Around the Nation board

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph,
I knew you in particular would not be happy about that one, but folks then and now just made such a big deal out of it that the rest of us are tired of hearing it.

I don't believe those two teams should have met in the first round, but it happens. The NCAA promises you'll get into the playoffs if you do X, Y and Z, it's guidelines for matchups are explicitly not guarantees. Some of your above points are good, others are debatable, but it's time to let it rest.

Besides, the point was Occidental, undefeated for two straight years and sent on the road vs. an undefeated opponent both times, got screwed worse and complained less.

Well K-Mack, thanks.  I guess I am just ready to have it happen to us again next year.

As for Oxy's three non-conference regular season opponents, they went 9-19 and not a single one of those 9 victories was over a team with a .500 record.

As far as the weekly vs. daily papers, I think the industry model is changing overall, from paid circulation to internet, mobile devices, etc. The people who give you information you want the best, whether local, regional or national, will still be in business if they can figure out how to deliver it to you.

Circulation is pretty much down everywhere, last I heard.

As for the change in the journalistic model, you are on the ground floor of this one, IMHO.  As the internet has brought the information sources that were previously only available to the editors of the big-city dailies, some of us have become more discerning consumers.  As I began to evaluate what my local editor was selecting to publish in our local daily, and I began to disagree with the accuracy of the content that he selected in my own area of expertise.  Then I began to wonder why I was paying him to do a service that I no longer trusted in my own area.   My nature is pretty egalitarian and almost libertarian.  I cannot make someone do something for or to themsleves that they are not ready to accept.  It was just time for me to become a more discerning consumer and to become my own editor.

This site has become its own network.  You are growing a generation of news consumers that is self-driven by the content that we hold dear.  Previously, we could not get this information more than 50 miles away from our alma maters, but you have brought it to us.  I hope that the model can change into something sustainable, as the print newspaper industry became with the birth of the telegraph.

Good luck in the off-season.   I have a couple of favorite sayings.

1)  It is a shame to waste first-born kids on inexperienced parents.

2)  You are not really a parent until you are out-numbered. 

We look forward to your return next year.

Now back to the audio feed of the VWC-Guilford Men's basketball game! 

[Bill McCabe]

Ralph, As usual, great points.  I agree with you that it is not too much to expect an organization to follow their own guidelines. 

I quit watching the national news on TV because I felt it was so one sided and biased.  I didn't need someone to tell me how to interpret the news.  I found I really don't need to watch the local news, although I do watch the sports.

[repete]

KMack,
Great wrapup as usual. One question for me: You hit Ian O'Connor with a pretty solid (and deserved) shot. How much easier was because he'd left the Gannett fold ... ?  I mean what would happen if you pancaked Lopresti . . .

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

O'Connor is a JackA55!

[realistic]

  Keith,
  Kudos on a great finish to another great DIII football season...
Hope you have time to get your batteries regenerated for next year but with those two young'uns I fear next football season may be just what the Dr. ordered. A Vacation.

Thanks. As you can see it took me until Friday evening to finish up, and even then I leaned on Pat to edit the final 1/4 of it, as I had to scoop up my wife and drop the kids off for a Friday night away from the parents. Then we went to see The Pursuit of Happyness, which makes you want to go home and hug your kids. 

I've thought about giving it up the past couple years, since family's been in the mix, but since it's the only thing I'm good at that people seem to appreciate, it's probably going to be tough to let go. I'm sure I'll be back.

Keith - I always enjoy your Around the Nation articles and Part 3 of the season in review was one of your best yet.  Keep up the good work.  I can only imagine the sacrafices you (and your family) make to do this....but there are a lot of us out here that really appreciate it.  THANKS.

[Sakman 1111]

Agree with realistic Around the Nation is awesome......

[Pat Coleman]

I mean what would happen if you pancaked Lopresti . . .

In my experience, Lopresti wouldn't have written that kind of crap.

[K-Mack]

The armwrestler, Alan Fisher, is on ESPN2 right now.

Same match we saw in Salem, I think.

Ah, it's going off.

[K-Mack]

KMack,
Great wrapup as usual. One question for me: You hit Ian O'Connor with a pretty solid (and deserved) shot. How much easier was because he'd left the Gannett fold ... ?  I mean what would happen if you pancaked Lopresti . . .

Honestly, I didn't know O'Connor left ... although now that you mention it, I haven't seen his column in a while. Since he was a not-in-the-building guy (based out of Westchester, N.Y.) his stuff seemed to be sporadic as it was. Like it would be once a week for a while, then gone for a while if Brennan and Saraceno were on their regular schedules. At least that's how it seemed.

As for the overall question, basically I've been doing this a lot longer than I've been with Gannett, although so far the company's been pretty good to me. I was hired at Sports Weekly then merged into the daily ... the college desk knows what I do, and what Pat does, but I don't know which of my superiors do and I'm in no rush to tell.

Possibly, pooping on another Gannett guy is the type of thing that could raise someone's ire and get them to ask me to give this up ... but I doubt that would happen. (although there is an outside content policy, but it mostly refers to embarassing yourself, and therefore the company, on blogs. Also, I stay away from sportsjournalists.com)

Basically, if you don't make a fool of yourself pretending you know something about the "lower divisions" when you don't, you and I aren't going to have any problems.

It's not like I came out with the unsupported, undeserved attack. 

[K-Mack]

As for Oxy's three non-conference regular season opponents, they went 9-19 and not a single one of those 9 victories was over a team with a .500 record.

Yeah, that's yucky ... but they also didn't lose to any of them.

We support aggressive scheduling, have been for years, but realize that the West Coast and Texas have their limitations.

I don't really see why they couldn't have let Millsaps lose at UMHB, send CNU to HSU or vice versa, have CMU play W&J and keep the 1-8 matchup as it was ... and then UMHB would have dumped HSU in the second round after a bus trip anyway.

But the committee has been doing it this way far too long to be surprised.

The only real curveballs I ever remember them throwing was John Caroll to the East bracket in '02 and Hardin-Simmons at Wittenberg in the '01 first round.

[Ralph Turner]

...
The only real curveballs I ever remember them throwing was John Caroll to the East bracket in '02 and Hardin-Simmons at Wittenberg in the '01 first round.

K-Mack, I will submit that the opportunity for the Pool C bid, especially in the bottom half of its regional bracket, to be sent to another region (whenever it can be justifiably done), is a good thing.  It promotes regional identiy among the fans;  it allows teams to see other styles of play that they may not routinely see; and, it allows a conference to demonstrate its relative strength, as JCU definitely did.

As an ASC fan, I would much rather see our Pool C bid sent to another bracket, even on the road for three games, than to catch an ASC opponent in an early rematch.

Thanks for the comments.

[Toby Taff]

k-mack...

One of the things that ticks me off about a "Texas Sub-bracket" is the impact on conference playoff records.  When 2 conf teams meet in round 1, you start off at .500.  i know that's petty, and I know just getting 2 teams consistently says something about the conference, but on a recruiting visit wouldn't the "quality conference" speech be more impressive saying, "Our top two conference schools each made it to the second round of the D3 playoffs in...  If you come here you'll play against quality opponents..."

[K-Mack]

I agree with you both that it's not ideal. If it were me picking the bracket AND spending someone else's money, I would avoid rematches for as long as possible. Even non-conference rematches.

I thought we had an attendance thread, but I don't see it.

From Thursday's USA Today:

Although all-time records were not set in the FCS (Division I-AA) and Division III, both classifications were up from 2005. The 5,723,876 fans that saw FCS games in 2006 was the fourth-highest total in that subdivision and was up 395 fans per game from the previous year.

Division III realized an increase of 11,727 fans from 2005 to 2,099,746 in 2006. Coincidentally, the number of fans a game (1,840) matched the number from 2005.

[NCC_alum62]

Hey K-mack, loved ATN 2006-2007 really the best I've read in my short 3 years really reading this website, just thought you should know comming from a new guy as well as some of these vets.

I would love to read some more about North Central in your ATN's...

just a suggestion

[labart96]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft07/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2773478&lpos=tv1&lid=tab1pos1

No mention of Allan in Clayton's 1st and 10.  Hopefully he'll be getting some mention was the combine gets underway. 

The D3 community is rooting for ya!