Dear Jim:
Hi there. My name is Will, and I’m proud supporter of P.J. Fleck and the Minnesota Golden Gopher football team here in the Northstar State. I also support most Big Ten programs when playing out of conference opponents, especially now in bowl season.
Some programs out there (especially out of the Mid-American Conference) play some of their games on Tuesdays. I am one for that idea, since I can start my week off by watching Monday Night Football (and listening to Booger McFarland for that matter), and then can tune into some Tuesday Night #MACtion, as I can get Bowling Green, or Akron, or Eastern Michigan to fly all over my television screen
Jim, I for one am against that idea. You see, I’m a former football player myself. Sure, I wasn’t great, but I played for my small, mighty Alma Center Lincoln football team in Western Wisconsin on those Friday nights. That’s all that my small town of 400 people had. Those Friday night lights made us all feel like the biggest stars in the world, even if we played in the smallest division in the state of Wisconsin. I may not have been a star, but as a high school junior at the time, it got me amped up all week to practice to continue to get better each week and have a shot at the postseason. These are memories that I have the rest of my life. We may not have had the best team in our state, but it was a good break from the levels of stress that us high schoolers dealt with on the regular basis.
Now, Jim, Big Ten Football at its peak needs to be played on Saturdays. There’s nothing like tradition. As a college student, you wake up early, get ready to go to the tailgates, or to watch the team enter the stadium. You get inside that stadium and experience that electric atmosphere. There’s nothing quite like it.
I know my voice isn’t much, but it’s something. I feel as though I speak on the behalf of a majority of fans across the Upper Midwest. These games are not good for your conference and for your prospective representatives too. Please reconsider. -WGL
