People understand fairness but if you are ok just taking the crumbs off the big boys table nothing is going to come of it.

[Flipper]

I just like football...I could give a s**t if we're a top 25 type program or not....hell, I used to sit in the cold, wet and wind to watch the team in the 80's when nobody gave being a top 25 team a thought. It's my school, my team...I'm going because it's football and I fricking love watching football.

[trooperden]

I am getting too old and physically unable to sit out in the elements to watch football, I have moved inside to watch the ladies bb, they are very entertaining

[MarkL]

On a national scale, the game has gotten too big, too much about money, and it has been twisted to shreds by ESPN. ESPN essentially dictates the Heisman vote, covered the recent realignments like it was a sport of itself, and in many ways should be held responsible for why Pitt-WVU, Mizzou-Kansas, and other classic rivalries dating back around a century are now defunct. ESPN, in trying to cover the sport, has been making stories instead of reporting stories and is largely to blame for the good-ol game of football turning into nothing but a money grab. TV contracts, designed to bring the game to my TV every Saturday, lead to imbalance of conferences, greed, jealousy, and completely unnecessary friction between universities. Student athletes who are only 18 or 19 years old are promoted to god-like levels of national fame, exposing them at a younger age to temptations which would not otherwise be there. Quite simply, the game has just gotten far too big and has recently been sickening me. Makes me really miss the early 2000s when my love of college football really began.

And that is one of the reasons I love the MAC so damn much. We've barely been affected by this realignment crap, the corruption of the game just isn't there because it's not an Alabama-sized business at our universities. It's all about the game, the athletes, the atmosphere. Each team has the same few set of goals ... win the MAC champ, go to and win a bowl game, beat the snot out of your rival(s), and graduate with a solid degree. The games are often really fun. That-team-down-south vs Akron last week was awesome, the high scoring affairs of last year were a blast to watch, the CMU-EMU game of 2008 won't be forgotten anytime soon, and I know I'll never forget the 22 catches by Freddie Barnes and the comeback vs Kent State in 2009. The MAC may be the most underappreciated conference in the country, and I can say for sure it is the most fun conference to watch, in terms of shootout games and unpredictability. Everyone, everyone knew two weeks ago that Ohio is the best in the conference and UMass is the worst, yet last Saturday these two teams were just three points apart. The parity of this conference helps make it so fun, so unique.

BEAT THE ZIPS!!

[BGFalconfromCincy]

Ah yes, blaming ESPN for the problems in sports, the most overused excuse in the book for fans.

[Globetrotter]

Am I naive to think that it didn't used to be all about the money?

[Rightupinthere]

It's BG and I would follow them if they were NAIA.

I don't care about professional sports because if not for that sport those dummies would be holding a "Stop/Slow" sign for ODOT road crews. I don't see the appeal of watching pro sports - I just don't.

I also don't give a s**t about O$U because I didn't go to that school. I know that makes me a bad Ohioan for those in the TShirt alumni base. Give me BG or I'll find some other entertainment like hookers and blow.

Anyway, whatever happens happens. I will still watch BG because I always pull for the family - and we are all family.

[kdog27]

I just like football...I could give a s**t if we're a top 25 type program or not....hell, I used to sit in the cold, wet and wind to watch the team in the 80's when nobody gave being a top 25 team a thought. It's my school, my team...I'm going because it's football and I fricking love watching football.

+ 1

[h2oville rocket]

It's BG and I would follow them if they were NAIA.

I don't care about professional sports because if not for that sport those dummies would be holding a "Stop/Slow" sign for ODOT road crews. I don't see the appeal of watching pro sports - I just don't.

I also don't give a s**t about O$U because I didn't go to that school. I know that makes me a bad Ohioan for those in the TShirt alumni base. Give me BG or I'll find some other entertainment like hookers and blow.

Anyway, whatever happens happens. I will still watch BG because I always pull for the family - and we are all family.

But all the hookers and blow come from OSU so you're right back in that cycle.

[Warthog]

O$U basically refuses to play a NC game away from home. They aren't going to find that many teams to come there without a return trip. If they want to keep their 8 homes gave every year, it's going to be difficult to avoid the "cupcakes" permanently.

That is changing. AT Cal next year, and at least one road game in 15, 16, 17 and 18. And a neutral site game in Baltimore against Navy next season.

[Falcon137]

O$U basically refuses to play a NC game away from home. They aren't going to find that many teams to come there without a return trip. If they want to keep their 8 homes gave every year, it's going to be difficult to avoid the "cupcakes" permanently.

That is changing. AT Cal next year, and at least one road game in 15, 16, 17 and 18. And a neutral site game in Baltimore against Navy next season.

Because future schedules never change.