Spring Games
- Thread starter REX KERNY
- Start date
Come on Rex. When you're a fan of a program that experiences as much success as yours, you can afford to take the high ground when you visit someone else's board. The football culture, and culture in general at the two schools, is at opposite ends of the spectrum.
I honestly don't think it's fair to compare our "spring practice" to those put on by the Ohio States and the Nebraskas of the world. We are practically competing in two different sports when you compare the rules we play by and our values. I don't ever, ever, ever want NU football to do what it takes to fill up Ryan Field for a spring game. With a program like that comes a lot of trade-offs that I'd honestly rather not see us make.
That being said, as a fan I am disappointed in how Fitz and Phillips have essentially turned their noses in the air at a "spring game." Blame the risk of injury all you want...doesn't stop 100+ other programs from the MAC to the Big Ten from putting on those exhibitions. Keep putting our players in glass cases during practices, and see where that gets us during the regular season.
That being said, as a fan I am disappointed in how Fitz and Phillips have essentially turned their noses in the air at a "spring game." Blame the risk of injury all you want...doesn't stop 100+ other programs from the MAC to the Big Ten from putting on those exhibitions. Keep putting our players in glass cases during practices, and see where that gets us during the regular season.
C'mon Rex, there were at least 500 at our game. I know I was there. If we had 93,000 there I would have been steamed!
And I'm just sayng you don't have to rub your spring game in our faces. You have made some productive posts in the past, keep your antagonism on the OSU board.
OK,
Sorry REX, I guess I was thinking that your posts were usually OSU related and had identified you as a usually productive visitor who had chosen to troll. My bad.
I'm afraid I don't have as good a feeling about the state of the program as I have had in most of the past decade and the Spring Practice rather than a Spring Game is sort of symbolic of the "embrace the suck" culture that I don't like.
Sorry REX, I guess I was thinking that your posts were usually OSU related and had identified you as a usually productive visitor who had chosen to troll. My bad.
I'm afraid I don't have as good a feeling about the state of the program as I have had in most of the past decade and the Spring Practice rather than a Spring Game is sort of symbolic of the "embrace the suck" culture that I don't like.
I don't think I was following college football that closely when I was in High School, I was way too interested in cars and girls.
No excuses, I just was mistaken about REX for some reason, my bad.
No excuses, I just was mistaken about REX for some reason, my bad.
Fitz clearly feels that the best approach for the program is to limit exposure. Coaches of other programs would clearly disagree, or at least they wouldn't be given that decision to make.
The Insidenu guys provided very little coverage of spring ball because Fitz makes practices off-limits to the media. I think they said the first time they had seen the team practice was at the "spring game". At that time, Fitz justified the closed practices by saying he didn't want everyone to "over analyze" the players or position battles. That amazed me. Coaches should be trying to drive interest in the program, not limit it.
The Insidenu guys provided very little coverage of spring ball because Fitz makes practices off-limits to the media. I think they said the first time they had seen the team practice was at the "spring game". At that time, Fitz justified the closed practices by saying he didn't want everyone to "over analyze" the players or position battles. That amazed me. Coaches should be trying to drive interest in the program, not limit it.
beetle, Fitz and his secret practices and aversion to scrimmages will only hurt the program eventually, if it hasn't happened already with the results of the last two seasons as exhibit A & B. Even Illinois held a spring game, although they had at least 15 everyday players injured. Many on these boards have consistently said that NU has to recruit and play well against the "big boys', yet NU seems to recently be on a different page.
Buckeye here.
To be fair, I think it's totally off base to even remotely compare the two programs. First, NU is located in a professional sports-first market. OSU is located in the 15th largest city in the U.S. and basically has no competition at all, especially at the college level, inside the entire state.
Second, your academics are top notch and obviously it's harder to "squeeze" some of the elite athletes into NU. I'll give that to you and would be a fool to say otherwise. But I've been on this board several times over the years and have constantly read negative remarks about the so-called inferior education opportunities at the other BIG institutions. Totally off base. The entire BIG conference is made up of outstanding, top-notch universities. I know I'm very proud of my Mechanical Engineering degree from OSU as it has served me well over the years.
To be fair, I think it's totally off base to even remotely compare the two programs. First, NU is located in a professional sports-first market. OSU is located in the 15th largest city in the U.S. and basically has no competition at all, especially at the college level, inside the entire state.
Second, your academics are top notch and obviously it's harder to "squeeze" some of the elite athletes into NU. I'll give that to you and would be a fool to say otherwise. But I've been on this board several times over the years and have constantly read negative remarks about the so-called inferior education opportunities at the other BIG institutions. Totally off base. The entire BIG conference is made up of outstanding, top-notch universities. I know I'm very proud of my Mechanical Engineering degree from OSU as it has served me well over the years.
What, you're saying that someone can get a degree from another "inferior" B1G school and then have a fulfilling and successful career and life? Never! (Sarcasm).
To your first point, I realize that it's not fair to compare expectations of NU football to those of OSU. If we had a real spring game and hyped it up, we'd still likely draw, at most, a tenth of the crowd OSU gets. But that said, our coach seems to be working against the idea of generating excitement for the football team in the off season. Imagine if Urban Meyer didn't hold a spring game, didn't allow media access to most practices, and didn't really answer questions from the fans or media, all with the justification that he didn't want them to "over analyze" position battles. Buckeye Nation would revolt. Fans line up to buy season tickets and to attend the spring game because they're charged up about the team in the offseason. Yes, winning the national championship helps, but for all the other teams out there, it's important to build momentum and expectations in the offseason. The regular season doesn't happen in a vacuum.
Ohio State gets a great attendance at the Spring Game, therefore they don't care about academics. OSU's Spring Game always gets a great attendance because for many families it is the only way they can get into the stadium to watch the players live, either because if cost or just access.
I occasionally go to regular season games but like taking my kids when they are under 7 years old to the Spring Game because the weather is usually great and if they get bored and want to leave early I'm ok with it.
This year there was increased interest because of the National Championship, people wanting to see if Cardale Jones was a flash in the pan or if he will continue to progress, and there is a bevy of young talent that we've heard of but not seen yet. And because of the high attendance, there are a lot of activities going on around the stadium and University area as well making it a fun day in general.
It's completely different situations regarding the two Spring Games.
I occasionally go to regular season games but like taking my kids when they are under 7 years old to the Spring Game because the weather is usually great and if they get bored and want to leave early I'm ok with it.
This year there was increased interest because of the National Championship, people wanting to see if Cardale Jones was a flash in the pan or if he will continue to progress, and there is a bevy of young talent that we've heard of but not seen yet. And because of the high attendance, there are a lot of activities going on around the stadium and University area as well making it a fun day in general.
It's completely different situations regarding the two Spring Games.
Your right klem but NU used to also have other activities taking place around previous spring games, including baseball and tennis and had attendance around 15,000 to 20,000 give or take a few. Phillips needs to re-take control of this, plan other games or events and market it. I don't think I saw one advertisement or even a mention of this in the Chicago media. The fact that every other Big Ten school and probably most MAC programs put on a spring Game, shouldn't be lost at NU.
I can see that. Certainly a better marketing effort by NU would be warranted. It all goes back to what is done on the Fall as well. OSU will always have a better them national average attendance at the Sprong Game. But compared to itself, it's better when recent history has been successful and when upcoming expectations are higher.
And although Columbus is underrated as far as activities to attend, Chicago has much more and much more competition from a sports interest perspective too. NU getting 10-15k would be outstanding given the circumstances.
And although Columbus is underrated as far as activities to attend, Chicago has much more and much more competition from a sports interest perspective too. NU getting 10-15k would be outstanding given the circumstances.
Phillips is totally letting Fitz hang himself... or not. It's all on Fitz. Fitz gets total control on keeping the staff together and seemingly all the big decisions. The only thing Fitz hasn't been able to control is the time table on the new facility. If Fitz pulls off a 7 win season this year all is well. If the Cats continue to embrace the suck, Fitz's iconic presence will begin to tarnish enough where Phillips can do something about it. Prior to this Fitz's deserved popularity made him bigger than Phillip's authority. It is NU's version of Tressel not firing the OSU President.
