Williams & Blum Pod: Red alert on bowl season, Liberty Bowl thoughts & hoops wrap-up
- Thread starter ChrisMWilliams
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Imagine going against a former multi-year player and assistant coach and being as predictable as ever against them.
Now imagine defending that, when the person that made that decision gets $4 million per year.
Appalling.
What about the broadcast made it feel different than any other game? And what does that have to with how the team played?
I think we can all agree covering that team was indeed a complete waste of time.
This is exactly right. The harsh reaction from ISU fans was due to the performance, not the stakes.
CW was telling all of us it was going to be a real bowl game that mattered to the team and program. But as soon as we look like ****, it changes to “ISU fans are behind the times” in caring about bowl games. It wasn’t the bowl game. It was the looking like **** against Memphis in the same way we looked like **** against Ohio.
It was a podcast episode full of excuses, that’s all. It’s still the best ISU pod and one I’ll listen to regularly.
It just felt contrived in my opinion. I felt like I was watching something ESPN was trying to put on to make money…but also at the same time not pay a lot to do it. It wasn’t altogether different from some of the low budget broadcasts we see (especially for basketball), but there was fake enthusiasm that didn’t match what I saw in the field. It didn’t feel like it meant as much as they and the 3 or 4 main sponsors would have liked you to believe it did.
I think it’s possible any changes will simply confirm the exhibition status of these lower bowls. When all of the truly best teams have an honest shot at the championship, what reason is there to watch these lower bowls? If they still exist, it has to be truly clear that it’s for the fans to have an opportunity to travel and see their team play once more. But I think they may have to pay the players to get them to show up for these. And I don’t see that happening for some of these bowls that only cost $500,000 for sponsorship.
Bottom line - we may be nearing the end of the current format.
I just wonder how many fans are going to want to spend all the cash to travel to these games if the team is going to go out there and look like they just don't give a ****. Losing a bowl game is one thing, but watching a team look uninterested and unprepared is another.
If I wanted to take a little vacation just to vacation it isn't Memphis in December. The game is the center of these things. So if the team isn't going to make a true effort, I'll take my travel plans to somewhere I actually want to go.
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Why don't coaches require scholarship players to play?
"We're giving you $X and the expectation is you play in all games."
Write language into the scholarship players are required to suit up.
"We're giving you $X and the expectation is you play in all games."
Write language into the scholarship players are required to suit up.
All so funny. Hype is marketing. Why? $$$ Whoever thinks it's anything else is only fooling themselves. Expectations are marketing. Why? Cause it sells. Those who get too caught up in it have only mismanaged their own expectations. And, of course, in today's world we then blame everyone else. Like my wife said, "Bowl games are that simple nudge to travel and do something different." For my part, I look at the whole thing as "great experience for the players" and "an opportunity for that extra set of practices"
Interesting claim. Just curious as a self proclaimed non-expert, what are your credentials for understanding the ins and outs of football? For that matter, I'd have a ton more respect for a big bulk of the posters if I knew their 'expertise' level. Otherwise, I pretty much see them as background noise.
As an athlete who performed at the collegiate and semi-professional level (not in football), I can only comment on the psychology of competition. I know players can be overcoached, undercoached, out-prepared, and under-prepared. BUT, I can't and won't make a claim for how those factor in a sport in which I didn't compete at that level and for which I was no better if I did.
What bothers me about this post it that you place yourself in Campbell's head. How the heck do you know what he thinks? For example maybe, JUST maybe, he's playing 'gap' defense up front because of personnel. Or, maybe, JUST maybe, Kirk's game is the best strategy to win a particular game. Heck I don't know. But, more importantly, how do you know?
Sorry, but that's simply not accepting responsibility for your own actions. Don't blame someone else. You bought into it. Was I disappointed? Yes. But, it's only childish to blame someone else for you mismanaging your own expectations.
I heard Ole Miss has 14 mil for NIL. Isn't Mississippi a low population poor state? How do they pull that off?
