WOW! Cal-Berkeley drops baseball, other sports

[TAW]

Berkeley drops baseball, men's and women's gymnastics, women's lacrosse, and reduces their championship rugby team to a "varsity sport" without school financial support.

Link (http://blogs.pe.com/sportsbreak/2010/09/uc-berkeley-drops-five-sports.html)

Baseball alumns react (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/28/SPP31FL0IP.DTL)

[50PoundHead]

I think we are going to see a lot more of this at a lot of places with top-drawer traditions.

[imthewalrus]

to hold telethons to raise money to keep non-revenue sports funded for a few more years when you already have more non-revenue sports than you know what to do with. wisky dropped baseball and improved their football program and basketball program. Non-revenue sacrifice for the good of revenue producing sports for the good of the rest of the non-revenue and Title IX sports, I guess...funny how that worked out. The College Baseball World Series isn't very nice to the Big Ten is it? It's hard to compete with the warm-weather places. So, we "pretend..."

[RodentRampage]

Got to love the sound of grinding axes.

The state of California does have some extremely severe budget problems...

[Maximus]

to hold telethons to raise money to keep non-revenue sports funded for a few more years when you already have more non-revenue sports than you know what to do with. wisky dropped baseball and improved their football program and basketball program. Non-revenue sacrifice for the good of revenue producing sports for the good of the rest of the non-revenue and Title IX sports, I guess...funny how that worked out. The College Baseball World Series isn't very nice to the Big Ten is it? It's hard to compete with the warm-weather places. So, we "pretend..."

Become a Badger fan. Problem solved.

[gopherphan]

The Gopher Athletic Department isn't very nice to the Revenue Sports is it? It's hard to compete with the women's underwater basketweaving team. So, we "pretend..."


fixed that for you.

[Studwell55]

Studwell: Just eliminate all athletic scholarships.

Chorus: !@)#*@#*@#)(*#@$

Studwell: 70k people will still show up to see students from Iowa play students from Wisconsin.

Chorus: @(*@#*@#(&@#(&@#(&$

Studwell: It would still be fun, and the game would be played at the 1-AA level, with genuine student-athletes. There would be a talent drop off, but not catastrophically.

Chorus: @#(*&#@($*@#(&@#(&$@#

Studwell: But it would mean that Iowa and Wisconsin and Nebraska and Minnesota would actually be playing each other.

Chorus: &*@#$(&*@#(&@#$

Studwell: It would also help restore genuine credibility to higher education, which has been corrupted by athletics.

Chorus: @#&@#&$(@#&

Studwell: Whatever.

[gopherphan]

Whatever.

¨¨¨¨¨

[Swede]

Studwell: Just eliminate all athletic scholarships.

Chorus: !@)#*@#*@#)(*#@$

Studwell: 70k people will still show up to see students from Iowa play students from Wisconsin.

Chorus: @(*@#*@#(&@#(&@#(&$

Studwell: It would still be fun, and the game would be played at the 1-AA level, with genuine student-athletes. There would be a talent drop off, but not catastrophically.

Chorus: @#(*&#@($*@#(&@#(&$@#

Studwell: But it would mean that Iowa and Wisconsin and Nebraska and Minnesota would actually be playing each other.

Chorus: &*@#$(&*@#(&@#$

Studwell: It would also help restore genuine credibility to higher education, which has been corrupted by athletics.

Chorus: @#&@#&$(@#&

Studwell: Whatever.

I could get behind this. Emphasis on the student-athlete, rather than quasi-pro institutions.

[Silvio]

I could get behind this. Emphasis on the student-athlete, rather than quasi-pro institutions.

Then go watch MIAC sports.

[gopherphan]

if i wanted student athletes playing id go out and play a game myself with my friends. theres a reason the sports exist. we dont want to watch you lugging a ball up and down the field on TV. we want to watch people with actual athletic ability. anyone who harps on the "student"athlete is either daft or part of the gophers fan relations. daft for thinking student actually matters, or should matter, and part of the gopher fan relations because thats all most of our football team has.

[RodentRampage]

if i wanted student athletes playing id go out and play a game myself with my friends. theres a reason the sports exist. we dont want to watch you lugging a ball up and down the field on TV. we want to watch people with actual athletic ability. anyone who harps on the "student"athlete is either daft or part of the gophers fan relations. daft for thinking student actually matters, or should matter, and part of the gopher fan relations because thats all most of our football team has.

Go watch the NFL, then you can avoid all this crazy business of a sport being an extracurricular activity.

[RodentRampage]

The talent level would in fact plummet. Without scholarships, D-I schools would be at no advantage over the D-III schools. You say that talent level would drop to the I-AA level, but I-AA has 63 scholarships. There is non-scholarship I-AA, but it is an extremely low level of play. With no advantage over the other schools, 70,000 people would not show up. Iowa football would become the equal of Upper Iowa.

[Studwell55]

Studwell, we dont want to watch you lugging a ball up and down the field on TV.

Actually, there's a chance you already have.

Nice try though.

:cry:

[discochris]

I could get behind this. Emphasis on the student-athlete, rather than quasi-pro institutions.

Way too much money involved now for that to happen.

I'm actually a bit surprised that some of the really big time football schools haven't banded together and told the NCAA and their rules to stick it. They'd form their own league, and bring out in the open what everyone knows already - that a lot of these guys are there to play football, and nothing else.

[gopherphan]

Actually, there's a chance you already have.

Nice try though.

:cry:

oh really :o?

[MRJ]

I was wondering when the whole "let's drop everything that isn't football or basketball" crowd would come out of the woodwork after seeing this thread title. And as should have been expected, they arrived nearly instantaneously. :o

[RodentRampage]

The NCAA isn't some secret cabal imposing it's well against the members, it's decisions are that of the members. The schools would be free to leave the NCAA and start their own athletics association. But as much as some people want to eliminate the COLLEGE part of COLLEGE ATHLETICS, the schools just plain aren't interested in doing so.

I don't care a bit if players are only there for football and not interested in academics. It's an extracurricular activity. The NFL should start up a developmental league for players uninterested in a college education.

I don't want D-I to turn into D-III, we already have a perfectly good D-III if that's what you want. But I'm adamantly opposed to disassociation of the college from the sports teams. If that happens, they aren't the Minnesota Gophers anymore, just a minor league team borrowing the logo.

[discochris]

The NCAA isn't some secret cabal imposing it's well against the members, it's decisions are that of the members. The schools would be free to leave the NCAA and start their own athletics association. But as much as some people want to eliminate the COLLEGE part of COLLEGE ATHLETICS, the schools just plain aren't interested in doing so.

I don't care a bit if players are only there for football and not interested in academics. It's an extracurricular activity. The NFL should start up a developmental league for players uninterested in a college education.

I don't want D-I to turn into D-III, we already have a perfectly good D-III if that's what you want. But I'm adamantly opposed to disassociation of the college from the sports teams. If that happens, they aren't the Minnesota Gophers anymore, just a minor league team borrowing the logo.

I'm not saying that they SHOULD do it. I'm saying that I'm surprised some of the big programs haven't considered banding together and doing so.

I'm perfectly aware that membership in the NCAA is entirely voluntary. That's been my point when discussing the nickname issue with angry Sioux fans who don't want it to change. UND doesn't have to be a member of the NCAA, but because they choose to be, they have to abide by their rules. They could just start some junior program like Shattuck if they wanted.

[Mulligan]

The NCAA isn't some secret cabal imposing it's well against the members, it's decisions are that of the members. The schools would be free to leave the NCAA and start their own athletics association. But as much as some people want to eliminate the COLLEGE part of COLLEGE ATHLETICS, the schools just plain aren't interested in doing so.

I don't care a bit if players are only there for football and not interested in academics. It's an extracurricular activity. The NFL should start up a developmental league for players uninterested in a college education.

I don't want D-I to turn into D-III, we already have a perfectly good D-III if that's what you want. But I'm adamantly opposed to disassociation of the college from the sports teams. If that happens, they aren't the Minnesota Gophers anymore, just a minor league team borrowing the logo.

+1

(But what would the people who get their self-worth from a college football team do?)

[SickAndTiredOfLosingToWI]

Iowa football would become the equal of Upper Iowa.
And that's a problem? :confused:

[BigTenfan]

Too bad more ADs don't think like Ohio States

When pressed on whether he would consider cutting some of the sports that are losing money, Smith made his feelings clear.

"One of the worst things in sports is standing in front of kids, many of them have eligibility remaining, and discontinuing their sport when you've recruited them to come here," Smith said. "We have a lot of things we would cut before we would get to cutting kids' opportunities. I would almost cut our staff down by a third before we get to that. I don't think we're ever going to get there."

http://media.www.thelantern.com/campus/osu-pays-full-tuition-for-out-of-state-athletes-1.1666588

[overpass]

California has reinstated baseball along with the other dropped sports after alums raised $9 million in 2 months.

[MrGopher]

California has reinstated baseball along with the other dropped sports after alums raised $9 million in 2 months.

Okay, guys. New strategy for raising donor money for ballpark and hoops practice facility: threaten to cut those sports entirely. Can't fail, right? ;)

[Rosemountian]

Okay, guys. New strategy for raising donor money for ballpark and hoops practice facility: threaten to cut those sports entirely. Can't fail, right? ;)

Why do you think St. Cloud State floated dropping football a few months backs. It was the biggest fundraising month in 5 years.

[RodentRampage]

It does force the issue: do you want it or don't you want it? Sometimes things really are going away if people don't step up to the plate, so to speak.

[Ewert86PC]

Let's Drop Men's and Women's Hockey. That would be a sure way to improve them.:drink: