Irritation Nation

The Falcon Nation--and by that, I mean anyone who will care how Friday's game turns out BEFORE they see it in Saturday's paper--are irritated at the 6:00 start time on Friday.

Can't say I disagree. At all. Of course, I have blogged before about how November football in the MAC is set up for everyone except the fan, from early evening starts to virtually no Saturday games, much of which is to accommodate television.

The Buffalo game is on Friday, though, for other reasons, the most prominent of which is the OSU-Michigan game on Saturday. Even if we played Saturday night, the thinking goes, OSU fans will be unlikely to rouse themselves from a nacho and beer infused stupor to sit in the cold at another game. And Michigan fans will be lining up to jump into the Huron River.

That's the way the thinking goes.

So, we play on Friday. Which I understand. But there is no reason to start the game at 6:00. Even if you lived in Bowling Green, the prospect of getting off work at 5:00, collecting any family members of guests, and making your way to the Doyt is daunting to say the least. And, if the weather is less than stellar, you're just more likely to bag it.

Its even worse if you have to travel to the game. In fact, I used a vacation day to make it happen.

I don't anticipate a big crowd. I'm told that there is lots of advertising, but I don't think it will help. I know the game has meaning, but it won't clinch anything, and I think most fans figure that even if we were to win our last two games, we'll get smoked in Detroit.

Right now, it is expected to be cold, but dry. Which is something, I guess.

I guess, it boils down to this:

The game could have started at 7:00 PM.
I don't mind giving up convenience to be on national TV but don't think we should do it to be on ESPNU.
If attendance is a priority, then we shouldn't wonder why we're always clawing for 15,000 when we pull stuff like this.

Finally, when I blogged on this before, I carried on about how the MAC's football had gotten worse the more TV exposure we had gotten. Well, I will give credit where credit is due. This is the best year in terms of top level teams in the MAC in recent years.