{"id":3156,"date":"2011-11-01T21:19:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T01:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3156"},"modified":"2011-11-01T21:20:57","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T01:20:57","slug":"guest-blogger-jmu-fandom-the-window-of-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3156","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger: JMU Fandom & The Window of Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kevin Lombard, a proud JMU alum, won last week’s prediction contest<\/a> and earned the right to post about whatever he’d like. Take it away Kevin.<\/em><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ll start with the obligatory \u201cI\u2019d gladly trade my opportunity to write this blog entry for a Dukes victory last Saturday\u201d. There\u2019s obviously very little science involved in being the closest to predicting the correct score when you\u2019re 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.<\/div>\n

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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\u2019s been so long since we\u2019ve had a championship, since we\u2019ve even had a worthy post-season performance, and in some cases, since we\u2019ve 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.<\/div>\n

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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\u2019t ostracize them from the house with my cursing and screaming. I\u2019ve 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\u2019t want to see (bad play and commercials included). After all, watching sports is supposed to be enjoyable right? It\u2019s 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\u2019re 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\u2019s easy to identify the \u201chaves\u201d and the \u201chave-nots\u201d 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 \u201chaves\u201d category and have little cause for complaint. While DC area fans fall squarely into the \u201chave-nots\u201d and haven\u2019t had an opportunity to cross items off of their sporting bucket lists since 1991. My personal bucket list stands as follows:<\/div>\n
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  • A Redskins Superbowl victory \u2013 fat chance any time soon<\/li>\n
  • A Nationals World Series win \u2013 the future is coming quickly<\/li>\n
  • A Capitals Stanley Cup \u2013 the future is now<\/li>\n
  • A 2nd JMU Dukes Football National Championship \u2013 the window is closing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    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. \u00a0Since the Dukes stamped themselves permanently into the history books of NCAA Division 1-AA\/FCS Football in 2004, they\u2019ve 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\u2019t 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\u2019re in the year-end tournament, JMU showed in 2004 that anything is possible.<\/p>\n

    How then is JMU\u2019s 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 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

    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. \u00a0There 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.<\/p>\n

    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 \u201cWin a 2nd National Championship\u201d off my bucket list, I\u2019m not so sure how excited I am at the idea of adding \u201cWin the Chick-fil-A Bowl\u201d to it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n