Pep Rally In Frisco
For the first time in as many years, the Sam Houston State Bearkat football team are given students, staff and alumni something to cheer about.
The first ever championship pep rally was held at Nylo Hotel on Friday night. The event was open to alumni, donors, students and friends of Sam Houston State University. It allowed those who have graduated, but have not been at the university, to reconnect and see what has been happen since graduating.
“I have never seen anything like this before,” Leah Mulligan, Ph.D., director of Student Activities said. “There is so much enthusiasm for the team. This is how all football games should be.”
The pep rally was organized jointly by the Office of the President, the Alumni Association, Student Services and the Athletic Department. Current and former Bearkat students-athletes have been amazed at the turn out of the event and understand the impact that the football team is bringing to the university
“This is so much fun,” Carli Kolbe, former Bearkat volleyball player said. “We really want to be supportive and are happy to see this happen for them.”
“It’s really exciting because they are so many fans here,” Maggie Collum, director of university events said. “This is one of the first steps to get people back on board. It’s awesome!
A “Town” For Tailgating
by Cheval John
Though the Bearkat football team lost to North Dakota State Bison 17-6, the team has brought a new sense of pride to the university and the Huntsville community.
Students, faculty, staff and alumni got to experience the festivities at “Tailgating Town” in the parking lot area of FC Dallas Stadium.
The “town” was put together by the NCAA in conjunction with the staff of FC Dallas Stadium.
Different activities that transpired in the area was sponsored by corporate entities including Capital One Bank and AT&T that included the football skills challenge featuring former Football Championship Series (FCS) players who currently play in the NFL and winners and finalist of prestigious awards in the FCS level, who teach kids techniques that will make them successful in the game.
“It was awesome,” Bo Levi Mitchell, former Eastern Washington quarterback and winner of the Walter Payton Award said. “It was so much fun because we got to spend time with the kids and to see their passion for the game.”
They also had a mechanical bull and rope challenges that gave the participants an opportunity to test their endurance and see how long they can withstand the mechanical bull. They had a station where fans can get their face painted right before the championship game.
The Office of Students Activities, along with the Alumni Association set up a tent in the area where fans got towels to wave, pom-poms and much more to cheer on the football team.
Fans also got the opportunity to listen to live music and to get into the spirit as the SHSU cheerleaders and the Orange Pride performed in front of thousands of fans.
“Everyone was very excited to be here,” Angie Taylor, Director of Leadership Intiatives for Student Activities said. “They were honking their horns on the way to Frisco, it was great.”
Tim Tebow Will Continue To Prove People Wrong
I will go out on a limb and say this: Tim Tebow will be a Hall of Famer when his National Football League (NFL) career is over. All of his life, people have doubted that he would succeed playing organize football. And what did he do? Well, he led Nease High School Panthers to a state title as a senior, was a backup quarterback at the University of Florida Gators and was a key contributor to the 2006 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship team and then as a starter from 2007-09 was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy in 2007, and led the Gators to another national championship in 2008, their third in school history. After he was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2010, many critics said that he would not succeed in the NFL because he is not a “traditional” quarterback. Before he took over as a starter this season, the Broncos was 1-4. Since he became the starter, the Broncos are 8-7 and are one game away from making the playoffs that will begin this Saturday Jan 7. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, Tebow has a bright future and he has shown that he’s determined to win. As the former head coach and current ESPN football analyst Herm Edwards once said, “You play to win the game.”
Happy New Year!
2011 will be a year to remember. They were many positive things that happen in the year. For example, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team winning the NCAA national championship and of course, the entire sports teams of A&M accepting the invitation to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC) effective July 1, 2012. Of course, let’s not forget the Sam Houston State University Football Team going undefeated in the regular season and swept through the NCAA Division 1 playoffs to reach the national championship game that will be held in Frisco, Texas on January 7, 2012 for the first time in school history under head football coach Willie Fritz. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) causing another controversy when they selected Alabama, who didn’t even play in the SEC title game, to face Louisiana State University (LSU) for the national championship on January 9, 2012. It shows how the BCS stinks and they need to have a playoff. I will talk more about that on my next post. And in the National Football League (NFL), it was Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow proving the doubters wrong by putting the team in a position to make the playoffs with come from behind wins since taking over as the starter in the sixth week of the NFL. Many important people in the sports world passed away in 2011 and it is for this reason that we should cherish every moment that we have on this earth, because we don’t know when it will be our last. Hopefully, 2012 will be as memorable as 2011. I want to thank all of the readers who follow this blog. I want to wish everyone out there a very happy new year.
The link above the post is taken from ESPN’s SportsCenter. I do not own any of it.
BCS Don’t Make Any Sense
By Cheval John
“To come out here and win this bowl game, today, with these people I worked hard with from day one, it feels so good. There’s nothing like it.”
That was the quote of senior wide receiver Junior Hemingway to The Michigan Daily, the independent newspaper of the University of Michigan after the Wolverines defeated Virginia Tech Hokies 23-20 in overtime to win the All-State Sugar Bowl last Tuesday night.
I can understand his feelings because he went through two head coaches before current head football coach Brady Hoke arrived and had to learn a new system in the process. However, there is one problem with that statement: the Wolverines was not playing for the national championship, but they were involved in one of the four Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Bowls.
In the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the BCS is a post-season system in which the universities have the opportunity to play in one of 35 bowl games after the regular season based on rankings. Those that ranked in the top 10, have an opportunity to participate in the prestigious BCS bowl, while the top two teams play for the BCS National Championship.
Schools that are in the six conferences: Southeastern Conference (SEC), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), The Big East Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big Twelve Conference and the Pacific Twelve Conference (PAC 12), have an automatic-qualifying bid while those in the other conferences in the FBS, don’t have a chance unless they finish in the top 12 rankings.
The rankings are accumulated in three parts: the BCS computers, the Associated Press (AP) Polls and the Coaches Polls. Basically, in order to finish in the top 10, teams have to finish the season undefeated, defeat their opponents by a huge margin and have a strength of schedule that shows voters that they are worthy to play for the national championship.
The Creation of the BCS
The BCS was created in 1998 in an attempt to resolve the issue as who was the best team in the country. Before the creation, the national champion was declared based on the voting by the sports writers in the United States (U.S.). Teams were often declared co-champions without facing each other because they were obligated to play in the respective bowls if they were their respective conference champions.
Because of that, the top two teams did not have an opportunity to play for the national championship. The BCS was supposed to solve that problem, but instead, it has brought more controversies as teams that had undefeated seasons did not play for the national championship.
BCS Controversies
One controversy that comes to mind is the selection of Louisiana State University (LSU) and Alabama as the teams to play for the national championship on Jan 9. LSU has an undefeated record and are the SEC champions while Alabama has an 11-1 record, with their only loss to LSU. Alabama did not play for the SEC championship, but was still selected because they were considered the “two best teams” in the U.S. Oklahoma State Cowboys was left out despite an 11-1 record and are the Big 12 Champions.
To me, this system is a sham because it doesn’t give any school a fair shot to play for the national championship. The fact that they need a computer to decide who is #1 and #2 is completely ridiculous.
Solution
The only way to solve all of this is to have a playoff system because the teams will have a fair opportunity to play each other after the regular season to earn the national championship.
If it can work in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), then it can work in the FBS.
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