I do apologize for posting my unnecessary remarks on the MAC board. It should not have been posted here. It should have been left on OUR board for OUR fans to see. I did sit through our long losing streak and it was nice to us turn it around. I did not go through the independent era so I may be a little more accepting of a change than many. I really have no problems with any of the schools that will make up the MAC next year. I have no problems with anybody on this board(well, I guess our own "fan" Alum85 posts here on occasion so that isn't 100% true)
I just sometimes get frustrated with the situation. I understand we have win the conference before we can get the respect. I understand that it isn't all the MAC's fault but I still get the feeling we are sometimes looked at as outsiders by some. Again, I should not have put MY feelings on THIS board and I apologize for making NIU look, well, like Marshall. I just want what is best for us. Personally, I don't believe it is the MAC in the long run but it will be the only/best option now and for the near future. Please forgive me for my rant on this board. It was about wanting the best for NIU.
I am planning on going to our game and I am hoping for a good hard fought game with no major injuries. Good luck to everyone else who is representing the MAC in a bowl game this year.
Get ready for a stout Trojan "D". Andre Ware is a stud, and will play on Sundays. It will be a great match-up - Troy D vs NIU run game.
I believe you mean DeMarcus.......Andre used up all his eligibility a few years back........ :D
Nice post. I, for one, don't believe that NIU is considered an outsider in the conference. I've never seen any indication of that. Then again, I wasn't really looking, either.
Best of luck against Troy. I'll be staying up to watch it.
Oddball Wrote:Nice post. I, for one, don't believe that NIU is considered an outsider in the conference. I've never seen any indication of that. Then again, I wasn't really looking, either.
Same here.
Really, it was mostly the sharks going after after the G-Force chum thrown in the water. Not a pretty sight, but it's nature's way after all.
I've never thought NIU an outsider in any way.
Akron, maybe.
:D
NIU is not an outsider. They are an important part of the MAC. The problem NIU has is geographic. All their games are long long bus rides. It has to be tough on fans and players alike.
Oddball Wrote:Nice post. I, for one, don't believe that NIU is considered an outsider in the conference. I've never seen any indication of that. Then again, I wasn't really looking, either.
Yeah, this was my thought too. I'm not sure what you guys in DeKalb are hoping for, but NIU in the MAC seems like a good fit.
Currently you are missing an obvious rival, unlike the OH and MI teams who are near each other. And, your history w/ the MAC is fairly young (the earlier relationship doesn't carry many memories for folks).
But, I think all of this develops over time. Look at ARk in the SEC. I think their fans still get more excited when playing Texas, but the SEC games are meaningful, and growing moreso.
Likewise, NIU's attendance has gone up to a great level, and I think that's in large part due to some zeal about playing MAC teams and the history that's being developed.
Like everyone else, I certainly don't think of NIU as an outsider. UCF was the only outsider, and for a couple big reasons. Large distance and being in the MAC for football only.
-Dan
wsherdfan Wrote:Get ready for a stout Trojan "D". Andre Ware is a stud, and will play on Sundays. It will be a great match-up - Troy D vs NIU run game.
<span style='font-family:Times'><span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>You mean Demarcus Ware. Yeah, he really caused us problems too.
One other thing Troy has that helped seal our fate when we played them was an outstanding special teams unit! Their kicker knows where to put punts and they kept us pinned in the shadows of our own goalpost all game long.
Did Marshall see that same type of strong special teams play? Troy pinned us inside the five at least three times that I know of. It was really hard for us to move out of the endzone, and by the time we moved the ball away from the endzone it was already time for us to punt it back to them so they could have GREAT field position!!</span></span></span>
At least you guys don't have a member of your Board of Trustees complaining about your bowl game like a certain school that is going to the MCB!!!!
Crackman must be having a work release day.
factman Wrote:At least you guys don't have a member of your Board of Trustees complaining about your bowl game like a certain school that is going to the MCB!!!!
What the hell are you talking about now factlessman?
He's blathering about this:
<a href='http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041208/COLUMNIST09/412080343/-1/SPORTS' target='_blank'>John Harris interprets UT BOD</a>
Oddball Wrote:He's blathering about this:
<a href='http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041208/COLUMNIST09/412080343/-1/SPORTS' target='_blank'>John Harris interprets UT BOD</a>
Ok, we know from past articles that Harris is a moron who bashes everything Toledo/MAC.
But, what are those comments coming from Brennan? I confess I don't understand those.
He's saying that Chryst should have spent a little more time figuring out who should go where, and lobbied for it to happen. Due to the GMAC selecting the 4th best team in the MAC (I realize this is debatable, but realistically that's how it shakes out), the 2nd best team could have been relegated to the SVB. In fact, had Toledo lost the MACC and the Texas thing not happened, that is exactly what would have happened. Toledo's reward for year in, year out excellence would have been a bowl game that few fans could have attended, against an unknown foe...all of the things that NIU fans are complaining about.
However, what he is really saying is that Toledo has been on the short end of too many of Chryst's pragmatic decisions, and just possibly, they're tired of it.
Quote:Brennan said UT was unhappy because the Rockets and Miami didn't know their bowl destinatons until the conclusion of the MAC title game
Neither did OU, Colorado, Auburn, Tennessee, California Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Utah, Boise State, etc. They had to get the results of conference championship games and the BCS tabulations to know.
Quote:"When I heard that Bowling Green was already locked in and preparing for a bowl game and counting their money, and your two best teams have yet to play, I don't think that's fair," Brennan said.
GMAC like I said earlier probably didn't want to have to wait because its one of the earlier games.
Quote:Vexing UT officials is the knowledge that the GMAC Bowl may have preferred the Rockets over the Falcons, but could not wait to extend the invitation, thus sending Toledo, had it lost the title game, to the the Silicon Valley Bowl in San Jose, Calif.
Last year the SVFC announced it was taking Fresno or pulling the plug on the game over the objections of the WAC commissioner, and at the time, the WAC was their largest single sponsor, paying something on the order of $400,000. If the WAC can't control a game invests in how does the MAC control a game it has a smaller stake in?
They could have waited. They apparently believed waiting wasn't in their best interest.
Quote:"I think the commissioner has done a good job of raising the status of the league," Brennan said. "I agree the MAC cannot dictate bowl selection. But you can certainly advocate. It's the unusual year that challenges leadership. It's the unusual circumstances where leadership is required. It has to be important enough to the conference to ask that decisions are not made until our championship game is settled."
The blade/John Harris and factlessman are taking this a little out of context. He said that he was grateful for the Motor City Bowl bid and the opportunity to play UCONN. He just said it would be nice to go to another bowl game and I wish the MAC would help us do that.
Oddball Wrote:Crackman must be having a work release day.
And Dan Brennan's ****** is acting up.
:rolleyes:
DrTorch Wrote:Oddball Wrote:Nice post. I, for one, don't believe that NIU is considered an outsider in the conference. I've never seen any indication of that. Then again, I wasn't really looking, either.
Yeah, this was my thought too. I'm not sure what you guys in DeKalb are hoping for, but NIU in the MAC seems like a good fit.
Currently you are missing an obvious rival, unlike the OH and MI teams who are near each other. And, your history w/ the MAC is fairly young (the earlier relationship doesn't carry many memories for folks).
But, I think all of this develops over time. Look at ARk in the SEC. I think their fans still get more excited when playing Texas, but the SEC games are meaningful, and growing moreso.
Likewise, NIU's attendance has gone up to a great level, and I think that's in large part due to some zeal about playing MAC teams and the history that's being developed.
Good point. Even if we felt slighted by the MAC, and I get the feeling many in the NIU community are feeling that way right now, we really don't have a better option, as we discovered the hard way twenty years ago.
Frankly, I think we have so many improvements that need to be made to our athletic programs, both on and off the field, our current standing in ther eyes of the top brass of the MAC is the least of our worries... :rolleyes: