New Mexico State University has come to exemplify the futility of smaller schools in much more relevant, small televisions markets of competing in today’s college football world. That’s not fair to NMSU, which probably is beside the point.
The weekend (May 5-6) edition of the Wall Street Journal said, “New Mexico State University’s athletic department needed a 70% subsidy in 2009-2010, largely because Aggie football hasn’t gotten to a bowl game in 51 years. Outside of Las Cruces, where New Mexico State is located, how many people even know that the school has a football program? None, except maybe for some savvy contestants on ‘Jeopardy.’ What purpose does it serve on a university campus? None.”
This writer, Buzz Bissinger, is the author of “Friday Night Lights, so he knows more than a little about the broader ethos of football.
At sportsillustrated.cnn.com, Stewart Mandel said, “And so, two-and-a-half years after the Big Ten first got the train rolling, the last schools left in the station appear to be Idaho and New Mexico State, the lone remaining WAC members. With their conference destroyed and no invitations pending from another league, the two may have no choice but to drop down to the FCS.”
Mandel’s article summarized the college football conference realignment frenzy of the past few years.
Last week (May 2) the Albuquerque Journal’s Randy Harrison observed, “NMSU is in Las Cruces, which is part of the 91st largest TV market in the nation, according to Nielsen. It bears mentioning that the market is El Paso. That’s home to UTEP, and UTEP gets the attention. It’s not good to be a small market program in the first place — much less sharing it with a university that’s in another conference.”
Harrison, like the world of northern New Mexico, forgot about the 1.5 million (or so) in Ciudad Juarez who watch American TV and buy American stuff. Harrison isn’t alone in overlooking Juarez. It’s just one of those annoying and continuing New Mexico realities.
My suggestion remains the same. Form a lower level football conference (Rio Grande Conference? Rocky Mountain Conference and include Idaho?) and fit football, which is a legitimate use of a Saturday afternoon for students, into an appropriate context, which the massive subsidies.
Showing posts with label Football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Football. Show all posts
Monday, May 7, 2012
Monday, June 6, 2011
Can't Take UNM Football Seriously
I just can’t take University of New Mexico football seriously.
The thought re-appeared the other day with an ESPN story ranking college football jobs by desirability.
Texas is number one. Oklahoma State is 20th. The list includes ten southern schools. (I count the Oklahoma schools as southern for this purpose.)
Three schools seem exceptions to any other commonality: Southern California, Notre Dame and the University of Oregon, which is in Eugene, also home to Nike and gazillions of dollars.
Five are in state capitols. Six are in places of some size such as Austin, Columbus, Ohio; and Tucson and Tempe. A dozen or so are in “college towns” such as Norman, Oklahoma, or Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Identity may be the theme linking these 20. The biggest headline on the LSU website (www.lsu.edu) says, “Love Purple. Live Gold.” The University of Florida (www.ufl.edu) says, “The Foundation for the Gator Nation.”
An ultimate expression of identity fixation, or football fixation anyway, comes in Lincoln, Nebraska, where football radio broadcasts are piped into the elevators of the Cornhusker Marriott, the fanciest hotel in town.
Another cultural impact clue comes with “Roll, Tide,” which seems to a common form of greeting in Tuscaloosa. Can you imagine greeting people in New Mexico with, “Go, Lobos?”
The University of New Mexico offers nothing similar, which is just fine with me. But that’s the point. UNM Is a commuter school. The relationship, for nearly everyone, is: Drive to campus, go to class, leave. UNM has no identity.
Rocky Long showed us doubters that UNM football could be competitive. Fans sometimes filled the stadium. The two years since his departure showed just how fragile was the base.
Thus it was laughable to read that UNM may join a lawsuit against the BCS, the college football championship charade. So long as public money doesn’t finance this nonsensical concept, I don’t care.
The third item motivating this modest meditation was reading that UNM coach Mike Locksley ranks second on the new list of coaches in greatest danger of losing their job.
This morning I shared the Locksley ranking with a fellow at the gym. Laughter in response to hearing Lockley’s ranking. “You mean there’s somebody worse,” the man said.
The laughter suggests that UNM football may be doing it’s basic job of entertaining.
The thought re-appeared the other day with an ESPN story ranking college football jobs by desirability.
Texas is number one. Oklahoma State is 20th. The list includes ten southern schools. (I count the Oklahoma schools as southern for this purpose.)
Three schools seem exceptions to any other commonality: Southern California, Notre Dame and the University of Oregon, which is in Eugene, also home to Nike and gazillions of dollars.
Five are in state capitols. Six are in places of some size such as Austin, Columbus, Ohio; and Tucson and Tempe. A dozen or so are in “college towns” such as Norman, Oklahoma, or Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Identity may be the theme linking these 20. The biggest headline on the LSU website (www.lsu.edu) says, “Love Purple. Live Gold.” The University of Florida (www.ufl.edu) says, “The Foundation for the Gator Nation.”
An ultimate expression of identity fixation, or football fixation anyway, comes in Lincoln, Nebraska, where football radio broadcasts are piped into the elevators of the Cornhusker Marriott, the fanciest hotel in town.
Another cultural impact clue comes with “Roll, Tide,” which seems to a common form of greeting in Tuscaloosa. Can you imagine greeting people in New Mexico with, “Go, Lobos?”
The University of New Mexico offers nothing similar, which is just fine with me. But that’s the point. UNM Is a commuter school. The relationship, for nearly everyone, is: Drive to campus, go to class, leave. UNM has no identity.
Rocky Long showed us doubters that UNM football could be competitive. Fans sometimes filled the stadium. The two years since his departure showed just how fragile was the base.
Thus it was laughable to read that UNM may join a lawsuit against the BCS, the college football championship charade. So long as public money doesn’t finance this nonsensical concept, I don’t care.
The third item motivating this modest meditation was reading that UNM coach Mike Locksley ranks second on the new list of coaches in greatest danger of losing their job.
This morning I shared the Locksley ranking with a fellow at the gym. Laughter in response to hearing Lockley’s ranking. “You mean there’s somebody worse,” the man said.
The laughter suggests that UNM football may be doing it’s basic job of entertaining.
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