2014 D3 Season: National Perspective

[Sherlock Holmes]

Wow. What a play there. OWU pulls it off with a rocket off the crossbar and across the line before bouncing out. Head ref didn't appear to give it, seemed like the call came from the AR. What a way to finish.

[Mr.Right]

Where would I be without you correcting me tonight. It's all good btw exactly how many Penn State schools are there?

Damn I missed the GW...someone go into detail for me? like build up to goal

[Mr.Right]

Also it's not a turnover but a giveaway in soccer

[KnightFalcon]

PS played a ball back to keeper who had to come out to top of box to clear. GK Mis-kicked it and it landed near OWU player who controlled it and took a shot from 35 yards out as GK scrambled back to goal. Ball hit underside of crossbar and down - apparently just over the line - and out

[PaulNewman]

This tournament so far has been off the charts.  Almost every game to PKs or OT.  And we're only in the 1st round, and tomorrow is really the first full slate of games.  Wow.  Now I have no clue who is going to win between Calvin and OWU.  OWU had a chance to really put some doubt in Calvin's mind but OWU's struggle to win tonight may give them some belief.  Will be a more even game for sure, and possibly high scoring.

And we still got a nightcap brewing.  Last I checked still 0-0 in 2nd half down in Atlanta.

[KICKIN95]

I'm detecting some ultra sensitivity here. Is your objection because the motivation for preferring not to play on a Sunday is driven by someone's religion? Would you object less (or not at all) if the reason was motivated by something else? And vice versa ... why would a faith based school genuflect to the non faith based athletic associations desires?

I am neither sensitive nor objecting. I am more looking for answers or explanations as to who or what makes yhe decisions. I didn't create the question, I just decided to run with it because I have wondered for years about this.   I would definitely question less if it was a non religious based reason,  that's the whole point of the discussion. Should religious reasons have more weight for postponing a game than another reason?  My rebuttal to your last question would simply be for the fact that the non faith based athletic associations is in complete control of the participating schools athletic contests and if the sole reason for wanting games rescheduled is because of religious beliefs and that is affecting the majority of schools that are non faith based then maybe this particular association is the wrong place to be (NCAA V NCCAA). I have to finish by saying that I am not trying to stir the pot as much as I am playing devil's advocate ( no pun intended  ). I like hearing people's views and thoughts on topics rarely discussed.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Mr. Right, I think there's 19 PSU satellite schools, or at least something very close to that.

[Mr.Right]

Wow..ton of schools...damn i wish i saw that GW goal. cloudy judgments by GK and lazily misjudging back passes drive me bonkers...now down to Atlanta for a great finish to a great day..Parity is king and makes for entertaining and exciting games

[KICKIN95]

For over half a century the NCAA has had formal legislation that requires championship schedules to be adjusted to accommodate schools that have rules against Sunday competition. The first such rule was imposed by the NCAA's executive committee in 1961 and was adopted by the NCAA membership at large two years later. It's informally called "the BYU rule," since it was adopted in response to Brigham Young's being forced to vacate College World Series opportunities a couple of times in the late '50s because of the school's refusal to participate in Sunday contests.

The "BYU rule" was modified in 1999 to require all sports to modify championship schedules to accommodate all schools that have a "written policy against competition on a particular day for religious reasons." (NCAA Bylaws, art. 31.1.4.1) Attempts to overturn the BYU rule around that time were countered by a widespread lobbying effort of NCAA member institutions of both secular and sectarian stripe.

Thanks for giving us a definitive answer Greg, that's exactly what I was looking for. I still like hearing people's personal views on the situation.

[PaulNewman]

Game going on now represents another example of the real Southern schools being dissed.  Covenant is with NC Wesleyan, Greensboro, and Methodist, right?  Do they suffer because the "South Atlantic" has become dominated in representation and notoriety by the "Mid-Atlantic" portion of the South Atlantic?  PA/NJ, New England, New York state, and the Midwest dominate the D3 soccer landscape.  Of course the NWC, Whitworth's conference, doesn't get any love either.  And without knowing all the details, I wonder if SOS becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. 

[Gregory Sager]

Should religious reasons have more weight for postponing a game than another reason?

That's a false dichotomy. When has there ever been a school that has formally requested to play an NCAA tournament contest on a Sunday for reasons intrinsic to the school's mission? In other words, there's no countervailing reason for requiring Sunday contests that's of the same nature as the religious-accommodation reason for not requiring them. All that's left are dollars-and-cents arguments, and the NCAA has (rightly, IMHO) decided that the beliefs and values of its member institutions outweigh them, because monetary issues can be accommodated within the playoff structure with enough foresight and advance planning.

Also, it's not as though nobody's ever postponed a playoff contest for a non-religious reason before.

My rebuttal to your last question would simply be for the fact that the non faith based athletic associations is in complete control of the participating schools athletic contests and if the sole reason for wanting games rescheduled is because of religious beliefs and that is affecting the majority of schools that are non faith based then maybe this particular association is the wrong place to be (NCAA V NCCAA).

Why? Why should one set of beliefs be penalized while others are not? From what I've read, this was the guiding principle behind a lot of administrators from schools that did not seek the Sunday exemption lining up with those that do when the NCAA re-examined the issue a decade and a half ago. It's less about a set of specific beliefs than it is about principles of fairness, equity, and respect for others.

[Mr.Right]

I gotta say Whitworth is legit and should get out of this pod but Covenant is not a very good team and since I have been watching have been getting dominated.  However they just had a cracker of a shot to tie the game but just missed. Southern schools have it a bit easier than schools in the west as west schools have no option but to play each other twice in conference or travel great distances to get decent out of conference schedules. I feel for a UC Santa Cruz who have no conference and play maybe a quarter of their games against non D3's. They do get the best of both worlds playing some teams in Redlands league and Whitworth's league.

[Gregory Sager]

So have any sectionals been on Fri/Sat in recent years or not?

Yes . . . every sectional which has featured either Calvin or Wheaton (IL) have been played on FRI and SAT.  All other sectionals have been played on SAT and SUN.

I know I'm beating a dead horse but OWU has done it and there's no religious affiliation.

Actually, Ohio Wesleyan University does have a religious affiliation. It has an ongoing historical attachment to the United Methodist Church. But from what I've been able to gather in reading about OWU, it's a very loose affiliation (as is true nowadays of a lot of UMC-affiliated schools) that doesn't seem to affect school policy very much, if at all. And even if it did, the United Methodists don't really seem to be sticklers about things such as playing sports on Sunday.

[PaulNewman]

On this Sunday thing, let me say this.  There certainly is nothing inherently better about Sat/Sun vs Fri/Sat.  The missing classes argument probably has a bit of merit but not a ton.  For most schools we are talking about one weekend or maybe two, so maybe one or two classes that otherwise might not be missed.  Let's be honest.  A lot of the kids probably like the idea of missing another day of classes, although it is true that at this time of the year we are getting closer to the end of semesters and some kids probably are stressed about the impact on their GPAs.  The issue really only sticks out because of the religious aspect and the handful of high profile faith-based schools that many of us heathens have trouble getting our heads around.  I'll be completely honest and tell you the only reason it bothers me....it's makes traveling for the tournament more difficult for parents, and some of us probably have to burn an extra vacation or personal day.  In the big picture, that's not a big deal, but I think some of us tend to have knee-jerk reaction when a few schools can seem to dictate how things play out.  I didn't realize that the final four always is a Fri/Sat deal, and now of course I'm wondering why that is.  It is related to issue of faith-based schools, or does that custom originate from some other reasoning?

[Ommadawn]

Adding another hypothetical to the mix, what would happen if Yeshiva were to make the tournament?  Would they make a Friday/Sunday schedule for the pod to which they were assigned? The Skyline conference appears to have worked it out so that Yeshiva plays no Saturday conference games (although the other teams in the conference, of course, do play plenty of Saturday games).