I just want to vent at the latest unjustified hit jobs by USA Today writers, and I figured this is as good a place as any to vent. The Indy Star is part of the USA Today network, so I see these articles. In the past week there have been two, but there have been others. The first by Matt Hayes ranted about IU's choice for the CFP being a "colossal mistake". The second was this morning by Dan Wolken praising, in his words, the downfall of the SEC. Neither is accurate and by all appearances is no more than clickbait in my opinion. It's frustrating to me to see people getting paid for being unjustifiably negative. I don't know if this topic will get any response(s), but I feel better posting it. Matt Hayes MSN Dan Wolken SEC should face reality: League doesn't rule college football
Thanks for posting and I agree. And I think Texas has a very good chance of winning out. I also think the team with the least chance at this point is Penn State.
Hi Sid, i'm on a cruise so not reading many papers, but I did see the piece by Wolken this morning. My take is a little different. His main point was to leave the CFP alone with a few minor tweaks (like giving the highest ranked teams the bye and perhaps having the quarter finals on campuses) and not mess with it otherwise...He wasn't really knocking the SEC (IMO) rather than defending the right of ASU and Boise State to be in it, particularly after the show that ASU put on. His only "anti SEC" point that I saw was in knocking those complaining about those two teams getting in rather than the SEC elites. I didn't see it as a large knock on the conference nor as praise for the conference "downfall". Unless I saw a different Wolken piece this morning. "Lessons need to be learned from the Peach Bowl. Yeah, the Big 12 may not have been a great conference this season, but its champion went blow-for-blow with the second-best team in the SEC. And even though college football is never going to have the same upset dynamics as the NCAA basketball tournament, it’s the Arizona States of the world that are going to grow this sport and turn the CFP into something magical – if they’ll just leave it (mostly) alone. That’s the potential we saw on Wednesday. That’s the parity the CFP can help grow. That’s the excitement fans yearned for when they finally turned it from an invitational into a real Playoff." BTW.. I was leaning toward the opinion that maybe Indiana shouldn't have been put in the CFP, and it was your comments earlier that convinced me otherwise.
Ha! Stu, I laugh because your measured and intelligent analysis of the article pointed out to me my state of mind because of the earlier piece by Hayes, which still has me smarting. It's embarrassing, but in the past, when I was another kind of person (prone to arguing and, yes, ranting), my Skybox family was forgiving, so I'm hoping they'll understand that when I get upset, I tend to see a particular part of the world - sports and otherwise - through a red-faced lens, and my words shouldn't be accorded credibility. In this case the "victim" was the entire USA Today sports writing team. I'll go back and re-read the Wolken article in a calmer state, however, I'm still upset about the Hayes article. I feel that ND's performance last night vs. Georgia kind of proves objectively that IU belonged in the CFP. If it happens again, which I hope it doesn't, please just roll your eyes and say to yourself, It's just Sid being Sid.
Sid... IF you're wrong this time, it's not enough to warrant an apology. Writers are FAMOUS for being geniuses after the fact. And while Stu may be right that the guy wasn't celebrating the downfall of the SEC, I'm not sure that idea isn't correct. At least, it's going to fall from where it was. The new free agency where players can and do move any time means rosters cannot be built/maintained like they were. Saban's system has no chance of working in this atmosphere. I put forward that dynasties as they used to be are over. You'll see schools with the most money consistently near the top, but from year to year the turnover will affect them ALL and no school will be able to keep a roster intact enough to have a long run. Just having the same QB for 2 seasons will become unheard of...
I agree with all you said and Sid certainly doesn’t need to apologize. I just had a little different take on the writer’s opinion and point. That’s all.
Hey I saw a piece in the Oregonian where the writer claims that the Ducks were screwed by the rules, that they were denied a home game and forced to wait a week to play while Ohio State got to have a home game and a tune up scrimmage for their game