FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Li'l Giant]

Smed, +k for the Monty Python reference.

[Breckenridgebear]

Yo ... second stringer ... Breckenridgebear

Not only can you not write?  spell? ... but you do not even know what DePauw is good for

... afraid of DePauw women ... not me ... I married one. 

As to the DePauw police/administration antics at Dannie hosted Bell games ... evidently you have missed the last number of them.  Michigan City is easier to walk around in.

Now back to the "where is Waldo/Walker" saga ... going on 7 days, nada ... and the "ISU, he took the great opportunity job" is debunked. 

WAD-CO, I have no idea where you are going, but thanks for clearing that up. Crystal.

According to your prior post, you stated that you don't attend bell games at DePauw. How exactly do you know what is going on if you are afraid to make the trip?

[wabco]

Breck - me - boy

You are mixed up.  You label as fear that which is actually disgust.  The same disgust as there is for the conduct of your administration in Walkergate.

[TigerDad]

And give me the envelope with the secret info on Walker-gate.

+k, smedindy.  THAT was funny.   

[DPU3619]

wabco, I ask this in all seriousness:  Why are you so upset about this whole thing?  What's it to you?  It shouldn't have any impact on you until the last game of the fall. 

Alright, our program is a wreck.  Cool.  Point and laugh.  Go ahead.  We'll figure it out in 5 months.

[Fripp52]

The Wabanians have nothing else to do other than obsess and speculate over Walker's departure.  Why the extreme interest ?  I have moved on and I have a kid in the program.

[wally_wabash]

The Wabanians have nothing else to do other than obsess and speculate over Walker's departure.  Why the extreme interest ?  I have moved on and I have a kid in the program.

The inverse could be asked of your crew, Fripp.  Why so much apathy?  The revolving door has been spinning for seven years down there now...I can't imagine that you, especially with your vested interest in the program, aren't the least bit curious as to what the heck is going on.  

So why the extreme interest?  Because, with all due respect to the new "facilities" at the Papp, this story is the most interesting thing happening right now...certainly in the region, and perhaps in D-III.  This thing should be interesting to the casual fan of D-III football let alone anybody with a particular interest in DPU athletics (which includes the Wabash crowd...we've usually got one eye trained on what's going on in Greencastle).

[bashbrother]

I truly believe that fact that Wabash folk are interested to the extent they are can be summed up in a few simple concepts:   

1.  The depth of rivalry has proven it extends off the field of play.

2.  Possible extra material/props for the "Last game every Fall."  (obviously this will depend on what the final story is)

[Duster72]

I never got the sense that any of us Wabash posters were deriding DePauw at all, outside of the administration.  I get the sense that we all feel bad for the alums, players, and parents who care about the program.  Overall there is a lot of respect given to your program.

There is obviously a cultural difference between the two schools.  Wabash is around the top of D3 for attendance, are one of the top supporters of the Kickoff program sold here, and some of the most active posters on this board.  I don't go to any other DePauw games, but I get a pretty strong sense that the football team isn't a big deal around campus but for 1 Saturday a year, which certainly isn't the case at Wabash.

I think we'd be talking as much about it if this happened at Franklin, Wheaton, or any other school we have any interest in.  People here like D3 football in general, not just the Little Giants.

The only people being crass are DPU supporters from what I have seen.  Why they feel the need to behave that way is inexplicable to me.  

[D3_DPUFan]

I think we'd be talking as much about it if this happened at Franklin, Wheaton, or any other school we have any interest in.  People here like D3 football in general, not just the Little Giants.

If you really believe that, your are delusional.  

Alright, our program is a wreck.  Cool.  Point and laugh.  Go ahead.  We'll figure it out in 5 months.

Wes, I trust you were using the reference to the program for emphasis, because the program is certainly far from a wreck.  And, as you suggest, for purposes of this discussion, it will be figured out in about 5 months.  

[Fripp52]

Define crass.  If it means the DePauw folks who post on here make a few comments about the Walker situation and then move on, I guess we are crass.  I don't feel the need to continue to speculate what happened.  Am I interested, yes, especially if it was a policy violation or something along those lines.  My son said it will be weird.  But for him, Long is the D-Coordinator which is his side of the ball.  He dealt with Long 80% of the time.  So he sees little or no change.  Last night he said, it won't be a big change.  Long ran the team already as assistant head coach.

What do you call the Wabash posters who beat the topic to death ?

[wally_wabash]

What do you call the Wabash posters who beat the topic to death ?

If somebody makes a statement and tells the public what happened and we're still here a week later pounding it into the ground, then you've got a point.  But right now, the silence is deafening.  This could have been a one or two day story, but the parties involved decided to dump gasoline on the fire by saying and doing nothing.  Grant somebody an interview.  Put out a release with relevant information.  Anything of the sort is going to calm the frenzy. 

[BashDad]

Look-- the only reason we're talking about it (beating it to death is ridiculous; this happens at a big ten school and it's the lead story on sportscenter) is because it's being kept a secret. Personally, I don't think it has any bearing on Depauw's season and I could care less whether the players think it's a big deal or not. Of course they're not going to be riled up. Being agitated, pissed, whatever, would be dangerous. They know that. They know what they could ruin. They're players. They play. They don't want to get caught up.

But we do. You watch sports, or I do, not just for first downs and touchdowns, but for what they mean; The story-lines of the game, the narratives: underdogs, over-achievers, injuries and miraculous comebacks, coaches being hired and fired, ordinary people transforming into heroes and the reverse. I find myself rooting for Michael Vick as if he were Roy Hobbs. And sometimes, like here, it's a story-line that extends the chalk lines. Hell yes, I'm interested. And I don't buy your indifference, either. Move on? Tell me first what we're moving on from. You can't ask me to be interested in football, in division III football, in Wabash or Depauw, and then to cool my jets when the most intriguing twist since Creighton's departure happens. Especially in the hollow dead zone which is the weeks directly before camp. Nope. This is part of it. Part of my interest and of yours. Whether you like it or not, this is Chapter One of the 2009 Depauw Tigers. And it's only half-written. It's not obscene to want answers. It's part of the territory. Part of the lore of a rivalry that's constantly evolving and important to all of us. This is not some crass pursuit. It's righteous. We deserve perspective and judgement and the allowance for conversation. It's why we're all on a message board in the first place.

[bashbrother]

It's like Rush or Beck, if you don't like whats being said, turn off the radio and don't listen. 

If you don't like what is being written by Bash posters on the NCAC board, go back to your own board and sit, except for Wes and D3-DPUFan.   You both are objective keepers that get it.

The fact of the matter is that the super-charged curiosity that is created by the silence has ALL of us tuning in.  A simple acknowledgment by someone from either side to the press as to the nature of this issue and this story fades away.   Until that time, the silence is not doing your school's athletic department any favors.

[LGHistorian]

I will throw in a couple of other factors.  I have far greater interest in this story than the previous coaching changes in Greencastle because he (Walker) was one of your own.  His family has DePauw "roots."  I would be deeply concerned should Wabash ever release a former Little Giant as coach under similar circumstances.

The other factor is that he is a Crawfordsville HS product who played baseball for the Athenians and also found time in the summer to help in various ways with different teams in Montgomery County which also is home to Wabash.  There are a great deal of county citizens, who have nothing absolutely to do with Wabash or DePauw, who are also curious as to what happened there.  The Paper of Montgomery County ran a story the day after the resignation and the story was the #1 clicked on story for that week. There has been no further story about this which concerned Walker but this week the very same story is still the #2 clicked on feature.

If a few days from now a new job is announced or if there is some sort of public statement thanking the coach and wishing him good luck on future endeavors I am sure this topic will go away faster than an ice cube on a sidewalk in July.  Until we have our first looks at scrimmages or the first official games of the year in about 2-3 weeks this is one of the most talked about stories for what it's worth...good or bad.