FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[HuffyLegend]

(This will be my farewell post.  My time here has been enjoyable to say the least.  I am now moving on to snowier pastures.  Richard Roomes for the next Obama; Jake Gilbert for the next Ric Flair)

Psychologically speaking, I believe the gentleman from Greencastle is suffering from the same malady that struck John Edwards, Post-Jordan Pippen, Srappy-Doo and Van Hagar.  Simply put (so he will understand it along with the educated elite that comprise most of this board), it entails the feeling that one is not relevant, even though they are achingly close to someone of great relevance.

It is incurable.  It will never leave his (or her, we need to remember that some of their women are more invested in the success of their football program than their boys...the boys  did chose to go to Depauw remember) psyche.  Every post will have at least a small semblance of the same angst that uttered the phrase "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha."

[wabndy]

Do you think I have a subconcsious anti-Wabash bias? 

Humm' let me just save this little quote until next November's discussion.

P.S. Point taken on 3,318. Although I trust D3 attendance numbers about as much as I trust ... Um ...

Agreed.  Probably about as much as I trust opponent's pressbox crews on tracking defensive stats.  That being said - I feel pretty confident in saying there were a few more than 3,318 at every monon bell game I've attended (even the '95 snow bowl).

[smedindy]

K-Mack, having worked at Wabash, there is a lot of money being spent on teaching and learning both in the classroom and out of the classroom. Students are traveling on immersion trips and overseas semesters at a high rate, and a lot of the endowment is spent on scholarship and to help student-faculty research.

D3-DPU Fan drinks the DPU kool-aid even more than some of our Wabash posters drink our kool-aid, and that's saying quite a bit!

Basing an opinion of a team just by seeing them at a rivalry game is ludicrous. Do you not know that anything and everything happens at a Bell game?? Yeesh.

[D3_DPUFan]

Huffy Legend...
Well done...
and if the intent was to turn my stomach, you did it with the John Edwards reference...

[usee]

seems like a bit of stretch to say 3 teams were better in all phases of the game based on a wabash v depauw game that was won on a last second field goal after a pretty evenly matched game in Greencastle. Its not like Depauw dominated Wabash. I don't see how you can come close to saying 3 teams are better than wabash based on what you saw.

i'm basing it on watching the bell game as well as the other games on DePauw's schedule.

so? There is no logical argument for Depauw being better in all 3 phases of the game than wabash just because you saw other games on Depauw's schedule. DePauw won at home in a very close contest. DePauw got smoked by Trinity and Milsaps. Wabash got smoked by UWW. So Trinity and Milsaps must be as good as UWW then right? makes perfect sense.

[D3_DPUFan]

so? There is no logical argument for Depauw being better in all 3 phases of the game than wabash just because you saw other games on Depauw's schedule. DePauw won at home in a very close contest. DePauw got smoked by Trinity and Milsaps. Wabash got smoked by UWW. So Trinity and Milsaps must be as good as UWW then right? makes perfect sense.

valid points---but i didn't say they are necessarily better in all three phases...and most of all i'm not basing my opinion on comparing scores, especially of teams I haven't seen...all i'm saying is based on watching the teams play---o & d line play, toghness, quickness, overall talent, etc.---i think that to be the case. simply personal opinion. period.   the only head to head comparion happens to be the bell game. look, i have nothing but respect for the wabash program and the passion that you guys have for your school...just throwing out my 2 cents (perhaps less)... 

[usee]

so? There is no logical argument for Depauw being better in all 3 phases of the game than wabash just because you saw other games on Depauw's schedule. DePauw won at home in a very close contest. DePauw got smoked by Trinity and Milsaps. Wabash got smoked by UWW. So Trinity and Milsaps must be as good as UWW then right? makes perfect sense.

valid points---but i didn't say they are necessarily better in all three phases...and most of all i'm not basing my opinion on comparing scores, especially of teams I haven't seen...all i'm saying is based on watching the teams play---o & d line play, toghness, quickness, overall talent, etc.---i think that to be the case. simply personal opinion. period.   the only head to head comparion happens to be the bell game. look, i have nothing but respect for the wabash program and the passion that you guys have for your school...just throwing out my 2 cents (perhaps less)... 

for the record I am not a wabash guy. I am a CCIW guy and a wheaton alum. I just read your arguement and it made no sense to me. but you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

Of all the teams you saw play, who has the best cheerleaders?

[wally_wabash]

DPUFan, when are you going to get it?  Nobody cares until you have conference championships and playoff wins.  Nobody.  10 years in that league and you've got one shared championship and zero playoff appearances (let alone playoff wins).  Crow all you want about the game in November, but what did it really mean?  It didn't knock Wabash out of the tournament.  It didn't put DePauw in the tournament.  There's a bigger picture here that you just don't see.  

If it makes you warm and fuzzy to say that you beat a team that made the quarterfinals, fine.  Me...I'd rather my team actually be in the quarterfinals.  

[DPULefty22]

Wally, I'd rather my team win the Stagg Bowl. But we haven't. And, hey, guess what, neither have you.

So unless you're going to make like the Colts used to and hang "2007 Quarterfinalist" banners at Hollett, color me unimpressed. If you're all high and mighty about aspiring to greater things than conference titles, it would help if you'd actually accomplish some of those greater things before you started woofing.

While you're at it, you can stop making jokes at the expense of our 'baseball coach', who, last I checked, was ringing the Bell the night of November 10 after thoroughly out-coaching the immortal Chris Creighton. (And you guys admitted that yourselves - I can provide examples if you don't believe me.)

[DPU3619]

Crow all you want about the game in November, but what did it really mean?  

When this back and forth about the importance of Monon started about a week ago, I honestly never thought I'd see the day.  To be absolutely truthful, I'm beside myself. 

I remember a day, about 11 years ago now, when DePauw left the conference they had created for those particular reasons you just mentioned wally, and many Wabash fans scoffed at us for the same reasons you've just presented.  "We want to go to next to the level," said our administration.  (That's one of about 1,000 great ideas from that administration that never materialized.  I digress).  "This is our best chance to build a national power," said our coaches and players.  "Nobody cares unless it's conference championships and playoff wins," we prognosticated.  And you laughed.  And we tried to talk to you like you were 9 years old (not unlike you are doing to the DPUFan there, wally).  Anybody here remember what you said?  You said we were doing a disservice to the game we all love so much.  "Why take anything away from Monon," you said.  "We were tarnishing one of the greatest traditions in sports by making it our second priority," you said.  You said we had lost sight of what was really important about our two football programs, the Monon Bell Game.

Did it work out like that in the last decade for DePauw?  No, it didn't.  And maybe it was just a snap over a Ross Wiethoff's head or a 4th and Goal from the 10 or a hurricane that fell apart over the shores of Corpus Christi or a beat-Wabash-and-your-in in 2005 away from happening differently.  But, the details don't really matter.  Aside from a couple of shared titles, they haven't won one and those are the facts.  They had to take the chance at the time, though.  And I realize that many of you who post here now were not those who either laughed or threw a hissy fit back in 1997 (right in the middle of one of the longer Bell game streaks) when it was suggested that Monon was not, in fact, the end-all, be-all in the football world.  We thought we were light years ahead of you.  Were we?  No.  2001 happened.  Then it was your turn.  Like it always is.  Eventually, the cycle will repeat. 

I just find the irony quite remarkable.  Just ten short years, and suddenly it's come full circle.  Funny how things change so quickly, isn't it?  I just found that amusing.  A chuckle to start my day.

[wally_wabash]

Crow all you want about the game in November, but what did it really mean?  

When this back and forth about the importance of Monon started about a week ago, I honestly never thought I'd see the day.  To be absolutely truthful, I'm beside myself. 

I remember a day, about 11 years ago now, when DePauw left the conference they had created for those particular reasons you just mentioned wally, and many Wabash fans scoffed at us for the same reasons you've just presented.  "We want to go to next to the level," said our administration.  (That's one of about 1,000 great ideas from that administration that never materialized.  I digress).  "This is our best chance to build a national power," said our coaches and players.  "Nobody cares unless it's conference championships and playoff wins," we prognosticated.  And you laughed.  And we tried to talk to you like you were 9 years old (not unlike you are doing to the DPUFan there, wally).  Anybody here remember what you said?  You said we were doing a disservice to the game we all love so much.  "Why take anything away from Monon," you said.  "We were tarnishing one of the greatest traditions in sports by making it our second priority," you said.  You said we had lost sight of what was really important about our two football programs, the Monon Bell Game.

Did it work out like that in the last decade for DePauw?  No, it didn't.  And maybe it was just a snap over a Ross Wiethoff's head or a 4th and Goal from the 10 or a hurricane that fell apart over the shores of Corpus Christi or a beat-Wabash-and-your-in in 2005 away from happening differently.  But, the details don't really matter.  Aside from a couple of shared titles, they haven't won one and those are the facts.  They had to take the chance at the time, though.  And I realize that many of you who post here now were not those who either laughed or threw a hissy fit back in 1997 (right in the middle of one of the longer Bell game streaks) when it was suggested that Monon was not, in fact, the end-all, be-all in the football world.  We thought we were light years ahead of you.  Were we?  No.  2001 happened.  Then it was your turn.  Like it always is.  Eventually, the cycle will repeat. 

I just find the irony quite remarkable.  Just ten short years, and suddenly it's come full circle.  Funny how things change so quickly, isn't it?  I just found that amusing.  A chuckle to start my day.

I didn't think I'd see the day either, Wes.  10 years ago, the Bell game was it.  That's what the season was all about.  Since then, I've followed my team through three playoff runs and I see that there's more out there.  Our rivalry game is special and important, but there's more out there.  DPUfan doesn't realize it.  The playoffs are just something he's heard about...they aren't real (as they weren't for most Wabash fans 10 years ago).  Get there one time and you all will understand this change in philosophy.  And the change isn't as great as you think it is...winning the Bell game is extremely important, but losing it doesn't necessarily equate to a failed season as it did 10 years ago (unless of course losing the Bell game takes away Wabash's chance to play for the championship).

[Li'l Giant]

I just find the irony quite remarkable.  Just ten short years, and suddenly it's come full circle.  Funny how things change so quickly, isn't it?  I just found that amusing.  A chuckle to start my day.

Or maybe, you guys were right then, and we're right now. Your amusement assumes that one can't change their mind, have an epiphany, or whatever you want to call it. And let's also keep in mind, that while this view is shared by a vocal group of posters, it's probably not shared by a majority of regular Wabash fans.

Someday, you guys will get over the Trinity/Millsaps hump, maybe this year, and I think both Wabash fans and Depauw fans will agree that winning the Bell is not the strict definition of a great season. Maybe we'll get to play each other. How great would that be?

While you're at it, you can stop making jokes at the expense of our 'baseball coach', who, last I checked, was ringing the Bell the night of November 10 after thoroughly out-coaching the immortal Chris Creighton. (And you guys admitted that yourselves - I can provide examples if you don't believe me.)

The last "crack" on this board I can recall was written by me. And while it can certainly be read that way, it wasn't intended to disrespect Coach Walker. I've never even met the man. I can say I've never heard anything bad about him, and only good things. I know he's owned us in baseball and coached a helluva game last November that he and Depauw deserved to win.

My crack last weekend was solely at Depauw's program. It was meant purely as rivalry smack and nothing more. If we can't have rivalry smack on a message board, then maybe our rivalry isn't as great as we think.

And, if I can add some levity to this conversation:

Anyone else think that Coach Raeburn looks like the Alien Bounty Hunter from the X-files?

[Schwami]

Anyone else think that Coach Raeburn looks like the Alien Bounty Hunter from the X-files?

My initial reaction was that he looks like the Wally Wabash mascot. 

[old wabash]

seems like a bit of stretch to say 3 teams were better in all phases of the game based on a wabash v depauw game that was won on a last second field goal after a pretty evenly matched game in Greencastle. Its not like Depauw dominated Wabash. I don't see how you can come close to saying 3 teams are better than wabash based on what you saw.

i'm basing it on watching the bell game as well as the other games on DePauw's schedule.

you mean the Bell game! have a little respect!

so your opinion is based on one of Bash's eleven games?
my education indicates "sample size too small".
no wonder no one seems to agree.

[bashbrother]

Don't we all find it strange that the Dannies are spending so much time on our board.   Even during Bell Week, we don't see this much of them.   

IMO, Wes is the only one that actually brings anything other than Troll Spat to his posts.