Non-Key Tweets

[CL82]

I disagree with you. Using your Washington example, one of the Senators, Patty Murray is a graduate of Washington St. So, she will be OK with Washington St. being excluded? What about Oregon? Oregon St.'s enrollment is 50% larger than Oregon's. And, in a state like Pennsylvania, you are going to exclude Temple, St. Joe's, Penn, Villanova, Drexel, Bucknell, Duquesne, LaSalle, Lafayette, Lehigh, Robert Morris? Or are New York senators going to help Syracuse over SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Albany, SUNY Binghamton, Niagara, Canisius, LeMoyne, Colgate, Columbia, St. John's, Marist, Siena, St. Bonaventure, Hofstra, SUNY Stony Brook, Wagner, West Point, Fordham, Manhattan, Wagner, Iona,... ? In California, there are 22 basketball schools not in the P4 vs 4 schools in the P4. In Illinois, there are 11 basketball schools not in the P4 and 2 that are in the P4. In SEC country, the non P4 schools overwhelms the number of P4 schools.

I think you've actually made his point. If any decision a politician makes will alienate a significant portion of their constituency the easiest thing for them to do is simply take no action.

 

[UConnJim]

I think you've actually made his point. If any decision a politician makes will alienate a significant portion of their constituency the easiest thing for them to do is simply take no action.

There are a lot more non-P4 alums in most states than P4 alums. How does doing nothing help a politician?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

There are a lot more non-P4 alums in most states than P4 alums. How does doing nothing help a politician?

The thing is with quite a few of these schools (especially those who regularly fill 80k, 90k, 100k seat stadiums), the bulk of their fanbases are non-alumni with attachments to the schools due to location.

 

[JwittersPAC]

The thing is with quite a few of these schools (especially those who regularly fill 80k, 90k, 100k seat stadiums), the bulk of their fanbases are non-alumni with attachments to the schools due to location.

So true. The elite teams in FBS are basically NFL franchises with all local people rooting for the home team.

 

[CL82]

There are a lot more non-P4 alums in most states than P4 alums. How does doing nothing help a politician?

I'm not sure that that is an accurate statement. Regardless, the reason not to take a position is because taking either position alienates a portion of his constituency, but taking no position does not.

 

[UConnJim]

I'm not sure that that is an accurate statement. Regardless, the reason not to take a position is because taking either position alienates a portion of his constituency, but taking no position does not.

Totally accurate. Look at a state like California. There are 22 non P4 schools and 4 P4 schools that play Division 1 basketball. Think of all of the Cal States like Fresno St., Long Beach St., Fullerton,... and University of California schools like UCSB, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Davis,... Then there are state schools like Cal Poly, San Diego St., San Jose St.,... Never mind private schools like Pepperdine, St. Mary's, Pacific, Loyola Marymount, San Diego, Santa Clara,...

 

[CL82]

Totally accurate. Look at a state like California. There are 22 non P4 schools and 4 P4 schools that play Division 1 basketball. Think of all of the Cal States like Fresno St., Long Beach St., Fullerton,... and University of California schools like UCSB, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Davis,... Then there are state schools like Cal Poly, San Diego St., San Jose St.,... Never mind private schools like Pepperdine, St. Mary's, Pacific, Loyola Marymount, San Diego, Santa Clara,...

That would be total numbers of schools, total numbers of alumni, right?

 

[UConnJim]

That would be total numbers of schools, total numbers of alumni, right?

Alumni and students. You must not realize how big the colleges are in California. Yes, USC, UCLA, and Berkley each have over 45k students, but UCSD, Fullerton, Long Beach, Davis, SD State, Northridge, Irvine, San Jose St. each have over 35k students. I would estimate there are 3x to 4x the students at non P4 than P4 schools.

 

[ScottVib]

First the number of constituents that think their state's senators should be considering the college basketball tournament at all is fairly small. Among those college basketball fans how many do you think support the major school in their state and how many support the umpteen smaller schools? Thinking about Connecticut; how many men's basketball fans who went to CCSU grew up fans of and still support UConn, even above and ahead of the Blue Devils (If Blumenthal was faced with protecting Yale's Division 1 basketball future (he's an alum of Yale Law) or UConn's, which way is he going to lean)?

The key point student/academic population does not equal the athletic fan base or people who care about their school's access to a tournament and even the alums there may in fact be fans of the bigger schools.

You're aggregating a number of schools who draw a few hundred to maybe a thousand fans a game.... there is no political motivation or will-power among Congress for a constituency that small, particularly at the expense of a constituency with 5-10x the support. Using your example Northridge draws 1000 fans a game. UCLA draws 7000.

 

[CL82]

Alumni and students. You must not realize how big the colleges are in California. Yes, USC, UCLA, and Berkley each have over 45k students, but UCSD, Fullerton, Long Beach, Davis, SD State, Northridge, Irvine, San Jose St. each have over 35k students. I would estimate there are 3x to 4x the students at non P4 than P4 schools.

Those numbers certainly seem big enough that no politician would want to alienate either side.