by uniguy » January 27th, 2020, 1:14 pm
Yes, there is a chance for more recognition in mid-major basketball than in FCS football. You can hit the jackpot and be one of the 1-2 teams that becomes the major story for a weekend or two in the tournament. That is one to two out of, what 250ish mid-major teams that hit the jackpot, and another handful that get a little bit of recognition here and there. And when it happens, that is great! I know because UNI was that team in 2010 (and to a lesser extent 2016 after the halfcourt shot) and it was awesome. One of the most fun weeks of my life being a sports fan. However, most teams don’t have a moment like this, and even a smaller few have it happen more than once. A healthy chunk (I think about half) of college basketball teams have never won an NCAA game, most have never been to the Sweet 16, and a huge chunk of F4 berths have gone to the same handful of programs.
My point is that you don’t become a fan of an MVC team if the most important thing to you is national recognition and branding. It can happen….it has happened to two (current) MVC teams in the last decade…..but if you’re in it for that you’re going to be disappointed 99.9% of the time. Typically, you support an MVC school because you have a connection or a pride in that school. Maybe (usually) it is your alma mater and your loyalties are drawn to that. Maybe it’s a family thing, or a point of pride for your hometown. Whatever it is, its not because the most important thing to you is winning national titles and having Scott Van Pelt and Steven A Smith talk about your team. If that was the most important thing, you’re in the wrong place. You should be a Duke fan or something.
My FCS football fandom is similar. I don’t support UNI football because of the opportunity for national recognition. I support UNI football because UNI is my alma mater and I love college football and I am always going to have loyalty to my alma mater. The FCS title is impotant to me for that reason, and I care more about that than I do the FBS title game. I don’t care that most college football fans don’t follow FCS. It does not matter to me. There is an FCS community out there that follows it, and most FCS games (while they pale in comparision to the power leagues) still have thousands of people in attendance. I understand that most of my friends don’t care, they humor me when I talk about it (as long as I listen to them talk about the B10 and B12 too) because they know I am passionate about it and they respect that.
You don’t have to follow FCS, that’s fine if you don’t care. I am not telling you that you have to care. You don’t. But what annoys me is when other people, especially fans of fricken MVC basketball teams, tell me that I shouldn’t care about FCS because it is “JV football”. You of all people should understand that isn’t what it is about. It is a double-standard in my opinion, and I am quite frankly getting tired of seeing it.
Go UNI, go MVC, go FCS!
*Steps off soapbox
