C’mon, Jerry Falwell, Jr. Can’t you keep politics out of college football?
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“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
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Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
He appears to be right though… not that I give a shit.
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Why so?
If I recall correctly, Memphis once tried to use a lot of sweet, sweet FedEx money to buy its way into a conference, only to be turned away. Doubt that the only other time it’s happened, either.
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Yet they continue to expand with other schools. The article may be missing another part of the argument, including the bit you mention, so I’m jusging on what was presented there. It’s not out of left field that mainstream academia (even through its sports associations) wants to distance itself from a school like Liberty. I’m not saying your wrong here Senator as much as I’m saying this isn’t out of left field.
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Not sure whom you mean by “they”. In the article, the Sun Belt commissioner says his conference doesn’t want to expand right now.
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It is reasonable to think the decision to exclude Liberty is political or out of hostility to religion. Perhaps it’s not true, perhaps they’re not the exclusive reasons, but it’s reasonable.
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That would certainly explain why no conference wants Notre Dame to join… oh, wait.
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I trust you have tongue in cheek. You know Notre Dame is acceptable to the bien pensant.
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Okay they want Notre Dame, but those causes are still reasonable. After all, Liberty is just not our kind dear.
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If by that you mean you detect a whiff of nouveau riche resistance, that I wouldn’t argue.
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I mean college administrator, and general liberal, snobbery/hostility against anything that’s blue collar Christian.
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Can I just say how amused I am about how the comment thread has had virtually nothing to say about the point I was making in the post and instead has focused on Jerry Junior being right? Guess that tells me all I need to know about the usual “keep politics out of football” complaints…
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I never said he was right. I just said I think there’s reasonable arguments. Fine point I know. On the keeping politics out of football point, sometimes I don’t know how to take things.
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Blue collar Christian? Liberty? Like just about anything labeled “Christian” in this country (as in “Christian bookstores”), it’s an inferior product that manages to make money by getting ignorant-assed idiots to think that coming through the door somehow places them on a path to heaven. Liberty is a shit school founded by a shithead that, ironically enough, produces people who can’t think for shit.
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Very mature comment S. How old are you? 14? You must be one of those tolerant liberals. Why don’t you move to North Korea where your intolerant views will be appreciated. By the way, I’m not a fan of Falwell but I support his right to express his views.
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People accept Notre Dame and BYU’s religious affiliations because they have a following which means they’re profitable. Liberty doesn’t have that.
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Based on what the article reported I don’t see where Falwell is off in his statement. If C-USA and the Sun Belt were so flush with cash that they can turn down a $24 million entry fee their teams wouldn’t be getting $1 million for a “rent a win” asswhipping by SEC teams every year.
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If Liberty has $24 million to toss in a pot, it sounds like there’s plenty of profit there.
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Not endowment profit, eyeballs on television sets profit. But you knew that. Protestant Christians don’t flock to Liberty games like Catholics to ND, and Mormons to BYU.
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Who says?
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51bf0e35e4b010d205f86840/t/59ac913a4c0dbf314f16c433/1504481596097/Thrasher_OpeningDay0019.JPG?format=500w
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One more try. Who says?
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So now you suddenly take conference commissioners at their word regarding expansion?
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The SBC dumped two schools and hasn’t been chasing replacements. What would you call that?
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From what I can tell, they want a southern footprint and all sport members. Virginia’s in the south and Liberty wanted full all sport membership right?
I wouldn’t want Falwell U in my conference either, but I don’t think Falwell’s argument would just be swept aside as “bringing politics into football” if it was a non-Christian religious school dumping Power 5 money into its facilities and trying to vastly overpay for membership in the lowest level FBS conference.
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Again, Memphis comes to mind.
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The Big 12 and SBC have very, very different standards of what they want out of a new member. Memphis is “beneath” the Big 12. The SBC let Georgia State in, year one of them having football at all.
The Big 12 wants more money if a team brings eyeballs to television sets. Memphis has zero football fans outside of its alumni. Again, Georgia State is in the SBC.
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Need to be careful with SBC as an abbreviation here because I think you meant Sun Belt Conference, but when discussing Liberty, it could also mean Southern Baptist Convention.
As a former SBC, the latter, I’ve been pretty disgusted with Liberty’s leadership’s take on politics and such and I would distance myself from them too. But that’s taking football and money out of the equation.
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Ahhh. A kindred soul. I was also an SB until I discovered “beer”
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The linked article stated that C-USA denied admission to Liberty because of Falwell’s politics and religion. I haven’t seen C-USA deny it. So, it may be true that the Sun Belt didn’t want Liberty because of demographics. But it’s not unreasonable to suspect that prejudice played a role.
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Not advancing the discussion, just an excuse to share 2 of my favorite quotes of all time –
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/01a29ffe-78a6-46d6-a6ed-cebfbdb47aef
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Jr. has a vision. While self-flagellating he learns that it’s just all made up. Finds the reason the other conferences don’t want Liberty is because Jr., not Jesus, steals every scene by always playing the victim
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Super-fast ramping up of the football program, hiring Baylor’s old AD…bet you $1 this ends very very very very badly for Fundie U.
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Sure but what about the violation of Jr.’s rights to do anything he wants
“The Sun Belt and C-USA — more specifically, their commissioners and leadership structures — cannot allow Liberty to join their conferences until Ian McCaw is dismissed as athletic director.”
https://www.fanragsports.com/sun-belt-conference-usa-need-one-thing-liberty-football/
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Maybe we can hire Liberty’s AD. He’s doing a great job if your of the belief that athletics, and esp. football, are the primary reason for a college’s existence.
Actually, Liberty does everything well. Nice, successful institution.
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They only bring in the best people!
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If Georgia hired Ian “I helped cover up systemic rape by athletes while I was AD at Baylor” McCaw to be the AD, that’s the day I quit giving a shit about Georgia athletics.
You’re real damn dense if you believe this.
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Turn up your sarcasm meter.
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Might be over his head, Stoop. But to clear it up for him, I’m disgusted with all things Baylor. There is NO football program worth putting up with that.
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Not over my head by any means. Honestly – it’s more a product of the times that I struggle to differentiate between reflexive tribalism and genuine satire anymore. Mea culpa, brother.
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Yeah, he’s the only one. Oh wait…
In 1998, when Monica Lewinsky first became a household name, civil rights luminary Vernon Jordan — who tried to get the little lady a job after her impressive White House internship — was asked by an interviewer what he and his buddy Bill Clinton discuss on the golf course.
“We talk pussy,” he explained.
Interestingly, according to Vanity Fair, at a 1980s dinner party, Jordan privately told the hostess, “You look like a woman who likes to f*ck.”
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That’s what I’m talking about!
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Falwell exhibits all the characteristics of the classic Christian with a victim complex. He doesn’t understand that the reason people don’t like him has nothing to do with his religion, he’s just a massive cunt.
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This.
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Well said.
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Shanah tovah Senator!
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L’chaim!
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One issue I take with the Sun Belt commissioner’s remark about geography is that SC to Texas (Texas St) is a lot further than SC to Virginia as far as travel distance. Does seem like a cheap excuse remark from him.
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JF Jr calling anyone a bigot is rich.
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Because you know him so well. Bigotry, close mindedness, racism, etc., is every bit as prevalent among the leftists as on the right. And if you don’t know that you are walking through life with your eyes and ears closed.
I feel Falwell is probably right about this. The question is why would the Sunbelt commissioner lie about it, and why aren’t the presidents and ADs speaking out about it? We probably can all figure it out but no one wants to admit how far we have fallen. Nothing surprises me any more, the daily news stories, fake and real, would make a great comedy they weren’t actually true to some degree…..or a part of a more sinister plot.
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This right here is why we have a functioning retard for a president
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He’s gone. Trump is pres now.
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Yeah, Obama was only editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review and taught Con Law at Columbia. Clearly retarded, the best. Everything I have was given to me including my fabulous tv show. I had to read a Teleprompter because I couldn’t read a script. He bugged me too. Lock him up!
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You are to Trump what Tech fans are to UGA football. Obsessed and fascinated. You even use him for a moniker. Silly.
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https://mobile.twitter.com/Sirjohn_A/status/911031123152535552
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BYU can’t get into the Pac12 or BigXII either.
Beyond the obvious sectarianism and politicization of Liberty, there are two major reasons why a group of legitimate institutions of higher learning would omit them. The first is Liberty’s governance structure. Notice Falwell uses the term “CEO” to talk about university presidents? That’s because Liberty is, in essence, his private corporation – not a university – from a governance perspective. The faculty don’t have tenure, they don’t share in governance, and they have to pass a religious test unlike every other institution in the Sun Belt. I’m actually surprised Liberty hasn’t faced more accreditation scrutiny than it has based solely on how it’s run.
The second reason is that its financial security is built upon vast on-line offerings. They’ve got a business model that works: offer up “degrees” online + accept anyone with financial aid eligibility = profit. Liberty claims an enrollment of 110,000 students. Of that 110,000 there are 15,000 (allegedly) on campus taking seat courses. Liberty is basically a for-profit college parading around like a real university. There is a reason why Trump has put Falwell in a position at DOE. (Think: Trump University).
It makes perfect sense that public institutions (with all their own problems) are disinterested in taking on a partnership with a school that’s run as the personal fiefdom of a particular family with an overt political agenda harmful to higher education and education in general. The religious extremism doesn’t help, but it’s hardly the only reason Liberty isn’t an institution conferences don’t want.
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Props to myself for the double negative there at the end.
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Still a good post there Stoop.
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“My Weekend at the Falwells’ South Beach Flophouse”
“Members of Liberty University’s legal team declined to speak on the record with POLITICO Magazine…
.
Inside the Falwells’ hostel, the stench of general decay and cigarette smoke is overpowering. Walking to the lobby, Andy and I passed down narrow hallways as spatterings of people milled about, smoking, talking to each other, playing billiards, staring into their phones. There’s an ashtray on every table—two at the red bar, above which shone a Miller Lite sign….
Liberty University may not have debt, but its students and graduates do. A lot of it. And that’s how the school—and the Falwells—made their money….
‘Liberty is essentially a medium-size nonprofit college that owns a huge for-profit college,’ Carey wrote. Although Falwell boasts that his school has tens of thousands of students, his residential program has only 14,000, a small fraction of the overall figure. Liberty’s online program has about 64,000, nearly four times as many, making it second only to the University of Phoenix in terms of the size of its online student body. On paper, the only difference between the two online schools is that Liberty’s is tax-exempt. In 2015, it received $345 million from federal undergraduate grant and loan programs—more than twice the amount received by the largest public university in the country.‘Liberty’s considerable financial success—it has built a $1 billion cash reserve, and Mr. Falwell is paid more than $900,000 a year,’ Carey wrote, ‘was underwritten largely by the federal taxpayer.’ That money has blessed the Falwells with a life of considerable plenty, giving them the financial means to, among other things, purchase a $4.65 million property in Miami Beach. (A university spokesperson disputes that characterization but repeatedly refused to speak on the record about the matter.)”
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/25/jerry-falwell-miami-hostel-liberty-university-trey-falwell-215528
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Well said, Stoop!
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The Christian bashing here is strong.
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The football program that willingly hired Baylor’s old AD is merely misunderstood, my bad.
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For-profit Christianity (Liberty, Joel Osteen, Pat Robertson, etc.) deserves every bit of the bashing, and those Christians that understand the difference between Christianity as an enterprise and a faith should be bashing the loudest. A little righteous anger against the money-changers corrupting religion is always welcomed.
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Ah, Jesus, Take the Wheel.
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In other words, Trump subscribes to the values of almost every other politician, regardless of party? Shocking!!!
Also, it’s been awhile since I was in Sunday school. Which verse is it where Jesus recommends mandatory government programs to “help” others? I always thought he was about charity and goodwill, rather than force. But I didn’t have the SJW translation of the New Testament.
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Really like the both sides do it angle. It’s the best! Don’t feel bad because I don’t know jack about helping people either except when it comes to Putin America First. And what little I know about the testaments came from two Corrintians, some snake handlers and Junior.
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Granted, whenever you hear about Democratic greed, lust, and corruption, it’s fake news. But you really should bone up on the Bible if you’re going to spin Jesus into an authoritarian.
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Yes. You just have to endure it if you want to get to the actual UGA football stuff, which is usually pretty good.
Slamming Christians is only a side show here most days.
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What I really like is when they slam grifters – I’m the Grifter-in-Chief and Juniors not doing too bad himself – we turn it around and pull the con that they’re slamming Christians! It’s a beautiful thing. That’s why I love the poorly educated. They’re just like me!
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For somebody who moans about it, you don’t seem to mind jumping in when the opportunity presents itself.
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Yes.
A friend suggested this blog to me a couple of years ago and I mostly would just periodically lurk.
Commented a little bit last year, but it got quite a bit SJWish last year with the election, the hand-wringing over the religious freedom bill in Georgia and the endless droning over the treatment of players as Dark Age peasants serving their feudal masters.
It’s pretty much the reason I take it out of my rotation during the offseason.
I know Senator doesn’t really care, nor should he. Still yet, it makes what is a pretty entertaining sports blog into an unwelcoming place.
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Senator, your comment “C’mon, Jerry Falwell, Jr. Can’t you keep politics out of college football?” open the doors on this blog and brought religion and politics into this sport blog. I come here to read about sports and that is all. I know this is your blog. But by post to the public web you invite me here and I’m asking would you mind sticking to sports. I also know this might piss you off …. but as a smart man once said “C’mon, Senator. Can’t you keep politics and religion out of college football?
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Don, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this post about a college football conference?
As I’ve said to many others, if you don’t want to read about politics here, then don’t. There are eight other posts just today about football for your reading pleasure.
No offense, but I don’t understand why you have grounds to complain, in other words.
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why should he keep politics out of football ,the NFL player ain’t deadspin.com/nfl-players-send-memo-requesting-roger-goodells-support-1818619092and…. come to think of it neither did the Mizzou football team….how is this working out for either of them?
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Thought this would be a shitshow thread, and I wasn’t disappointed. Senator, that is in no way a suggestion of what you ought to do moving forward. I enjoy these threads, personally. I hope you keep posting them. The last one I got involved in was hurtful, so I’ve stayed out of them, but I enjoy them nevertheless.
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And I make it a point to click the shit out of some ads when I’m here. Don’t care what they’re for or what weird links it generates for me. Small price to pay for my favorite blog ever.
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In high school, to a really obnoxious black woman who claimed she was left out of a lunch group because she was black: “No, it’s because you’re an asshole.”
To Falwell, Jr: “No, it’s because you’re an asshole.”
They hired Baylor’s AD. Their own alumni are rejecting the school’s politic stances. If JFJ didn’t realize those sorts of decisions came without consequences, then he’s an idiot as well as an asshole.
No conference is going to touch a school that doesn’t think Baylor did anything wrong and thinks whoever can shout “Jesus!” the loudest has a monopoly on divining right from wrong.
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Clearly (SMU) Christian (Gonzaga) colleges (Georgetown) are (St. John’s) discriminated (Baylor) against. It’s (Boston College) too (Villanova) (Providence) bad (Notre Dame).
It’s like if you type in google “baptist” or “Methodist” or “catholic” and “college” it comes back with one result: Liberty. And the man is fucking with them because of their faith. The one school that tries being Christian in America gets mistreated. What a shame.
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But Conference USA (a conference starved for cash), rejected them because of politics and religion. Maybe the Sun Belt is simply the one conference in America that is more interested in promoting the regional flavor of its football than in making money. But it’s not exactly crazy to think that it’s following in the footsteps of C-USA and simply holding out for a traditional liberal echo chamber school.
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