MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Speaking of Pizza, Nice to see D3 Basketball on ESPN2's Cold Pizza today.

They had Josh Hinz and Beloit's College Head Coach on today.  Beloit College beat Grinnell college last week 120-114.  Josh only had 50 points on 18-27 from the field, 14-19 Ft's, and 36 Rebounds.  Yeah those are some pretty unbelievable numbers. 

Nice to see D3 getting some love on ESPN.  (if high school gets some love on ESPN maybe there will be a Wooster/Witt game years down ther road??? 

Maybe, but this is pretty typical for ESPN.  They're not interested in good basketball, they're just attracted by the shiny toy. When it comes to D3, the only thing that grabs their attention is the ridiculous numbers put up by Grinnell (or, more usually, Grinnell opponents.)  High quality, hard-fought, intense sporting competitions don't interest ESPN; they're all about the sideshow.  Why else would they employ Dick Vitale and Chris Berman?

[pufin]

Speaking of Pizza, Nice to see D3 Basketball on ESPN2's Cold Pizza today.

They had Josh Hinz and Beloit's College Head Coach on today.  Beloit College beat Grinnell college last week 120-114.  Josh only had 50 points on 18-27 from the field, 14-19 Ft's, and 36 Rebounds.  Yeah those are some pretty unbelievable numbers. 

Nice to see D3 getting some love on ESPN.  (if high school gets some love on ESPN maybe there will be a Wooster/Witt game years down ther road??? 

Maybe, but this is pretty typical for ESPN.  They're not interested in good basketball, they're just attracted by the shiny toy. When it comes to D3, the only thing that grabs their attention is the ridiculous numbers put up by Grinnell (or, more usually, Grinnell opponents.)  High quality, hard-fought, intense sporting competitions don't interest ESPN; they're all about the sideshow.  Why else would they employ Dick Vitale and Chris Berman?

Now, if Tom Port had put up 50 on Wittenberg after being out with a broken hand, would ESPN have interviewed him and Steve Moore?

[WooMix]

~ Here goes a not so exciting in-train story ~

Every gameday, I wear some form of Woo clothing, not necessarily related to basketball, but just something that identifies me as a Woo alum.  Today I got the Scots in Spirit T-shirt from this year's volunteer activity.      I ride the Metro to and from downtown DC.  So on Saturday, I was in seating down in the middle seats in a crowded Metro train car when this gentleman shoved his way from the front of the car to where I was sitting.  He had a grin on his face and immediately I was like, "Here we go again" coz I had a Steelers jersey and some people liked to give me a hard time about it (in a good way!) that day.  In fact what had caught his attention was my yellow Woo baseball cap.

He told me that he was an alum of Hampden-Sydney and that he vividly remembers Wooster from the 2003 Final Four and most importantly that he was a big fan of d3 hoops.  I was like, "sweet!"  He said he has been following Woo since we defeated them in Salem.  As it turned out, the gentleman knew more about my school and Witt and our conference than I did.  Unfortunately the same cud not be said about my knowledge of his school and its conference.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make here is that the gentleman echoed every other d3 sports fans' sentiments.  We need more national coverage.  We need the networks to start showing us some respect.  We indeed talked about how high school is deemed to be more important than our d3.  He told me that he has been talking to some people in Bristol City about having ESPNU and ESPN Full Court cover some of our games.  Not that this hasn't been done before, as in people asking the major networks to look at us, but I thought how this whole conversation started and how it went was very interesting.  My ride from the Dupont Circle to Silver Spring was over before I knew it.  Had I not needed a bathrrom break, I wud've gone all the way to Glenmont.   

[fighting_scots]

Some nice reading for Scots' fans:

It's official--Port is coming back next year:

http://www.the-daily-record.com/article.php?pathToFile=/articles//sports/&file=_sports3.txt&article=1&tD=

And Terry Pluto had a nice article today on the Scots in the Akron Beacon Journal:

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/sports/13818773.htm

GO SCOTS!

[David Collinge]

My ride from the Dupont Circle to Silver Spring was over before I knew it.  Had I not needed a bathrrom break, I wud've gone all the way to Glenmont.   

Oh come on, the subway doesn't go anywhere near Glenmont.  It doesn't even reach Killbuck! 

[woosterbooster]

That's terrific news about Port, the result of which is that next season should be as exciting as this one!

Terry Pluto is such an excellent writer and a class act.  The subject matter of his articles runs the complete gamut from pro sports through DIII and high school.  And his book on the old ABA, Loose Balls, is the best sports book that I've read.

And, by the way, I've been impressed with Joe Vardon's writing from his first day on the job at The Daily Record.

Now, come on guys.  There's only one real subway, and it goes from Coney Island to the Bronx... :-)

[AndersDY]

The issue with national exposure for D3 probably has to do with the lack of connection to pro sports. D1 football and basketball get huge coverage, likely because these are essentially all the future pro football and basketball players. I'm sure any high school action getting national publicity is chosen for the instances where that high school contest involves a Lebron or Mello so everyone is getting a preview of a pro athlete. While the actual competition from D3 is hard to surpass (see last Saturday at Witt and Hope and tonight at Calvin...) there isn't as much of a commercial story out of "well, this is the final game for both these opposing point guards, he's going to sell commercial real estate next year while the other will be working on his teaching certificate."

As with anything, we're in a capitalist country so the issue is to get the word out amongst the consumers. Only the lucky few D3 teams have an average of even 2000 or more people come to a game so right now ESPN does not see a fanbase of millions demanding coverage. If there is a way to create that demand and interest in D3, the supply of coverage would follow.

[David Collinge]

I for one don't want the TV exposure.  I'd like to see the occasional Hope/Calvin or Woo/Witt game televised, because these are significant events.  But I think that the regular broadcasting of a "D3 Game of the Week" on ESPN8 ("the Ocho") would do more harm than good.  First, you get all of those awful media timeouts.  Then you get some wiseass like Vitale.  Then you get players trying to do something -- anything -- that will get their highlight on SportsCenter.  Then you get the fans acting in a ridiculous way to get on TV.  In the end you have the goofy sideshow atmosphere that ESPN cultivates and celebrates.  I like our game just the way it is (Grinnell et alia excepted) and I don't want the Bristol Stomp to change a thing.

Now, more coverage from the likes of Terry Pluto in publications like the ABJ or Bill Plaschke in the LA Times (he did a feature story on Caltech the other day) is a VERY good thing.  I especially like how Pluto emphasized the academic achievements of the team in general Kyle Witucky (which I knew) and Tom Port (which I did not know--huzzah, Tom!) specifically.  I think Terry Pluto gets what D3 is all about.  I'm certain that Dick Vitale does not.

[earlhamalum]

DC- I understand about ESPN only interested in Stats.  I was just happy to see anything about D3 sports and hoops on the national stage. (Sadly they didn't have any footage of the game to show just a handful of Action Pics) *I'm not even sure if they were from that game or not.  Any good PUB is good for the Average D3 sports fan.

After reading your last post I guess our views are different.  The sad thing is I don't think kids at Wooster and Witt would play any differently if Espn broadcasted the game nationally like at the D1 level.  

[smedindy]

DC -

First off, when ESPN was in its infancy, Vitale and Berman were great. Now they're caricatures.

Second, Vitale off camera is way different than on camera. He knows the importance of D-3 and all that - he's kind of boxed into a corner.

Third, you're sounding like the fans of indie rock bands that become famous. I remember when "Slanted and Enchanted" by Pavement came out - many of their long-time fans were disgusted that they were getting great press now and were going to sell more than 5,000 records. They thought the band was 'just for them'.

Like D-3, they're for everyone. The more publicity, the better.

But I agree about the media timeouts. But if it ever happens, and it helps in the general financial aid of a school by being on TV - then that's great.

[woosterbooster]

While I'd like to see more tv coverage of DIII games on ESPNU or CSTV, it would only be so that I, and other DIII fans, could enjoy them.  The idea that this is necessary to validate DIII sports, to give them "respect" is not something that I buy into.  DIII sports exist as they are, they need no validation by anyone else for me, and I believe other DIII fans, to appreciate them.

I think this new definition of the word respect isn't necessarily a good thing.  Kind of like people who say they went to a place or event "just so I could say I was there".  What kind of reason is that?  All that shows is that you don't have much of an opinion of your own judgement.  If something attracts your interest, go to it.  If it doesn't, then don't.  I've learned to really enjoy DIII sports rather late in my life and if much of the country doesn't agree with my take on them, I really could care less.

[WooMix]

My ride from the Dupont Circle to Silver Spring was over before I knew it.  Had I not needed a bathrrom break, I wud've gone all the way to Glenmont.   

Oh come on, the subway doesn't go anywhere near Glenmont.  It doesn't even reach Killbuck! 

Hahaha ...  I live here man.  I know where the Metro goes.  Check out the Metro map at this link:

http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm

Unless there is another Glenmont somewhere that I don't know about or maybe when you we here last, the Metro didn't go that far?  You know how they keep extending the lines and adding new ones?

[David Collinge]

Oh, one thing I forgot, then I promise I'll let my anti-ESPN rant go.  These guys are in television programming for a living, and that means they have to have something to show at all times of the day or night.  The D3 games will be their lowest-drawing product, so we'd get the worst possible timeslots.  They have wielded their enormous power over conferences like the OVC and MAC to get them to do idiotic things like 11pm tipoffs of basketball games and the relegation to Tuesday night of the Bowling Green/Toledo football game (which was a great and storied rivalry until ESPN, with the MAC's full cooperation, destroyed it).  If they started signing contracts with the NCAC and MIAA and CCIW for broadcast rights, as sure as I'm sitting here they'd try to force us into strange days and start times for our games.  I like to think the NCAC would resist , but do you suppose the OAC would have any objection to a regular 1pm Wednesday tip for the "OAC Game of the Week Brought to You By Marathon (Best in the Long Run)?"  It turns my stomach just to think of it.

Third, you're sounding like the fans of indie rock bands that become famous. I remember when "Slanted and Enchanted" by Pavement came out - many of their long-time fans were disgusted that they were getting great press now and were going to sell more than 5,000 records. They thought the band was 'just for them'.

Like D-3, they're for everyone. The more publicity, the better.

Well, of course, indie rock references are completely lost on me, an opera buff.  But if Pavement changed their musical style in order to appease the masses (or, worse yet, the label), then their fans have a right to be disgusted.  If, on the other hand, the masses just discovered whatever it was that Pavement had to offer, then that's great.  If ESPN could display the D3 game that we know and love to the world, without changing it, that'd be wonderful.  But I don't believe it's possible.  Their very presence wold change the game; it's the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle as applied to mass media.

[David Collinge]

My ride from the Dupont Circle to Silver Spring was over before I knew it.  Had I not needed a bathrrom break, I wud've gone all the way to Glenmont.   

Oh come on, the subway doesn't go anywhere near Glenmont.  It doesn't even reach Killbuck! 

Hahaha ...  I live here man.  I know where the Metro goes.  Check out the Metro map at this link:

http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm

Unless there is another Glenmont somewhere that I don't know about or maybe when you we here last, the Metro didn't go that far?  You know how they keep extending the lines and adding new ones?

I was referring to Glenmont, Ohio; a tiny hamlet in Holmes County, more or less halfway between Wooster and Gambier.  Not my best joke, I grant you. 

[smedindy]

It's funny though, I though those crowds at those Midnight Friday games were among the most spirited and rocking in the OVC. It sure looked like everyone had a good time.

DC - the point was that Pavement were signed on an indie label, and just released and album the press picked up on. The fans were insular and did not want them to grow. Sure, I would hate to have the schedules all messed around to accomidate TV, but if TV wants to come to the party, on the D-3 terms, then why complain?