While We’re Young (Ideas) for September 3
By TERRY LYONS
CHESTNUT HILL – If this column were to be written from hometown New York some 15 years ago, the opening of the College Football season would NOT have registered as a major sports weekend. New York City is not a college sports town. Yes, there are plenty of taverns that welcome college football fans to congregate for their school’s games – they call it LSU HQ or ACC Football Hub and dozens of other bars that establish themselves as the place to be if you’re from Faber College and you’re looking for your game.
To the extent of anything you might call Division I NCAA College Football in New York is few and far between. Columbia University provides the IVY League experience while Fordham University plays in the sub-division (FCS) and is a partial member (just for football) in the Patriot League. (Otherwise, for most sports, Fordham toils in the A-10).
After that, you’re looking at trips to Staten Island (Wagner), Long Island (Stony Brook), or points much further away and mainly Upstate NY (Albany, Buffalo, Cornell, Marist (Poughkeepsie), Colgate (Hamilton, NY) or Syracuse.
Here in Boston, the city’s College football fans face much the same problem. Although Boston is home for some 35 colleges and universities and more than. 154,320 students descend upon Boston every August/September, Boston remain a pro sports town with a lot of colleges. If you look at Massachusetts as a whole (as in counting the likes of Holy Cross in Worcester, Wellesley, Springfield, UMass in Amherst), the State’s population grows by some 483,488 from college students studting in the Commonwealth.
Yes, that’s a half-million Red Sox fans created every year.
Boston College rates highest in the Boston area college football meter, playing a highly competitive schedule in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). This weekend, Alumni Stadium in Chesnut Hill played host (and LOST) to Northern Illinois University in a non-Conference game vs FBS club with a devastating loss as the Eagles opened 2023 with high hopes but a realistic viewpoint when looking at a schedule that includes: No. 8 Florida State, and ACC tough Miami, Virginia, Louisville, Virginia Tech and Syracuse, among others. With a rotating ACC schedule, the Eagles were spared match-ups vs the likes of Clemson, North Carolina, Duke, NC State and Wake Forest.
Geez: Even next week’s opponent – Holy Cross – is a challenger.
Believe it or not, very soon, BC might face SMU, Cal or Stanford in the 2024-25 season as ACC school presidents and chancellors voted to allow the westward expansion Friday. That’ll make the ACC register 18 schools while the Pac 12 was reduced to the Pac 2 (Oregon State and Washington State), rendering the Pac 12 Network useless.
Looking elsewhere back in Boston, you can see Harvard compete in the IVY, or the UMass Minutemen play as an independent FBS school. Holy Cross plays in the Patriot League while Tufts always fields a competitive Division III team over in Somerville where you can see Bates, Williams, Colby and Wesleyan (New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is a proud alum).
Before Notre Dame defeated Navy over in Dublin, it was 32 weeks of the year without college football. This weekend, it’s open the floodgates.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: USA Today sprang a list of the “Ten best colleges for sports fans” this week. The paper touted, “From game day thrills to championship victories: Experience college sports like never before,” although every year, it’s sort of the same, isn’t it? The list (with commentary by WWYI):
- Connecticut – Guess they missed football?
- Florida State – Once upon a Time?
- Alabama – ‘Roll Tide
- Florida – Bad start this week
- Indiana – Fans, yes, BIG TEN football championships – Nada
- LSU – Should be #1?
- Wisconsin – Don’t the Sports get in the way of the Partying?
- Penn State – Called on the account of White Out.
- Michigan – Good enough for The Big Chill, Good Enough for the List
- Notre Dame – Should be No. 2
USA BASKETBALL UPDATE: The USA Basketball 5×5 Men’s senior national team, competing in the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Manila, will play its second round match vs Lithuania today, Sunday September 3 at 8:40am (ET). For you Saturday night bulldog edition readers, that means “Get Up” tomorrow and for you Sunday morning readers, “Turn on the TV.”
In their most recent game, the USA was losing to Montenegro, 39-38, at halftime, trailing for the first time in this World Cup tournament. A much-improved second half secured the win, as Anthony Edwards scored a team-high 17 points – all in the second half. Edwards leads the U.S. A. in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per game. Improved team field goal shooting made the difference. The US shot 13-for-37 (.351) in the first half, but responded with a 17-for-36 (.472) performance in the final two quarters. The U.S. also shot 1-for-9 (.110) from “3” in the first half before going 4-for-10 (.400) in the second half.
The U.S. is seeking its sixth FIBA Men’s World Cup gold medal.
3×3: In addition to the senior men’s national team for 5×5, the 2023 USA 3×3 U18 national team finished atop Pool B at the 2023 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup on Friday. The U.S.A. joins seven other nations who will play for the gold medal on Sunday. The Americans went 2-0 in pool play after defeating Brazil and Germany on Thursday.
Notice basketball isn’t only distinguished by “men’s and women’s” anymore? Now-a-days, you need the 5×5 (five on five) or 3×3 (three on three) to be added for FIBA ball.
USA FOUNDATION: The USA Basketball Foundation made an important announcement this week as the second Torch Leadership in Sport Mentoring cohort will be staged. A fully funded program, Torch Leadership will run from this September to May 2024.
Torch Leadership provides opportunities for minority students to be mentored by USA Basketball executive staff with the goal of empowering the next generation of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) leaders in sport by introducing them to opportunities at USA Basketball and other sports-related entities.
“It is an honor to welcome our second Torch Leadership cohort to the USA Basketball family,” said Jennifer Lynne Williams, USA Basketball Foundation chief development officer. “The application process was extremely competitive with 130 students applying to be a part of this special program. The 120% increase in applications is a direct testament to the importance and value of Torch. I look forward to working with each student as they develop their leadership skills and learn more about the business of sport,” she added.
TIDBITS: Readers surely have heard the term, “Once in a Blue Moon.” That’s a true statement when it comes to this columnist receiving the No. 1 draft choice in the annual SWFL Fantasy Football League, known nationally as the best league with the best team captains and best rules which includes the game-changing, ultra-difficult requirement of TWO active quarterbacks and THREE wide receivers and/or tight ends. The challenge of the TWO QBs changes draft strategy, especially in the 1st and 2nd rounds, will make my No. 1 pick (this Tuesday night at 7pm ET) a choice between the quarterback trio of Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes or Philly’s Jalen Hurts – with Buffalo’s Josh Allen receiving consideration. … NFL Insider Adam Schefter has my club, the LOVETRONS (in honor of the late Darryl Dawkins residence on earth as it is in heaven), selecting Mahomes who was a clear 30 points higher than the others and the top overall scorer in the SWFL for multiple years. … Next week, I’ll list the club and that’s about all you’re gonna read about Fantasy Football, unless something is incredibly newsworthy.
A RARE – MUST WATCH – TV SPOT: The PepsiCo/Frito–Lay ad, certainly worthy of clearing the high bar as a Super Bowl-level commercial is seeing airtime this week as the NFL opens its 2023 regular season come Thursday night when Detroit travels to Kansas City for an 8:20pm (ET) tilt on NBC.
The theme of “retirement” is a great idea but “coming out of retirement” might not be so great idea for many players, including the inclusion of the show-stopper at the finish. Pepsi broke the bank by pulling some of the greatest recent stars together for the shoot (or series of shoots). No spoilers here in the intro. It’s a MUST WATCH!