Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Directional Michigan

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was no consensus to delete. W.marsh 18:48, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Directional Michigan

obscure college football slang, and somewhat non-npov, google search gets around 250 unique hits [1], and most of those are just forums. Should be deleted or moved to Wiktionary Giant onehead 19:46, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Keep. This is a regularly used term and its dissected in an NPOV manner. I think it can be added to and expanded. The mere fact that a term can be taken negatively (and is normally used in a derogatory fashion) is by no means a reason to delete an article (I don't think a recitation of some of the more infamous terms is necessary). The term is used on ESPN.com[2], CBS Sportsline, CSTV[3], and other sports websites. The fact that it's popular on a wide swatch of sports blogs and websites only further demonstrates it's use in regular college football parlance. I argue it is not a mere dictionary term because the usage of "Directional Michigan" is more complex than a mere one line definition --which itself would almost certainly be insulting. In addition, calling it "obscure" college football slang is flawed because (1) "obscurity" should have not have an absolute bearing on a something's worth, i.e. I know there would be no challenge to the inclusion of many archaic legal terms and concepts (of which only a handful of the lawyers on this website would be familiar) and (2) this reeks of "I haven't heard of it, thus it must be not worth having." --Bobak 21:46, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

• Comment Just wanted to point out that the user with the preceeding keep vote was the one that created the article, which creates a bias. And just because a major source uses a term for humor does not gaurantee that it deserves an article. Giant onehead 22:01, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

• Comment. Yes, I created the article as anyone can see. However I'd like to think that any inherent bias I may have is superceded by the strength of my arguments. I respect the various deletion processes (I have successfully nominated my fair share --I wish I'd kept track), thus I feel that this nomination deserves a full response. Again, this is a term that has grown in usage among the college football community and I feel it can support an article for the reasons mentioned above. Thank you. --Bobak 22:47, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

• One final comment, if you're not a college football fan, ask yourself "do I know what is common usage or widespread use?" I make the point in light of usage across a wide swath of sports blogs. --Bobak 14:26, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

• Keep. While usage seems low at this point, the inclusion of national sports reporting refs sways me. -- MarcoTolo 00:37, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

• Delete per neo. No real evidence of widespread use. --Peta 02:58, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
• Keep per Bobak -- the term is pretty well-known among CFB fans and especially fans of Michigan and Michigan State. I'll admit that the first time I ran into the term was on the ESPN page linked above, but since then I've seen it multiple places in sports columns and blogs. I remember seeing it in SI last season when they were discussing Michigan's non-conference schedule as well, but I've recycled the magazine and couldn't get you an issue number. z4ns4tsu\^talk 16:50, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

• Change name and expand The term "Compass Campus" is MUCH more widespread in use, and inclusive of MANY more schools (Northwest Missouri State, Southwest Oklahoma State, Western Carolina University, University of Central Florida, etc.). If we create an artcle titled Compass Campus, and move this info there and expand the article to include all such campuses, as well as removing any NPOV problems, would THAT make the article more wiki-worthy? How is that for a compromise. --Jayron32 17:35, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

• Comment: I was thinking about creating a more generalized "directional school" (same thing to your name), but I'd be afraid that it would get so generalized as to be a Wikitionary definition. --Bobak 19:36, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
• Comment: I've never heard the term "compass campus" in my life. It gets 258 g-hits [4] and they seem completely unrelated. BigDT 23:47, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

• Delete or Change to redirect to Mid-American Conference. There is a stereotype that "directional" schools are inferior to their non-directional peers ... Western Michigan, East Carolina, Central Florida, etc. It is a common perjorative to refer to them as "directional". For example, "we have an easy next week against Directional Carolina". ESPN.com, in their "Bottom Ten", frequently groups the various Directional Florida and Directional Michigan schools together, as well as F_U (Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University). So the term is commonly used ... but that said, it is NOT encyclopedic. Wikipedia is not a forum for joking about rival schools. Every school has pet names for their rival. We refer to UVA as DSU (Dopey Scissors University, a reference to their logo), France, UVA-Unwise (differentiating them from the UVA campus in Wise County), or UVAC (UVA Charlottesville). None of those names, however, have any business being in Wikipedia articles. This is an encyclopedia, not a blog. Part of me would like to see it changed to a redirect just so that the next person who wants to be cute doesn't recreate the article. Either way, the article doesn't belong here. BigDT 23:45, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

• Comment: How is this article intended as a "joke" about them? While I can agree this is not the place for something like the "University of Spoiled Children", I don't think this is quite the same: it describes a phenomena that covers three different schools that fall in a class. I don't believe any specific rival use that name for them (especially since they're rivals with each other). I learned the name several years ago in ESPN's Bottom 10. There's no particular ax to grind in its usage. As pointed out in the article, the Directional Michigans do pull upsets --like WSU's recent win over UVA or CSU's near-near upset of BC. There are plenty of less-than-positive terms that have articles here, see Category:Pejorative terms for people, Category:Ethnic slurs, Category:Pejorative political terms and your Mom (sorry, not personal, couldn't resist...). --Bobak 00:06, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
• Keep Obscurity is irrelevant, that's a POV statement. Not slang, it's a term, much like "Spread Offense". --MECU≈talk 00:20, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

• Keep - this term is definitely a commonly used term in college football. Johntex\^talk 02:49, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.