College Football 19-20: Where We Kinda Want Clemson As Champion.

[Kepler]

Wait, you know another fencer?

I said he was nice. Not smart.

[French Rage]

Pac-12 going conference-only for fall sports.

Meaning Stanford will no longer get to open the season with a thrilling match-up against William & Mary to which I was going to bring a "James II Was Better" sign.

[alfablue]

Pac-12 going conference-only for fall sports.

Meaning Stanford will no longer get to open the season with a thrilling match-up against William & Mary to which I was going to bring a "James II Was Better" sign.

So two of the major current breakout states are conference only, and then a bunch of states that are just plodding along are conference only.

And the other big breakout states are going to wait to the end of the month- which is curious.

[LynahFan]

Big time football in Florida has to wait to see what the AAC decides...

[burd]

It's funny that the things a person can do for a lifetime, like tennis, golf, swimming, etc..., are always the first sports cut at every level of school.

I've often thought that myself.

[Handyman]

Well if more people went to watch those sports...

[Kepler]

Somebody's gonna have to remind me why we have sports at universities at all. It has something to do with Muscular Christianity and not devolving into Jews or gays.

In the United States it appeared first in private schools and then in YMCA and in the preaching of evangelists such as Dwight L. Moody.^[23] Scholar Iren Annus linked the growth of Muscular Christianity in the United States to broader societal changes which were occurring throughout the country, including the emancipation of women and the influx of immigrants who worked blue-collar jobs while white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men became increasingly white-collar. These factors contributed to increasing anxiety over masculinity among white males in the United States.^[24] Parodied by Sinclair Lewis in Elmer Gantry (though he had praised Oberlin College YMCA for its "positive earnest muscular Christianity") and out of step with theologians such as Reinhold Niebuhr, its influence declined in American mainline Protestantism.

At the same time, it made a significant impact on Evangelicalism in the United States, and was promoted by organizations as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action, and the Promise Keepers.^[25] Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most prominent adherents of Muscular Christianity in the United States.^[26] Roosevelt believed that, “There is only a very circumscribed sphere of usefulness for the timid good man”, a sentiment echoed by many at the time. Followers of Muscular Christianity ultimately found that the only solution to this was to connect faith to the physicality of the body.^[27]

An example sometimes given for US Muscular Christianity was the Men and Religion Forward Movement, organized by Fred Smith, a YMCA leader, in 1910. The movement held a mix of muscular, revivalistic and social gospel sensibilities, with work directed to evangelism, bible study, boys' work, mission, and social service. The organization hosted large revivals and campaigns throughout the US. Some 1.5 million men attended 7,000 events.^[28][29]

The spread of Muscular Christianity led to many changes within the Catholic Church. The services were changed to cater more towards men and priests were required to be of a certain “manly” stature.^{[citation needed]} Priests who looked like this were thought to draw in more men like them. Protestant ministers in England and America argued that men were not truly Christians unless they were Muscular Christians.

[burd]

Well if more people went to watch those sports...

Sure, but at the grade and high school levels, sports are not or should not be based upon tickets sold. Yeah, I know . . . .

[Handyman]

How would you fund them then? It isnt like you can just run sports for free. Without the revenue sports the non-revs cant exist.

[burd]

How would you fund them then? It isnt like you can just run sports for free. Without the revenue sports the non-revs cant exist.

I understand the difficulty in funding youth sports, as we have them now, and I don't know enough about it to give you a constructive answer. And I understand this is purely anecdotal and from other cultures, but we've had foreign exchange students in our home who were far more active in things like running, biking, tennis, and other outdoor, life long skills but who had little or no experience with school sponsored spectator sports. Again, they were from places like Sweden, Turkey, and Brazil, and I know that does not compare well with the education/sports balance we have here. I was extremely active in HS sports, and my kids were as well, and I can see the benefit. But the emphasis seems to be in the wrong place, and Americans seem to grow quickly into overweight, inactive spectators.

Who spend big money on sports.

[Drew S.]

I understand the difficulty in funding youth sports, as we have them now, and I don't know enough about it to give you a constructive answer. And I understand this is purely anecdotal and from other cultures, but we've had foreign exchange students in our home who were far more active in things like running, biking, tennis, and other outdoor, life long skills but who had little or no experience with school sponsored spectator sports. Again, they were from places like Sweden, Turkey, and Brazil, and I know that does not compare well with the education/sports balance we have here. I was extremely active in HS sports, and my kids were as well, and I can see the benefit. But the emphasis seems to be in the wrong place, and Americans seem to grow quickly into overweight, inactive spectators.

Who spend big money on sports.

And look how you turned out.

In all seriousness it’s madness we don’t do a lot more to support people playing sports and being active at all ages. I really don’t think we can afford to not support youth and school sports given the levels of inactivity and obesity in the country. On too of that it’s a shame that adults couldn’t get like a $1K deduction on their taxes towards dues and equipment to encourage them to be more active as well.

[French Rage]

I think part of it is that pro-sports are so much more dominant here, so it's become a culture of either you're the best or you just sit and watch. Yeah we have some intramurals or beer leagues, but they're more the exception to the rule when it comes to most adult's athletics interaction, which is as a spectator.

[burd]

Team sports also fit well into the way we prepare kids to be conforming members of the clan. They recite creeds and oaths at church, a pledge to the flag at their desks, sing school songs at games and pep rallies, root for Flagship U and the nearest pro franchise in every sport, and vote party ticket. Tribalistic rituals.

[French Rage]

Lou Saban has done a great job coaching at Alabama, moreso when you consider he's been dead since 2009.

[RaceBoarder]

The ACC will play an 11-game season.

This will be 10 conference games and one non-con. Notre Dame will play the full schedule and will be eligible for the title game.

I'm sure the other Power-5 conferences are happy that someone made a move and they can continue printing TV money....