CSNbbs

From the NIU board:

http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=295700

Good news IMO, lots of things to see and do.

Agreed - and exposure for the MAC in larger markets is good for recruiting in the conference.

There is so much to see in DC. I've been in the area for close to a year now and still haven't seen everything. Temperatures aren't as bad as you might think in December/January either. We had many 50 degree days this past winter.

Ah, another meaningless bowl for the conference. Wonderful...

Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:Ah, another meaningless bowl for the conference. Wonderful...

I'm w/ ya.

Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:Ah, another meaningless bowl for the conference. Wonderful...

What a spoiled attitude.

So you're not interested in the increased revenue sharing dollars the conference should see from another bowl then? How about the possibility of increased exposure for the conference and the team playing in the game?

Were you around the year Toledo lost just one game and still didn't get invited to a bowl game?

Try asking a NIU fan if an invite to this bowl game would be meaningless to them. Better yet, ask some of our players.

-Dan

FIRST thing they need to do, before anything, ELIMINATE ALL 6-6 teams from being bowl eligible!!! 6-6 teams DO NOT deserve to go to a bowl!!! Then, they need to set a maximum of how many teams can go bowling for one conference (like a 6 team max!). NO team, no matter what conference, should go bowling when they finish 6th, 7th, 8th in their conference!! I don't care if you're in the BC$ conference or not.

Hell man, I live in the Detroit area and don't have many problems at all....in Rochester Hills that is.


Pontiac has some really bad areas, but I can tell you that you do not want to be anywhere in the immediate area surrounding the downtown area of Detroit at just about any time of the day. There are some streets that just scare you when you see them - because they are always on the news for some type of major crime issue. The East Side of Detroit is the worst place to ever end up in by mistake.

MidnightBlueGold Wrote:FIRST thing they need to do, before anything, ELIMINATE ALL 6-6 teams from being bowl eligible!!! 6-6 teams DO NOT deserve to go to a bowl!!! Then, they need to set a maximum of how many teams can go bowling for one conference (like a 6 team max!). NO team, no matter what conference, should go bowling when they finish 6th, 7th, 8th in their conference!! I don't care if you're in the BC$ conference or not.

Preach on brotha!!! I 100% agree with everything you've just said.

Bowl games should be a reward for a good season.

6-6 is a crappy season = No Bowl
7-5 is mildly successful = Lowest/Third Tier Bowl
8-4 is decent = Third Tier bowl
9-3 is pretty good = Second Tier bowl
10-2 is very good = Second Tier bowl
11-1 is awesome = BCS worthy
12-0 is THE BEST EVAR!!!! = BCS titlegame worthy

Photodan Wrote:

Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:Ah, another meaningless bowl for the conference. Wonderful...

What a spoiled attitude.

So you're not interested in the increased revenue sharing dollars the conference should see from another bowl then? How about the possibility of increased exposure for the conference and the team playing in the game?

Were you around the year Toledo lost just one game and still didn't get invited to a bowl game?

Try asking a NIU fan if an invite to this bowl game would be meaningless to them. Better yet, ask some of our players.

-Dan

Oh, so we play in this DC bowl and get "national exposure," which happens a couple of times a year anyway and let's say we win. The bowl game from a national perspective means little because there are close to 30 bowl games with over 50% of schools playing in them (which takes the fun out of postseason play) but more importantly dilutes the thrill of going to a bowl game. Second, unless you play in one of the dozen high profile bowls where the money is actually useful, then the whole experience itself costs you money, which we know Toledo doesn't have. Third, can you name the winner of the Emerald or my favorite the San Diego County Credit Poinsetta bowl last year without looking it up? I didn't think so.


You want to impress me by getting exposure for our conference. Don't create another meaningless bowl that really does little for the university and the conference. Get one of our teams to a Top 15 finish and into a Cotton Bowl or, god forbid, a BCS game.

One aspect that's being overlooked here is what it does for the team, the program. By going to a bowl...any bowl...the team gets anywhere from 2 to 6 additional weeks of practice that non-bowl teams don't get. It may not be the best thing to the student-athletes (does anybody really LIKE going to practice???), but it does the team and program a world of good.

It should also be mentioned that playing in any bowl game adds to your resume when recruiting. A coach sees a kid and gets to tell him that Toledo has played in 4 bowl games in the last 7 years and the kids like to hear that. When Rocket Digest interviewed one of the football team's 2008 signees he mentioned that one of the main reasons he picked Toledo was because of the winning tradition and past bowl games that Toledo has been in. He also said that despite not playing in a bowl game the last two years, he got the feeling from players on the team that they would be back in a bowl game this fall and that's the kind of program he wanted to be a part of. This player chose Toledo over a few mid-major schools and one lower-tier BCS school that he had received offers from.

There sure are a lot of bowl games, but it is great for the school, football program, and the fans. All of the players receive gifts from the University if they go to a bowl game too. And of course there are the memories of the whole bowl week atmosphere. Ask any former player if any bowl game is not worth it or less desirable because it was the #28 or #29 bowl game and the team was only 7-5 or 6-6. There are former players that read these boards and never got to go to a bowl game, despite having some decent records like 9-2 or 10-1, and they will tell you that they would give up anything to have had the experience of going to a bowl game.

Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:Oh, so we play in this DC bowl and get "national exposure," which happens a couple of times a year anyway and let's say we win. The bowl game from a national perspective means little because there are close to 30 bowl games with over 50% of schools playing in them (which takes the fun out of postseason play) but more importantly dilutes the thrill of going to a bowl game. Second, unless you play in one of the dozen high profile bowls where the money is actually useful, then the whole experience itself costs you money, which we know Toledo doesn't have. Third, can you name the winner of the Emerald or my favorite the San Diego County Credit Poinsetta bowl last year without looking it up? I didn't think so.


You want to impress me by getting exposure for our conference. Don't create another meaningless bowl that really does little for the university and the conference. Get one of our teams to a Top 15 finish and into a Cotton Bowl or, god forbid, a BCS game.

Right now, from a "national perspective," we mean nothing at all. Short of beating several high profile teams in a single season, our only way to increase exposure is by playing as many games as possible on national television. Every one counts, whether it's our matchup with BG, the Cotton Bowl or the Poinsettia Bowl.

I disagree with your assertion that playing in minor bowls will always cost us money. My understanding was that games that require long distance travel can eat up a large percentage of the bowl payoff but it is by no means normal. If it was, teams simply wouldn't accept the invitation.

Of course it'd be awesome to earn an invitation to a BCS bowl but the likelihood of that isn't too great most years. Short of that, we need to take advantage of every opportunity to increase our national exposure, no matter how small in comparison.

I think you need to reassess the idea that going to a small bowl doesn't benefit UT. How many better-than-average athletes have we signed because they "saw us on tv?" Many. Also, do you have any idea what a 3-hour ad on a national network would cost us? That's exactly what this would represent.

-Dan

Photodan Wrote:

Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:Oh, so we play in this DC bowl and get "national exposure," which happens a couple of times a year anyway and let's say we win. The bowl game from a national perspective means little because there are close to 30 bowl games with over 50% of schools playing in them (which takes the fun out of postseason play) but more importantly dilutes the thrill of going to a bowl game. Second, unless you play in one of the dozen high profile bowls where the money is actually useful, then the whole experience itself costs you money, which we know Toledo doesn't have. Third, can you name the winner of the Emerald or my favorite the San Diego County Credit Poinsetta bowl last year without looking it up? I didn't think so.


You want to impress me by getting exposure for our conference. Don't create another meaningless bowl that really does little for the university and the conference. Get one of our teams to a Top 15 finish and into a Cotton Bowl or, god forbid, a BCS game.

Right now, from a "national perspective," we mean nothing at all. Short of beating several high profile teams in a single season, our only way to increase exposure is by playing as many games as possible on national television. Every one counts, whether it's our matchup with BG, the Cotton Bowl or the Poinsettia Bowl.

I disagree with your assertion that playing in minor bowls will always cost us money. My understanding was that games that require long distance travel can eat up a large percentage of the bowl payoff but it is by no means normal. If it was, teams simply wouldn't accept the invitation.

Of course it'd be awesome to earn an invitation to a BCS bowl but the likelihood of that isn't too great most years. Short of that, we need to take advantage of every opportunity to increase our national exposure, no matter how small in comparison.

I think you need to reassess the idea that going to a small bowl doesn't benefit UT. How many better-than-average athletes have we signed because they "saw us on tv?" Many. Also, do you have any idea what a 3-hour ad on a national network would cost us? That's exactly what this would represent.

-Dan

... plus most of us had a pretty good time at the "meaningless" GMAC Bowl a couple of years ago. Beats the hell out of sitting home in Toledo in December.

Oh Ranger, I had a lot of fun at the GMAC bowl and I wasn't directing my comments at them or the Motor City Bowl, which I also enjoy. My point in a nutshell is it doesn't seem very smart to continue to add bowls when you can barely get any attention for half of the ones already around. Yeah there are some benefits such as exposure, PR for Toledo, and an extra recruiting incentive, but really does the MAC need 4 bowls? Do we deserve 4 guaranteed bowl games?

Plus, seeing Big East #8 vs MAC #4 really doesn't inspire my interest. Unless, Toledo was playing.

the notion of "deserving" a bowl has long since passed. bowls are all about the money and exposure (for the teams and the sponsors). any time we can get national coverage (regardless of ratings) and possibly make a couple dollars we should be happy.

Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:Yeah there are some benefits such as exposure, PR for Toledo, and an extra recruiting incentive, but really does the MAC need 4 bowls?

Yes, i think the largest 1-A football conference needs another bowl game. Three bowls is not enough for a 13-team conference that could possibly be growing to 14 in the near future.

CUSA gets to send six of its teams, most of which suck, to bowl games. Individual BCS conferences get to send between 6-9 teams every season. Quite a few of them are going with 6-6 records that count 1-AA's as one of their wins.

Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:Do we deserve 4 guaranteed bowl games?

This isn't a guaranteed game for the MAC. We are only a back-up.

Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:Plus, seeing Big East #8 vs MAC #4 really doesn't inspire my interest. Unless, Toledo was playing.

That's too bad because i watch all the MAC teams in their bowl games because i enjoy MAC Football and want to support my fellow conference mates. Even though Ball State and CMU lost, both games were highly entertaining because of the high-powered offenses. Watching BG get destroyed by Tulsa was boring but that's one of the rare times the MAC is uncompetitive in its games.

rocketfootball Wrote:There is so much to see in DC. I've been in the area for close to a year now and still haven't seen everything. Temperatures aren't as bad as you might think in December/January either. We had many 50 degree days this past winter.

I agree with RF. I've been down here doing an internship for UT, and DC blows Ohio out of the water. The weather is warmer compared to Ohio for anytime of the year. The new Nationals Park looks okay for a new ballpark and the metro is close by to go to other areas. The monuments and sightseeing gives a day to kill, right there, during the couple days we'd be down for the bowl. Plus there is ALWAYS something going on, if you want to go down on M Street and party with the Georgetown kids or go to the bars by Chinatown/Verizon Center if you want to look for the older crowd. I would be in total support of this bowl, if it were to happen.

Sorry everyone, I know I'm late. Haven't been on the board in awhile. Plus I'm busy getting ready for graduation, 7 days!!

In conclusion, I'm not sure when the best time of year is to visit Washington DC, but I'm thinking there isn't a bad time of year to do so. It may not be the safest place on Earth, but it isn't dangerous, especially if you aren't foolish about what areas you visit. It's not tropical, but it isn't frigid. Those of us who watched a 10-1 Toledo team sit home know well there weren't enough bowls a few years ago. That team's only loss was by one touchdown to the team we tied for the West championship and averaged a margin of victory of 5 touchdowns (we scored 400 points and our opponents scored 125.) That 2000 Toledo football team was probably the best I've seen and it was a crime they didn't get to a bowl. The free market will determine when there are too many bowls. I would happily go to this bowl if Toledo is fortunate enough to be invited.