The Rest of College Football

[Mackenzie]

Gotta say I tend to agree, at least from my experience, that I like "change" less and less as I have grown older. But, I also agree with the "tradition" vs "change for change's sake" argument. I suppose that in many, if not most, cases the line between the two is sometimes very subjective from individual to individual and generation to generation. And, as so often has been discussed in many threads, it's more and more all about CFB (M included) having sold it's soul to corporate America and the chase for for the elusive--well, maybe not that elusive, big bucks.

[hack]

It is subjective. Brandon's alt jerseys are an example. We know they're stupid. We know they're ugly. We also know that the kids seem to like them and that it brings in money which the athletic department needs. We can tolerate this.

[Tony G]

Kevin Ellison arrested for arson


Updated: June 15, 2012, 4:37 PM ET
ESPN.com news services

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Kevin Ellison, once one of the top defensive backs in the nation for the USC Trojans before being sidelined by a knee injury as a senior, has been arrested on federal arson charges after he reportedly told investigators he set his bed ablaze with a marijuana-filled cigar because "God" told him to.
According to local media, Ellison confessed to starting a fire that engulfed an apartment early Thursday morning in Liberty Lake, Wash., near Spokane, after initially telling authorities he had been smoking in bed.
[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Tom HauckKevin Ellison, a top defensive back in 2008 with USC, reportedly told investigators he set his bed ablaze with a marijuana-filled cigar because "God" told him to.


Ellison, who played briefly for the San Diego Chargers after college, has been playing linebacker for the Spokane Shock of the Arena Football League.
Ellison reportedly jumped from the third-story unit but sustained only smoke inhalation.
Ellison, upon a follow-up interview in the hospital, confessed, citing the request by God, and said separately to another investigator "that he just wanted to get out of it and for it all to go away," according to The Spokesman-Review, which cited federal court documents.
Spokane Valley Fire Marshal Kevin Miller told the newspaper federal arson charges were standard for arson cases involving large apartment complexes. Ellison was arrested later Thursday.
Ellison's roommate and Shock teammate Chris Tucker said he was able to escape the fire after smoke detectors woke him. According to reports, Tucker checked on Ellison, who said, "I'm good," but did not come out.
"He pounded on the door and it was too hot," Miller told the Spokane, Wash., newspaper.
Tucker then notified neighbors and left the building before eventually finding Ellison outside.
Ellison had been behaving strangely recently, according to Shock owner Brady Nelson.
Nelson said Ellison had sent text messages to people Thursday night in which he claimed he was Jesus and was part of the Second Coming, KXLY-TV of Spokane reported.
Ellison, the only resident requiring hospitalization from the fire, was a sixth-round draft pick in 2009 by the Chargers, playing in 13 games and starting nine during his rookie season, during which he logged his only playing time in the NFL.
More On USC

For more news and notes on the Trojans, check out ESPNLosAngeles.com's blog. Blog


The Seattle Seahawks claimed Ellison off waivers the next season when they were looking for veteran depth in the secondary.
Ellison had played for Seahawks coach Pete Carroll at USC. He initially appeared to have a shot at earning a roster spot, but made little impact and was released within months.
While with San Diego, authorities arrested Ellison for suspected possession of a controlled substance. They reportedly found more than 100 Vicodin pills in his vehicle.
In 2005, Ellison earned playing time as a freshman at USC before tearing ligaments and suffering a fracture in his left knee while making a key interception late in a game against Arizona State.
Ellison recovered to become the Trojans' most consistent defender in the succesive three seasons before he tore cartilage in his knee midway through his senior year, during which he had played into contention for the Jim Thorpe Award as the country's top defensive back.
Ellison has been suspended by the AFL pending results of the investigation, Nelson said to the Spokane TV station.
"If he truly did this, he's never coming back," Nelson said.
Information from ESPN.com's Mike Sando was used in this report.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Let me ask you this, Jeff: what would it take for you to quit supporting Michigan football? What could Dave Brandon ruin for you that would make it impossible for you to continue following the team? ....... What is a valid "tradition" and what is not depends entirely upon your age group and your perspective. Do future Wolverines not have a right to invent their own traditions and bond around those? Or are they condemned to simply go with whatever was done in the past because your generation was the only group that knew what Michigan football was all about?

Good questions ..... answered in very well articulated posts by Hack, Mac and Hanni who, I'm guessing, span a pretty good age range.

I particularly like Hannibal's description of how Brandon's focus groups dictate change. The uniforms for the ND game, supposedly developed by a focus group, is a great example of why Brandon's tenure as CEO produced some of the worst Domino's Pizza in the long history of that company. Dave has a track record of doing stupid shit like this and that sort of thing pisses off entirely different generations of M football fans (i.e., the mgoblog 30s something crowd to endowing alums in their 70s).

I don't like what has happened to the Michigan band since Nix ushered in and Boerma perpetuated the current orchestral sound. It is nearly impossible to hear the band as you could in the past. Every B10 band sounds better than M's at this point in time and the massive amount of complaining about it has fallen on deaf and arrogant ears. This obviously has nothing to do with Brandon or changes in CFB but the Michigan Marching Band represents the pinnacle of the kinds of traditions we are talking about here (and assuming you know about and understand the process by which the band prepares for and executes week day practice and game day performance). You don't f*** with this.

Probably tops on my list of discouraging trends in CFB is TV coverage. Generally, it has less to do with the game itself and more to do with creating interest AROUND the game (silly side-line special interest interviews, advertising that consumes huge amounts of time making games unwatchable, commentators/analysts who often don't know that a football has a pointy end, useless and distracting screen graphics, terrible production standards with directors running cameras who have no clue about what to focus on (I don't want to see the pimples on Denard's froehead) .... the list goes on.

These trends in TV coverage (and the contracting that goes along with them) have, for me anyway, pretty much ruined Saturday football in the fall and on TV. Saturday football and January 1st bowl games used to be activities of national importance to me. I'm only casually interested at this point. I much prefer watching the game in person and when I can, I don't want the game day experience I've been a part of for almost 50 years to be screwed around with. Don't change the kind of core traditions (the pre-game band, running from the tunnel and through the banner for example) that Hack mentions. Don't try to put on pre-game and half time events that diminish the simplicity and enjoyment of what CFB Saturdays have been since the beginning. The live game day experience is all that is left. Don't f*** with that either.

[entropy]

Things that I hate about CF...

Espn 2000's (old Espn was good)
Holding only on running plays
The thought that a mobile QB who could run was a new invention by Urban Meyer
Sec speed
Constant uniform changes

[lineygoblue]

what would it take for you to quit supporting Michigan football? What could Dave Brandon ruin for you that would make it impossible for you to continue following the team?

Anything that would cause Michigan to become like an SEC team. If Michigan adopted SEC recruiting practices. If the team were to be promoted like an SEC team. Start encouraging thug football. The anger and disappointment that I'd feel would make Michigan unwatchable.

[iam416]

Just saw that the retarded blue banner "tradition" started in 1962. Somehow M football survived for 80 some years without it. In fact, M has only won half a MNC since that "tradition" started. And not a lick of functionality behind it.

[hack]

Yeah, so what already? Nobody said adherence to tradition was rational. Just that the people who revere it and want it are also the ones filling the seats and making the donations.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Jeff's rant against tv cracks me up. I, for one, applaud the expansion of tv coverage since the mid-80's. I can now watch dozens of games that, 30 years ago, my only chance of knowing anything about would've been a small box score in the next day's paper.

Are the promos for tv shows annoying? Of course! But it's a small price to pay. I'm an Ohio State fan first and foremost but I have a genuine interest in the entire nation's games. And maybe I'm just better at being able to close my mind to an obnoxious announcers musings. That or it's fun to bitch about it the day after.

[Tony G]

The issue with the expansion is the talent pool of announcers is too shallow to support it. A lot of times it feels like you're listening to a HS level broadcast

[hack]

I agree also about the technical aspects of the broadcast, and the cringe-worthy interviews. But, that said, it's not gonna stop me from watching. Of course live is much better, but it's still great to watch on TV.

[madootra]

Tony nails it. Too many games to not have to dip into a Talent Pool so shallow, Musberger is actually considered "Great"..........Incredibly sad state of affairs right now.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Cleary, CFB fans have varying perspectives about what a Saturday involving a CFB game means to them. I like my Martinis dry. Some would have them dirty. Both of them contain alcohol. Scotch? each to his own tastes but it's alcohol.

Hack hit the nail on the head when he started talking about core traditions. Maze and Blue, scarlet and gray, that CFB games are a weekend event in the fall, marching bands play marching music and school anthems and fight songs at these events, before, at the mid-point and after football games. Fathers (and Mother's) bring their kids to CFB games to enjoy the revelry and the contest, probably like their Fathers and Mothers did with them. All of these are of varying importance and we experience them differently but its CFB and like a cocktail, the basic ingrediant is alcohol.

Here's the concern. As corporate money gets involved with sponsorship, these groups claim authority, sometimes contractually, to influence what this tradtional Saturday afternoon in the fall on college campuses thorughout the country looks and feels like. If what has happened to Televised CFB games over the 40 or so years I've been watching them on TV is a harbinger of what the live game day experience is going to look and feel like, we should be worried .... and what I mean by that is big advertising money and the need to draw viewers to see the shit they are selling has tended to dictate what the TV presentation of CFB games is all about. The threat of that happeneing to the live game day experience is real and Dave Brandon, and a lot of ADs just like him, are the kind of guys that have the potential to screw that up .... big time.

No, CFB isn't going to go away. Yes, it is immensely popular nationally, but as the experience becomes more like the NFL, devoid of loyalties to colors, bands, fight songs .... all the crazy and subjective stuff that has always made me wonder why I'm so engaged by M football ...... CFB programs kike Michigan's are going to have to become more like business interests with a profit motive because the people with the big bank accounts aren't going to find the experience as enjoyable as it once was (and still is). The net result of that lack of enthusiasm for fall Saturdays in Ann Arbor in the fall will decrease giving by the well healed, lessen ticket sales of folks with families priced out of the market and decrease bowl attendance due to lack of interest and the high cost of going.

[hack]

What replaces alumni money, if you move to a less rigid, tradition-enhanced model? Advertising money could easily do that, but without the loyalty, I think you get less tolerance for the lack of a legitimate championship method. What separates CFB, in that scenario from the NFL? Less.

[iam416]

The money isn't going anywhere.