Just for the record I’ve been keen on Stanford and Cal all along. Both terrific schools.
Conference Realignment
- Thread starter DavidBenAkiva
- Start date
Seeing as you are using the CFP rules, your table is correct and this statement is not. I expect we will see people confused about it in December as well.
Same with me. And as a Duke fan, I'm fine with SMU as well. Strong alumni presence there and a fun road trip, and may help at least marginally with recruiting in TX.
I agree. There are two times to brag about “your” school from an academic perspective - when you get accepted and when you have a degree. The latter is largely not relevant for many high level athletes, and the former is based upon athletic admissions criteria and not (significantly) academic criteria.
The two arenas have become basically divorced.
Is there anyone who posts on this site who is not proud of Coach K's last team even though their academic performance was substandard? They still wore the Duke name on the uniform and represented our school.
I am very proud that our athletes seem to have some academic component to their experience. Maybe I'm wrong about that. But I'm realistic that my love for Duke athletics will not end if the academic part diminishes even more.
I am very proud that our athletes seem to have some academic component to their experience. Maybe I'm wrong about that. But I'm realistic that my love for Duke athletics will not end if the academic part diminishes even more.
Mike Petrik
Member
I respect that, I really do. But I'm in the other camp, which perhaps is smaller. Over the years my passion for Duke basketball has waned into interest. I redirected it toward football, but I'm realistic enough to know that too is endangered. Yes, I know that the student-athlete concept was always vulnerable and unevenly applied, but I admired Duke's devotion to it even if it was occasionally imperfect. We are headed in the direction of abandonment, and perhaps for very good reasons, but those reasons don't refresh my passion. If I want pro sports I know where I can get them, complete with thoughtful rules to sustain fair competition.
chrishoke
Member
I'm with you Mike.
And I still think Shane Battier and Grant Hill would be attracted to Duke if they were being recruited today eve\n though knowing they would likely be leaving early.
Since the mass exodus of Duke players after last year, I barely care about the basketball team at all. The only EK thread I check regularly is the Conference Realignment thread. I don’t know the names of the incoming transfers and have no interest in learning about them. I have no interest in rosterbating threads for next year either.
I did not renew my cable streaming service when College football started this year and I don’t intend to. At this point I don’t expect to renew for hoops either. I’ll watch highlights and some replays. Proctor is the only player I’m really pulling for and I’m curious about Flagg. I may change my mind but right now I just don’t care about how good of a team that Duke can rent, knowing they’ll be back on the block at season’s end. I don’t blame the players for following the money. I would do the same thing. It’s just not interesting to watch minor league pros who are perpetual free agents. How long before Duke picks up a former Tar Heel or vice versa? Not interested.
FosterCoachK82
Member
I want to be like you and not care. I’m disgusted with college sports and it’s hard to relate to the players. I think modern big time sports is antithetical to the university’s mission. But still I watch.
sagegrouse
Member
What name is on the front of the jersey?? Go Duke!!
Whose name is on the checks? I don’t expect many people to share my opinion and I don’t make value judgements about how other people support their team. For me, the name printed on the front doesn’t mitigate how and why they got the jersey to begin with. Go ca$h!
camion
Member
Personally I've always been a fan of money.
Money can't buy happiness, but one might as well be comfortable in their misery.
I’m also a fan of money, as well as time. Especially my time and money. I love spending it as I choose. I try not to spend it worrying about how others spend theirs.Personally I've always been a fan of money.
Money can't buy happiness, but one might as well be comfortable in their misery.
Mike Petrik
Member
I hear you but see that is the problem, at least for me. We are heading into an environment where that is the player's chief connection to our school.
Mike Petrik
Member
I do too, but not like I once did. Back in the day I would refuse to attend an event that conflicted with a big Duke basketball game. Not anymore, but I watch when and if convenient. That is a huge change, at least for me. I still have passion for the football team, partly because they are underdogs and partly because I sense the student-athlete thing still has a bit of currency. As it diminishes, so does my passion and my viewing commitment.
LeadingEdge
Member
But what is the personal or emotional connection to the players that draws you in?
My college sports fandom goes back to the late seventies. All along, the academic part of student-athlete (SA) has been sketchy, especially in football and men's basketball. It's gotten sketchier with online classes, questionable new majors, the bulking up of "tutors" and their services, and frequent transferring. I consider that sketchiness a bigger issue than paying players. Are players really getting college educations that prepare them to earn a living for life and after sports?
But, even turning a blind eye to the academics, the players often used to choose schools based upon a feeling of a personal connection, just as we did. (Yes, some, particularly in SEC football, got paid to choose too.) And those players generally stayed and graduated. You felt a personal connection with them because you walked the same paths, attended classes in the same Academical Village, shared many of the same college experiences, and felt a lifetime common bond after graduation with your fellow alumni (even those you don't know personally). I think that many players who went the distance at one school feel that connection just as powerfully as we non-varsity athletes do.
Not presently. Now, for a large fraction (perhaps the vast majority) of rev-sports athletes, playing is just an in-your-face transactional year-to-year financial relationship. Players transfer for bigger payments, often yearly. We alumni may still feel sentimental toward the school and the face of it, the teams on TV, because we have such a special and emotional connection to the school. But perhaps we're just being schmucks - being sentimental over a system where the rev-sports players (and many of the coaches) are purely and coldly transactional. You like the cute girl with the engaging personality, but she's only interested in the size of your bank account.
I don't begrudge a player maximizing income, particularly if that player has meager pro earnings prospects. But fans matter too, and the loss of fan-athlete connection sucks for fans. I still watch because the positives still exceed the growing negatives. But that calculation might tip into the red soon.
Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15
Member
FosterCoachK82
Member
Depends, perfect! The Depends Duke Blue Devils! Players and coaches will be contracted to wear them. No shorts.