Williams and Blum interview The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel

[Urbandale2013]

Williams and Blum interview The Athletic's Stewart Mandel

Chris Williams and Brent Blum are joined by The Athletic's Stewart Mandel to talk college football realignment and more.

cyclonefanatic.com

Didn't see this posted yet.

Just listened to this and I don't know. I get the perspective that he is "just reporting what he is hearing" and I see that to an extent, but it just seemed to me to be more of the same not understanding the reality of the situation.

For example he mentioned that he thinks they are catering to much towards pulling the NFL casuals who just want to see Alabama, but he seems to miss the point that the only reason that they can be pulled in is that the games are already a really big deal. This whole issue comes down to the big schools and the media companies are going to be in for a rude awakening when half the country just stops caring. We have already seen this play out with NASCAR.

I don't think that he wants us to fail, but he did nothing to dispel the notion that uneducated people make stupid decisions that will cause us to fail.

 

[Daserop]

He hand picked data to push a narrative. During this interview he contradicted himself to push a narrative. **** him.

 

[Cyched]

Can I ask why we gave him a platform with everything he and his publication have been pushing?

 

[CheapClone1202]

I think a lot of what he said was him walking the line of sucking up while still sticking to his main prescription that we aren't valuable. I also think I would fall asleep listening to him talk if I had to work for him, but he did have some humor as the podcast went on. Blum especially did a good job of firing back at him, good listen, but felt just a little condescending at times.

 

[Daserop]

Williams and Blum interview The Athletic's Stewart Mandel

Chris Williams and Brent Blum are joined by The Athletic's Stewart Mandel to talk college football realignment and more.

cyclonefanatic.com

Didn't see this posted yet.

Just listened to this and I don't know. I get the perspective that he is "just reporting what he is hearing" and I see that to an extent, but it just seemed to me to be more of the same not understanding the reality of the situation.

For example he mentioned that he thinks they are catering to much towards pulling the NFL casuals who just want to see Alabama, but he seems to miss the point that the only reason that they can be pulled in is that the games are already a really big deal. This whole issue comes down to the big schools and the media companies are going to be in for a rude awakening when half the country just stops caring. We have already seen this play out with NASCAR.

I don't think that he wants us to fail, but he did nothing to dispel the notion that uneducated people make stupid decisions that will cause us to fail.

What he's been tweeting and writing dictates he's wanting us to fail. He's putting his own "spin" on the facts to push a narrative. A narrative being the remaining 8 teams are worthless and have zero value.

 

[clonedude]

What he's been tweeting and writing dictates he's wanting us to fail. He's putting his own "spin" on the facts to push a narrative. A narrative being the remaining 8 teams are worthless and have zero value.

Yeah.... CF shouldn't have given him a platform. He doesn't know anything and doesn't care about ISU at all.

 

[CheapClone1202]

Disagree with people saying CF shouldn't "give him a platform" as if he isn't above CF already. He's an inside voice to have on, he tweets like a ****, and he might be a ****, but when you can get someone like that to discuss realignment and maybe say "hey buddy, Iowa State fans exist so please **** off", you take the opportunity.

 

[clonedude]

Disagree with people saying CF shouldn't "give him a platform" as if he isn't above CF already. He's an inside voice to have on, he tweets like a ****, and he might be a ****, but when you can get someone like that to discuss realignment and maybe say "hey buddy, Iowa State fans exist so please **** off", you take the opportunity.

I'd rather just hear what Jay Jordan has to say myself. But that's just me.

 

[Daserop]

I'd rather just hear what Jay Jordan has to say myself. But that's just me.

This. Jay is even critical to Iowa state and doesn't just drink the Kool aid. Jay does his research and has evidence to back it up (since he's a lawyer this isn't surprising). That's the difference.

 

[norcalcy]

Chris and Brent were professional and courteous. Brent came with the data. Probably didn't do much to change Mandel's perspective. I will give the guy props for coming on the podcast.

For some reason college football media and certain fanbases have a middle school mean girls clique vibe. The "blueblood" fan bases thrive on sticking their noses in the air and denigrating the "lesser" among us, even when they haven't done squat on the field. Texa$ is the poster child for this. They're 3-7 versus TCU since the Frogs came into the conference. They're right at .500 against K State in the history of the Big XII and they're 3-3 against us over the past six years. Why are they so special again? What do some of the 8 have to do to prove they belong?

Why won't college football media wizards market a March madness mentality? The success of the upstart underdog is at least as interesting as the tired glory days of some expired brand like Nebraska or Texa$. Maybe some new entrants into the media rights game can re-set the formula.

 

[Sigmapolis]

We have already seen this play out with NASCAR.

Just so I know what you mean here...

NASCAR was a regional sport through roughly the 1980s, but it broke out into "mainstream" appeal nationally in the 1990s. Big TV deals, the most famous drivers being some of the most marketable personalities in the world, opening new tracks near new major markets (e.g., Los Angeles, Dallas, etc.), everything was great. Then the portion of the country that doesn't live roughly in the triangle between Orlando, Richmond, and Little Rock on the map lost interest in stock cars, and they're back to a (diminished) regional footprint.

Are you basically saying the SEC thinks it is going to turn into a second NFL and find out, much to its rude awakening, that midwestern and western fans, who are loyal to Big Ten or ex-Big 12 or Pac-12 teams, don't much care about who wins a regional championship for college football in the Southeast, the sport essentially reversing the process that gave it such broad national appeal the past 30 years?

 

[clonedude]

Just so I know what you mean here...

NASCAR was a regional sport through roughly the 1980s, but it broke out into "mainstream" appeal nationally in the 1990s. Big TV deals, the most famous drivers being some of the most marketable personalities in the world, opening new tracks near new major markets (e.g., Los Angeles, Dallas, etc.), everything was great. Then the portion of the country that doesn't live roughly in the triangle between Orlando, Richmond, and Little Rock on the map lost interest in stock cars, and they're back to a (diminished) regional footprint.

Are you basically saying the SEC thinks it is going to turn into a second NFL and find out, much to its rude awakening, that midwestern and western fans, who are loyal to Big Ten or ex-Big 12 or Pac-12 teams, don't much care about who wins a regional championship for college football in the Southeast, the sport essentially reversing the process that gave it such broad national appeal the past 30 years?

For me... if ESPN and other media outlets are only going to care about the minority of "blue bloods" in college football and say "screw the rest"..... they hopefully will end up regretting it as half the country won't care about college football anymore and won't watch.... and the whole sport may go under.

That would be my wish if ISU athletics go under.

 

[jimonalog]

Good cop bad cop. Didn't work. Hope it helps CF but didn't sway national media bias. Thanks Blum!

 

[Pat]

Just so I know what you mean here...

NASCAR was a regional sport through roughly the 1980s, but it broke out into "mainstream" appeal nationally in the 1990s. Big TV deals, the most famous drivers being some of the most marketable personalities in the world, opening new tracks near new major markets (e.g., Los Angeles, Dallas, etc.), everything was great. Then the portion of the country that doesn't live roughly in the triangle between Orlando, Richmond, and Little Rock on the map lost interest in stock cars, and they're back to a (diminished) regional footprint.

Are you basically saying the SEC thinks it is going to turn into a second NFL and find out, much to its rude awakening, that midwestern and western fans, who are loyal to Big Ten or ex-Big 12 or Pac-12 teams, don't much care about who wins a regional championship for college football in the Southeast, the sport essentially reversing the process that gave it such broad national appeal the past 30 years?

In “But What If We’re Wrong?” Chuck Klosterman posits that football in the future will be a regional sport (as opposed to dying completely due to CTE issues). I keep coming back to that as this plays out.

 

[JM4CY]

I haven’t listened yet, I don’t care if they made him change his perspective, did they make him sound stupid?

 

[Tornado man]

Good cop bad cop. Didn't work. Hope it helps CF but didn't sway national media bias. Thanks Blum!

Liked Brent's info - his claim of media "dancing on the grave" of schools like ISU was over the top IMO

 

[Sigmapolis]

In “But What If We’re Wrong?” Chuck Klosterman posits that football in the future will be a regional sport (as opposed to dying completely due to CTE issues). I keep coming back to that as this plays out.

I don't want to open a new front in this war, but my assumption is the sport has no long-term (50+ years) future. CTE is going to kill it off once and for all. It is just a matter of time and means.

Could be bans at the state/regional/federal level. The sport was almost outlawed in the late 1800s already. Or it could be parents just keep holding their kids out, and people lose remaining interest in it because they weren't "socialized" into it as families turn their back on it, and meanwhile kids grow up watching Twitch streamers play videogames or European soccer leagues and football heads to the history books.

The average viewer of *all* sports content is becoming older and older. That is less pronounced in some sports, like basketball and soccer, and more pronounced in others, like racing and baseball, but it is general across the media landscape. All the kids these days just don't like sports as much as their parents and grandparents did, and eventually the market is going to adjust to those changing demographics.

 

[CychiatricWard]

**** Stewart Mandel

 

[ribsnwhiskey]

I couldn't care less what Howie Mandel has to say and will continue to not care. And I won't give the athletic my money like so many of you suckers.

 

[cyclones500]

In “But What If We’re Wrong?” Chuck Klosterman posits that football in the future will be a regional sport (as opposed to dying completely due to CTE issues). I keep coming back to that as this plays out.

One of my favorite CK books. I'd have to read that segment again within context of current CFB. Maybe he was on to something. (But, what if he's wrong? )