BroadwayVik
Active member
The Portland State Vikings are now helping Eastern Oregon University (hopefully) with a nice pay-day for their football program. While serving as a tune-up game for the Vikings in preparation for the game with the Cal Bears in Berkeley, the game also provides benefits to the D-III Eastern Oregon Mountaineers and, transitively, to the state of Oregon as a whole.
First, playing an FCS team provides the Mountaineers with the opportunity to play above their customary level of play at the D-III level. The first game of the year provides both teams with the opportunity to work out "execution bugs" during live action. The Viks will school the Mountaineers within friendly confines while gaining more play execution tempo for themselves. The game will also likely reward EOU with a payday higher to which they are accustomed.
Though player injury looms as a real possibility to either team, the Viks do not seek to injure key players.
A few years back, in 2011, the Viks played the Southern Oregon University Raiders in similar fashion. The final score was 52-0, but the Vikings could literally have scored 100 points or more.
I had suggested that we use such games as a tribute to the high-scoring teams from the Mouse Davis Era, and that the real challenge, basis and yardstick of the game be to see if the Viks could score to exceed 100 points while simultaneously pitching a shutout against the competition. Would this be an exciting game to watch live? I certainly would be there to see it (and FEEL it).
If we ensure that this set of conditions be made known and agreed to beforehand to our Oregon small-college opposition, then sportsmanship is retained: It merely changes the conditions of the game and would turn the tune-up game into a whole lot of fun for the Viking and the fans in the stands. It is like the experience the UO Ducks had when they played us. The opposition is not crushed, especially if they score on us or keep us from our 100-point goal. This way, the game becomes a highly interesting track meet not easy to accomplish and uniquely PSU. And because of the magnitude of our goal, execution for the Viks naturally becomes highly sharpened, both on Offense and Defense, and on Special Teams. The goal of such games is to sharpen team execution and bring things into clearer focus. This maximizes the benefit of any tune-up game. Well, this scheme would do exactly that. This would be highly entertaining as well.
As the game stands now, I honestly can find no motivation in going to witness it live. It stands merely as a tune-up game for the Viks and the Mountaineers may not realize much of a payoff for their visit; that is, unless the Viks athletics leadership has already guaranteed them a certain amount. In such case the Viks will eat the loss. Again. Alas, the fuddy-duddiness of it all.
Did you know that excitement generates dollars at the box office, and that games can be MADE exciting no matter who the opponent? Is our slogan "Keep Portland weird ... and boring" ...? "Keep things safe for the fuddy-duddies"? Is that what Portland is all about? Maybe that is the perspective from the outside.
Are our relationships with Oregon's small colleges so fragile that such an arrangement as this would place them in a state of disrepair? To me, such a contest would give PSU a deeper sense of its own identity and give our small college teams something to fight for. In terms of our leadership, we need to get rid of the deadweight so we can get this balloon off the ground. Sportsmanship is not lost if the conditions are agreed to beforehand. We need to audit our athletics leadership and get rid of the mediocrity-embracing fuddy-duddies, the deadweight. And the personnel problem is not Torre.
First, playing an FCS team provides the Mountaineers with the opportunity to play above their customary level of play at the D-III level. The first game of the year provides both teams with the opportunity to work out "execution bugs" during live action. The Viks will school the Mountaineers within friendly confines while gaining more play execution tempo for themselves. The game will also likely reward EOU with a payday higher to which they are accustomed.
Though player injury looms as a real possibility to either team, the Viks do not seek to injure key players.
A few years back, in 2011, the Viks played the Southern Oregon University Raiders in similar fashion. The final score was 52-0, but the Vikings could literally have scored 100 points or more.
I had suggested that we use such games as a tribute to the high-scoring teams from the Mouse Davis Era, and that the real challenge, basis and yardstick of the game be to see if the Viks could score to exceed 100 points while simultaneously pitching a shutout against the competition. Would this be an exciting game to watch live? I certainly would be there to see it (and FEEL it).
If we ensure that this set of conditions be made known and agreed to beforehand to our Oregon small-college opposition, then sportsmanship is retained: It merely changes the conditions of the game and would turn the tune-up game into a whole lot of fun for the Viking and the fans in the stands. It is like the experience the UO Ducks had when they played us. The opposition is not crushed, especially if they score on us or keep us from our 100-point goal. This way, the game becomes a highly interesting track meet not easy to accomplish and uniquely PSU. And because of the magnitude of our goal, execution for the Viks naturally becomes highly sharpened, both on Offense and Defense, and on Special Teams. The goal of such games is to sharpen team execution and bring things into clearer focus. This maximizes the benefit of any tune-up game. Well, this scheme would do exactly that. This would be highly entertaining as well.
As the game stands now, I honestly can find no motivation in going to witness it live. It stands merely as a tune-up game for the Viks and the Mountaineers may not realize much of a payoff for their visit; that is, unless the Viks athletics leadership has already guaranteed them a certain amount. In such case the Viks will eat the loss. Again. Alas, the fuddy-duddiness of it all.
Did you know that excitement generates dollars at the box office, and that games can be MADE exciting no matter who the opponent? Is our slogan "Keep Portland weird ... and boring" ...? "Keep things safe for the fuddy-duddies"? Is that what Portland is all about? Maybe that is the perspective from the outside.
Are our relationships with Oregon's small colleges so fragile that such an arrangement as this would place them in a state of disrepair? To me, such a contest would give PSU a deeper sense of its own identity and give our small college teams something to fight for. In terms of our leadership, we need to get rid of the deadweight so we can get this balloon off the ground. Sportsmanship is not lost if the conditions are agreed to beforehand. We need to audit our athletics leadership and get rid of the mediocrity-embracing fuddy-duddies, the deadweight. And the personnel problem is not Torre.
