Thursday, August 28, 2008

Mid-American Confidence*

It is my experience that women (particularly women whose brothers/boyfriends/husbands spend Saturday’s glued to a television watching college football) get a bad rap when it comes to “picking” teams.

Who cares why I am a Maryland Terrapin fan? If I want to adopt a team simply because I think their slogan is hilarious then so be it.


TM Fears the Turtle

It's not like I ignore my alma mater. In fact, we will be making our way up to Evanston on September 20th to see Frank Solich and the Ohio Bobcats take on Northwestern (in a battle of cats, I take Bobs over Wilds… see I totally stick with my team!)

Anyway, I was reflecting on the issue this afternoon as I completed my Pick Six. Here’s the thing… I sort of kind of get why my fellow football wives (opposite of the football widow) and I may not get the respect we deserve.

Women like themes. We like to pick teams that are meaningful to us and teams that we believe in. We also hold grudges (i.e. the reason Tennessee did not make my Pick Six this year… sorry Scott Miller). A good number of us, however, can do this while still making intelligent picks. It wasn’t until after I made my ’08 picks that I noticed this year’s theme.

So what connecting factor links my ’08 Pick Six teams?

That’s right.

The Mid-American Conference.

The MAC is a small mostly non-factor mid-major conference where I spent my college years (see reference to Ohio above). Sure we have our share of NFL caliber players (Ben Roethlisberger, to name one), but mostly the MAC features kids from small Mid-western towns who graduate in four years and go on to do something that has nothing to do with football.

Oh yeah, the MAC is also the cradle of coaches.

Don’t believe me?

Here are my Pick Six teams:

Florida: Urban Meyer (current head coach) is a former head coach of Bowling Green State University (2001–2002)

Missouri: Gary Pinkel (current head coach) is a former head coach of The University of Toledo (1991–2000)

Texas: Cleve Bryant (current Associate Athletics Director for Football) is a former head coach of Ohio University (1984–1990)

South Florida: Greg Gregory (current Offensive Coordinator) is a former Offensive Coordinator at Ohio University (2001–2003)

Wake Forest:Jim Grobe(current head coach) is also a former head coach of Ohio University (1995–2000)

And my wild card pick? I decided to go with a MAC team just because. I didn’t pick Ohio as the outlook, I’m afraid to say, is pretty bleak. I didn’t pick the Turtles (not a MAC team but clearly a favorite) because last year when I picked Ohio they weren’t as good as they should have been (girl logic: never pick the team you want to win… it’s the kiss of death).

So, after considerable thought, I went with Ball State.

Dave Letterman, this one’s for you.

*In former coaches at least

1 comment:

mpf004 said...

what sayeth the kitty?