FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[NewtoNescac]

I'd love to get a glimpse of Bowdoin and/or Hamilton. I think they're two intriguing stories. The QB transfer impact, if any, at Hamilton, and the coaching change at Bowdoin. Both interesting stories to follow.

[polbear73]

Joe and Adam have an interesting video posted on NothingButNescac talking about the main story lines for the upcoming season.  Good job, gentlemen. 

[amh63]

Joining the "PETA" horse beating crowd......the scrimmage game before the start of the season.  The scrimmage has become a joke, IMO.  Amherst "scrimmage" it's arch rival!?  Other schools find it a silly concept too!   A 9th game could be slipped in the "space"....no calendar change wrt to season and with less academic schedule impact.
Hoping all are having a safe and well deserve Labor Day!

[PolarCat]

With all due respect, I think you're beating the wrong end of the horse.

I love the idea of (one or more) scrimmages, as they give the coaches a chance to see who can perform under pressure, as opposed to just looking good at practice.  Just like the NFL has preseason games.  Who'd a thunk the great Reggie Wayne would be cut, or that everyone's favorite classy underdog (Tim Tebow) would come just "this" close to redemption? 

Around the 'CAC, scrimmages give coaches a chance to see how their first years and transfers (like the former D1 QB's from Dartmouth and UNLV) can really perform.  Maybe a better test for some special teams players, too, like punters, kickers, long-snappers, holders and returners.. I know my favorite team is hosting the defending conference champs in week 1, and I'm glad they have a scrimmage beforehand to work the bugs out.

Add that 9th game at the end of the season.  Really, what else are all us fans going to do in November?  Mounting the snow tires and tuning up the snow blowers can wait.  Heck, if the high schools can play on Thanksgiving, why can't NESCAC play the weekend before?

[NewtoNescac]

I watched Joe and Adams video, and maybe I missed something due to my Labor Day cocktails. But, I would be just a little upset if I were Bates, Hamilton and Colby. They offered nothing about those programs. I'd be using that as a little motivation up in Maine and NYS.

[PolarCat]

Looking ahead to the season, I have a suggestion, first for the NESCAC board, and maybe for Pat and the D3 football board in general.

It's only our family's second year in NESCAC, and I am still feeling my way with regards to the "customs and rituals" at other schools.  I'm thinking it might be good to do a school-by-school primer for new parents: everything from the GPS address of the stadium, to where the tailgating areas are located, how quickly the visitor's tailgate area fills up, the school's stance on alcohol at tailgates, suggestions for hotels, restaurants, etc. in the area, and where that school's live streams can be found.

After we get done arguing over where to find the best post-game grub, these could be collated into a PDF document with a grandiose name like "The D3boards.com Guide to Attending NESCAC Football games."  The document could contain a link to this site; that would give Pat more traffic (I'm still not sure how this board works from an economic standpoint, but assume Pat and his team generate some revenue from site visits).  It could also get some fresh voices on here, which would be nice.  (No offense to any of the regulars).

I'm not sure how we'd disseminate this to all the parents and fans who haven't discovered this board yet, but I know there are far smarter folks than me her, so someone may have an idea how to do that.

[PolarCat]

I watched Joe and Adams video, and maybe I missed something due to my Labor Day cocktails. But, I would be just a little upset if I were Bates, Hamilton and Colby. They offered nothing about those programs. I'd be using that as a little motivation up in Maine and NYS.

The video was a little hard to find, and the comment section may have been even harder.  (In Joe's and Adam's defense, they have day jobs, and I'm happy they are more focused on content than on making the site glitzy).  Here's what was posted:

Dirk fulton says:
September 7, 2015 at 11:22 AM
Enjoyed the video. Found it very informative. Disappointed you did not discuss Bates or Colby.


Joe MacDonald says:
September 7, 2015 at 11:28 AM
Have no fear! Our team previews will be out next week – plenty of good info on every team in the league to be found there.

[lumbercat]

Good idea Polarcat.
I note that Hamilton followers have launched a website specifically for "Fans of Hamilton Football" which includes a lot of info for Continentals fans including tailgating, travel to away games etc.

[hamgrand]

amh63 - Sacred Heart U (SHU) has a nice stadium and turf field right on campus - 5151 Park Ave Fairfield, CT.  Drew a nice crowd for the opening game.  And yes they are a D-1aa program (FCS) which is old lingo that I can't seem to shake.  Now I guess we should be using either FBS, FCS, Div II or Div III.

With regard to scrimmages, I know Middlebury scrimmages Dartmouth (JV Game) on 9/20.  Hamilton scrimmages Cornell on Saturday night under the lights (I think 9/19).

Happy Labor Day to all.
 

[quicksilver]

. . . .
Add that 9th game at the end of the season.  Really, what else are all us fans going to do in November?  Mounting the snow tires and tuning up the snow blowers can wait.  Heck, if the high schools can play on Thanksgiving, why can't NESCAC play the weekend before?

Maybe watching the season's first basketball or hockey game??!! Last year, the b-ball and hockey seasons debuted on Nov. 15.

[PolarCat]

Maybe watching the season's first basketball or hockey game??!! Last year, the b-ball and hockey seasons debuted on Nov. 15.

All a question of priorities.  Would you rather miss one of NINE football games?  Or one of TWENTY-FIVE regular season MBB games?  I mean, you could probably even find a cricket match or (shudder) golf on TV if you really didn't want to watch football.  (In the good old days of Wide World of Sports, you might even be able to catch barrel jumping, archery, rodeo, bocce, badminton, or any of the 3 major varieties of bowling: candlepin, 10 pin or dwarf).

I'll take one more weekend of football and tailgating, thanks.

[quicksilver]

Maybe watching the season's first basketball or hockey game??!! Last year, the b-ball and hockey seasons debuted on Nov. 15.

All a question of priorities.  Would you rather miss one of NINE football games?  Or one of TWENTY-FIVE regular season MBB games?  I mean, you could probably even find a cricket match or (shudder) golf on TV if you really didn't want to watch football.  (In the good old days of Wide World of Sports, you might even be able to catch barrel jumping, archery, rodeo, bocce, badminton, or any of the 3 major varieties of bowling: candlepin, 10 pin or dwarf).

I'll take one more weekend of football and tailgating, thanks.

That's you -- many students and alums will be anxious for the winter season to start and will opt for the b-ball or hockey game, which is what the powers-that-be will be thinking about and why they are unlikely to add another fball game onto the end of the season.   

[PolarCat]

That's you -- many students and alums will be anxious for the winter season to start and will opt for the b-ball or hockey game, which is what the powers-that-be will be thinking about and why they are unlikely to add another fball game onto the end of the season.

Well, if I came back in my next life as a College President, I'd think that was a pretty great problem to have.  Students and alumni who are fans of multiple sports?  I can live with that!

As for students, the only ones who will have to choose are those at the Home schools.  The away school students aren't going to travel anyway, so they'll be free to go to the rink or the gym.  The football parents will go to the football game, the MBB or hockey parents will go to their game, and the alums have the luxury of choice.  (I doubt that there's much overlap anyway in the Venn diagram of football parents vs. MBB or hockey parents, but that's just a guess).

In any event, you have this same problem in other sports.  Men's and women's soccer has a post-season.  Field hockey is still playing in the NCAA tournament while WBB and women's hockey is starting, and hockey and basketball are still playing while lacrosse, baseball and softball are starting.

Sorry, but I don't see it as an issue.

[NewtoNescac]

One additional game is not going to make a difference to other sports. It's typically a Saturday afternoon game. The AD can simply schedule the BB or hockey game at night, or the day before or after. The real obstacle to adding a game is a resistence to change on the individual and institutional levels. People are afraid to upset the apple cart, afraid to take any chances. Pretty sad behavior.

[quicksilver]

That's you -- many students and alums will be anxious for the winter season to start and will opt for the b-ball or hockey game, which is what the powers-that-be will be thinking about and why they are unlikely to add another fball game onto the end of the season.

Well, if I came back in my next life as a College President, I'd think that was a pretty great problem to have.  Students and alumni who are fans of multiple sports?  I can live with that!

As for students, the only ones who will have to choose are those at the Home schools.  The away school students aren't going to travel anyway, so they'll be free to go to the rink or the gym.  The football parents will go to the football game, the MBB or hockey parents will go to their game, and the alums have the luxury of choice.  (I doubt that there's much overlap anyway in the Venn diagram of football parents vs. MBB or hockey parents, but that's just a guess).

In any event, you have this same problem in other sports.  Men's and women's soccer has a post-season.  Field hockey is still playing in the NCAA tournament while WBB and women's hockey is starting, and hockey and basketball are still playing while lacrosse, baseball and softball are starting.

Sorry, but I don't see it as an issue.

You may not see it as an issue but the overlapping of regular seasons has long been a concern of the NESCAC powers-that-be, which is actually part of why NESCAC members were barred from post-season play for many years. IIRC, the ban on post-season play by NESCAC school did not end until the mid-1990s. As it is, the limited overlap between the field hockey post-season and the ice hockey season is a huge problem for the two-sport athletes. (The field hockey post-season was done on Nov 23 or about a month before the football post-season ended.) The same thing with regard to soccer and hockey. It is true that there are currently very few two-sport athletes who play football and hockey or basketball but in the past there have been . .