Russ Mitchell, Big 10 fan. Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI Real Estate Broker Bob Parks, LLC 1517 Hunt Club Blvd Gallatin TN 37066 615-972-4239 615-826-4040 Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message: > From: Woody <[email protected]> > Date: June 5, 2012 12:20:35 PM CDT > To: gatornews <[email protected]> > Subject: [gatornews] CFN.com: Mitchell: The SEC's 6-1-1 Disaster > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Mitchell: The SEC's 6-1-1 Disaster > > > SEC Commissioner Mike Slive > > By Russ Mitchell > CollegeFootballNews.com > Posted Jun 4, 2012 > > > Share on twitter Share on facebook | More Sharing ServicesMore > > The SEC has twisted itself into a scheduling pretzel to preserve two games of > great historical significance. It won’t last. > > > By Russ Mitchell > Follow me @russmitchellcfb > > Howdy Arkansas, and congratulations! You’ve won the right to host the > Missouri Tigers every other year! In exchange, you now only welcome the > Georgia Bulldogs once every 12 seasons. > > That trip out to Gainesville too pricey for you, A&M fans? Well then, you > best take a few extra pictures this September to remember the Gators because > Muschamp and his College Station-loving self won’t circle back around until > the year 2024. > > And don’t chuckle too hard, South Carolina. You only get to see the Alabama > Crimson Tide roll on into Columbia once every three presidential election > cycles. LSU too. And Auburn. And Arkansas. > > Welcome to the 6-1-1 schedule, SEC fans – as brutal a compromise as the > league could've come up with, and it's all to preserve two games for four > schools: Alabama vs. Tennessee and UGA vs. Auburn. > > CHECK YOUR POCKETS > > As if it would somehow mask the truth about what they have taken from you, > the SEC powers that be have discarded the home-and-home tradition for > cross-divisional games. No worries, you were told, you’ll still see those > teams once every six years. > > No, no you won’t. Not unless you can afford to travel to watch your team > play, not to mention land one of the coveted road team seats. > > Even then, it’s still just once every six years. Thus, for the first time SEC > players are now being forced to miss teams in their conference careers > regardless of health/ability – in this case, two teams. (Wait until that > little nugget starts popping up in recruiting wars, by the way…) > > Inevitable for an expanding conference, you say. > > No it’s not. It’s only inevitable to protect two games for four schools. > Without that, you could continue with the two floating non-division games, > and simply do away with the inequitable dedicated non-divisional game. > > IMMORTAL DECLARATION > > Not all games are created equal. Period. In terms of both fan interest and > the ancillary revenue they generate. Think I’m wrong? Go ask your local > university restaurateur or ticket broker. > > Some games simply drive more interest (think of interest in terms of cash). > If you’re randomly saddling certain teams with dedicated games for which > there is less interest, how long are they going to be happy with that? How > long until those teams revolt against what is a financially untenable and > inequitable format? > > Brace yourself - the Mad Hatter is absolutely correct. The dedicated > cross-divisional game structure is also unbalanced. How can one argue > otherwise, other than try to divert attention from the facts? > > You can certainly suggest that teams cycle in and out of excellence. > Absolutely. But that doesn’t change the fact that this structure is, at its > core, inequitable for whichever teams are forced to play every year the > better teams of that era. Today, Florida’s having to play LSU every season is > a material advantage for South Carolina. Period. > > And here’s the rub. Most of these scheduling nightmares, inequities, and > financial hardships can be resolved relatively simply by abandoning the > Georgia vs. Auburn and Tennessee vs. Alabama traditional games. > > So as not to appear cavalier, there’s not an SEC fan or writer who doesn’t > treasure these two annual events, myself included. But we can’t have our cake > and eat it too. We can’t take all the money that comes with conference > expansion and simply ignore the reality that we’ve added more teams to the > scheduling pot. Dedicated cross-divisional games are no longer feasible, > regardless of whether or not they were ever equitable. > > Finally, it’s a novelty, I know, but remember also that the building of > rivalries requires that teams actually play one another. If we’re not > careful, we’ll end up with a de facto two conferences, as fans will in time > become even more disassociated from the opposing division teams via the 6-1-1 > format. > > CHECK YOUR SEC BLASPHEMY AT THE DOOR > > Might we one day see a major conference reorg when we get to 16 teams? > Perhaps. If so, then conceivably the 6-1-1 format is simply a delaying tactic > until we move to pods of four teams each, and in so doing identify a way to > preserve the traditional match-ups between UGA/Auburn and UT/Bama. Perhaps. > > But none of that changes the fact that as it stands today the 6-1-1 schedule > is inequitable and unnecessarily robs SEC fans the joy of seeing its teams. > > All to preserve two games for four schools. > > By the way, when we get to 16 teams, IF we stick with this ill-conceived > format and extrapolate it out to a 7-1-1 schedule, that means, Georgia fan, > that you’ll only see the LSU Tigers and Crimson Tide between the hedges twice > every thirty or so year. Or about four occasions in a college football > lifetime. > > Yeah, that’ll work. > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
