(07-08-2019 05:54 PM)fishingduke12 Wrote:  

(07-08-2019 02:36 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(07-08-2019 01:50 PM)fishingduke12 Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 07:51 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  Why do posters complain about the money being spent on athletics at JMU? Is spending less their solution for having competitive programs? Do Ohio St. posters on their boards complain about them spending money? What is your beef with fully funding athletics and having great facilities? Please explain.

Let's say you live in a crap neighborhood and had the means to do one of two things. Either sink thousands of dollars renovating your kitchen, bathrooms, add an addition, new landscaping but continue to live in the same dump of a town OR try to buy a new house in a much nicer neighbor where the other houses and residents are among your peers in terms of what they value in a home. Now I know all those improvements help your resale value but at a certain point its a tough sale to live in a million dollar home next to a burning dumpster

Same goes for JMU and that's my beef

fishingduke, I do appreciate your analogy and I get the jist of what you are trying to say. I really do. There is a critical point however and differentiator that needs to be realized between your scenario and the reality of what JMU (and others) face.

If JMU could just go and put a down payment on joining another conference, let's say the AAC, for however many millions to be in their gated community, then we would've done it a long time ago. However, it doesn't work that way. There are laws to prevent discrimination when you put down that initial investment and they for the most part must accept your attempt to pull a George Jefferson and "movin' on up" as long as your finances are in order.

But, this is more like the homeowners association has the ability to discriminate who buys a mansion in their neighborhood. It's more like a country club. Dictatorship or plantation mentality. JMU can walk into the AAC offices with a down payment, stomp our feet and tell them we're going to hold our breath until they let us in and it won't make a bit of difference. The NCAA and government have no laws requiring these conferences to admit us (or all the others who want to "move on up"). You must be invited in. To be invited in, you better have a history of a nice looking home where you are doing the best with what you have, albeit not where you really want to be long-term.

Now, whether JMU spends too much money, not enough money, where the funds come from, or whatever is a different discussion entirely. But, it certainly isn't as easy as Bourne saying we'll put down 50 million to join the AAC or 300 million to join the ACC and they must accept us - for if they don't, we will slap a discrimination lawsuit on them because we didn't look quite right for their neighborhood. And, we'd have to get in line because everybody else in the G5 will be doing the same thing. All too often on this board I read viewpoints that naively imply that we can just go demand the folks in the country club to allow us in. It doesn't work that way. Never has and likely never will.

The best JMU (and all the others) can do is make itself as attractive as possible, pursue any potential opportunities if ever available (and there is no proof there are any at the moment) to show our interest, and continue to succeed. The MBB and Baseball programs hurt our attractiveness. I think everyone can and likely does agree that MBB's lack of success over the past 3+ decades hurts. Hopefully building a nice new house will help, but only if we start winning bigger and more consistently once there.

WP I was giving my opinion to Nations question as to why people complain about the amount of money we spend at the FCS level. There are so many other reasons that keep JMU from moving up which I've acknowledged in previous posts, the vast majority of which are out of JMU's control like you said.

To function with a G5 budget to play FCS seems like overkill. No one on this board knows what goes behind close doors so maybe there has been some talks in the past that gave the administration a direction they need to follow to be considered for a jump. But by next year every major team will have a modern stadium. There isn't much more, in terms of facilities, that we can improve on at the moment.

Understood and I respect your viewpoint. Not at all directed at you, but all too often I see viewpoints that are football-centric only. The terms "G5" and "FCS/D1AA" hold little-to-no context outside of football. Yet, the term "budget" when it comes to collegiate athletics is far more encompassing than football as I'm sure you know and agree.

It has been JMU's approach to have a well-rounded successful overall athletic program, not just football-centric. With the odd exception of MBB as I referenced. Hopefully, that is getting ready to change, but far too late I'm sure we'd all agree.

I believe Nation's views were about "athletics", not just football. So, JMU funding and building facilities for more than just football where G5 vs FCS/D1AA has little context, if any, makes sense to me. And, I admire JMU for it.

Just to throw a little more fuel on the fire...

I asked who cared about playing in a garbage bowl game. Evidently the answer to that is 'not Virginia Tech football players.'

Quote:The article, written by SI's Ross Dellenger, quotes members of the Hokies as saying that some of their teammates tried to lose the final game of the 2018 season, against Marshall. The game determined whether the Hokies would be bowl eligible for the 26th consecutive season. Virginia Tech won, and protected its streak.

"Well, if we lose we can go home early and don’t have to go to a bowl game," an anonymous player is quoted as saying in the article.

https://www.richmond.com/sports/college/...-3Tl4y4sPU

C.H.O.K.I.E.S... CHOKIES!!!!

(08-16-2019 02:17 PM)bjk3047 Wrote:  Just to throw a little more fuel on the fire...

I asked who cared about playing in a garbage bowl game. Evidently the answer to that is 'not Virginia Tech football players.'

Quote:The article, written by SI's Ross Dellenger, quotes members of the Hokies as saying that some of their teammates tried to lose the final game of the 2018 season, against Marshall. The game determined whether the Hokies would be bowl eligible for the 26th consecutive season. Virginia Tech won, and protected its streak.

"Well, if we lose we can go home early and don’t have to go to a bowl game," an anonymous player is quoted as saying in the article.

https://www.richmond.com/sports/college/...-3Tl4y4sPU

I suspect the "wish the season to be over already" happens a whole lot more than what we can imagine. Many student athletes look forward to the time where they can act and have a life just like the "normal" college kids.

(08-16-2019 02:42 PM)RamDawg Wrote:  

(08-16-2019 02:17 PM)bjk3047 Wrote:  Just to throw a little more fuel on the fire...

I asked who cared about playing in a garbage bowl game. Evidently the answer to that is 'not Virginia Tech football players.'

Quote:The article, written by SI's Ross Dellenger, quotes members of the Hokies as saying that some of their teammates tried to lose the final game of the 2018 season, against Marshall. The game determined whether the Hokies would be bowl eligible for the 26th consecutive season. Virginia Tech won, and protected its streak.

"Well, if we lose we can go home early and don’t have to go to a bowl game," an anonymous player is quoted as saying in the article.

https://www.richmond.com/sports/college/...-3Tl4y4sPU

I suspect the "wish the season to be over already" happens a whole lot more than what we can imagine. Many student athletes look forward to the time where they can act and have a life just like the "normal" college kids.

Yep, people say lots of things, even the best and most dedicated will spout out not meaning it to be taken seriously. Especially those with a passionate spirit.