We better have a plan!

[Bill Marsh]

There are lots of good reasons to hate college football, but it's gone beyond that. Football is a sport that causes brain damage. Tony Dorsett is only the latest to report that he is losing his memory in his 50's.

If you haven't seen the PBS Front Line special, developed by a couple of ESPN reporters, that aired last month, you should. It documents massive brain damage in post mortem examinations of former players brains, dealing with samples as young as high school. It's not as simple as concussions. The evidence is that these are cumulative results of many, many small, otherwise undetectable events which occur not only in games but in contact practices as well. The tragedy for college players is that the effects of these injuries don't show up for years or even decades after the injuries have been sustained, leaving the former players uncovered by any medical care or insurance which would have been available to them during their playing days.

This is not simply a matter of understanding the risks and being willing to live with the consequences. It's not a matter of chronic knee, shoulder, or back injuries. Without your brain, you are no longer the same person. It not only takes lives prematurely, but it robs people of their essence, of what makes them who they are, their very identity. I sit on the Board of education where I live and I am advocating that we drop football. You will see more and more voices advocating the same thing - many of them former college and NFL players.

[Lavinwood]

There are lots of good reasons to hate college football, but it's gone beyond that. Football is a sport that causes brain damage. Tony Dorsett is only the latest to report that he is losing his memory in his 50's.

If you haven't seen the PBS Front Line special, developed by a couple of ESPN reporters, that aired last month, you should. It documents massive brain damage in post mortem examinations of former players brains, dealing with samples as young as high school. It's not as simple as concussions. The evidence is that these are cumulative results of many, many small, otherwise undetectable events which occur not only in games but in contact practices as well. The tragedy for college players is that the effects of these injuries don't show up for years or even decades after the injuries have been sustained, leaving the former players uncovered by any medical care or insurance which would have been available to them during their playing days.

This is not simply a matter of understanding the risks and being willing to live with the consequences. It's not a matter of chronic knee, shoulder, or back injuries. Without your brain, you are no longer the same person. It not only takes lives prematurely, but it robs people of their essence, of what makes them who they are, their very identity. I sit on the Board of education where I live and I am advocating that we drop football. You will see more and more voices advocating the same thing - many of them former college and NFL players.

True, but they get paid handsomely for it in the NFL. To me it's about risk/reward. The fact is that these players risk their bodies including their brains for those years living in their prime getting any women they want, all the money they can ever handle, driving any car they want, buying any house they want, etc. I think many of the players realize they are putting themselves in grave danger physically for when they reach middle age. Just look at the hits some of these guys take on a nightly basis. It all comes down to this: would you rather be rich and famous and maybe win a ring sacrificing your body in middle age or would you rather have a solid but not amazing paying job married with 2 kids and a dog in the suburbs but keeping your body healthy? For me I'd pick the second. No amount of money can buy my physical well-being. But for many kids growing up in the inner-city influenced heavily by hip hop that tells them they need the latest Lamborghini or Gucci belt while popping bottles at the most exclusive clubs, that's a risk they want to take. Many of these players grow up in that culture where instant gratification is lauded. Live fast, die young to some.

[Bill Marsh]

There are lots of good reasons to hate college football, but it's gone beyond that. Football is a sport that causes brain damage. Tony Dorsett is only the latest to report that he is losing his memory in his 50's.

If you haven't seen the PBS Front Line special, developed by a couple of ESPN reporters, that aired last month, you should. It documents massive brain damage in post mortem examinations of former players brains, dealing with samples as young as high school. It's not as simple as concussions. The evidence is that these are cumulative results of many, many small, otherwise undetectable events which occur not only in games but in contact practices as well. The tragedy for college players is that the effects of these injuries don't show up for years or even decades after the injuries have been sustained, leaving the former players uncovered by any medical care or insurance which would have been available to them during their playing days.

This is not simply a matter of understanding the risks and being willing to live with the consequences. It's not a matter of chronic knee, shoulder, or back injuries. Without your brain, you are no longer the same person. It not only takes lives prematurely, but it robs people of their essence, of what makes them who they are, their very identity. I sit on the Board of education where I live and I am advocating that we drop football. You will see more and more voices advocating the same thing - many of them former college and NFL players.

True, but they get paid handsomely for it in the NFL. To me it's about risk/reward. The fact is that these players risk their bodies including their brains for those years living in their prime getting any women they want, all the money they can ever handle, driving any car they want, buying any house they want, etc. I think many of the players realize they are putting themselves in grave danger physically for when they reach middle age. Just look at the hits some of these guys take on a nightly basis. It all comes down to this: would you rather be rich and famous and maybe win a ring sacrificing your body in middle age or would you rather have a solid but not amazing paying job married with 2 kids and a dog in the suburbs but keeping your body healthy? For me I'd pick the second. No amount of money can buy my physical well-being. But for many kids growing up in the inner-city influenced heavily by hip hop that tells them they need the latest Lamborghini or Gucci belt while popping bottles at the most exclusive clubs, that's a risk they want to take. Many of these players grow up in that culture where instant gratification is lauded. Live fast, die young to some.

I won't get into a debate about the NFL. The courts will decide that question. I'm talking about college football. Those players do get all the money they can ever handle. In fact, they don't even get medical coverage when the impact of all those hits eventually take their toll. The sad thing is that the players who are most at risk are linemen who are largely anonymous, who are the lowest paid even if they do eventually get a pay day, and who have the shortest careers.

[Xudash]

College football completely ruined other college sports. Does the NCAA realize that there are many areas of the country where college football is not a big deal? For places like the NYC metro area, the Boston metro area, the Philly metro area, Baltimore metro area, DC metro area, etc. the football fix is gotten from the NFL. Some of the biggest metro areas don't even have a major college football team to root for, so at most people will jump on bandwagons i.e. Notre Dame, Michigan, Miami, OSU, etc. But the NFL is still king in the places I mentioned. The NBA is big there too. College basketball is very big if the local programs are relevant.

It's really sad that the NCAA is about to ruin college sports by placing NCAAF above everything in the world because of the money it brings in. I can see it now: the Big 5 becomes its own thing and only play each other on a network combined together. It will be like Division 1 and Division 2. ESPN will cover the Big 5 and ignore the others i.e. Big East, AAC, A-10, Mountain West, WAC, etc. The Big 5 will get their own major NCAA Tournament while the rest of the schools get stuck with a lesser NIT type playoff. It's absolutely insane. Have they not done enough already dismantling the best basketball conference ever? I would not be surprised to see schools like G'Town, Nova, UConn, and Cincy join in one of the Big 5 conferences either with this direction becoming inevitable. G'Town football will go 1-A, and Nova football will go 1-A.

Very scary stuff…college basketball fans outside the Big 5 will be left hanging. Will anyone step up and finally put an end to this madness? I will never forget the day I was in the parking lot at SJU and heard on ESPN New York "Breaking news! Syracuse and Pitt in a shocking move are reportedly leaving the Big East for the ACC". From there on, I knew things would never be the same.

A few things in response to this;
1.) This is not the NCAA's doing, their hand is being forced by the P5, who would separate from them if they didn't capitulate.
2.) This move is designed to keep D1 together. Without these concessions there would be a split, and the Big East may or may not be left out in the cold on that. The tournament will remain the same under this arrangement, but the P5 will have a bigger recruiting advantage.
3.) G'Town and Nova will not go FBS (it's not called 1-A anymore). Nova had a chance years ago, never happened. Even if they did it would do them no good. There are teams out there that already are FBS and are much better positioned to make the jump. If the ACC gets raided, their next move is UConn, Cincy, Temple, or Memphis (in order of likelihood). No conference is looking for a G'Town or Nova starter project in football. I mean no offense to our Big East brethren, but that is the reality of the situation. G'Town tried to get into a P5 already, they failed.
4.) I'm going to assume there is some kind of "opt-in" for conferences that have the resources to compete. We have those resources and are willing to put them to use.

The sky is not falling, the world is not ending. We won't know 'til it happens and there's nothing we can do anyway. Why worry when we have a perfectly good basketball season to worry about ahead of us?

Allow me to amplify your point #3: consider that there are school like Wake Forest in the P5 now. Wake, as just one example of a number of schools that are competing at what may be referred to as a "structural disadvantage" are finding the going tough enough when it comes to competing at this level. Anyone associated with Wake would admit to this, especially after walking off the field against FSU recently. I see BC as being in this boat as well. Even a state school like NC State, though they've made facilities improvements, can't seem to get it going in football. Kansas? Kentucky? Schools like Iowa State or Washington State? How does a program that isn't part of it now possibly crack into the fraternity and find a way to sustain relevanance, especially if the program is attached to a small, private school with a relatively small fan base (please refer to Wake again)?

UC is investing something like $80 million in Nippert Stadium. As you may imagine, I think very little of The University of Cincinnati, but I admit that I like Nippert in terms of its setting and architecture. But, in my opinion, UC is making St. Joe's mistake, in terms of pursuing facilities improvements: they're shooting to small with their plan. It will be nicer - it should with $80 million pumped into it - and it will include money making suites, etc., but total capacity only moves to 40k'ish. St. Joe's pumped $15 million into Hawk Hill and came away with nothing more than an elegant high school gym. So, if UC expects the Big12 or some other conference to come calling, and someone from, say Texas makes the trip, don't you think they'll shake their head? At the very least, they'll note that they noticed Paul Brown Stadium during the flight into Cincinnati.

Overall, without a definite and immediate viable facilities solution coupled with a demonstrable fan base, Georgetown and Nova are firmly parked in the Big East.

I completely agree with your point #4.

[Dave]

Stanford