Nov 1 / Rob

Guest Blogger: JMU Fandom & The Window of Opportunity

Kevin Lombard, a proud JMU alum, won last week’s prediction contest and earned the right to post about whatever he’d like. Take it away Kevin.

I’ll start with the obligatory “I’d gladly trade my opportunity to write this blog entry for a Dukes victory last Saturday”. There’s obviously very little science involved in being the closest to predicting the correct score when you’re one of only two entries who actually predicted that JMU would lose. I figure there will be those of who will be inclined to read this through tainted glasses for my sin of actually publicly predicting a Dukes loss, and perhaps even those of you who might consider my negative pregame energy to be a jinx. To those of you leaning in either of those directions I offer my apologies and my shared grief over being correct.

I blame my deep seeded roots as a Washington DC sports fan for bleeding into and undermining my confidence when rooting for the Dukes.Those of you who share my affinity for the Redskins, Nationals, and Capitals know what this is all about. It’s been so long since we’ve had a championship, since we’ve even had a worthy post-season performance, and in some cases, since we’ve even tasted post-season play that we have developed defense mechanisms to protect ourselves from the gut wrenching heartbreak we suffer week in and week out, year in and year out.

I myself have stopped watching virtually all live sporting events save the ones I attend in person. Instead, I DVR them and watch when I can control my environment; when my wife and daughter are asleep so I don’t ostracize them from the house with my cursing and screaming. I’ve been employing this device for several years now and I have to say that not only is my family happier as a result, but I enjoy being able to skip past the things I don’t want to see (bad play and commercials included). After all, watching sports is supposed to be enjoyable right? It’s supposed to provide a relief from stress and the angst of everyday life. If instead, the things we do to relieve stress only serve to add to it, you begin to question why we do them in the first place.The answer to that is simple of course; because we’re fans. As fans we wrap a portion of our personal identity into the teams we root for. We celebrate collectively when they win, we mourn collectively when they lose. We as fans tend to be geographic in our loyalties. When you look at that landscape, it’s easy to identify the “haves” and the “have-nots” in recent history. Speaking geographically, fans in areas like New York, Boston, Chicago (Cubs fans excluded of course), St. Louis, and Pittsburgh fall in to the “haves” category and have little cause for complaint. While DC area fans fall squarely into the “have-nots” and haven’t had an opportunity to cross items off of their sporting bucket lists since 1991. My personal bucket list stands as follows:
  • A Redskins Superbowl victory – fat chance any time soon
  • A Nationals World Series win – the future is coming quickly
  • A Capitals Stanley Cup – the future is now
  • A 2nd JMU Dukes Football National Championship – the window is closing

It might seem odd to consider the window of opportunity for a 2nd JMU Football National Championship as closing, but I believe that in this, we are victims of sorts of our own success.  Since the Dukes stamped themselves permanently into the history books of NCAA Division 1-AA/FCS Football in 2004, they’ve remained a legitimate contender year after year. JMU finds themselves with a big dog in the CAA fight, and in the top 10 or 25 conversations more often than not. There are schools in the CAA and across the FCS that would kill the success JMU has had over the past 7-8 years. However, many of those schools don’t face the same pressure to succeed, and succeed right now that JMU does. Most of those schools know exactly what the future holds for them in terms of their place in college football. They have the same path to success in front of them for the years ahead as they do today; recruit the best possible athletes within their means, surround themselves with the best possible coaching staff, compete to win their conference title and try to make an expanded FCS playoff field. Once you’re in the year-end tournament, JMU showed in 2004 that anything is possible.

How then is JMU’s path different? Why is their window closing if the windows for Wofford, North Dakota St, Maine, William & Mary, Richmond, etc. are wide open? Simply put, JMU has bigger aspirations. They are not long for FCS football. JMU Athletic Director Jeff Bourne has recently stated that JMU Football could announce a move to the FBS in as little as 18 – 24 months. As a result of a similar announcement, UMass has been relegated to FCS purgatory; allowed to play a full slate of regular season games, but ineligible for the CAA title and the FCS playoffs. So if AD Bourne holds to the timeline he has hinted at, JMU has only this year, 2012, and maybe 2013 to secure its 2nd NCAA National Football Championship.

I am in no way against the move to the next level. I see it as most do; an obvious next step in the evolution of JMU Football, however so much is riding on the outcome of that move. They cannot move up simply for the sake of doing so. The timing and opportunity have to both be right. This is why people like AD Bourne are paid to make these decisions and I am not. Predicting where JMU ends up in the ever changing landscape of NCAA Football is a pointless exercise. Forces outside of their control such as shifting conference memberships, the formation and dissolution of mega-conferences, the on-again/off-again calls for FBS playoffs will define the opportunities that JMU has once they make the inevitable leap to the next level.  There will be years of catch-up required in recruiting to make up for the talent differential between the two levels of competition. It will be a long time before JMU is in a position to realistically compete for a spot in a Bowl Game in FBS, and longer, if ever, before they get a chance to play for a National Championship at the highest level of NCAA Football.

So Dukes fans, look forward to the future of JMU Football, but keep an eye on the ever shrinking window of opportunity we have to win a 2nd NCAA National Championship; because while I want to scratch “Win a 2nd National Championship” off my bucket list, I’m not so sure how excited I am at the idea of adding “Win the Chick-fil-A Bowl” to it.

Filed under JMU Football

8 Comments

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  1. 2004 Duke / Nov 2 2011

    This.

  2. MadGrad95 / Nov 2 2011

    Well done Kevin. And your a guest?! You should be a regular.

  3. Sean / Nov 2 2011

    I think a move to FBS would require a Mind shift in our fandom. We’d have to be excited about bowl games and conference championships. We’d have to get excited (and prepared) to make one game a year our “Title” game a la ECUs emphasis on UNC and NC State. Because at the FBS level, losses mean more and are more detrimental to your season. If we
    Move to FBS, a annual UVA or Tech battle might be our high point.

    For these reasons, I am one of the few who love JMU being a power at the FCS level where we can be third in the nation in attendance and think we should stay where we are.

  4. LD / Nov 2 2011

    I agree with Sean….As I have stated multiple times on this blog I am not excited to sell our soul to play 1-A football in the ‘Burg. Being in mediocre in some big conference is not something that’s going to entice me to drive 2 hrs to see the game after a few seasons. I guess tailgating will have to do but I must admit the 3 minute drive to the U of R’s high school stadium starts to look a lot more appetizing. I am just being honest. I go because we are playing towards something bigger. The novelty of playing University of who cares in the crap bowl that 2000 JMU fans travel too is going to get old quickly. Not even being good enough to do that is going to be even worse.

    Well done Kevin… the future is now for the Caps. Lets hope we’re hoisting the cup come this spring.

  5. Sean Petrizzi / Nov 2 2011

    Honest question here from a non-DC sports fan. If and before the Capitals were any good, did anyone in DC care about hockey or because the Caps are the only good team in DC, people like hockey.

  6. Kevin / Nov 2 2011

    Sean: The Caps have always had a dedicated core following, but Caps games certainly weren’t always the event they are now; especially during the post-Jagr tear down and rebuild. It wasn’t until they started winning that they built the following they have now.

    DC loves a winner. It’s something the Nats are currently suffering through, but expect them to be similarly embraced as they further build toward contention.

    The Washington Post actually recently ran an entire section on dissecting the DC sports fanbase. I can’t do it the appropriate justice in a comment so it’s linked here if you’re interested. Some pretty cool stuff there especially regarding team allegiance and sports digesting habits broken down by socio-economic background.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsfans

  7. Sean Petrizzi / Nov 2 2011

    What I must respect is the devotion to the Redskins. I go once a year for the Giants game and no matter what, the stadium is packed, at least at the beginning of the game when the score is zero to zero 😉

  8. MDG / Nov 4 2011

    If we average 20K+ next season and there are 3-4 games on Regional TV again. I think its the snowball effect. There is no reason JMU shouldn’t be able to complete the other half of the stadium renovation and for the place to sell out. Everyone always bitches about how everyone at JMU is from NoVa or Richmond, well they are both close enough for a game day drive so no excuses for not coming out.

    I think the fandom has already started to shift it’s thoughts. I’m a case in point, I went to 2 games over 4 years during the dreaded Alex Wood/Mickey’s first year debacles. I never paid much attention to the football team until this year, now I’m a duke club member and plan on getting season tickets next year. I’m sure I’m not alone

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