I am wondering how all you true UW fans feel about all of these changes & developments. Personally, I have always enjoyed rivalry games, and competing at a decent level...mostly for football, but also basketball. With all the shuffling and begging and pleading going on, with certain teams already joining other conferences, and others that are on the cusp...are we losing the luster? Are we becoming irrelevant (our sports programs)?
Wyoming is never mentioned for changing conferences / expansion, and probably will never be. Is it at a cost of poor AD decisions in the late 90's and 00's that have created an attitude of indifference in the UW athletic department? Take Boise for example...they weren't poop 15 years ago, and now, they are holding all the cards. That isn't about anything but having a desire to win, and then winning. They obviously took a different approach in their AD department, than UW took in ours (with Moon, Barta, & Burman at the helm).
So again, painting the picture. What happens to UW, and our fanbase, when we are relegated to a situation that limits all rivalry games, and limits regional games that provide a decent level of desirable competition? Do we become another Idaho? And if so, when revenue decreases, CJC donations decrease (again, because we are not playing at a desirable level), and the budgets of our teams get the axe, is it good-bye to UW athletics as we once knew them? Does our fanbase become apathetic, like how I feel it will, for the most-part?
Further, I know some look at athletics with a so-what attitude. They could care less if they exsisted. But I think that is a very dangerous stance for the people in charge to embrace. For example, Utah's application for enrollment increased 17% when they announced the Pac 12 move. What would happen to UW's application for enrollment, when we are sent the message that athletics don't matter, and we are relegated to competing with fellow basement dwellers?
Last, could the current administration have done anything to prevent, what I see, is a very boring, bleak, athletic future? I think so. I think you get out of it, what you put into it. And I don't think they "put into it" the last few years...like Boise did...or like they SHOULD have. This isn't shaping up to be fun, in my opinion. Pick it up for your second favorite team, and start buying gear (only if they are AQ BCS level though), if you want any kind of relevance / satisfaction as a fan.
Damn. I am a college sports fan first (or was). Now I am faced with an NBA I already hate, MLB that is a joke with free agency and .300 BA's being considered "good", the NHL that doesn't get exposure it should (people don't understand the game), and the NFL is becoming a don't-hit-to-hard league. What is left?
