Getting Your Attention
Okay, let's say there is some kind of disruption of the NFL regular season this fall.
As a Jets season ticket holder, I am NOT hoping for this.
But as a good friend suggested to me this weekend, if there are canceled games in the pros this coming season Columbia really should try to take advantage as much as possible.
How about half-price or even free tickets to all fans coming to Wien Stadium with Giants and Jets tickets for canceled games?
How about an ad blitz promoting good quality football right here in Manhattan for half the price of PARKING at the Meadowlands?
The last time a major sports strike effected the Lions was 1994... but that was during the Major League BASEBALL strike and canceled postseason.
Nevertheless, the Lions got extra coverage that fall because of the need to fill the vacated space Yankee and Met articles would have occupied in the papers. The result was great, because 1994 was the best Lion season since 1971 and a lot of people in the city followed them a lot more closely because of the baseball strike.
Just imagine how many new fans Columbia could generate with a strong 2011 season without NFL distractions?
posted by Jake @ 7:22:00 AM
17 comments
17 Comments:
Marketing is always important, but if there's no pro football, an intensified marketing campaign is definitely called for.
Fairway is always great with the use of its billboard on the West Side Highway pumping Columbia sports.
Jake, you are at your best when you provide info/tidbits aobut Columbia and Ivy football. However, when you veer outside this zone, you lose much of your hard earned credibility. No NFL fan, repeat--no NFL fan-- is gong to go to a Lions game as a substitue for an NFL game.
BTW we lost the Dartmouth game, not becaue we couldn't stop the run, but because our vanilla defense stayed in its 4-3 alignment w/o any blitzing or variety and made their QB look like Johnny U. So not only do we have to stop the run, but we have to be more aggressvie and imaginative on the defensive side of the ball.
To the above poster, can you say 3-4 defense and a new DC for 2011? Get ready cause here it comes.........
With a 3-4, I would like to see a healthy Owen Fraser on the nose. He can take on the double teams.
PS, I am both a Giants and a Columbia season ticket holder and have been for many, many years. I have much more fun going to Columbia games than I do at Giants games. Seriously.
Just changing to a 3-4 does nothing unless the personnel fits. Specifically, you need a tough nose guard (Do we have one?) and tough Outside LBs who can both stop run, blitz and cover hook zones (do we have them?)If not, changing the D does little. Cause if we can't get to QB in the 3-4, if will be the same result as our 4-3 last season.
I agree with the Giant/Lion fan. They're not mutually exclusive. The few times it's come up I've generally found a friendly attitude if not great interest in CU football among the public. If there's no NFL game AND none on TV, some might give it a try. Why not a specific location for Giant rooters at Baker-Wien-Kraft?
As a former CU lightweight football player and later a high school head football coach, it's clear to me that many people who follow the pro game are not really interested in football for its own sake. They're into the spectacle, the size and speed of the players, and especially the violence. They're like the ancient Romans who demanded to see elephants in the gladiatorial arena. The truth is, I know very few former players who are interested in pro football. Columbia is much more interesting from an admittedly purist point of view. High school football is great also!
What is a "hook zone?" Ryan Murphy and Zack Olinger are just two of the players on our roster who should thrive in the 3-4 defense.
Murphy will play outside and Olinger will play inside in the 3-4. Fraser will play on the nose; he can handle the double teams. Mistretta will also play inside. We changed DCs for a reason.
If we didn't do a very good job of stopping the run with a 4/3, how is a 3/4 going to improve things?
We used a 3/4 Wilson't first year, which worked well, then the next year it didn't.
-Dr.V
As much as I'd like to see Fraser play, there is no reliable information that he will ever start again. He has been injured the last two years, so it is highly unlikely he'll return. I hope I'm wrong; is the any more concrete information on his status?
Very reliable sources have told me that Fraser tried to come back too soon and just wasn't ready to play last year. the same sources tell me that he is now ready to play again, that he has been working hard, and that he will play nose tackle in the 3-4. Look for rising junior Shad somers to play on the nose as well.
To Dr. V,
We didn't use the 3-4 in NW's first year. We played a 2-5 (sometimes called a Hokie), which caught some teams by surprise, leading to a 5-5 record. We really didn't have the speed to sustain any success with that defense and had to abandon it after NE's second year.
Thank you for the clarification/correction re the D Wilson used during his first two year, but I would be obliged if someone could explain how a 3/4 is better at stopping the run than a 4/3.
-Dr.V
To Dr. V,
It all depends upon your personnel. The 3-4 can work if the nose tackle is strong enough to take up a double team. Our personnel is better suited to a 3-4 so long as a Fraser, or a Sommers, or a Groth, can play the nose because we have several good players who are more suited to play DE than DT. We also have some very good LBs who can thrive inside (Mistretta and Olinger) and others who will play outside very well (Murphy).
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