I will refrain from commenting on the abysmal failure that I witnessed on Saturday. Largely because commenting on the game itself will result in me showing my ass and blaming a gaggle of 18-22 year olds for not quite performing to the level of my liking. Or it would venture into me going ballistically batshit crazy on the coaching staff for not preparing this team to even remotely compete. Perhaps I could harp on the thousands of people in the parking lot who didn’t even bother to come inside the stadium and watch the team in person. Clearly, this gigantically huge sundae of blame has extra nuts, a side of whipped cream, hot fudge, caramel, and there’s plenty of it to go around for pretty much ever fan, participant, spectator, coach, and player for the abomination on Saturday.
Eastern Michigan week begins in earnest tomorrow here on OTP, but for now it’s the MAC teleconference. Stan sounds pretty bummed, which is welcome and expected after Saturday. Stan Parrish… you’re on the mic.
Filed under: Ball State, ConferenceCalls, MAC |
Over The Pylon 
Like you, I’d prefer not to discuss the complete disaster on Saturday any further, either, other than to speak up in defense for those who never made it out of the lots. Normally, I’m as critical as can be of those folks, but I’m willing to grant an exception for Saturday, for two reasons:
1. We are always in our seats by kickoff. A two-minute detour on Saturday to the concession stand to pick up a lemonade for the kids resulted in us getting to our seats 58 seconds late… and having missed two WMU touchdowns. I can’t say I blame anyone who was planning on arriving fashionably late from saying “screw it” after we trailed 21-0 seven minutes in.
2. There were probably a good number of folks who planned a big homecoming tailgate, only to get stuck in a massive traffic jam thanks to the UPD and Delaware County Sheriff’s Dept. searching *EVERY SINGLE CAR* entering the tailgate lots off of Bethel. That’s right, every car. Whether filled with students or gray-haired alums. On Homecoming Day. Since BSU stubbornly clings to the silly three-hour tailgating rule like a security blanket (the lots didn’t open until 9:03 or so, with a UPD officer literally turning away cars and looking at his watch until the exact moment), I can see fans wanting to tailgate for longer than an hour or so with old friends and heading over to the game late as long as it’s still a game.
We arrived at 8:45 a.m., in hopes that BSU would use it’s occasional discretion in opening the lots early on homecoming day (they’ve done this a few times in the past). We didn’t get parked until 9:20 a.m. or so, and there were only 35-40 cars ahead of us in line. Can’t imagine what it was like for folks who showed up a bit later…