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Style question: I-AA

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Shaggy, Jun 25, 2007.

  1. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Just to be clear, the TCU example is a hypothetical and TCU has, in fact, done no such thing (that I'm aware of). Actually, I believe it has done the exact opposite, encouraging media to use TCU for all references and choosing not to be called Texas Christian at all. And no, I am not affiliated with TCU, though the SID and I go way back.
     
  2. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    I thought that to be weird. Texas Christian sounded a little high schoolish to me.
     
  3. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    We'll stick with I-AA. It's what the reader (at least most of them) knows. We might be incorrect in the NCAA's eyes. BFD. It's best for our readers. Half the beat writers in this country (me included) can't get the new "official" NCAA names right.

    In every news release the University of Southern California puts out, it specifically says calling it Southern Cal is incorrect. But millions of people call it "Southern Cal" anyways. They know what school they're talking about, and the sun still comes up the next morning.

    It's like calling the College World Series the "Men's College World Series." It's the CWS. Period.
     
  4. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member



    All to be known simply as Division I schools now.

    Some of the impetus for the I-AAA designation was procedural, to allow for mechanisms to be in place at NCAA conventions for voting on legislative proposals. A guy from a BCS conference told me the NCAA realized its in-house language might not be the most desirable for public use, but it's clear to me these changes will meet with resistance, at least initially.
     
  5. Ghost Rider

    Ghost Rider Member

    I cover an FCS school, and I'm going with FCS. Part of our job is to educate readers, and this was an official NCAA name change. I agree with the poster who likened this to still calling the NEXTEL Cup the Winston Cup. The name has changed. There is no such thing as I-AA football any more. So why are continuing to tell our readers that I-AA exists?
     
  6. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    This was in my head and I had to get it out. It kind of flies in the face of what I'm arguing, especially since I went to school that plays FCS ball and I live in a subdivision -- on a cul de sac, no less. :D

    Subdivisions


    Hiding on the fringes of football
    In a caste-like system order
    An insulated border
    In between I-A's bright lights
    And Division II's unknown

    On TV it all seems so one-sided
    Opinions not provided
    The future pre-decided
    Detached and subdivided
    In ESPN's zone

    Nowhere is the mid-major
    Or the indy so alone

    Subdivisions
    In our college ball
    In the sport of fall
    Nomenclature be cast out

    Subdivisions
    On the football stage
    On the agate page
    New names to be passed out

    Any change might help to smooth
    Some inconvenient truth
    But these new names have no charms to soothe
    That the fans are now confused

    Drawn like moths we drift into our TV
    A timeless old attraction
    Surfing for the action
    Watching two bad Sun Belt teams
    Not the Big Sky game

    A product of some damn ad hoc committee
    A new idea rises
    Naming compromises
    And start a dream of sometime soon
    When no one will care why
    Somewhere out of a memory of aged black-and-white photographs

    Subdivisions
    In our college ball
    In the sport of fall
    Nomenclature be cast out

    Subdivisions
    On the football stage
    On the agate page
    New names to be passed out

    Any change might help to smooth
    Some inconvenient truth
    But these new names have no charms to soothe
    That the fans are now confused

    Confused
     
  7. Clerk Typist

    Clerk Typist Guest

    expendable, that was majestic.
    I was going to say I cover a school that is of trailer park, not subdivision, quality, but now, what the hell.
     
  8. BillyT

    BillyT Active Member

     
  9. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Idaho only has one I-AA or whatever you want to call it team. Idaho should be, but they're I-A now.

    Montana doesn't have a bowl-level team. The two biggest schools are I-AA. Huge NAIA presence, etc.

    To say there aren't many outlets that cover them is a bit foolish.
     
  10. Clerk Typist

    Clerk Typist Guest

    By the way, leave it to the NCAA to come up with the most cumbersome names possible. How about Big-Time I-A-type Football and Everything Else.
     
  11. Ghost Rider

    Ghost Rider Member

    Yes, Clerk Typist, because Montana is at the same level as Tarleton State or Williams College. ::)
     
  12. BillyT

    BillyT Active Member

    That's what I was saying.

    There are a lot of papers that cover Big Sky schools, just as there are a lot that covcer the Atlantic 10 and the Ivies.

    U remember when all three of the Idaho schools were I-AA. Boise State kicked the crap out of URI back in 1981. I knew they had gone big-time (obviously), but I was not sure about the Vandals.
     
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