From now till preseason camp begins in August, Land-Grant Holy Land can be writing articles round a unique theme each week. This week is all about unpopular opinions. You possibly can make amends for the entire Theme Week content material right here and all our “Unpopular Opinion” articles right here.
Not solely is the temperature rising outdoors as we’re heading in direction of summer time, right here at LGHL we figured we’d flip up the warmth with a few of our most unpopular opinions that may make individuals blow a gasket. Apart from, since there isn’t a lot occurring with Ohio State sports activities proper now, we have now to search out some method to have just a little enjoyable as we move the time earlier than preseason practices for the Buckeyes start in August.
At this time we’re going to sort out school athletics as an entire. Possibly there’s something in a sure sport that you’ve a take about that will get others in a tizzy. Whether or not or not it’s the soccer area, hardwood, the diamond, or it might embody all collegiate sports activities, we wish to hear your spiciest opinion. The one factor we ask is that you just don’t assault anyone personally in a massively unfavourable means. Whereas it’s alright to agree with among the selections of somebody like Ryan Day or how a lot you may hate gamers from That Crew Up North, we hope that Buckeye Nation can preserve issues civil when revealing their unpopular opinions.
At this time’s query: What’s your most unpopular opinion about school athletics?
We’d love to listen to your selections. Both reply to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or depart your alternative within the feedback.
Brett’s reply: The boys’s school basketball NCAA Event is dropping its juice
Don’t get me improper, I nonetheless love March Insanity, it simply doesn’t really feel the identical nowadays. The switch portal and gamers both leaving for the NBA Draft after one season or discovering different avenues to allow them to keep away from school basketball altogether are simply a few explanation why the match has been missing in intrigue currently. Additionally, it doesn’t assist that Ohio State has not solely struggled to make the match, they haven’t made the second weekend of the dance in additional than a decade.
Then there’s additionally the discuss of increasing the match area. There’s completely no motive to take action because the match is already a tricky watch to start with. Not that there aren’t some enjoyable video games alongside the way in which and upsets that captivate the school basketball world. For some motive, it doesn’t really feel practically as magical because it used to. Then once more, possibly I’m simply turning into much more of a curmudgeon than I was.
Whenever you have a look at the numbers, it’s not simply me. The scores for the NCAA Event are down and there isn’t practically the discuss it as there felt like there was 10-15 years in the past. Again then all people crammed out a bracket, whereas nowadays it appears like increasingly individuals aren’t. A few of it may be blamed on the switch portal, which typically makes it onerous to know who’s enjoying for what colleges. In a means, I miss the times once you had school basketball groups with a core of gamers that stayed in class for 3 to 4 years. Possibly NIL fixes a few of that, however I’m not holding my breath since the most effective gamers are going to go to the NBA as quickly as they’ll.
The identical can’t be stated for the ladies’s match, which has captivated the nation over the previous couple of years. Though Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and plenty of different high-profile gamers at the moment are enjoying within the WNBA, the rise in viewership and intrigue for the ladies’s match doesn’t really feel like it’ll decelerate any time quickly as a result of now viewers are conversant in different star gamers that can be returning to school subsequent season. As sizzling as the ladies’s match has been when it comes to scores and simply total pleasure, the lads’s match is trending in the other way.
Matt’s reply: I don’t care concerning the new EA Sports activities School Soccer Recreation
I do know that that is nearly definitely a product of my age, however I get the thrill across the return of the EA Sports activities school soccer online game — I performed the sport for years in my teenagers and early twenties — however I simply can’t get myself puffed up for its return in 2024. Admittedly, I’ve by no means been a lot of a gamer, so I’m not precisely the target market for this recreation, however the quantity of ink (and maybe another fluids) spilled about each single little morsel of reports is mind-boggling to me.
Now, don’t get me improper, I’m not right here to yuck anybody’s yums; in case you are geeked for this, I’m blissful for you, and I need you to get pleasure from each single nuance of the sport and its rollout… it’s simply not for me. The final legit gaming system I had was a PS2, and whereas I’ve “Galaga” and “Pac-Man” cupboards and a few low-cost previous knock-off classic methods that I nearly by no means play, video video games have by no means been a significant a part of my life.
And now that I watch my nephew play EA’s “FIFA” recreation and “NBA 2K,” it has turn into clear to me that the school soccer recreation that I performed is a relic of the previous. With microtransactions and opening playing cards and franchise improvement, that isn’t the identical recreation that I as soon as loved (however wasn’t excellent at). In all honesty, I is perhaps extra within the roster administration portion of this new model than I’m within the precise gameplay. However, fact be informed, I’ll in all probability by no means discover out, as a result of not solely do not need a suitable gaming system, the possibilities of me getting one are subsequent to zero.
After all, I’m enthusiastic about what this implies for the gamers and the youthful followers who’ve by no means had the chance to play a school soccer recreation in any respect, not to mention one that truly is ready to reap the benefits of the gamers’ names, photos, and likenesses. However, for me, a middle-aged dude in his early 40s, I’ve been truthfully stunned by the fervor that individuals in my common demographic have displayed for the discharge of a online game… even one which thousands and thousands have been ready for over a decade.
