Over The Pylon

Admittedly, the MAC blogosphere has been an evolving little gem over the last several years. I guess as the MACtion on the field hit fever pitch, the MACtion on the web stepped up their game as well. What has also evolved is the MAC Roundtable. It’s not like King Arthur’s with turkey legs and wenches running around in corsets, because let’s be honest: turkey legs are a gigantic pain in the ass to eat and the service region for the MAC doesn’t lend itself well to females capable of squeezing into anything other than a giant rubbermaid trash can (Exception: the state of Indiana and BSU specifically). Have you seen some of the slumpbusters from Michigan and Ohio? Gooo. But I digress.

The host of this week’s roundtable is Tim, from Bull Run, your one-stop shop for all things Buffalo related. The school not the wings. Unlike the school, the wings have never crushed my soul with a pile of turnovers in Ford Field as we watched the MAC title and an undefeated season slip away. Stupid Buffalo. Off we go!

For most of the MAC the season is half over. Bowing Green/Akron leads the East and Toledo/NIU lead the west how do you think the rest of the season plays out?

Honestly, the first time in a while, I think it’s about anyone’s race. I think when the dust settles it will be Toledo and BG, but that’s more of  an educated guess than some sort of substantive informed opinion. Frankly, I’m more concerned with our own little situation at BSU to worry about the conference as a whole. Mostly because I’m a selfish prick, but also because Ball State’s ability to even impact the conference race is almost entirely slipping to spoiler. That is, of course, fine by me, as I’m a firm believer in shitting all over someone else’s season while your mired in the weeds of your own not-so-awesome situation.

Looking ahead to the second half of the season what is the best realistic scenario you see for your team

I’d like to say that the change in quarterback will lead to Ball State ripping off seven straight wins, the Cardinals winning the MAC, and me going to Detroit for the bowl where I will meet a Canadian beach volleyball player who will fall madly in love with me and adopt me as her cabana boy. All of those things are probably not so realistic (at least the football related things) so that didn’t answer the question. Most likely, there will be marked improvement and the Cardinals will have to fight to finish 5-7. That’s closing out the season 4-3 and that’s not terrible given who is on the schedule.

Many of the P5 programs are seeing their attendance start to fall, the more popular mid majors are also starting to fall off. What has your program done to help bolster your attendance and what do you believe they should do next?

They’ve done some well-needed things like putting in a video board on one end of the stadium. They’ve increased premium seating in recent years. They also allow kids and families to sit on the hillside where there inflatables and those sorts of things. I think it’s more about what they haven’t done. There is still archaic tailgating time restrictions and policy enforcement. There is still a significant lack of stadium amenities like a decent bathroom:fan ratio or some decent stadium food options. Most disheartening of all, though, is the half-assed way that BSU even counts their attendance. It’s at best an estimation and they don’t even do that right, going significantly under what it looks like is there. If we’re going to be dishonest, let’s not hurt the reputation in the process.

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