We are... Memphis

A day after learning that a teammate had been murdered on campus, the Memphis Tigers have decided to play football tonight rather than canceling their long-scheduled Tuesday-night ESPN2 date with -- of all teams -- Marshall. (Now there's a football program that knows a thing or two about tragedy.) The Memphis players voted on whether to play; the decision was a unanimous yes.

Notwithstanding Memphis coach Tommy West's words -- "There's going to be a 3 1/2-hour block where we have to have our minds on business, as hard as it is" -- I daresay tonight's game will mean a lot more to the participants than an ordinary football game would. (If you're Marshall's coach, what does your pep talk sound like? Sheesh.) Nevertheless, for what it's worth, here's the football significance: this is an important game for two Conference USA East teams trying to salvage something from what has been a miserable season so far. Marshall is 0-4 and ranked #6 in ESPN's Bottom 10; Memphis is 1-3 and tied for last place in the division at 0-1.

The game is at Memphis. It starts at 8:00 PM EDT, preceded on ESPN2 by College Football Live at 7:30. I imagine the ratings will be substantially higher than would normally be expected for a weeknight game between two C-USA teams with a combined record of 1-7.

UPDATE: Memphis won, 24-21. Good for them.

Comments

"If your Marshall's coach"? Sheesh. ;)

[Jay Johnson]

Go Tigers Go!

It's really been an abysmal couple of years for the Tiger football program, which admittedly, has never been the primary big sport game on campus.

The program seemed to get an infusion of life in the last few years when Coach West took over, but now it's seeming that that resurgence was primarily due to DeAngelo Williams more than anything else.

The program really has a lot of negatives from a recruiting perspective, so it winds up getting kids from the area that are decent enough for college football, but not good enough to get offers from the SEC teams in the area.

The stadium the Tigers play in is off campus, not in a nice neighborhood, and older than dirt doesn't help. The athletic facilities on campus are nicer than in previous, but football's always going to be a second-class citizen to Tiger hoops. There's been a huge uproar in Memphis about the prospects for building a nice on campus stadium, with the usual arguments for and against. Unfortunately, it's the same old saw that's been running since the many years ago when I was an undergrad.

The fact that they've had trouble in winning games that should be winnable is the football problem. Dropping a 4 touchdown lead to Arkansas State is bad. Going behind by 5 TDs on the road to UCF doesn't help either. The season so far has been moments of amazing shows of talent interspersed with crushing periods of lackluster effort.

I think Tommy West has done a commendable job with what he's had to work with over the last few years.

I don't know what kind of impact this tragedy will have on the team. It could unify them to want to play to the best of their abilities for their fallen comrade.

I hope it's the latter.

[Looking Glass]

The first commenter cleverly pointed out a typographical error.

"If your Marshall's coach" should read "If you're Marshall's coach."

"Your" is the possessive form of you.

"You're" is a contraction of "you are."

[Marty West]

Don't be an angry grammarian.

The point isn't the you or you're.

[Brendan Loy]

I literally jumped out the window when I "discovered" that grammatical error. I hate making mistake's.

:)

[Brendan Loy]

P.S. Fixed.

[kcatnd]

Just "for" fun, I started a - debate today on the...use of "about to" versus "going to," at work...

Grammar nerds - check out the illustrated version of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style at the bookstore. Good stuff.

[David K.]

I literally jumped out the window when I "discovered" that grammatical error.

I prefer defenestration

[dcl]

In this case it would be autodefenestration David, and not simple defenestration.

[David K.]

Only if i want Brendan to throw himself through a window, my statement could easily mean *I* want to be able to throw him (or someone) through a window. Now preferably its a stage window and not a real one, because i don't actually want to hurt many people. Hurt people make terrible slaves and if i'm goign to enslave the human race i need them as productive as possible.