It’s been a minute since we wrote anything of substance…just over two years, to be exact. And, I am not sure if this will even reignite our passion for sports blah’gging. But, every once in a while, I’ll see Tim Brando’s name pop up and just laugh. So, it at least sparked this entry.
Nearly ten years ago, we wrote an article on the sports media and gatekeepers. In particular, the article focused on two individuals who wrote their opinions in blog form. One wondered if Minnesota Twins player Joe Mauer was stealing signs; the other thought out loud about if Philadelphia Phillies’ player Raul Ibanez’s sudden late-career power surge could be attributed to PEDs.
Both were trashed by sports writers, including Jeff Passan [going after Tony Faust’s Mauer theory], and John Gonzalez and Ken Rosenthal [going after Jerod Morris over his suspicions about Ibanez]. In both cases, the sports writers came off as bitter, either making light of the blogger’s occupation, or simply belittling them [to his credit, Gonzalez was not being a “blog hater” (as he put it)].
The fear that came out there, however, was echoed in Gonzalez’s piece published in the Philadelphia Inquirer. In particular, this line:
I’m not an old-school newspaper guy who fears the Internet the way children fear what’s under their bed
And that was at the heart of our argument back in 2009. These sports writers were getting so scared that the grip on being the gatekeeper of [sports] information was slipping that they are going to target and disparage other voices that come from beyond the gates.
The thing about blogs and social media sites like Twitter is that it gives people — famous or otherwise — a voice…often unfiltered. Hell, like him or not, it is why President Trump uses Twitter. It is a direct line.
Certainly, such a voice also amplified trolls and those with no real opinions except “the Lakers suck!” or “i hate Tom Brady…he’s a cheater!” But, overall, adding more, new, and diverse voices is a good thing. Academics understand this as having minority voices speak for themselves [rather than having someone — usually some white dude — speak for them] only enriches our understanding about the topics at hand.
While this is happening, though, there has been some walling off of that precious sports media territory. Bleacher Report was once driven by bloggers, whose work was occasionally featured on prominent sports media sites. We got recruited to do just that with our article on “the white devil” in basketball, and had a couple make it to sites like CBS Sports. We took a break from writing there [and here] and honestly never really got back into it. But, when we attempted to go back to B/R, they had changed, become more “professional” and even though we still had a profile there, we needed to go through “training.” We passed.
Also look at the growth of the Athletic, a site that pushes a subscription to access content. Based on their Twitter feed, the content seems top notch, but one has to pay to access it. Makes sense if you think about it. Anyone can write about sports, but if you want the “best” content from the “experts,” then it needs to be made “premium” [itself a made-up term…like premium vodka…no such thing!].
It is very clear what is happening — the gatekeepers are staking their claim to their “premium” territory of sports media and sports information. You bloggers can piddle around in the valleys…we’ll be here in our acropolis!
All of this brings me Tim Brando. And one line that he dropped in particular…one directed at us.
You clearly have zero understanding of the Sports (sic) [college football’s] incredible rich Tradition & History!
I’ll explain. But first. Some actual history that does not need to be capitalized.
Born into College Football
Growing up in Alabama, we had no professional teams in terms of sports. Oh, we had the Stallions at one time, which i did like. But, that was about it. It is a reason why i approached my sports fandom like a free agent and ended up becoming a [loyal] fan of teams that, in some cases, are not even close to Alabama.
It is also why i became a fan first of the Green Bay Packers. My Dad used to tell me about how great they once were and how it was a shame what they had become [in the 1980s]. My Dad spoke often about professional football as it was back when he was growing up.
But, he’d also tell me of college football. My Dad started out as an Alabama fan, but became an Auburn fan after the death of Bear Bryant [which was always strange to me, but i never questioned it]. My Mom was always an Alabama fan. So, between my parents, i knew all about the Iron Bowl and the Alabama-Auburn rivalry.
However, thanks to my Dad, i knew a lot about college football. He told me about Georgia Tech, for example, and their 222-0 victory over Cumberland. That’s the reason i became a Tech fan as a way to avoid choosing between Alabama/Mom and Auburn/Dad; my younger brother, for what it is worth, chose Notre Dame…but we still love him!
Anyway, my Dad used to keep a college football schedule book in his truck. He would get that book every year from his bank [though he would receive similar ones later from 12-packs of Bud Light]. And, i would spend time going through it. Even though it was after the subdividing of Division I football, it still had what was at the time D-IAA. So, i learned about the Ivy League, the Big West, that Virginia Tech was also known as the Gobblers and there was a team [VMI] nicknamed the Keydets! I learned of the various bowl games, such as the All-American Bowl in Birmingham.
And, of course, we listened to football over the radio. We did not have cable or satellite television at the time, so our television viewing of football was limited to the kickoff classic and whatever the game of the week happened to be. But, we always had radio. And, for whatever reason, i always remember a broadcast of Alabama versus Cincinnati…why, i do not know.
The rare moments where we did go to someone’s house that had cable were also more glimpses into the college football world. I got to see that the Wake Forest Demon Deacons were real, and remember watching a game between Purdue Boilermakers and the Miami Redskins [as they were known at the time].
All of this influenced my childhood. I requested a book on college football for Christmas one year, and for another Christmas asked for a uniform of the LSU Tigers because i liked their colors; my parents got me both. And, i used to go outside and play college football…even if there was no one playing with me. I created schedules and even made up universities [i also imagined that UAB had a football team, which at the time they did not]. I would go outside and okay out those schedules [which, by the way, were 20-game seasons…the NCAA would have loved that].
To say that i was mesmerized and captivated by college football would be an understatement. To be fair, i played out other sports, but college football was always my thing as a child. And, like many boys growing up in the South, i dreamed of playing college football. But, while most boys my age wanted to be the quarterback, i always dreamed of being a wide receiver [a dream realized when i did play college football, albeit in Japan].
But, it was not just some infatuation. I wanted to also know all about college football. I learned the history, learned the game philosophies. And, when i got the opportunity to become a professor, i’ve used my classes to even teach about the history and geography of the sport.
In other words, i was born into college football. And given all of this, it makes what Brando slurred even more laughable.
Bowl Games as Exhibitions
Now, Brando’s ignorance does not take away from what i know. But, let’s be clear about something before returning to the sadness of the gatekeepers.
I love college football. With a passion. But, bowl games are exhibitions! That is what they are. And that is what they have always been. To reject this thesis is to reject reality and speaks to the lack of knowledge and understanding about D-IA/FBS football.
The origin of bowl games was not to determine a champion. Bowl games were showcases put on by cities as a means to increase tourism. The Rose Bowl, for example, was established to bring attention to the Rose Parade. Other bowl games, such as the Orange and Sugar, soon followed to help draw attention to those cities. The Sugar Bowl’s website [LINK] even recognizes this as (emphasis added):
The Sugar Bowl, born in the depths of the depression, has survived many difficulties, including a World War and a devastating hurricane, and still ranks as one of the most uniquely successful amateur athletic achievements in the history of American sports. . . . Behind the Sugar Bowl is a story of community spirit and initiative that has been instrumental in spreading the name and fame of New Orleans worldwide.
The bowl system is rooted in a system that put together college football games as a side piece [i.e., an exhibition] to help bring attention to cities that hosted such game. That purpose has not disappeared! Watch any bowl game, for example the Boca Raton Bowl, and you will be inundated with advertisements from the local or regional tourism commission or chamber of commerce! Hell, even the Sun Bowl has on their website [LINK] that “Since the first Sun Bowl played on January 1, 1935, as a fundraising event for a local service club, the game has grown into El Paso’s number one national attraction.” Other bowls make similar statements about their mission being tied up with tourism [Famous Idaho Potato Bowl or Holiday Bowl, for example].
It is not difficult to figure all of this out. This is the truth about the purpose of bowl games. It does not, however, diminish the bowl games. I still watch and love the bowl games and being able to see Sun Belt teams and Mountain West teams. But, let’s not kid ourselves — bowl games are exhibitions and no different than the NIT.
This is soul-crushing to people like Brando because they peddle a different narrative. But, it is a false one. Recognizing the truth does not mean one cannot enjoy bowl games. Holding bowl games as exhibitions does not translate to the games holding no meaning to the teams and players involved.
By extension, recognizing the bowl games as exhibition actually feeds into an argument that Brando himself trumpets — the illegitimacy of the CFP in terms of determining a champion. Brando’s biggest go to is how the “Who’s In?” narrative of the CFP diminishes all other games involving teams not in CFP contention [and, by extension, all other bowl games]. The problem with his argument is that certain teams have always been promoted over others going back to the early popularization of college football. Today’s “problem” is not new!
Nevertheless, holding that the college football bowl games are exhibitions also explains why their are so many examples of multiple champions. Again, bowl games are not determinants of champions [and technically, all bowl game winners are “champions,” a trope we ran with a few years ago]. There is a reason why D-IA became FBS [Football Bowl Subdivision] and D-IAA became FCS [Football Championship Subdivision]…emphasis added in both.
The NCAA does NOT crown a champion at the FBS level; they do, however, do so at the FCS tier, which has a real playoff system. The NCAA does recognize a champ at the FBS tier, but it does not declare it; some other institution does that [at present, that institution is the College Football Playoff]. But, because of this, any recognized institution by the NCAA can declare a champion and that university can claim that championship. It is why Central Florida can technically claim a national title, why there are two recognized champions in 2003 [LSU and Southern California], and Alabama claims what seems to be 205 national championships! [championship history for FBS from the NCAA].
None of this is difficult to understand. And, by extension, it is no surprise that student-athletes are thinking about their future and opting to skip bowl games. Of course, it is within that frame of discussion that gets us back to good ol’ Timmy B.
Timmy B, Twitter, and the Grasping of the Gatekeepers
I started following Tim Brando on Twitter because he was also part of my college football childhood. I figured that such an “icon” would be great to follow to get a feed of college football insight. But, i realized that there was not much insight coming from him.
Actually, to be fair, before following him on Twitter, i heard him on his morning radio show. It was…eh. Weird attempts at humor and what suddenly seemed like hatred towards certain conferences and programs. But, anyway, we followed him on Twitter. Outside of a few nuggets of information, he really did not offer much. We kept following him because, after all, he was a connection to the past.
Now, Brando was never a hero, but the saying of “never meet your heroes because they’re sure to disappoint you” definitely applies here. During the 2018 college football season, Brando kept floating the argument about how the “Who’s In?” narrative diminishes the accomplishments of other teams. So, we started interacting and replying to note that college football has always focused on certain teams.
Hell, this is the case for [national] media coverage for all sports, both college level and professional. I even did research [and presented the results] on how SportsCenter (back when they focused primarily on highlights) focused on certain teams at the expense of others [especially smaller markets], even when the latter were among the best teams that season! It is a common theme.
So, we replied but received no response. The only reply we got to his Tweets was when we stated that maybe LSU would take Central Florida seriously, to which he replied that LSU would probably use the excuse that the bowl game was not that important [strangely, this omission halfway agrees with the bowl games as exhibitions argument]. We did respond with a reference to bowl games as “glorified exhibitions”; he did not reply to that.
But, it is that type of statement that seems to chafe him the most. He made a tweet about future NFL talents opting not to play in bowl games and that “It has some [mainly him] suggesting that these games don’t matter and unless it’s the CFP they should be playing.” He again was going to the “Who’s In?” well. And so, we replied:
He loves this “Who’s In?” narrative. No, the CFP may have accelerated the diminishing importance of bowls, but this has been going on since the BCS & the ridiculous no. of bowl games. Bowl games have ALWAYS been exhibitions & nothing more. Players looking out for their future.
Well, point out the falsehoods in the above statement. Because, if you understand the history of bowl games, what was tweeted back to him was rooted in facts. Sure, bowl games have rich history and traditions, but nothing stated in our tweet ignored that. It states the truth of bowl games and actually reflects a great understanding of the history of college football.
Though, not according to Timmy B., who fired back:
You clearly have zero understanding of the Sports incredible rich Tradition & History!
Given the truth, it appears that Brando is the one with zero understanding. Anyway, before i could reply back to ask about the rich tradition and history of the International Bowl or the Dollar General Bowl, he blocked me.
And this all gets back to the fear from people like Brando and Passan and Rosenthal for people like me; the fear of the gatekeepers losing their grip on knowledge. Don’t get me wrong, i am sure people like Brando get a ton of trolls just poking and prodding him with the same “LSU sucks” line of nonsense. And, there is no way he knows who i am or anything about my education, knowledge, or experience.
But, my reply to him was not a troll attempt, but a real response rooted in actual facts and a deep understanding of college football’s history. Yet, his response and subsequent blocking speaks to his desire to maintain his grasp on being a gatekeeper of college sports knowledge and comes off no differently than what happened to the bloggers referenced earlier. In his reaction, both in his reply and his blocking, he is the one that seemed to “clearly have zero understanding” about bowl games.
Nevertheless, the looking down from his ivory tower and ridiculing (and then blocking) those that offer differing opinions is Brando’s M.O. He’s not willing to engage in debate with anyone that either differs from his line [or that might take him to school]. After all, he does not want to be knocked from his perch. So, he will shut down anyone that does not kiss his ring. To prove that it is not just me, here is another example via screenshot:
I expect that he blocked both of these individuals, even though he apparently deleted his original tweet. Sad, sad little man!
Ultimately, we found it humorous. And, while i did initially considering crafting a response the day after, i let it go because it would be too great of a satisfaction to him.
But, ultimately we decided to write this because i still hear his name and see references made to him and his senility regularly on Twitter. And, it makes me laugh that someone could be so petty. So, we wrote this not to whine about being blocked or Brando’s ignorance. But, this was written to further the discussion about the clutching of control of the gatekeepers and how Brando is no different than those highlight several years ago.
Twitter allows for a medium through which sports personalities and fans can interact. Yes, there are idiots out there trying to troll and ruin it for everyone, but at its best social media can bring us all together like never before.
All we wanted was to be able to discuss and maybe debate with someone we thought was knowledgeable about college sports.
All Brando wants, however, is to remain anchored to his perch as gatekeeper!
UNCLE POPOV's Drunken Sports Rant 