Defender of the Biscuit?!?!

As a student of sport management and someone who plans to one day work in the field, I understand the importance of sports organizations selling sponsorships. It’s a huge revenue stream for them, and often a lifeline. We see a ton of it in professional sports, but sponsorships are creeping into college sports more and more. I first started noticing it in “big time” college programs, and mostly on television broadcasts—bowl game titles, logos projected onto a court/field, halftime shows sponsored by whoever, etc. This season, though, The Citadel athletic department must be trying to finance half the stadium renovation with sponsorships, and I think it’s a little out of control.

I think getting sponsors for promotions is great. Jones Ford has sponsored a couple of promotions at Citadel football games this season, but is it really necessary for every Citadel first down to be announced as a “Jones Ford First Down”? Or for every timeout to be “brought to you by CSS Copy Services”? (This gets especially annoying when teams start burning timeouts back-to-back!) The Citadel has even sold the red zone, so that every time the Bulldogs progress into the red zone, the announcers uses some clever line to recognize whoever wrote the check, not the players who actually got the ball there.

What really gets me is sponsors for the player of the game awards. For example, the defensive player of the game award is sponsored by Bojangles and for whatever reason is named the Defender of the Biscuit award (which coincidentally went to our class’s own Kevin McCaskill this week... Congrats, Kevin!). But Defender of the Biscuit? Come on, at that point it’s not even about the player anymore. It’s clearly more about Bojangles than the player, and that’s a shame. Why can’t it be just the Bojangles Defensive Player of the Game? There are ways to sell sponsorships and not totally sell your team out. Bottom line... I say if you need sponsors to fund your program, put their logo on the scoreboard, in the program, or even on the field if you need to. Let them sponsor the gameday promotion and recognize them for that. But until the Jones Ford staff is ready to go on the field and get their “Jones Ford First Down” themselves, let’s leave the action on the field alone and let the players be recognized for what they’re doing.

By the way, The Citadel and Furman both won this weekend, which I fully expected them to do (Western Carolina won ONE game last season, and Chattanooga hasn’t beaten Furman since Terrell Owens played for them!). The Bulldogs took out Western Carolina 34-14, and receiver Andre Roberts set a new school record for career receptions along the way. Meanwhile in Greenville, the Paladins put a 35-10 hurting on UT-Chattanooga, thanks in part to a spectacular game from the tight ends. On Saturday, The Citadel will travel to Appalachian State, and the Paladins will be on the road at Elon. Both should be good games, but since I will be traveling for the following 3 weekends, I won’t be going anywhere this weekend. Good luck to all my boys!

Nice little week in the FCS

If you look at this week's FCS Coaches' Top 25 poll, you will notice something different at the top--the absence of Appalachian state! The Mountaineers were knocked off by #5 James Madison and are now sitting in the lowly #4 spot. Nothing makes me happier than to see App State sliding down in the polls. Granted, they're still ahead of both of the teams I really support, but the fact that they're not "perfect" anymore just makes me smile. I think my true disdain for App began after Furman's 2002 loss to them because good ol' Bobby Lamb decided to go for two after a touchdown that had already given us the lead (read about it here). As if having to watch Derrick Black literally snatch our win out of the air and carry it into the endzone wasn't enough, the ridicule from Appalachian State fans in the parking lot was ridiculous. I have never heard such vulgar things in all my life. Ever since then, though, anyone who beats App is okay in my book. Of course, I'd love for Furman to be the team to do it, but I'll take an App State loss any way I can get it. Thanks, James Madison.

Meanwhile, Furman's win over #6 Delaware moved us up 6 spots to #17 on the Coaches' Poll. The Citadel dropped 2 spots to #24 after beating Princeton, although the Sports Network Poll has them all the way up at #13 and Furman at #16. This is definitely a better-than-usual Citadel team, but I'm not sure that beating Princeton should have pushed them up that far in the rankings. The Coaches' Poll reflects what I think, that beating a top 10 team should mean more than beating a team that has no scholarships and doesn't participate in post-season play, so I'll take it.

I wish the Furman-Delaware game had been on tv so I could see it for myself, but I hear it was a great game. I hope the 2 Furman games I'll get to this season will be just as exciting. The Citadel-Princeton game wasn't spectacular, but it was a win. I was a little worried during the first half, but whatever Coach Higgins said to them during halftime worked! Much improved second half from the Bulldogs. They've got Western Carolina this week, which shouldn't be too tough. The Paladins take on Chattanooga at home this week, and it's a tv game so I'll actually get to see it for once! Another 2-game Saturday... sounds like a pretty nice little Saturday to me!

Bring It On? Really?

This past weekend Furman played at Colgate and The Citadel had a "bye" week, so I didn't get to go to any games. The Furman game wasn't on tv, and with no internet at home, I couldn't even listen to the internet broadcast. I didn't know much about Colgate, so I didn't know whether to expect a win or to hope for one. It really didn't matter because Furman pulled out the win, 42-21, bringing us to 2-1 on the season. The win also helped the Paladins break into the FCS Sports Network poll at #24. The Citadel is at #21 in that same poll, so congrats to both teams!

So what did I do with all of my extra free time this weekend? I sat around watched the ABC Family marathon of the Bring It On series of movies. That's right... Bring It On, Bring it On Again, Bring It On: All or Nothing, and Bring It On: In It to Win It all in 24 hours. There. I said it. I watched cheerleading movies all weekend. And I don't know why, but I liked it. I do know, however, that I like football much better than cheerleading movies, so I'm excited to get back to that on Saturday. The Citadel takes on Princeton at home, and my Furman boys will host Delaware. I wish I could afford another trip to Greenville this weekend, but alas I'll be in Charleston spending my Saturday at Johnson-Hagood again. Details next week!

Hottest Day Ever

I got back late last night from a pretty HOT little Saturday in the upstate. Our office closed early on Friday, so I drove up to Greenville that afternoon to spend some long overdue time with some good friends from college. I don't make the trip to Greenville nearly enough, but I always have a great time with great people when I do!

My parents were driving up from Rock Hill for the game at Clemson, so they met me in Greenville and I rode to the stadium with them. (Free parking... check. Free ticket... check.) It was a hot one in Clemson, and after the trek from the parking lot to the stadium, we were already drenched with sweat. Not a cute look, but I guess football isn't supposed to be glamorous! And it's not cheap, either, as we dropped $22 on bottled water and ice on the way into the stadium. (Well, I guess I should say my dad dropped $22. Free refreshments... check.) Too bad I probably sweat out everything I drank during the game!

It was a pretty good game, though, despite The Citadel losing 45-17. Better kicking would have made the game a lot closer, but I was still impressed with the Bulldogs' play. I couldn't see much of what happened near one endzone, but we had a great view of a couple of awesome Clemson fumbles and Citadel recoveries from where we sat, as well as an Andre Roberts touchdown. Roberts had a great game, especially against Clemson. I will be surprised if he doesn't get SoCon Player of the Week honors. QB Bart Blanchard also had a good game, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he brings to the table this season.

Furman was on the road this week at Virginia Tech. It wasn't on tv, so I have no idea how my Paladins played, except that they lost 24-7. Coach Lamb's post-game comments seem to indicate they played well, especially on defense. Furman held VaTech to only 3 points in the first half but just couldn't seem to get points on the board. BUT they did lose by fewer points than The Citadel, which after winning by more points than the Bulldogs last week, still puts Furman ahead of The Citadel in my book. Okay, I know that's not logical at all, but it works for me so we're just gonna go with it! :)

Next week The Citadel has an off week, and Furman is playing at Colgate...which is apparently somewhere in New York. I clearly will not be travelling for that one, so I'll have to settle for being a fan from my couch for the weekend with no free meals or free football. What a shame ;)

Opening Weekend

The first weekend of the season was one characterized by blowouts by my teams. I had fun Friday night watching Rock Hill High play at Wando, even though RH isn't really "my" team (they're actually my high school's big rival, but they became my team by default when my mom became principal). RH won 26-0, and watching the social dynamics at a high school football game made me extremely thankful for my 20's. :)

Saturday was pretty exciting, since not only was it the first game of the season, but it was also The Citadel's first game in the newly renovated stadium. You'd have thought my dad was a kid on Christmas. He couldn't wait to get to the stadium and check everything out--and have his picture taken with the new, HUGE bulldog statue. We had access to one of the new luxury suites for the game because someone my parents know wasn't going to be using his tickets that day. I'd really rather sit down closer to the field, but it was nice to see "how the other half lives" for the day! The game itself wasn't terribly exciting, as you could probably guess from the 54-7 final score. However, it was nice to see some of the freshmen get a chance to step up and make some big plays so early in the season. Freshmen Asheton Jordan and Luke Caldwell even scored their first collegiate touchdowns in the first game. Asheton's performance earned him the SoCon's Freshman of the Week Award, and junior Andre Roberts was named the Special Teams Player of the Week for his punt returns, including a 64-yard return for a touchdown.


While I was up in the suite enjoying some great food and beverages, my Furman boys were taking the field in Greenville against Mars Hill. I recorded the game and still haven't had a chance to watch it all, but I was impressed with what I did see. Or rather, I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be! Now I love Furman football, but this probably isn't going to be "our year" so I didn't have high hopes for our performance. The new starting QB Jordan Sorrells had big shoes to fill in my eyes, and what I've seen so far of the game gives me a little more confidence in him. Hopefully I'll have some time this week to watch the rest of the game and see how we did filling the vacancy that Jerome Felton left in our ground game. In the end, Furman also wins big (62-14), but unfortunately with one casualty. Junior WR RJ Webb, who was out part of the 2007 season and all of spring practice with a knee injury, tore his ACL in the game and is out for the season. He will definitely be missed, but I think we've got a good group of receivers who will step up.

Next up: Furman @ Virginia Tech and The Citadel @ Clemson. Furman and The Citadel are playing Bowl Subdivision teams who were upset in the opening week by East Carolina and Alabama, respectively. If either the Paladins or the Bulldogs had a prayer in the first place, it's surely diminished by the anger of VT and Clemson over their opening week losses. If Hanna doesn't ruin my plans, I'll be at Clemson for the Citadel game. Good luck to both teams... I just hope they make it out alive! ;)