my email to Ivan Maisel from ESPN

[catamount man]

Sick and tired of the "cupcake" references towards the FCS teams. Enjoy!

Mr. Maisel,

Instead of constantly bemoaning the fact that the Alabamas play the Western Carolinas of the world, and giving them the sad, unfortunate title of "cupcake", a better story would be how in 2014 the WCU program has bounced back from a previous eight year record of 14-76 to put together a nice 7-4 record with a 5-2 conference record to claim a share of second place in the Southern Conference for the 1st time since 1986.

To constantly belittle these teams with nicknames is not fair. These kids put the same time in the same weightroom, the same offseason practices, etc just like the big school do. As a WCU fan, I know we are not going to win this game, I know this. But our kids will get a chance to see how they match up against the best of the best and even with a loss, we can take solace in a 7-5 season, considering what the Catamounts have been through.

You "power 5" gurus will not be happy, unfortunately, until the only college football teams left are the P5 teams. And when THAT happens, I assure you I will never watch college football again.

Peturbed Catamount fan,
Richard
South Carolina

[Twentysix]

xthumbsupx

NDSU used to get treated like that, now it seems like in our FBS games the announcers spend 40% of the time talking about us, it almost feels like a neutral game.

This is a good letter. Good on you for sending it.

[veinup]

Good email, and I see your point. But plenty of people here on this board don't mind referring to schools from "lesser" divisions as cupcakes .. or hell, lesser FCS teams as such.

it's a thing. always gonna happen when there's some type of hierarchy.

[catamount man]

I am one FCS fan who would never belittle a d2 or lower team. While I didn't like WCU playing two d2 teams from a playoff perspective, I know the reason was to get wins and WCU needed them but trust me, I've been to Brevard, Mars Hill and North Greenville to watch games and those kids are every much as football players as the big schools are. ESPN has ruined the game IMO. GO CATS!

[crusader11]

But, for Alabama, Western Carolina is a cupcake. While it may not be nice, it's not inaccurate calling a spade a spade.

[PAllen]

Alabama has no business playing WCU. That's not a knock on WCU so much as pointing out a chink in Bama's claim to being a national championship contender. If you don't want to be called a cupcake, don't be a cupcake. Play games that you actually have a chance winning. NDSU can play most of FBS and not be called a cupcake because they have proven that they can beat most FBS teams. If WCU's FBS opponents were Kentucky, Wake Forest, Navy, anyone in the Sunbelt... and you won a few, then you wouldn't be considered a cupcake against that level of competition. Same thing goes when scheduling sub D-I teams.

[Catamount87]

The greater crime here is that ESPN and all the other sports outlets don't/won't cover anything but the biggest programs. Imagine if they spend 30% of their total college football time on FCS, D2, etc coverage. The impact across the entire college football industry (yes industry) would be a huge positive. Better yet, it would give them an enormous pool to draw interest from, stories from, talent from and further loyalty from.

[Daytripper]

I am one FCS fan who would never belittle a d2 or lower team. While I didn't like WCU playing two d2 teams from a playoff perspective, I know the reason was to get wins and WCU needed them but trust me, I've been to Brevard, Mars Hill and North Greenville to watch games and those kids are every much as football players as the big schools are. ESPN has ruined the game IMO. GO CATS!


I will never belittle a DII team after our unfortunate encounter with this entity called Colorado State University - Pueblo. xsmhx

[Bison56]

Sick and tired of the "cupcake" references towards the FCS teams. Enjoy!

Mr. Maisel,

Instead of constantly bemoaning the fact that the Alabamas play the Western Carolinas of the world, and giving them the sad, unfortunate title of "cupcake", a better story would be how in 2014 the WCU program has bounced back from a previous eight year record of 14-76 to put together a nice 7-4 record with a 5-2 conference record to claim a share of second place in the Southern Conference for the 1st time since 1986.

To constantly belittle these teams with nicknames is not fair. These kids put the same time in the same weightroom, the same offseason practices, etc just like the big school do. As a WCU fan, I know we are not going to win this game, I know this. But our kids will get a chance to see how they match up against the best of the best and even with a loss, we can take solace in a 7-5 season, considering what the Catamounts have been through.

You "power 5" gurus will not be happy, unfortunately, until the only college football teams left are the P5 teams. And when THAT happens, I assure you I will never watch college football again.

Peturbed Catamount fan,
Richard
South Carolina

Amen brother that's exactly how I feel. xnodx

[catamount man]

But, for Alabama, Western Carolina is a cupcake. While it may not be nice, it's not inaccurate calling a spade a spade.

For Alabama, VANDERBILT is a cupcake.

[UNIFanSince1983]

The greater crime here is that ESPN and all the other sports outlets don't/won't cover anything but the biggest programs. Imagine if they spend 30% of their total college football time on FCS, D2, etc coverage. The impact across the entire college football industry (yes industry) would be a huge positive. Better yet, it would give them an enormous pool to draw interest from, stories from, talent from and further loyalty from.

The problem is no it wouldn't have a greater impact. As much as we don't like it we are a HUGE minority. The majority of college football fans could care less about our division and the ones below us. They care about the Power 5 conferences. If this wasn't the case ESPN would cover the lower divisions. They have no incentive to do so since people don't care and would tune out. Numbers speak, and we don't give them the numbers.

[Hammerhead]

Sagarin has just 7 FBS teams rated lower than Western Carolina. I'm sure ESPN would call UMass a cupcake too.

[PurpleStreamers]

It's not the "cupcake" thing that bothers me (ask the Hokies about their FCS cupcake experience!:D) from ESPN so much as the burying FCS thing. By going to ESPN3 for FCS playoffs, it does probably give more access to more FCS fans, but it also allows them to pretend the games don't exist at all on their on-the-air platforms. Football is more popular than baseball by an order of magnitude yet viewers get into not only MLB, but the CWS and even the LLWS. Marketed and packaged correctly, I've always thought the FCS playoffs could be a solid product, but it almost seems like ESPN bought the rights solely for the purpose of burying it and making certain it will not take away from their P5 coverage were it on another network. Just feels like CBSSN or NBCSN or FS1 (heck, FS2) could make this a much better go of it at this point.

[FargoBison]

It's not the "cupcake" thing that bothers me (ask the Hokies about their FCS cupcake experience!:D) from ESPN so much as the burying FCS thing. By going to ESPN3 for FCS playoffs, it does probably give more access to more FCS fans, but it also allows them to pretend the games don't exist at all on their on-the-air platforms. Football is more popular than baseball by an order of magnitude yet viewers get into not only MLB, but the CWS and even the LLWS. Marketed and packaged correctly, I've always thought the FCS playoffs could be a solid product, but it almost seems like ESPN bought the rights solely for the purpose of burying it and making certain it will not take away from their P5 coverage were it on another network. Just feels like CBSSN or NBCSN or FS1 (heck, FS2) could make this a much better go of it at this point.

I watched the Fordham-Bucknell game on CBS Sports Network and was very impressed with their coverage. They focused on the game, didn't babble endlessly about the FBS and even talked some FCS bracketology. Would love for CBS to get the FCS playoffs, I think NBC would do a good job as well. Sadly though I think ESPN has it locked up for eternity.

[PaladinFan]

There are SEC West would probably be a competitive NFL division, frankly. It's just another level of football.

Granted, for most of these Power 5 conferences, everyone is a cupcake. These FCS games work for everyone except the networks who want nothing but high ratings and big games every single second.

I would encourage everyone to read Deadspin's article on the Sewanee football team in Tennessee. http://deadspin.com/the-future-of-college-football-is-the-university-of-1651204084

[Thumper 76]

There are SEC West would probably be a competitive NFL division, frankly. It's just another level of football.
]

No it wouldn't. They may very well be head and shoulders above the rest (I don't think they are but we'll see) but to say they would be a competitive NFL division is just stupid.

Jut for argument's sake, let's say each one of those teams has ten guys who make an NFL roster at some point. Even the Oakland Raiders have 53 guys that have that level of talent. It would not be close. Just think of it in terms of how many teams would be awesome comprised of true freshman. There might be 8 of them in a crazy recruiting class who could compete, but that team would be demolished. Sorry, rant over.

[ekufbfan]

This email hit the nail on the head. The use of "cupcake" is a trite and over used cliche, just like "hater".
I cannot stand hearing either of these over used words. People who use them have lost all imagination and for the most part use them as a " put down" or are so lacking in imagination and/or intelligence that they repeat by rote just to hear themselves rattle on. I heard "cupcake" used to refer to a CUSA team just recently from a 25 year old, college drop out who never played a sport beyond little league and has not held a job beyond 2 weeks in his life and is currently sitting on his butt doing nothing! I hear announcers on TV use " cupcake" time and again, sometimes I wonder if they have ever competed in sports themselves, even at the pee wee league. And there's another over used word, "pee wee league", often in reference to a league that someone "feels" is beneath them.
Then there is the "haters". Makes me even sicker. Living in Kentucky, if you are not in a slobbering love fest with the Wildcats, you are automatically a "hater". And I guarantee you NDSU fans who say they aren't referred to as a "cupcake", if you were playing the beloved ka-yats, they would call you a "cupcake"!

[catamount man]

Just checked my email. No reply.

[catamount man]

And okay, I'd still probably a little bit of P5 football.......but truly there is no sense in ignoring a major fan base of FCS teams in the USA. 1 weekend in August doesn't make up for it either IMO, although NDSU at Montana is going to be the SHIZ NIT! GO CATS!

[unigriff]

Not to harp on negativity but you had a good email; not so great on the grammar. If I were Ivan, I'd laugh at the fact that a passionate fan sticking up for their school and division can't do a simple read over/grammar check. I, am by no means perfect in that world either but if I were sending an email to someone more important than myself, I would definitely check it over first. Just saying. He can't take you as serious otherwise.

[veinup]

Not to harp on negativity but you had a good email; not so great on the grammar. If I were Ivan, I'd laugh at the fact that a passionate fan sticking up for their school and division can't do a simple read over/grammar check. I, am by no means perfect in that world either but if I were sending an email to someone more important than myself, I would definitely check it over first. Just saying. He can't take you as serious otherwise.

the grammar in this post is not perfect.

[Bison56]

Not to harp on negativity but you had a good email; not so great on the grammar. If I were Ivan, I'd laugh at the fact that a passionate fan sticking up for their school and division can't do a simple read over/grammar check. I, am by no means perfect in that world either but if I were sending an email to someone more important than myself, I would definitely check it over first. Just saying. He can't take you as serious otherwise.

In English please.

[Thumper 76]

Not to harp on negativity but you had a good email; not so great on the grammar. If I were Ivan, I'd laugh at the fact that a passionate fan sticking up for their school and division can't do a simple read over/grammar check. I, am by no means perfect in that world either but if I were sending an email to someone more important than myself, I would definitely check it over first. Just saying. He can't take you as serious otherwise.

If someone is going to rag on grammar they should use proper grammar while doing it.

[citdog]

[QUOTE=Thumper 76;2183478]If someone is going to rag on grammar they should use proper grammar while doing it.[/Q


Or at least spell the name of HIS school correctly...

[CHIP72]

I personally follow the NFL to a greater degree than college football (and much greater degree than P5 conference college football), so from my point of view ALL levels of college football are the minor leagues compared to the NFL. In reality, the quality of play in all levels of college football IS minor league compared to the NFL. Additionally, approximately 15% of all NFL players did not come to the NFL from a Division I-A/FBS program. (I'm guessing about 80-85% of that 15% came from Division I-AA, and most of the rest came from Division II.) Yet the sports media focuses a lot of attention on the Triple A equivalent of football and not so much on the Double A (Division I-AA) equivalent, Single A (Division II) equivalent, and so on.

What I described above is the real issue here from my Northeast Corridor-oriented point of view, the disparity in college football coverage across levels despite the fact the gap between high-level college football teams and NFL teams is often just as large, if not larger, than it is between high-level college football teams and teams not as at high a level (either in terms of quality of play in Division I-A, or in terms of classification below Division I-A). I understand why this is the case (many Division I-A teams represent the largest and most prominent colleges in their state and have a particularly large number of students and alumni, plus those schools are often located in rural areas without major league pro sports/an NFL team), but it doesn't mean what happens at lower classifications of college football isn't valid.

[Sycamore62]

I haven't read the last 2 pages of this thread, but I am now watching game day and they are talking a bunch of **** about these games. All I can think is F Herbstriet. His alma mater is about 1 step from playing an entire FCS schedule and D. Howard's school lost to one when they were supposed to be good. Playing a FCS team doesn't matter when it happens in the season. It's a great opportunity for everyone involved.

And nd not only that, maybe if the Big Ten had consistent competitors in the national championship the SEC wouldn't be able to mail it in week 12 and still be top to bottom better than them

F*** them!

[caribbeanhen]

this time the cupcake reference just didnt bother me that much

[stevdock]

For ESPN it is all about numbers. They honestly don't care about anything else then to get the most eyeballs watching their networks. Last May when the Minnesota Twins were in 2nd place and a couple games out of first (yes it was early), I didn't watch any of the Friday night game so turned on SportsCenter to hopefully see the highlights. I watched the entire hour and about 40 minutes of the show was about teams in the North East or Southern California. They did exactly two games outside of that. Those were the Cardinals and the Tigers. I emailed them and their answer basically was we do show what the majority of the people care about. Look at where the population in our country lies and you understand where they are coming from. ESPN has way too much power in sports in general and it's not going away ever. If they don't care about MLB teams or their fans they will never give FCS the time of day.

[OhioHen]

But, for Alabama, Western Carolina is a cupcake. While it may not be nice, it's not inaccurate calling a spade a spade.

So is Kentucky most years, and Tennessee in recent years. THEY never get called a "cupcake" by the talking heads.

[OhioHen]

Not to harp on negativity but you had a good email; not so great on the grammar. If I were Ivan, I'd laugh at the fact that a passionate fan sticking up for their school and division can't do a simple read over/grammar check. I, am by no means perfect in that world either but if I were sending an email to someone more important than myself, I would definitely check it over first. Just saying. He can't take you as serious otherwise.

I wouldn't call Ivan Maisel "more important" than madhatterCAT. More well-known, I will give you but not more important.

BTW - your point about your lack of perfection in checking grammar is particularly funny given that your "My Team" listed with each post is "THE University of Northern Ioaw." (emphasis mine). xdrunkyx