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Post by aggie2039 on May 18, 2020 22:27:08 GMT -5
Aggies and Friends,
I figured out why I'm not upset with the BS move and want to tap into the old timers historical knowledge. To me it seams as though MEAC football is dead as it pertains to excitement and overall interest. Last years game at SC State only drew 11183 fans for a critical game that could have sent the Bulldogs to the Celebration Bowl...how was that stadium not packed? Furthermore our game at Norfolk barely drew 11K fans. These are the teams that Aggies want to continue playing but the interest doesn't seem mutual. Are these teams still our rivals or are older alumni holding on to something that is no longer there?
I believe I would certainly be just as upset as OSA if MEAC football had a SWAC atmosphere and rivalries. Outside of NCCU it doesnt seem like we have another MEAC rival. When I compare that to the SWAC east its quite disheartening...they all seem like rivals and each fan base really wants to beat the other.
Bottom Line: In football the MEAC doesnt seem to have an exciting football culture or one at all...did it ever exist and what happened to it?
Norfolk Attendance 2015 away 6194 2016 home 13005 2017 away 6082 2018 home 21500 (GHOE) 2019 away 11062
BCU 2015 home 12478 2016 away 3715 2017 home 13262 2018 away 6225 2019 home 10355
SCSU 2015 away 15283 2016 home 11357 2017 away 14789 2018 home 11530 2019 away 11183
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Post by Bornthrilla on May 19, 2020 8:47:59 GMT -5
I dont think I understand the premise of your argument.
How many Big South teams do you expect to draw even close to 11,000 fans next year?
The atmosphere and attendance may have dipped at some MEAC schools in the past years, but just by having a HBCU culture and HBCU band, their gameday experience is still way more exciting that the best Big South schools.
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Post by aggie2039 on May 19, 2020 8:57:30 GMT -5
I dont think I understand the premise of your argument. How many Big South teams do you expect to draw even close to 11,000 fans next year? The atmosphere and attendance may have dipped at some MEAC schools in the past years, but just by having a HBCU culture and HBCU band, their gameday experience is still way more exciting that the best Big South schools. A&T will still avg over 11K per home game regardless of opponent. Students and fans don’t go to games to see Del State or Morgan state. People come out to support our team, if you are one of those people that will not support our players then so be it but I have more faith in our alumni base than that. The only way HBCU culture will be lost at A&T is if everyone stop going to games in some form of childish boycott. There is no HBCU culture in the MEAC...this is not the SWAC. How many bands actually visit Aggie stadium and how many are actually entertaining and nothing but a glorified Pepe band.
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Post by aggie2039 on May 19, 2020 8:59:29 GMT -5
Furthermore my question wasn’t for your age demographic and you didn’t even answer my question.
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Post by Bornthrilla on May 19, 2020 9:04:00 GMT -5
Hold up. You are all over the place now.
What argument are you trying to make here? You feel like SWAC culture is better than MEAC culture ... but what does that have to do with Big South culture?
And who said anything about not supporting the players or launching a boycott?
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 9:07:28 GMT -5
Aggies and Friends, I figured out why I'm not upset with the BS move and want to tap into the old timers historical knowledge. To me it seams as though MEAC football is dead as it pertains to excitement and overall interest. Last years game at SC State only drew 11183 fans for a critical game that could have sent the Bulldogs to the Celebration Bowl...how was that stadium not packed? Furthermore our game at Norfolk barely drew 11K fans. These are the teams that Aggies want to continue playing but the interest doesn't seem mutual. Are these teams still our rivals or are older alumni holding on to something that is no longer there? I believe I would certainly be just as upset as OSA if MEAC football had a SWAC atmosphere and rivalries. Outside of NCCU it doesnt seem like we have another MEAC rival. When I compare that to the SWAC east its quite disheartening...they all seem like rivals and each fan base really wants to beat the other. Bottom Line: In football the MEAC doesnt seem to have an exciting football culture or one at all...did it ever exist and what happened to it? Norfolk Attendance 2015 away 6194 2016 home 13005 2017 away 6082 2018 home 21500 (GHOE) 2019 away 11062 BCU 2015 home 12478 2016 away 3715 2017 home 13262 2018 away 6225 2019 home 10355 SCSU 2015 away 15283 2016 home 11357 2017 away 14789 2018 home 11530 2019 away 11183 From my understanding, MEAC football typically centered around us, FAMU and SC State. The 4 most frequent MEAC football champs were us, Bethune, FAMU and SC State. For the rest of the MEAC, basketball stirs the drink. Since returning, Central’s been in the Mix for Football titles but that’s a newish phenomenon. Our football culture hasn’t been as strong as the SWAC historically and thusly, our conference roster has been more fragile since our move to 1-AA/FCS ball 42 years ago.
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Post by aggie2039 on May 19, 2020 9:26:56 GMT -5
Hold up. You are all over the place now. What argument are you trying to make here? You feel like SWAC culture is better than MEAC culture ... but what does that have to do with Big South culture? And who said anything about not supporting the players or launching a boycott? I said the BS in regards to myself not being upset about the move. My question was what happened to MEAC football culture? I was comparing NEAC football culture to the SWAC.
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Post by aggie2039 on May 19, 2020 9:33:24 GMT -5
Aggies and Friends, I figured out why I'm not upset with the BS move and want to tap into the old timers historical knowledge. To me it seams as though MEAC football is dead as it pertains to excitement and overall interest. Last years game at SC State only drew 11183 fans for a critical game that could have sent the Bulldogs to the Celebration Bowl...how was that stadium not packed? Furthermore our game at Norfolk barely drew 11K fans. These are the teams that Aggies want to continue playing but the interest doesn't seem mutual. Are these teams still our rivals or are older alumni holding on to something that is no longer there? I believe I would certainly be just as upset as OSA if MEAC football had a SWAC atmosphere and rivalries. Outside of NCCU it doesnt seem like we have another MEAC rival. When I compare that to the SWAC east its quite disheartening...they all seem like rivals and each fan base really wants to beat the other. Bottom Line: In football the MEAC doesnt seem to have an exciting football culture or one at all...did it ever exist and what happened to it? Norfolk Attendance 2015 away 6194 2016 home 13005 2017 away 6082 2018 home 21500 (GHOE) 2019 away 11062 BCU 2015 home 12478 2016 away 3715 2017 home 13262 2018 away 6225 2019 home 10355 SCSU 2015 away 15283 2016 home 11357 2017 away 14789 2018 home 11530 2019 away 11183 From my understanding, MEAC football typically centered around us, FAMU and SC State. The 4 most frequent MEAC football champs were us, Bethune, FAMU and SC State. For the rest of the MEAC, basketball stirs the drink. Since returning, Central’s been in the Mix for Football titles but that’s a newish phenomenon. Our football culture hasn’t been as strong as the SWAC historically and thusly, our conference roster has been more fragile since our move to 1-AA/FCS ball 42 years ago. So the MEAC is more of a basketball conference? That is the #1 sport? Guess it’s our location on the east coast.
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Post by Aggie Monster on May 19, 2020 9:37:47 GMT -5
I feel like 2 reasons things may feel that way. SWAC is the deep deep south in my opinion and they just seem to have a different thirst for all things black and not to mention football in general in those areas.
2nd reason is the number of Div2 schools surrounding the MEAC schools is so great that there is a "watered down" need for HBCU football in the MEAC footprint(compared to SWAC). Lets just take NC for example. Elizabeth City, WSSU, Shaw, St Aug, Livingston, JC Smith, Fayetteville State. Then you got Va Union, Va State, and Bowie in Maryland. The SIAC barely intrudes on the SWAC fanbase at all.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 9:40:26 GMT -5
From my understanding, MEAC football typically centered around us, FAMU and SC State. The 4 most frequent MEAC football champs were us, Bethune, FAMU and SC State. For the rest of the MEAC, basketball stirs the drink. Since returning, Central’s been in the Mix for Football titles but that’s a newish phenomenon. Our football culture hasn’t been as strong as the SWAC historically and thusly, our conference roster has been more fragile since our move to 1-AA/FCS ball 42 years ago. So the MEAC is more of a basketball conference? That is the #1 sport? Guess it’s our location on the east coast. That’s just the thing. The meac was created from CIAA teams that had a bigger football focus and tradition. Back in the 70s and earlier, Morgan State was a huge football program. But interest there waned. Football is more of a priority for the southern half of the conference now and therein lies the schism. The northern schools have a bigger focus on basketball now than FAMU, BCU and SC State. Us and central have both on an equal priority list it seems. Another thing is that sans FAMU, BCU and SC State, the lot of us have CIAA schools that are rivals and that adds to the schism too. Many fanbases will show out for the CIAA rival than the MEAC rival in many instances.
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Post by Aggie One on May 19, 2020 9:44:13 GMT -5
To make a adequate and fair comparison between the SWAC and the MEAC over time, that term, "the culture", itself would need to be more clearly defined. Any examination would also need to extend back well beyond just the last decade or so of competition to get a complete picture. Just saying.
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Post by Bornthrilla on May 19, 2020 9:46:23 GMT -5
Hold up. You are all over the place now. What argument are you trying to make here? You feel like SWAC culture is better than MEAC culture ... but what does that have to do with Big South culture? And who said anything about not supporting the players or launching a boycott? I said the BS in regards to myself not being upset about the move. My question was what happened to MEAC football culture? I was comparing NEAC football culture to the SWAC. Ok, gotcha. But as far as SWAC culture goes, please keep in mind that the gameday experience at Texas Southern, UAPB, Valley are as bad as any MEAC school right now. PV has probably the best stadium complex in HBCU football, but the have a very low fan turnout also. The Florida Classic is still the highest attended event in FCS football. The Aggie Eagle classic is always a sell out. Pound for pound, it really is not that much difference between the two conferences.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 9:48:46 GMT -5
To make a adequate and fair comparison between the SWAC and the MEAC over time, that term, "the culture", itself would need to be more clearly defined. Any examination would also need to extend back well beyond just the last decade or so of competition to get a complete picture. Just saying. Dr. Cavill spoke to this a little bit in his conversation with Tolly Carr of HBCU Gameday. Some great info came out of that podcast.
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Post by DOOMS on May 19, 2020 10:08:19 GMT -5
True story:
Waaaaaay back when I was studying for the bar exam I went to this bar review course over at Georgetown. There was another brother in the class and afterwards we gravitated towards each other. I asked him where he went for undergrad and he said Mississippi Valley. I said "ah, the Delta Devils." He VERY excitedly said "you down with the SWAC?!?"
He ain't ask if I went to an hbcu. He ain't ask if I went to a SWAC school. He straight up repped the whole conference.
There was this cat I knew from back home that transferred to Ayantee from Alcorn. When I told him a cat I went to high school with went to Jackson State he said "J-State! SWAC baby!"
When's the last time you repped the MEAC outside of bragging rights for the celebration bowl? These folk wear that conference on their chest.
I mean Prarie View had the longest losing streak in history and they never said a thing. MVSU is terrible every year and has a pathetically low budget but they ain't finna say a thing to them either.
The SWAC love them some SWAC.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 10:34:59 GMT -5
True story: Waaaaaay back when I was studying for the bar exam I went to this bar review course over at Georgetown. There was another brother in the class and afterwards we gravitated towards each other. I asked him where he went for undergrad and he said Mississippi Valley. I said "ah, the Delta Devils." He VERY excitedly said "you down with the SWAC?!?" He ain't ask if I went to an hbcu. He ain't ask if I went to a SWAC school. He straight up repped the whole conference. There was this cat I knew from back home that transferred to Ayantee from Alcorn. When I told him a cat I went to high school with went to Jackson State he said "J-State! SWAC baby!" When's the last time you repped the MEAC outside of bragging rights for the celebration bowl? These folk wear that conference on their chest. I mean Prarie View had the longest losing streak in history and they never said a thing. MVSU is terrible every year and has a pathetically low budget but they ain't finna say a thing to them either. The SWAC love them some SWAC. Meanwhile, members of the MEAC are really all about themselves.
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