{"id":6669,"date":"2014-04-20T22:14:58","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T02:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6669"},"modified":"2014-04-20T22:14:58","modified_gmt":"2014-04-21T02:14:58","slug":"anger-turns-to-sadness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6669","title":{"rendered":"Anger Turns to Sadness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rob’s rational, well thought out, well-meaning post on Friday definitely had the desired effect on me. It grounded me in many ways and began to allow me to move from the anger stage to the sadness stage in what really has become a ridiculously emotional process for me on the conference front. When I actually stop to consider Rob’s most important thought – that a move has never actually been imminent – things start to make a little more sense. And while it bothers me that JMU continues to play the semantics game about “not having an invite” when we all know this borders dangerously on outright lying, and is the furthest thing from transparent, given the Sun Belt’s position, I am somewhat stunned by my own capacity to appreciate rejecting the Sun Belt for not aligning with JMU’s goals. In case you haven’t noticed from our Twitter account’s schizophrenic nature lately, we are in very different places on the conference issue. In a nutshell, Rob is a grownup and I am a screaming child. Or, for our fellow nerds who take the time to read books instead of just watching the movie, Rob is Demosthenes to my Locke. \u00a0Generally, I think it’s fair to say we both think a move, at least a move to the MAC or CUSA, is absolutely better than the CAA. I have to admit I would have said the same about Sun Belt, while Rob probably would not have, but the truth is I actually find myself getting over the Sun Belt pretty quickly even if I’m extremely unexcited about the CAA. There’s another big difference, Rob doesn’t believe the CAA is crumbling while I do. Actually, crumbling is probably a bit much, but what’s absolutely unquestionable is that the CAA is made up more than ever of schools that have very little in common with JMU beyond horrible men’s hoops and this problem seems likely to get worse instead of better (can you say Winthrop?).<\/p>\n

\"Pretty<\/a>

Pretty please<\/p><\/div>\n

But myself and others like me probably need to realize that at this point, the only rational thing to really be angry at is JMU’s, well particularly Dr. Rose’s, missed opportunity to try for CUSA a few years back when ODU asked JMU and UD to go with them. THAT was a botch. But everything since then is not necessarily something I can go nuts about when I take a few steps back. I do believe that President Alger and AD Jeff Bourne want to move JMU to FBS, I just also believe they want to do so in a conference they can be proud of for a long time. If they don’t think that’s the Sun Belt, I’ll deal with it. But the reason I’ve really moved on to sadness instead of anger is there just isn’t an opening, or any reason whatsoever to expect one to be available in the foreseeable future, for JMU in either the MAC or CUSA. CUSA is D.O.N.E. with expansion unless there’s another major shift. They’re already at 14 and they may even regret they’re that large. \u00a0The MAC is more realistic and may have enough long-term vision to try again on their east-coast expansion even if it means splitting playoff revenue 14 ways instead of 12, but they seem extremely unlikely to add JMU without a partner and there just isn’t a viable option out there. Hoping for UD to change their mind in the next year could be about as worthwhile as wishing on the unicorn that has always been an east coast conference. I hate the CAA, I hate that I’m so down about my beloved JMU, I hate that I’m so emotionally invested in this, and I hate most of all that Rob and I continue to argue about this. But my overriding emotion is clearly becoming sadness. In all the years I’ve had season tickets and been a Duke Club member, I’ve always looked forward to renewing. It’s the easiest large purchase I make all year. \u00a0This year it feels the same way my Skins tickets used to – an awful check I’m writing to something that makes me miserable. And oh yeah, I no longer have Skins tickets.<\/p>\n