'Twas the day before the title game

[TexasTerror]

Get your e-mails ready! You guys need to make sure to send a nice little letter to Carl Dubois at the Baton Rouge Advocate for this great piece about there actually being a Division I playoff! His e-mail is: [email protected]

Dubois: 'Twas the day before the title game

By CARL DUBOIS
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Dec 14, 2006

“Dear Editor: Some of my little friends say there is no playoff in Division I college football. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Advocate it’s so.’

“Please tell me the truth; is there a playoff in Division I football, and if not, will there ever be?”

— West Virginia, Boise State, Michigan and others, somewhere on the outside looking in.

West Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see on YouTube, MySpace or Cold Pizza. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, West Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s or those of Division I university presidents, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge — and the insanity of championships by polls.

Yes, West Virginia, there is a Division I playoff. The championship game is Friday night between Massachusetts, known as the Minutemen, and Appalachian State, which has the same nickname as your Mountaineers. This I-AA playoff exists certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, not to mention common sense, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no playoffs! It would be as dreary as if there were no Alabama talk show hosts and columnists to make fun of West Virginia from afar, as if their Alabama were the cynosure of all things cosmopolitan. Jim Tressel would not have enjoyed the thrill of winning his four national championships under a playoff format before leaving Youngstown State for Ohio State. Verily, ESPN2 would probably be showing another poker tournament Friday night.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/4913036.html

[LeopardFan04]

That is a great piece...

[AZGrizFan]

I sent Carl an email commending him on his piece, and he responded back asking:


How does a fan of the Griz find a story in the Baton Rouge paper? You've piqued my curiosity.

I explained to him the phenomenon that IS AGS, and found out that one of the reasons Carl is so knowledgeable about the CS football level is he's a former McNeese State beat writer, and covered the '94, '97, and '02 playoff games between McNeese State and the Griz.

Nice guy, and pretty humble. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[AZGrizFan]

Just thought you all might want to read the email exchange I had with the writer:

Read from the bottom up.......

Tom,

Indeed those three games were among the greatest I've ever witnessed, and I've covered LSU winning the national championship, throwing one of the most spectacular Hail Mary passes ever and seemingly winning every other game in a fourth-quarter or overtime comeback.

You might want to tell your buddies on that site that if they want to preserve the story, they should probably cut and paste it somewhere, because our Web site keeps a story alive only for about two weeks before it drops off Google searches and becomes available only on our pay archives.

I actually started writing a column about the playoffs and was going to mention that the 1997 playoffs marked the most fun four-game stretch I've ever had (McNeese defeating Montana, Western Illinois and Delaware in dramatic fashion before losing to Youngstown State in the final). Then I came up with the idea that I eventually wrote.

It's funny that nobody here has said a word about it, but I get an e-mail from a Montana fan. Life is interesting.

Is Ruby's Reserve Street Inn still in business? I stayed there in 1994 and still have a little wooden box that had chocolates in it, a token they left on our beds before we checked in. I have fond memories of my one and only time in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. One day I'd love to go back.

Anyway, thanks for your feedback. You and your pals made my day.

Carl Dubois





From: Tom Martin
Sent: Thu 12/14/2006 2:10 PM
To: Dubois, Carl
Subject: RE: 'Twas the Day Before the Title Game



There's a network of (formerly) I-AA (now CS division) fans strung out across the U.S., with a VERY active message board located @ anygivensaturday.org. One of our members posted a thread with your article highlighted, commenting about how it's nice to read a POSTIVE article relating to football playoffs, versus all the BS being forced down our throats about the BS division. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to highlight the quality level of football played at the CS level, and for championing the cause of playoff football.

BTW, you covered three VERY exciting playoff games. We played 'em again this year, too.

Thanks again for the positive press!



From: Dubois, Carl [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 12:22 PM
To: Tom Martin
Subject: RE: 'Twas the Day Before the Title Game



How does a fan of the Griz find a story in the Baton Rouge paper? You've piqued my curiosity.

Oh, and thank you. You're too kind.

Carl Dubois
Former McNeese State beat writer
(covered the 1994, 1997 and 2002 playoff games between the Cowboys and Griz)





From: Tom Martin
Sent: Thu 12/14/2006 12:37 PM
To: Dubois, Carl
Subject: Re: 'Twas the Day Before the Title Game


Genius. Pure genius., Carl.

Best article I've read in years.

Signed,

Tom Martin
University of Montana Grizzlies fan

[TexasTerror]

I made sure to send our friend Carl an e-mail as well. I'm going to definitely have to keep an eye out for what he puts out. The Baton Rouge Advocate isn't too far away from my reading eye...

[igo4uni]

Good article!!:hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

It's nice to know that somebody get it!!

[AZGrizFan]

I made sure to send our friend Carl an e-mail as well. I'm going to definitely have to keep an eye out for what he puts out. The Baton Rouge Advocate isn't too far away from my reading eye...

TT---

He emailed me again and let me know that the LINK will expire as well, so if someone wants the article for posterity, they'd better cut and paste it soon....

[TexasTerror]

He emailed me again and let me know that the LINK will expire as well, so if someone wants the article for posterity, they'd better cut and paste it soon....

Got to make sure it's saved up here...
-------------------
Dubois: 'Twas the day before the title game

By CARL DUBOIS
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Dec 14, 2006


“Dear Editor: Some of my little friends say there is no playoff in Division I college football. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Advocate it’s so.’

“Please tell me the truth; is there a playoff in Division I football, and if not, will there ever be?”

— West Virginia, Boise State, Michigan and others, somewhere on the outside looking in.

West Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see on YouTube, MySpace or Cold Pizza. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, West Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s or those of Division I university presidents, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge — and the insanity of championships by polls.

Yes, West Virginia, there is a Division I playoff. The championship game is Friday night between Massachusetts, known as the Minutemen, and Appalachian State, which has the same nickname as your Mountaineers. This I-AA playoff exists certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, not to mention common sense, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no playoffs! It would be as dreary as if there were no Alabama talk show hosts and columnists to make fun of West Virginia from afar, as if their Alabama were the cynosure of all things cosmopolitan. Jim Tressel would not have enjoyed the thrill of winning his four national championships under a playoff format before leaving Youngstown State for Ohio State. Verily, ESPN2 would probably be showing another poker tournament Friday night.

Not believe in playoffs? You might as well not believe in Santa Claus! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa, but even if they did not see Santa coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see, especially if they don’t have cable TV or a workable BCS system. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. This is especially true of university presidents, network executives and bowl stewards who can’t imagine a world with a Division I-A playoff and cite academic concerns as the reason for its absence.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest man that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance — and two or three more controversial finishes in the BCS — can push aside that curtain and imagine the supernal beauty and glory beyond.

Is it all real? Could it happen? Ah, West Virginia, Boise State, Michigan and you other hopeful children, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding as the hope of a playoff one day. Playoffs? Playoffs??? Mora and mora the cause will gather steam, and it will be as natural as the postseason in the NFL. Gather your friends Friday night and watch this tiny but meaningful I-AA playoff conclude, and imagine a huge I-A one! Have your parents take you to sit on the lap of that jolly ol’ fellow, Lloyd Carr, and ask him to help your wish come true. I know he believes! Write letters to Mike Slive, even if you doubt he exists except on Southeastern Conference stationery! Just because you never see or hear him, it doesn’t mean he isn’t real!

No playoff! Good God! Even the NCAA has a sense something’s missing. By its decree, the I-AA playoff will henceforth be called the NCAA Division I Football Championship, with that other population of D-I schools to be known as the Football Bowl Subdivision. Hypocrisy lives, and it seemingly lives forever. Yes, I-AA has a playoff, and nobody accuses its presidents of being anti-academics.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world a I-A playoff couldn’t exist. If he and the usual suspects have their way, my dear West Virginia, a thousand years from now, nay, 10 times ten thousand years from now, they will continue to make sad the heart of childhood that dreams for a true championship, one with nothing mythical about it.

Believe, my new young friend, as you watch Massachusetts and Appalachian State settle it on the field while announcers for ESPN2 — the I-AA of ESPN networks — make the case for the excitement and validity of a playoff.

Oh, and about your letter: I’m not the editor. He’s on vacation, and somebody had to answer you.

(With apologies to the editor, to deceased newsman Francis Pharcellus Church, the New York newspaper called The Sun, and the most famous 8-year-old girl to write a letter to its editor in September 1897.)

[YoUDeeMan]

Got to make sure it's saved up here...
-------------------
Dubois: 'Twas the day before the title game

By CARL DUBOIS
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Dec 14, 2006


“Dear Editor: Some of my little friends say there is no playoff in Division I college football. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Advocate it’s so.’

“Please tell me the truth; is there a playoff in Division I football, and if not, will there ever be?”

— West Virginia, Boise State, Michigan and others, somewhere on the outside looking in.

West Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see on YouTube, MySpace or Cold Pizza. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, West Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s or those of Division I university presidents, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge — and the insanity of championships by polls.

Yes, West Virginia, there is a Division I playoff. The championship game is Friday night between Massachusetts, known as the Minutemen, and Appalachian State, which has the same nickname as your Mountaineers. This I-AA playoff exists certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, not to mention common sense, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no playoffs! It would be as dreary as if there were no Alabama talk show hosts and columnists to make fun of West Virginia from afar, as if their Alabama were the cynosure of all things cosmopolitan. Jim Tressel would not have enjoyed the thrill of winning his four national championships under a playoff format before leaving Youngstown State for Ohio State. Verily, ESPN2 would probably be showing another poker tournament Friday night.

Not believe in playoffs? You might as well not believe in Santa Claus! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa, but even if they did not see Santa coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see, especially if they don’t have cable TV or a workable BCS system. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. This is especially true of university presidents, network executives and bowl stewards who can’t imagine a world with a Division I-A playoff and cite academic concerns as the reason for its absence.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest man that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance — and two or three more controversial finishes in the BCS — can push aside that curtain and imagine the supernal beauty and glory beyond.

Is it all real? Could it happen? Ah, West Virginia, Boise State, Michigan and you other hopeful children, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding as the hope of a playoff one day. Playoffs? Playoffs??? Mora and mora the cause will gather steam, and it will be as natural as the postseason in the NFL. Gather your friends Friday night and watch this tiny but meaningful I-AA playoff conclude, and imagine a huge I-A one! Have your parents take you to sit on the lap of that jolly ol’ fellow, Lloyd Carr, and ask him to help your wish come true. I know he believes! Write letters to Mike Slive, even if you doubt he exists except on Southeastern Conference stationery! Just because you never see or hear him, it doesn’t mean he isn’t real!

No playoff! Good God! Even the NCAA has a sense something’s missing. By its decree, the I-AA playoff will henceforth be called the NCAA Division I Football Championship, with that other population of D-I schools to be known as the Football Bowl Subdivision. Hypocrisy lives, and it seemingly lives forever. Yes, I-AA has a playoff, and nobody accuses its presidents of being anti-academics.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world a I-A playoff couldn’t exist. If he and the usual suspects have their way, my dear West Virginia, a thousand years from now, nay, 10 times ten thousand years from now, they will continue to make sad the heart of childhood that dreams for a true championship, one with nothing mythical about it.

Believe, my new young friend, as you watch Massachusetts and Appalachian State settle it on the field while announcers for ESPN2 — the I-AA of ESPN networks — make the case for the excitement and validity of a playoff.

Oh, and about your letter: I’m not the editor. He’s on vacation, and somebody had to answer you.

(With apologies to the editor, to deceased newsman Francis Pharcellus Church, the New York newspaper called The Sun, and the most famous 8-year-old girl to write a letter to its editor in September 1897.)

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

[Carl1061]

In case not everyone received an e-mail of thanks: Thanks, guys.

I hope everyone is having fun watching the game. Thanks again for the kind words.

Carl Dubois
The Advocate
Baton Rouge


(As a journalist, I must maintain my neutrality about specific teams; hence, my generic helmet)

[TexasTerror]

Welcome to our board, Carl!

We hope you stick around and continue to educate the folks of Baton Rouge, home of a very well-known FCS squad, on what FCS and Division I football is about!

[LeopardFan04]

In case not everyone received an e-mail of thanks: Thanks, guys.

I hope everyone is having fun watching the game. Thanks again for the kind words.

Carl Dubois
The Advocate
Baton Rouge


(As a journalist, I must maintain my neutrality about specific teams; hence, my generic helmet)

Welcome to the board! And thanks for writing that great article! :hurray:

[lizrdgizrd]

In case not everyone received an e-mail of thanks: Thanks, guys.

I hope everyone is having fun watching the game. Thanks again for the kind words.

Carl Dubois
The Advocate
Baton Rouge


(As a journalist, I must maintain my neutrality about specific teams; hence, my generic helmet)
Thanks for stopping by! Don't be a stranger!

[bobbythekidd]

In case not everyone received an e-mail of thanks: Thanks, guys.

I hope everyone is having fun watching the game. Thanks again for the kind words.

Carl Dubois
The Advocate
Baton Rouge


(As a journalist, I must maintain my neutrality about specific teams; hence, my generic helmet)
Love the helmet. Welcome to the site. Enjoy the wealth of knowledge you will read here in the future. :hurray:

[lizrdgizrd]

Love the helmet. Welcome to the site. Enjoy the wealth of knowledge you will read here in the future. :hurray:
And just ignore the rest of the stuff. :rolleyes:

[Block-A]

Just ignore the rest of the stuff.

Yes, the real inside information is relegated to the smack board!