Some interesting and excellent personal perspectives shared as follow up to my "War and Peace" posting, and appreciate the kind words on the time it took to put that all together. If on occasion, you can't share the knowledge you have, then what good is it?
I also wanted to share my thoughts on perception of OHIO snobbery by other MAC fan bases . I think by and large, they are absolutely correct! In many cases, we are the Temple or UMASS of the conference, both of whom felt they were too good for the MAC, and neither of whom ever proved a thing while affiliate members of the conference.
I think the FB junkies are a little more realistic on OHIO's much improved status under Solich, however the incessant chatter on having not achieved a MACC in over fifty years, the next Boise, etc, gets very easy to laugh at, especially if you are not an OHIO alum. We may spend more in support of FB than we did in the wilderness years, but our budget is still less than half the MAC team's, and bottom quartile of FBS, so all the grandiose expectations relative to the reality of spend is very entertaining.
And on the hoops side of things, we are absolutely and completely obnoxious about our perceived status as historically being the class of the MAC, and too good for the conference. I like borna's use of the "Bluebloods" jargon, because we really aren't. Has OHIO performed above average over the conference's sixty year history...sure. We may have done modestly better in the tourney when we qualify than our MAC peers, but come on, we aren't rolling everyone year in, year out.
We sound exactly like those pious Temple and UMASS fans who always said they couldn't sacrifice to "downgrade" hoops in order to become a full MAC member. Go Screw. Both of those programs, if so superior to MAC hoops competition that they would always lay waste to the conference, would be a DEAD CINCH LOCK to make the tourney every year, and as our hoops experts here always assert, the only measure to hoops success for a mid major is making the tourney every year. So what do you have to lose if you make the tourney every year. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Extrapolate that to OHIO: if you can't dominate your own conference year over year while having the highest budget, and you feel you need to find a worthier conference affiliation, and I am an opposing fan base, I'm thinking these OHIO guys are either insane or arrogant a holes, perhaps both, just like we used to think of Temple or UMASS fans. (and we actually knew that Mark Hunter guy was certifiable)
Just my $.02.
Last Edited: 2/9/2018 10:30:38 AM by D.A.