Division 1 Sports and Your College Experience

I grew up in Nebraska during the 60-3 era of Husker football and I was sports-obsessed as a kid, so I thought D1 sports would be a big deal for me. Didn't turn out that way, though. I did my undergrad at a satellite campus of a university that had D1 sports, but we were so far away the teams had no presence on our campus. The only people who really cared seemed to be transfers from main campus who were usually gone after a semester or two. I was working two, sometimes three part-time jobs while taking classes full time, so the 'college experience' rather passed me by. The university where I went to grad school didn't have any intercollegiate varsity athletics, and in any case grad school pretty much consumed all my attention.

Like Oggiedoggie, I might have internalized the "no cheering in the press box" mantra a little too hard. I'm out of sports now, but I still struggle to feel much of an emotional attachment to teams I support. I can see why the camaraderie and shared experiences generated by D1 athletics would be a selling point to some people and thus "worth it", even if the priorities on display and the resources expended on intercollegiate athletics look bizarre from a distance.

 

Like I’ve said elsewhere here, I went to a D-III school, and, while sports were important and the overall program was excellent compared to other D-III schools, it wasn’t the lifeblood of the school, and that was fine with me.

Sometimes I think I would have enjoyed D-I school sports, but my options were limited, both academically and financially, and it turned out going to a school with 6K students was ideal for me. Not tiny where everyone knew me, and not too large where I was just a number.

We still got a taste of big-time football each year with our rivalry game, which would draw 4 or 5 times the number of fans that normally go to a game, which created memories that will always be with me. We didn’t have a sports journalism program, but I tried with a couple of guys to broadcast a couple of football, basketball and hockey games, with mixed results.

Still, though, I enjoyed my college experience and as the years pass, I appreciate more and more the simplicity and fun of a D-III school without the insanity.

 

I graduated from a DI mid-major, and it allowed me to have some great experiences that helped me in my career. I was involved with both campus radio stations, the sports information office and the community newspaper, sometimes wearing more than one hat at a given event. I covered the football team's only DI conference championship and only bowl victory in school history; the first time the men's basketball team won the conference championship and played in the NCAA Tournament; and worked with the varsity and summer league baseball teams, in addition to covering several other sports.

Among the coolest experiences: Flying across the country to cover the bowl game (and being invited into the ESPN booth in the second half); traveling with the varsity baseball team for two seasons, including one spring trip in which we stayed at our region's major league spring training facility; traveling with the summer baseball team to a national tournament; watching several future pro athletes (including a now-baseball hall of famer) play in college; doing the PA at the summer league's all-star games for a few years (it was a kick hearing my voice bouncing around a major-league stadium); and visiting many other campuses and three minor-league ballparks. I didn't get to go to the NCAA Tournament game, though.

One clip that helped me land my first full-time newspaper job was a no-hitter involving the team I was working with. It was a pretty cool way to catch the editor's eye, and got me in the door.

I worked full time in the newspaper industry for 25 years, mostly covering prep sports, but also working in news and business, before I landed a job outside the industry (my old newspaper job was later eliminated).

 

I never came within a mile of hiring anyone in my journalism career, but it seems odd to me that hiring types would (or did) view clips from "big time" sports events more favorably than those from "not big time" sports events.

 

I was a student and a working member of the press. Was standing in back of the south end zone when all the shit hit the fan at the north end. Cannot recall being in the middle of such resulting chaos since.

To your second point ... I agree. I've seen a still photograph that proves it.

 

I don't think that's the point. I think the point is that the chance was there to work on such events/teams, and that helped people develop their skills and talents.

 

D-1 sports had no impact on me then or now.
D-1 sports had no impact on me then or now.

 

Peyton Manning sucks.

 

The Division II experience (Shippensburg here) had its plusses and minuses.

I wouldn't have traded for the world the support network I quickly found there. And considering I was a "townie" -- we had moved to Shippensburg when I was 9, and my dad worked on campus -- it was surprising how I could separate the two worlds.

Traveling up and down the East coast with one of the better D-II baseball teams in the nation was a blast, and I probably appreciated the weekend visits to bigger schools (Virginia Tech, VCU, WVU) more than I would have if I had spent more time on such campuses.

The football and basketball games had a great following, but I was usually working during the games -- stats, PA, writing.

I also know very clearly that getting my journalism education at a D-I school would have opened doors at a higher level. I'd been writing for eight years by the time I was out of college, and I was scrambling to find 5,000-daily SE gigs anywhere in the country.

 

I remember reading something once that said a run of the mill hiring manager (for businesses everywhere, not necessarily newspapers) was more likely to recognize the big football school on a resume before a private school that offered a superior education. His point was that the premium paid for a private school education outside of the Ivy League or a very few specialized programs wasn’t worth the return on investment. I specifically recall Ohio State vs. Davidson as the comparison he used.

 

Guess it's different if you grow up in an area where there are no pro teams. But growing up less than 30 miles from NYC, going to a D1
school didn't mean much. Went to a D2 school, but had several friends who went to D1 schools and they said the experience was OK.
Visited several of those friends and it pretty much seemed like the experience was similar, just with more people.