SB Nation User Blog: kujo24

Jacksonville, can it become a big sports city?

kujo24 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:50:05 -0000

Jacksonville has a lot of potential. We have the largest land area of any city in the US. We have terrific beaches, education, and a lot of good people here. But thats just my opinion, here are both sides of the story.

1. Yes we can!

Jacksonville is a major football city. The South is known for their never ending hunger for football (usually college). We just need to translate it into ticket sales. Most colleges around here sell out before the season starts. The Jaguars can do that too, we just need to generate the same amount of devotion college fans give their teams.

We also have a great city to play in. Jacksonville is sunny and inviting. Florida is known for its beaches and great weather. The St. Johns River runs right next to the stadium, which gives you a great view and provides a lot of jobs and entertainment. It might not be the cleanest River in the world, but i have been on it many times, and it is great to swim in and stays moderately cool in the summer.

We also have the ability to grow. Jacksonville can expand. We are a reletively young city in terms of growth and professional sports. 15 years isn't a very long time for a pro sports team. Many of our young fans are just beginning to grow up. The economy is also hurting our ticket sales. I personally know a few families that have sold their season tickets, and im sure its happening in other places.

2. Nope, they are gonna leave

College football has way too much influence around Jacksonville. We just can't build up a fan base large enough to fill up our stadium and compete with college teams. Eventually were going to keep losing tickets untill the team moves to another city. Jacksonville is surrounded by prominent college teams, and we can't beat them all.

Jacksonville can't grow fast enough. The team will have to leave before we can gain enough fans to keep us here. The economy just won't bounce back fast enough to allow people to get tickets. This is a race against time, and so far the Jaguars are losing. Jacksonville will need to step up, or find help to sell their tickets and stay in this city.

Time to black out the NFL's blackout?

kujo24 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:18:13 -0000

By Tim Keown

This is on espn.com, and wasn't written by me. However, it is very relevent in Jacksonville. Considering we are facing blackouts this season.

The NFL's blackout rule has always struck me as one of the more self-defeating ideas in the marketplace. By withholding local television coverage in markets that don't sell out games, the NFL employs a passive form of blackmail: Go to the game, or miss it altogether.

This isn't an issue in most markets, but those of us in the Bay Area are intimately familiar with the blackout rule. It's just another of the many gifts provided by the Oakland Raiders. And while you might consider those in the NFL who devised the rule to be angels of mercy -- pay to watch the Raiders in person, or stay home and watch Colts-Patriots? -- just spend a moment considering it from a business standpoint.

[+] Enlarge Jed Jacobsohn/Getty ImagesAs always, there are plenty seats and plenty of blackouts in Oakland.

It's a big world out there, and not everybody roots for their local team. It isn't 1976 anymore. You can pay a few hundred bucks and watch every game, every week, which means even if you live in Hayward, Calif., your kid might grow up to be an Eagles fan. Or a fan of every guy on his fantasy-league team (buy your insurance today!), in which case he's as distracted and split-screened and attention-span deficient as the kids at the skate park.

If the DirecTV package isn't in the family budget, the kid can sit in front of the computer and follow his Eagles while he's watching the Seahawks and Broncos on the local CBS affiliate. He can get text-message alerts on his phone every time one of his fantasy-leaguers fulfills his fantasy. Meanwhile, down the road, the Raiders are losing to the Redskins in near-total anonymity.

So the local team doesn't mean as much, or carry the same amount of power as it did when John Madden and Tom Flores wrote the playbook. It might be easier to get their officially licensed coasters and barbecue utensils at the mall, but that's about it. And if you're the local team, trying to market your guys to the kid in Hayward with the green-and-white Vick jersey and the fantasy-league fetish, you want to get your guys in front of them as often as possible, no matter how many people are in the stadium.

And no matter who your guys are, and what their record is, you want to showcase them as often as possible. Accessibility is key, and television provides the accessibility. It's a 3½-hour commercial every Sunday. But if the Hayward kid isn't going to the game, the only distance he's worried about on a Sunday afternoon is the distance from the couch to the screen. That distance is the same everywhere, no matter how fiercely your dad might believe the autumn wind is, indeed, a Raider.

Restricting access to the product seems antithetical to practical economics, but there's never been anything practical about the loyalty of NFL fans. But in the current financial climate -- California's unemployment rate: 11.9 percent -- is it still valid? Can the NFL expect fans in Detroit and Oakland and St. Louis to continue to support terrible teams run by terrible organizations if they punish them for refusing to pay inflated prices to see an inferior product?

The NFL says yes. Dan Masonson, a spokesman for the league, told me as much yesterday. "The blackout policy is not changing, and we haven't had any discussions about changing it," Masonson said. "It's been a successful policy long-term."

Would you believe the blackout rule was implemented only eight times last year? Hard to believe, but only eight games -- four Lions, three Raiders, one Rams -- were blacked out in the 90-mile local area.

We can argue cause and effect all day long. Does the fact that a game is not on television spur fans to attend the game? In Oakland, at least, it seems the sellouts are dictated by the opponent. The Broncos and Chargers sell out; the Bengals probably don't. The NFL, however, is convinced the policy is the thing. It might be simply coincidental, but they have statistics: 4 percent of games were blacked out in 2008, 14 percent in 2000, 39 percent in 1990.

"The purpose of the policy is to sell tickets, but it also makes televised games more attractive," Masonson says. "A sellout is more attractive to the networks and viewers as well."

I asked Masonson about an idea I borrowed from San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist Bruce Jenkins, who suggested the NFL suspend the blackout rule for a year in a nod to the economic climate. Not as many fans -- or corporations -- are as flush as they had been, so why not make a good-faith gesture to those longtime customers? It might also sway the kid in Hayward.

"We haven't discussed that," Masonson said. "We've worked with teams to address the current economic situation by creating some variable pricing plans. We're working with them on flexibility and options. Some teams are allowing fans to pay for season tickets on installment plans."

That's the idea: Add to your debt by paying for tickets over time. The NFL has numbers on its side right now -- 96 percent sellouts! -- so it's hard to blame them for sticking to an outdated policy. Masonson is very straightforward and friendly about the whole deal. To put it simply: It's not a problem, so why change it? The time might come, though, when they'll wish that kid in Hayward grew up with a stronger tie to the local team. If it frays, it'll fray from the inside out.

If I were the owner of a team that lost local TV access to the blackout rule, I would think it serves no purpose other than distracting my fans and making them fans of someone else. But then again, maybe it's all the same to everybody involved. To the NFL, a fan of the Eagles is a fan of the league, regardless of location. To the local team, revenue sharing means a cut of every jersey sale and ticket purchase anywhere in the league. So maybe the argument against the blackout rule is as outdated as the rule itself.

Crabtree may holdout untill 2010

kujo24 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:16:16 -0000

With rookie saleries skyrocketing and teams willing to pay them, unproven players have been getting more and more money. However, Crabtree (10th pick in the draft) is asking for more money than where he was picked at. He is asking for top 5 money.

His advisor (cousin) is threatening to hold out the entire season and be drafted next year. If this were to happen, it would make all the other draft picks much harder to sign. They all look at the picks close to them and then determine how much money they want. As annoying as it is to sign a top ten draft pick, it makes it slightly easier to look around and see how much people are getting around you.

The Jaguars claim to be making progress with Monroe, and I hope that this won't effect his ability to get signed.

Percy Harvin's impact on the offence

kujo24 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:25:37 -0000

Can we replace Percy Harvin on the offence next season?

Side 1: No

The Florida Gator team doesn't have many holes to fill coming in to next season. However, they do have a few on offence. Percy Harvins absence on the team is the biggest impact. He was possibly our biggest threat on the offence, and was a game changer in every sense of the word. Now that he has left for the NFL, the Gators need to find someone to step up and take his place, and there might not be anyone like that on the team.

In the 2008-2009 season, Percy Harvin accounted for roughly 22% of our rushing yards and TDs. However, He also contributed to 21% of our recieving yards and TDs. He had a combined rushing and passing yards of about 1,300. Considering some of the yeards heisman canidates put up this may look a little slim. But his biggest impact was his yards per carry and per catch. He averaged 16 yards a catch and 9 yards a carry. When we needed a long first down, the Gators would usually be looking at Percy Harvin. His impact will be felt as the Gators offence may struggle slightly when they play tougher defences in the NCAA.

Side 2: Yes

In the 2008 season, We had actually been shifting away from Percy Harvin. In the 2007 season he accounted for 1,600 yards. But Urban Meyer has been calling his number less. With Jeffrey Demps and Chris Rainy getting 1,250 yards rushing last season, and both of them averaging almost 8 yards a carry, they can take the extra workload coming into next season. Louis Murphy had also stepped up. He averaged more yards recieving, and more yards per catch than Percy. He also caught just as many TDs. The Wide reciever position is a slightly bigger question than the running backs, but a championchip team can always perform when they need too.

Our deep recruiting class will also help. With the 5th best class (according to ESPN) the Gators aquired 8 top 150 players. Many of them were on defence. But possibly our best prospect on offence is Andre Debose. Nobody should be expecting him to get the numbers Percy did. But his speed and versatility can give us the edge when it comes to matchups.

You decide. Can we replace Percy Harvin?

Poll

Can we replace Percy Harvin?

Yes

10 votes

No

5 votes

15 votes | Poll has closed

Lets talk Dynasty teams

kujo24 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:10:44 -0000

Everyone knows the famous dynasty teams. The 70s Steelers, the Boston Celtics, and the Cleveland Browns are a few. All of these teams have their place in history as some of the most dominant teams in their time. All of them won multiple titles. Within a decade they all established themselves as winning teams.

The Florida Gators football team has done this. But are the Gators one of them? They have won 2 of the last 3 national championchips. They have dominated their conference in those two years. I don't think they would be a dynasty team yet. But with the possibility of a third title in 4 years, they may become one. The only thing in their way is themselves. Not many teams have the combination of talent and big game experience that the Gators do.

So what do you think? Could the Gators be considered a dynasty by the end of next year?

Poll

Will the Gators be a dynasty with a national championchip next year?

Yes

13 votes

Close, but not yet

4 votes

No way

3 votes

20 votes | Poll has closed

Florida gators logo

kujo24 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:50:41 -0000

Florida gators logo

kujo24 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:50:39 -0000

Florida gators logo

Florida Gators 2009 schedule

kujo24 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:29:56 -0000

WIth a chance at a 2009 championchip in the Florida Gators sight, their schedule will be an important factor for them. Here is their scedule in order.

1.Charleston Southern 7. Arkansas

2.Troy 8. at Mississippi State

3. Tennessee 9. Georgia

4. at Kentucky 10. Vanderbilt

5. Bye Week 11. at South Carolina

6. at LSU 12. Florida International

13. Florida State

Looks to be a good schedule with a good bye week right in the middle of the season. I'm glad we have a bye week before LSU, because they seem to be a good team, but just struggled with consistency last year. You can't get a much better shedule for a national champion.

Poll

What do you think are the Florida Gators chances for a championchip?

0-25

1 votes

25-40

3 votes

40-65

8 votes

65-80

7 votes

85+

11 votes

30 votes | Poll has closed

The BCS

kujo24 — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:09:20 -0000

I'm not going to preach how awful the BCS is, or how we "have to have" a playoff. I'm going to try to be as neutral as possible. But I am going to put in a few facts about the BCS, and what I think we should do if we were to have a playoff system.

Just remember, the BCS has signed a longterm contract with ESPN to show its bowl games. So it might not be as easy as it seems to change a system.

With the current BCS system, the conferences that get automatic BCS bids (the ACC, the Big East, the Big 12, the Big Ten, the Pac-10 and the SEC) are guarateed to get $18 million each year. While all of the other conferences earned $70 million each year. Some people claim that this is unfair to all of those other conferences. While other people (and the BCS) say that the money is distributed evenly, and that those other conferences are getting plenty of money. All teams are included in the BCS system that are over 6-6 and the playoff system may not be able to do this.

Under a new playoff system, you could have brackets like a basketball, or NFL league. The BCS officials say that while a playoff system looks good on paper, it wouldn't work in real life. You would have to find to many different nuetral sites to play at. It would be too hard to coordinate all of the different game times. THe added games could also bring more harm to the players. More games mean more wear and tear, and no teams want to add risk to a players health. However, this type of system would give many teams chances to reach a championchip. No undefeated teams would be able to claim that they were left out.

I think that the highest seeded team should be able to play at home, giving the best preforming team a slight advantage. This could be done up to the final four or championchip, where a nuetral site could be established with a bye week. All conference champions should be added, and the rankings would still be important. The regular season would still be a big deal, and you could have a decently fair playoff.

Feel free to point out anything I forgot.

Secondary depleated?

kujo24 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:10:35 -0000

Is there really an excuse for what happened when we played Pittsburg? Ben Rothlisburger threw up and down the feild, he was just playing pitch and catch out there. When i was watching I kept saying, "theres no way hes gonna complete that pass".

Then the I see downfeild, and there is a reciever wide open with no one within ten yards of him. Is this the defensive coordinators mistake, the players mistake, or about half in half? Whatever the problem is, we need to fix it RIGHT NOW!!!! The Jags were known for a hard-hitting, hard-nosed defence. Now we look like the stock market, on the verge of bottoming out.

Somebody please tell me what happened! We don't look like AFC contenders anymore, we are struggling to stay in the race. We need to destroy the next 3 teams we face, and we will be right back in the mix.