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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 27, 2024 15:03:04 GMT -6
As one who did some of the forcing I can explain. When I was a sophomore I thought it was a bummer we didn't have any heated rivalries. Miami had OU, Toledo had BGSU, and the Michigans had each other. So I went to the NIU message board and talked to them about it, and one of their moderators, HuskieMobileMan, was on board. I asked Brady about it at an event and he was very lukewarm, basically said "yeah but we aren't rivals." Undeterred, HuskieMobileMan and I both agreed to reach out to our respective AD's and propose the plan, so I emailed Tom Collins a suggestion that we start a trophy with NIU. To my surprise he emailed back and copied Matt Wolfert and asked Matt to meet with me. So I made a stupid little presentation explaining my reasoning and met with Matt. My recollection is that Matt was also kind of lukewarm about it, but they weren't opposed. The idea HuskieMobileMan and I proposed was the "founders trophy" which was to be some form of a Ball jar wrapped in barbed wire (NIU was founded by Joseph Glidden, inventor of barbed wire). I didn't hear anything else after that until they publicly announced the bronze stalk trophy. For the first few years clearly nobody cared, but I think the trophy can take some of the credit for the heat between us and NIU for the past few years. This is a great story hope you dont mind if I share it sometime when needed? Haha I’m not sure when it would be needed, but by all means, feel free to share. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 26, 2024 22:14:28 GMT -6
NIU was a forced rivalry. Being as far west as they are and not having built a rivalry, BSU was chosen to be their rival. As one who did some of the forcing I can explain. When I was a sophomore I thought it was a bummer we didn't have any heated rivalries. Miami had OU, Toledo had BGSU, and the Michigans had each other. So I went to the NIU message board and talked to them about it, and one of their moderators, HuskieMobileMan, was on board. I asked Brady about it at an event and he was very lukewarm, basically said "yeah but we aren't rivals." Undeterred, HuskieMobileMan and I both agreed to reach out to our respective AD's and propose the plan, so I emailed Tom Collins a suggestion that we start a trophy with NIU. To my surprise he emailed back and copied Matt Wolfert and asked Matt to meet with me. So I made a stupid little presentation explaining my reasoning and met with Matt. My recollection is that Matt was also kind of lukewarm about it, but they weren't opposed. The idea HuskieMobileMan and I proposed was the "founders trophy" which was to be some form of a Ball jar wrapped in barbed wire (NIU was founded by Joseph Glidden, inventor of barbed wire). I didn't hear anything else after that until they publicly announced the bronze stalk trophy. For the first few years clearly nobody cared, but I think the trophy can take some of the credit for the heat between us and NIU for the past few years. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 26, 2024 13:03:43 GMT -6
But after you blow a lead to lose in the last 2 minutes, it just comes across as making excuses. That is definitely how it has been interpreted, but I don't think that's what he was doing. The context of the statement is it was his final statement in the press conference, 8.5 minutes into it, responding to a question that was basically "Worthern was pretty full today, what do you think of the support?" And his response was that community and student support is great but he wishes the administration was more supportive. It's a bad look for him either way, but it's not like he sat down and opened the conference by blaming the loss on the administration. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 23, 2024 17:59:19 GMT -6
No it's not. But that's irrelevant to this discussion, which is about student fees. When you choose to enroll at BSU, you pay the tuition and fees. You might not like the rock climbing wall, or the fancy bell tower, or the amphitheater, or the football program, but when you agree to pay the fees you don't get to earmark your portion of the fees to the expenses you like. That's utterly misguided. If you run a private business, you can add any bells and whistles you like and charge your customers for them and tell them if they don't like it, they can go piss up a rope and take their business elsewhere. You're risking going out of business, but that's your own concern. On the other hand, state and federal taxpayers are subsidizing Ball State to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The idea is that this is justified to provide a college education at an affordable level for Indiana students, even if they usually still have to borrow money to afford it. To then add an extra one or two or three thousand dollar fee to the students' cost for something superfluous that brings zero benefit to the average student is completely contrary to the mission of the university. Being able to name other luxuries does not make the athletic expenditure any more justifiable. The downward sloping demand curve is a real thing in this size of a market. There ARE prospective student who have chosen not to come to BSU because of the those extra thousands per year in tuition. Their decision was close enough that it made a difference. The more honest football fans on this board have more or less accepted the following stance: "I enjoy BSU football and I want the students to keep on paying for it for my benefit" Sure, if you want to switch horses midstream from being a white knight for the taxpayers instead of a white knight for the student, that’s one way to argue. Either way you are extremely virtuous. I am not justifying the sports. I’d get rid of it all and have college be about the rigorous pursuit of truth. I’m not in charge. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 23, 2024 12:37:01 GMT -6
Also keep in mind that Ball State does not have a monopoly on post-secondary education and students are free to choose other options that are more within their budget or that prioritize spending student fees in different ways that better fit their priorities. Given how heavily government funded BSU is to serve Indiana students, it's not exactly a pure free market situation, is it? No it's not. But that's irrelevant to this discussion, which is about student fees. When you choose to enroll at BSU, you pay the tuition and fees. You might not like the rock climbing wall, or the fancy bell tower, or the amphitheater, or the football program, but when you agree to pay the fees you don't get to earmark your portion of the fees to the expenses you like. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 23, 2024 10:51:48 GMT -6
Keep in mind the students don't have this money laying around to contribute...they generally have to borrow, or leave it to the taxpayers if they can't cover. It's a flat-out shameful situation. Also keep in mind that Ball State does not have a monopoly on post-secondary education and students are free to choose other options that are more within their budget or that prioritize spending student fees in different ways that better fit their priorities. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 23, 2024 6:33:00 GMT -6
“Are we cool with that?” He asks as though “we” have a say in the multitude of decisions made by each student on the value proposition of the education and each school administrator on the value proposition of the athletic program.
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 16, 2024 12:36:11 GMT -6
It may not be greatly improbable for "a" team in a 12-team conference to not make the final over a long time period, but it is definitely improbable that any particular team you chose would not make the final once in 25 years. The simplest way to look at his is that 2 out of 12 teams make the final each year. That means 83.3% of teams don't make the final in a given year. The odds that a given team won't make the final once in 25 years is .833 raised to the 25th power. That calculates out to .01048, in other words just a hair over 1% Me, I call that statistically improbable. Given the roster, the fan support, and the general momentum of the program in 2000, it should have been more than statistically improbable, it should have been absolutely impossible. But yet it has happened, to the shame of those in positions of responsibility. I would agree with you if the two participants were drawn out of a hat, but there are other factors that play into who makes the championship game. When we've failed as badly as we have for as long as we have, you should be able to make better arguments. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 16, 2024 10:17:54 GMT -6
What is the evidence that not “seriously competing” for a conference title in 23 years is statistically improbable? Without doing any research, my gut feeling is most conferences have a handful of teams that compete and then a bunch of other teams that just field programs. In our conference it feels like Akron, Kent, Ohio, and Toledo have been the dominant teams at least in the last decade. Shooting from the hip, I would guess at least half the conference has not won a championship in that same period. Of course if you start counting at 2001, we have zero. Not only that but BSU HAS NOT EVEN MADE THE FINAL GAME in that same period. Toledo has at least made the final 4 times since 2001. BG also made one. I would go further and say we have not gone into the tourney with any sort of feeling like we had a decent chance. Maybe with the exception of the maui team early on. Since then, it's been total futility. In 2000, BSU fans could look back on the history of the MAC tourney going back the the Yoder years and take pride in having by far the best results of any MAC team. Also we had the best fan support with the possible exception of OU. A series of weak administrators, and their low-expectation, excuse-making enablers, have managed to destroy the program. Not only statistically improbable, but also sad. But what evidence is there that not making it to the final game is statistically improbable? In other words, how many conferences have at least one team that has not made it to the final game of their conference tournament? I've not looked into this at all, but I would guess the majority of conferences have at least one team that has not made it to the final game in that timeframe. If you have any evidence to support your assertion I'd be interested. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 16, 2024 6:22:03 GMT -6
Mac championships since 2000 1 BSU 6 Kent 1 Cmu 2 Wmu 4 ohio 1 Miami 3 Akron 4 Buff What stands out to me is Toledo winning so many regular seasons yet having 0 tourney championships. That seems like a statistical improbability. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 15, 2024 21:37:33 GMT -6
Good summary of the prevailing low-expectations-and-excuses paradigm of Ball State basketball that has led to not winning a MAC title in 23 years and not even seriously competing for one during that same period while similarly disadvantaged MAC programs do it with regularity. If you've ever wondered how this statistically improbable streak has occurred, I believe it's because the Ball State administration shares this way of thinking. What is the evidence that not “seriously competing” for a conference title in 23 years is statistically improbable? Without doing any research, my gut feeling is most conferences have a handful of teams that compete and then a bunch of other teams that just field programs. In our conference it feels like Akron, Kent, Ohio, and Toledo have been the dominant teams at least in the last decade. Shooting from the hip, I would guess at least half the conference has not won a championship in that same period. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 11, 2024 6:41:44 GMT -6
Mike has never had such a bevvy of candidates to choose from. Belichek, Saban, Carroll, Vrabel. Our coaching staff should be stacked next year. No excuses when all these guys are looking for work.
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 10, 2024 9:34:31 GMT -6
I had the same thought multiple times last night: I miss Jacobs.
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 9, 2024 20:09:34 GMT -6
Good game but we just cant close.
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 9, 2024 18:40:16 GMT -6
I'm doing it... Ali Ali Oxen Free! Hope it serves as a jinx. Pulling out the big guns! Hope it works. |
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