Talk with JMU Fans About the Game

We'll have to check back tomorrow and see how they recover

seriously, it would be great to engage them during the lull this week.

I saw that quote too, PurplePrideTrumpet... That was hilarious. It's so fun to remind people how huge women's soccer is at UP. Football on the pitch is my personal favorite sport, but, we will get bigger crowds on the courts this year than we have had for sure...

I went back into that JMU site and LMPTO---LAUGHED MY PILOT TAIL OFF!

Interesting that nobody's posted anything since Monday. Maybe they felt that their thread got hijacked. Or maybe they're not nearly as interested as we are.

Yeah... it's not too surprising. I mean... we've got the #4 ranked cross country team in the country and no one here posts about them. I generally post all the links and results, but rarely does it generate more than one or two replies.

I don't say that to accuse... I think PilotNation does an amazing job of supporting all UP sports. I just say it to show that if a sport doesn't have a large following (as I'm assuming James Madison women's soccer doesn't), even if the team is really good people won't really post about it.

Also, it looks like their football team is headed to the playoffs (FCS baby!) and basketball is getting started... women's soccer is lost in the shuffle.

I guess it seems a little hard to generate a lot of buzz on a cross-country team. "Hey did you see that great step he took at about 7K? Anybody got a video of "the sprint"?"

The problem with cross country is that it is not a spectator sport. You generally see very little of a meet, and you don't usually know who won until sometime later. A track meet or track team could probably generate some buzz, because the score is posted and you can see it all. Look at Oregon and their history of famous runners and track teams. I wonder if they have an active track fan base at Oregon?

Stonehouse wrote:
Also, it looks like their football team is headed to the playoffs (FCS baby!)

Guess not enough people realized "I-AA" means "the one with the playoffs." Just something that annoys me when I see it.

Also, yes, Fan From Afar, UO gets big crowds at Hayward Field during the Spring Season. It is actually very famous in track circles. It hosted this year's Olympic Trials.
Portland=Soccer City USA
Eugene=Track Town USA

Still nothing new on the JMU fan site since Tuesday. I'm guessing they peeked in at ours and got discouraged, realizing they could not match the stimulating conversation and sparkling wit they saw here. (Just kidding, you JMU fans)

fan from afar wrote:Still nothing new on the JMU fan site since Tuesday. I'm guessing they peeked in at ours and got discouraged, realizing they could not match the stimulating conversation and sparkling wit they saw here. (Just kidding, you JMU fans)

Maybe they're busy packing and getting their travel plans in order?

fan from afar wrote:Still nothing new on the JMU fan site since Tuesday. I'm guessing they peeked in at ours and got discouraged, realizing they could not match the stimulating conversation and sparkling wit they saw here. (Just kidding, you JMU fans)

I think you guys definitely intimidated them. Or at least overwhelmed them with your uber-posts!

Orrrr maybe they are wingin in to PDX?

Greetings from Virginia. Those of you who have posted on JMU's board are certainly fine ambassadors for your school and program. As others have already figured out, soccer isn't quite as big at JMU as some other sports. We love the Dukes' success in all sports of course, but attention is really focused on football at the moment. Here's hoping for a good match between the only 2 remaining non-BCS schools in the tournament.

Welcome!

The first thing I thought of when I saw your moniker was "When you call me that, smile!" , the famous line from Owen Wister's novel of the same name.

At first I figure it had little to do with the matchup, but down to the geezer archives and pulled out the book. in the preface is this.

There can be no doubt of this : All America is divided into two classes,--the quality and the
equality.

The latter will always recognize the former when mistaken for it. Both will be with us until our
women bear nothing but hangs.

It was through the Declaration of Independence that we Americans acknowledged the ETERNAL
EQUALITY of man. For by it we abolished a cut-and-dried aristocracy. We had seen little mere
artificially held up in high places, and great men artificially held down in low places, and our own
justice-loving hearts abhorred this violence to human nature. Therefore, we decreed that every man
should thenceforth have equal liberty to find his own level. By this very decree we acknowledged
and gave freedom to true aristocracy, saying, "Let the best man win, whoever he is." Let the best
man win! That is America's word. That is true democracy. And true democracy and true
aristocracy are one and the same thing. If anybody cannot see this, so much the worse for his
eyesight.
-Owen Wister, The Virginian

(Owen was a great TR fan, as you might figure from the quote)

In that spirit, I expect we will get a great game Saturday.

Say hi to the folks back there. I have a brother in Williamsburg and relatives in Manassas and I used to roll though Harrisonburg on my recreational jaunts into West VA. The Seneca highlands and Dolly Sods are still some of my favorite places on earth. That's a great part of the world.

Virginian, thanks for posting. I can see why JMU is gaga about its football program this season. I'll do some bragging for you. The Dukes have a 9-1 record and have been on top of the FCS Coaches Poll for nine weeks running. If they win this week against Towson University and Villanova loses their game, then the Dukes will win their conference championship outright. Go Dukes against Towson and in the FCS playoffs.

I hope that you and some of your other JMU soccer fans can join us at Merlo Field tomorrow night. It should be a great game.