NCAA/B1G Football

[Tony]

I watch college football because it is is football.

It certainly is is football.

[R-V]

Sure, it's possible to enjoy a season without a championship.

Pretty ballsy statement in a room full of Cub fans.

You didn't enjoy 2003 or 2008? They ended in total, epic disaster and major disappointment (respectively), but I would still take those years over the past five seasons.

After 2008, I'm not ever going to be satisfied again by anything less than a league pennant. Give me a World Series berth or a protected draft pick. 100 wins, 100 losses. Either one is fine.

OK, I'll bite. There have been 46 100-win seasons in the last 45 years, about one per year. So, unless the Cubs are the best team in the league, you'll consider the season a failure.

[Internet Apex]

Sure, it's possible to enjoy a season without a championship.

Pretty ballsy statement in a room full of Cub fans.

You didn't enjoy 2003 or 2008? They ended in total, epic disaster and major disappointment (respectively), but I would still take those years over the past five seasons.

After 2008, I'm not ever going to be satisfied again by anything less than a league pennant. Give me a World Series berth or a protected draft pick. 100 wins, 100 losses. Either one is fine.

OK, I'll bite. There have been 46 100-win seasons in the last 45 years, about one per year. So, unless the Cubs are the best team in the league, you'll consider the season a failure.

Why did you do that?

[Eli]

Sure, it's possible to enjoy a season without a championship.

Pretty ballsy statement in a room full of Cub fans.

You didn't enjoy 2003 or 2008? They ended in total, epic disaster and major disappointment (respectively), but I would still take those years over the past five seasons.

After 2008, I'm not ever going to be satisfied again by anything less than a league pennant. Give me a World Series berth or a protected draft pick. 100 wins, 100 losses. Either one is fine.

OK, I'll bite. There have been 46 100-win seasons in the last 45 years, about one per year. So, unless the Cubs are the best team in the league, you'll consider the season a failure.

Chuck gonna Chuck.

[Shooter]

College football is kind of dumb.

Don't start backing down now from the BIG NIU/Ball State showdown on 11/13, Tony.

Is that when it is? I spent most of my Saturdays in Muncie watching Notre Dame play on my crappy little TV. And I still do that even though I think college football is kind of dumb. At least I have a nice TV now.

But if Ball State had the same kind of success NIU does I would go full Cardinal meatball and claim they deserve a BCS bowl too.

Brady Hoke will soon be available to restore them to their glory day(s).

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Sure, it's possible to enjoy a season without a championship.

Pretty ballsy statement in a room full of Cub fans.

You didn't enjoy 2003 or 2008? They ended in total, epic disaster and major disappointment (respectively), but I would still take those years over the past five seasons.

After 2008, I'm not ever going to be satisfied again by anything less than a league pennant. Give me a World Series berth or a protected draft pick. 100 wins, 100 losses. Either one is fine.

OK, I'll bite. There have been 46 100-win seasons in the last 45 years, about one per year. So, unless the Cubs are the best team in the league, you'll consider the season a failure.

Chuck gonna Chuck.

Turns out the following teams from the Championship Series era should have just tanked their seasons for the draft picks:

The 2013 Boston Red Sox (97 wins)
The 2012 San Francisco Giants (94 wins)
The 2011 St. Louis Cardinals (90 wins)
The 2010 San Francisco Giants (92 wins)
The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies (92 wins)
The 2007 Boston Red Sox (96 wins)
The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (83 wins)
The 2005 Chicago White Sox (99 wins)
The 2004 Boston Red Sox (98 wins)
The 2003 Florida Marlins (91 wins)
The 2002 Anaheim Angels (99 wins)
The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks (92 wins)
The 2000 New York Yankees (87 wins)
The 1999 New York Yankees (98 wins)
The 1997 Florida Marlins (92 wins)
The 1996 New York Yankees (92 wins)
The 1995 Atlanta Braves (90 wins)
The 1993 Toronto Blue Jays (95 wins)
The 1992 Toronto Blue Jays (96 wins)
The 1991 Minnesota Twins (95 wins)
The 1990 Cincinnati Reds (91 wins)
The 1989 Oakland Athletics (99 wins)
The 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers (94 wins)
The 1987 Minnesota Twins (85 wins)
The 1985 Kansas City Royals (91 wins)
The 1983 Baltimore Orioles (98 wins)
The 1982 St. Louis Cardinals (92 wins)
The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies (91 wins)
The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates (98 wins)
The 1974 Oakland Athletics (90 wins)
The 1973 Oakland Athletics (94 wins)
The 1972 Oakland Athletics (93 wins)
The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates (97 wins)

What a pathetic bunch of losers.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

College football is kind of dumb.

This, a million times. Unless you're a fan of the top 5-7 powerhouse schools, why bother getting worked up over which mediocre, pointless bowl game your team will play in?

Blind squirrels, nuts, etc.

Right, they won the Orange Bowl. So what?

Well, I think they get a trophy.

Edit: Confirmed, they get a trophy.

Seriously, though, are you're saying it's not possible to enjoy sports if your team of choice doesn't win the championship?

I'm being a little over-the-top, of course.

Sure, it's possible to enjoy a season without a championship. But I think it'd be hard to enjoy a season without the possibility of a championship, which is the case for the vast majority of college football teams.

If you're not in one of the major conferences, sure. That's why everyone wants the playoff format -- if that's what you're saying is stupid about college football, far be it from me to disagree. But, if your non-powerhouse team happens to play in one of those major conferences, all you need to do is win and you'll have a decent shot of playing for the title. It's hard, but it's not entirely impossible. Iowa was a 5-point loss away from a perfect season in 2002. Ten years ago Alabama finished 4-9 (LOST TO FUCKING NIU FOR CRISSAKES) and followed it up with a 6-6 season. It's not impossible to go from bad to not bad to really good. Ole Miss is an also-ran in the SEC but apparently has the best recruiting class of anyone and should be really good in a few years. I enjoyed watching the Cubs this year even though there was no chance that they'd win a championship. And the Red Sox had a 2012 that equaled the Cubs' in shittiness. Something something that's why they play the games.

TL;DR: I follow my non-powerhouse college football team on the hope that they'll be in the running at some point down the road. If I only followed them when they were actually in the running, I'd be no better than Apex.

Early Huskie ascension'd.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

DPD.

For the record, I have always been a much, much bigger fan of professional sports than college sports.  Nobody in my potatio-scarfin' lineage, going all the way back 2 generations in the States, had any school on which we could stake a claim, so of course we rooted for Notre Dame.  But because we lived near a big city, we were drawn to pro sports.  

Also for the record...though I *am* an NIU alum, I can tell you that I had literally witnessed, in all my four glorious, euphoric, enlightening, toxic-saturated years in DeKalb in person, no more than 8 total quarters of NIU football, all of which were in the first 1.2 years of my enrollment.  I only saw 1 game in it's entirety--the first one my freshman year, when I was the only asshole who stayed in DeKalb over Labor Day weekend and my brother (Class of '86) came up with some buddies and lit me up with some tailgating and such...also, later, one half of a game I left at halftime to get ripped, before NIU rallied back against Kansas State....even on the day when Stacey Robinson set an NCAA Rushing record for Quarterbacks, I never quite made it inside to Huskie Stadium in time to see and see a single play, and thus not only missed Robinson setting the mark, but NIU knocking off #24 Fresno State in our Homecoming game (shakes fist at current Fresno State team),though I did have a helluva time tailgating.

Furthermore, during my sophomore year I actually lived at an apartment complex (as did, I found out years later, our Head Moran), that was called StadiumView II Apartments.  Though it offered no view of the actual field, if you opened the door to your apartment and craned your neck north, you could see the south side of the stadium's east (and high school-bleacherish) grandstand, and besides, we lived close enough that we could walk to it in seconds anyway...and admission was free with a school ID and in spite of all that I can attest to having witnessed exactly 1 Quarter of 1 game of football that whole year .... in fact NIU home games were inexplicably on SportsChannel (the pre-cursor to FoxSportsChicago, which is essentially a precursor of CSN Chicago) but they were rarely on our set, because we'd usually have Notre Dame on, and if not ND some Big 10 school or maybe a wicked national game with one (or two!) of the 5 teams Eli has set in stone that are worth watching...but when an NIU game *was* on our set, we liked to open the door whenever there was some goal line action, just to hear the crowd (such as it was)....that's the extent of my fandom from that time...so I'm not pretending that my interest in the current NIU team is some long-held tradition that I've possessed but at the same time I'm not going to apologize for enjoying the hell out of it now.  Especially since I"ve pretty much outgrown Notre Dame to the point where I sometimes find myself occasionally rooting against them.

But pro sports do rule.  Fucking  Bears, man.

[Bort]

Sure, it's possible to enjoy a season without a championship.

Pretty ballsy statement in a room full of Cub fans.

You didn't enjoy 2003 or 2008? They ended in total, epic disaster and major disappointment (respectively), but I would still take those years over the past five seasons.

After 2008, I'm not ever going to be satisfied again by anything less than a league pennant. Give me a World Series berth or a protected draft pick. 100 wins, 100 losses. Either one is fine.

OK, I'll bite. There have been 46 100-win seasons in the last 45 years, about one per year. So, unless the Cubs are the best team in the league, you'll consider the season a failure.

Chuck gonna Chuck.

Turns out the following teams from the Championship Series era should have just tanked their seasons for the draft picks:

The 2013 Boston Red Sox (97 wins)
The 2012 San Francisco Giants (94 wins)
The 2011 St. Louis Cardinals (90 wins)
The 2010 San Francisco Giants (92 wins)
The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies (92 wins)
The 2007 Boston Red Sox (96 wins)
The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (83 wins)
The 2005 Chicago White Sox (99 wins)
The 2004 Boston Red Sox (98 wins)
The 2003 Florida Marlins (91 wins)
The 2002 Anaheim Angels (99 wins)
The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks (92 wins)
The 2000 New York Yankees (87 wins)
The 1999 New York Yankees (98 wins)
The 1997 Florida Marlins (92 wins)
The 1996 New York Yankees (92 wins)
The 1995 Atlanta Braves (90 wins)
The 1993 Toronto Blue Jays (95 wins)
The 1992 Toronto Blue Jays (96 wins)
The 1991 Minnesota Twins (95 wins)
The 1990 Cincinnati Reds (91 wins)
The 1989 Oakland Athletics (99 wins)
The 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers (94 wins)
The 1987 Minnesota Twins (85 wins)
The 1985 Kansas City Royals (91 wins)
The 1983 Baltimore Orioles (98 wins)
The 1982 St. Louis Cardinals (92 wins)
The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies (91 wins)
The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates (98 wins)
The 1974 Oakland Athletics (90 wins)
The 1973 Oakland Athletics (94 wins)
The 1972 Oakland Athletics (93 wins)
The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates (97 wins)

What a pathetic bunch of losers.

This is a classic application of Rule 10.17(c).

[Saul Goodman]

MACtion!  NIU!  With a cameo by Tim Beckman!

[Saul Goodman]

DPD:



He thinks he's people!

[Saul Goodman]

NIU Eastern Illinois North Central College would murder Northwestern if they played today.  ARE YOU HAPPY?

P.S. Fuck these gutless assholes.  Not so much the players, but the coaches who refuse to stop calling option pitches to Mike Trumpy, who desperately try not to lose instead of trying to win, who retreat instead of fight.  A team that started 4-0 is now 4-7 with only the Turd Bowl in Champaign left.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Eastern's actually pretty good.

[CT III]

Okay, this is hilarious.

[CBStew]

This is not something that you Big Ten types should be aware of, but when this guy left Cal and went to Washington he took several recruits with him.  We Cal fans are now all talking about Karma.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/18/report-washington-dl-coach-tosh-lupoi-under-investigation-for-possible-ncaa-rules-violation/