I really enjoyed this...but found it a little bit of a sad reminder for a guy who remembers the 70s and 80s as the peak. Things today are objectively not quite right and progressively getting worse. You don't have to look far and see a Conference known as the "Big 10" somehow having 18 teams. Curious.
The reality is that college football and basketball are quickly moving away from in-person spectator sports. They're now television products. It's why the Big 10 raided the Pac-12...they wanted games from noon until 2:00 am EST, from east coast to west coast. It's why they'll soon be at the table again to carve up the ACC school - north to south. It's why geographical regions and conferences have sadly become increasingly irrelevant to the current media drenched product.
Consider that Northwestern of all places, just announced that they will build the most expensive college football stadium in the country and have designed it to hold a mere 35,000 fans at max capacity - slightly more than some 80s basketball games. Stadiums are no longer about fans in seats, but lavish media accommodations to draw more games and exposure to schools and television angles and aesthetics for viewers. Stadiums are simply a posh setting for the media and a cool backdrop for recruits and the television viewer.
At the peak, conferences mattered a ton and reflected regional differences, pride, and distinct styles of play. The Southwest Conference was decidedly southern, their teams ran the Wishbone, and their announcers and coaches spoke with an accent. The cold weather Big 10 ran too, but from a more pro-style offense that afforded at least some throws on third and long. Meanwhile, the warm weather Pac-10 was pure passing with suntans with frequent shots of the ocean. Miami versus Nebraska on New Years Day wasn't just a football game, but a clash of distinct cultures, beliefs, and styles.
Today, it's all a blended smoothie of sameness....and the blender keeps on churning.
Perhaps the greatest consequence of this race of gluttonous excess is the loss of rivalries. As the conferences and the CFB Playoffs expand to add more irrelevant teams to the mix, the regular season is marginalized. To accommodate a larger playoff and greater travel distances, the regular season will be shortened, divisions become mini conferences to alleviate travel burdens, and conference opponents will have no historical relevance to the conference. Rivalries will soon fade away and become just another game as we wait for the Playoffs in December.
And what about those Playoffs? It's easy to see that soon the Big 10 and SEC will expand again and form their own super conference with their own playoff system. They will likely comprise more than 40 teams combined, so why not? That will leave the crumbs of the current Playoff system for the "other" schools. A sort of NIT tournament to fill the gaps between March Madness games.
So, I share your enthusiasm for the old days of real conferences and rivalries but realize that while the future is unwritten, it certainly won't be written to my specifications. Much like playing those old Avalon Hill simulated war games, there will be a sense of something lost. It just won't have the same feeling or consequence as the real thing that once was. Thanks again.
I really enjoyed this...but found it a little bit of a sad reminder for a guy who remembers the 70s and 80s as the peak. Things today are objectively not quite right and progressively getting worse. You don't have to look far and see a Conference known as the "Big 10" somehow having 18 teams. Curious.
The reality is that college football and basketball are quickly moving away from in-person spectator sports. They're now television products. It's why the Big 10 raided the Pac-12...they wanted games from noon until 2:00 am EST, from east coast to west coast. It's why they'll soon be at the table again to carve up the ACC school - north to south. It's why geographical regions and conferences have sadly become increasingly irrelevant to the current media drenched product.
Consider that Northwestern of all places, just announced that they will build the most expensive college football stadium in the country and have designed it to hold a mere 35,000 fans at max capacity - slightly more than some 80s basketball games. Stadiums are no longer about fans in seats, but lavish media accommodations to draw more games and exposure to schools and television angles and aesthetics for viewers. Stadiums are simply a posh setting for the media and a cool backdrop for recruits and the television viewer.
At the peak, conferences mattered a ton and reflected regional differences, pride, and distinct styles of play. The Southwest Conference was decidedly southern, their teams ran the Wishbone, and their announcers and coaches spoke with an accent. The cold weather Big 10 ran too, but from a more pro-style offense that afforded at least some throws on third and long. Meanwhile, the warm weather Pac-10 was pure passing with suntans with frequent shots of the ocean. Miami versus Nebraska on New Years Day wasn't just a football game, but a clash of distinct cultures, beliefs, and styles.
Today, it's all a blended smoothie of sameness....and the blender keeps on churning.
Perhaps the greatest consequence of this race of gluttonous excess is the loss of rivalries. As the conferences and the CFB Playoffs expand to add more irrelevant teams to the mix, the regular season is marginalized. To accommodate a larger playoff and greater travel distances, the regular season will be shortened, divisions become mini conferences to alleviate travel burdens, and conference opponents will have no historical relevance to the conference. Rivalries will soon fade away and become just another game as we wait for the Playoffs in December.
And what about those Playoffs? It's easy to see that soon the Big 10 and SEC will expand again and form their own super conference with their own playoff system. They will likely comprise more than 40 teams combined, so why not? That will leave the crumbs of the current Playoff system for the "other" schools. A sort of NIT tournament to fill the gaps between March Madness games.
So, I share your enthusiasm for the old days of real conferences and rivalries but realize that while the future is unwritten, it certainly won't be written to my specifications. Much like playing those old Avalon Hill simulated war games, there will be a sense of something lost. It just won't have the same feeling or consequence as the real thing that once was. Thanks again.