Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/1918 Montana Grizzlies football team

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 merge with the corresponding team articles. All these articles concern years that the football teams did not compete for various reasons. The case for deletion is that many of these articles are very short (often consisting of "X did not field a team in 19xx because of war Y" or similar). The argument for keeping the content is to avoid leaving unexplained gaps in the team's coverage and explaining the team's absences. Both of these arguments make valid points, but I think those who have suggested merging and redirecting in each of these cases address the concerns in the manner most consistent with the will of the participants here. Sjakkalle (Check!) 11:54, 28 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

1918 Montana Grizzlies football team[edit]

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Fails WP:GNG WP:NSEASONS, none of these teams played any games formally or otherwise representing their institutions. The text merely states this and each page should not clutter the continuity of their varsity programs UCO2009bluejay (talk) 15:19, 15 May 2016 (UTC) I am also nominating the following related pages because they all fallow the same pattern:[reply]

Keep or merge. These are not entirely content free, and I don't see the harm in keeping them. However, if they are deleted, the text should be merged to near the end of the preceding article, so the gap is not left unexplained, e.g.

The 1898 Alabama Crimson White football team^[3] (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") was to represent the University of Alabama in the 1898 college football season; however, this was the first time Alabama did not field active football team due a university policy since the inaugural 1892 squad. In the spring of 1895, the University Board of Trustees passed a rule that prohibited athletic teams from competing off-campus for athletic events.^[4] As such the 1898 season was canceled; however the board subsequently rescinded this rule and the squad returned to the field for the 1899 season.^[4] Since beginning play in 1892, this would mark only the first of three separate years Alabama did not field a team (the two other were war years, in 1918 during World War I, and in 1943 during the World War II).

References

^ "How the Crimson Tide got its name". bryantmuseum.ua.edu. Paul W. Bryant Museum. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
^ Kennedy, Scott (April 8, 1992). "Tide football tradition began with 1892 team". The Tuscaloosa News. Google News Archives. p. 2F. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
^ Alabama football teams were not referred to as the "Crimson Tide" until the 1907 season. Prior to 1907, the team was called the "Crimson White" from 1893 to 1906 and the "Cadets" in 1892.^[1]^[2]
^ ^a ^b Griffin, John Chandler (2001). "1896: Trustees Thwart Alabama". Alabama vs. Auburn: Gridiron Grudge Since 1893. Athens, Georgia: Hill Street Press. p. 13. ISBN 1-58818-044-1.

Merge that into the 1897 season article would be OK. wbm1058 (talk) 15:56, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It's interesting that both Alabama and Tennessee cancelled their 1898 seasons, but apparently for different reasons. Tennessee clearly "due to the Spanish–American War", but I get the impression that the Alabama trustees were concerned not about the war, but rather that off-campus road trips were distracting from academics. wbm1058 (talk) 16:13, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I am not opposed to moving some of the information to the preceding and succeding year articles where applicable before deletion of the non-existing year. In fact I encourage it in the interest of mentioning what happened in the program around that time.UCO2009bluejay (talk) 17:28, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comment. These articles are not all the same. Some look like they should clearly be deleted. Others have some significant content and require closer evaluation. Would the nominator consider separating these so they can be addressed individually? I think that makes more sense. Also, please make sure that you leave a talk page notice on the talk pages of the article creators. Cbl62 (talk) 16:01, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

When you are reading the teams yearly pages and are going from year to year. Like some do and the next season is not there it makes you wonder why is it not there. Also; why is it an issue in the first place? The pages are fallowing a pattern that all the teams have. The pages all let you know the information that is needed. Some don't have a lot of content and maybe all need more on the from a history aspect. But I do not think they need to be deleted. MDSanker 16:31, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I always thought that if anybody objected to the deletion of a single or a couple of articles that they could !vote "delete except article x and y." The only pages listed that have more than one sentence which report they didn't play is 1898 Alabama, which the information should be merged into 1897 and 1899, and the 1898 page deleted. The 1943 Tennessee page lists players that should have been able to play but didn't. which were drafted in the NFL. I didn't list 1882 Michigan for the reason User:Cbl62 mentioned, and I will leave notices. If one would remember I didn't suggest deleting 1943 Alabama Informals football team for that reason, mainly they had a pick-up team that played actual games. In regards to the issue of linking pages, as User:MDSanker mentions, this is NOT always the case as in the 1943 Auburn Tigers football team which doesn't exist nor was it even suggested to be created in Wikipedia:WikiProject College football/Season articles campaign. Simply put these teams didn't exist they interrupt continuity of existing seasons. The navbox could easily have gray links such as this, this, this, and even in the setup of future creation such as this, and the infoboxes can easily link to the correct season with the |prev year= and |next year= perameters.UCO2009bluejay (talk) 17:15, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Also there is a reason there isn't an article for the 1997 Cleveland Browns which discusses the fact that the team didn't play because Art Model moved the players to Baltimore and the franchise hadn't been reactivated.UCO2009bluejay (talk) 17:34, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Merge into the teams' succeeding season the following: 1918 Georgia Bulldogs football team, 1917 Georgia Bulldogs football team, 1918 LSU Tigers football team, 1898 Tennessee Volunteers football team, 1943 Tennessee Volunteers football team (the draft info is already present on the team drafted players page), 1898 Alabama Crimson White football team, 1944 Montana Grizzlies football team, 1943 Montana Grizzlies football team as being basically devoid of encyclopedic content sufficient for a stand-alone article, and most likely always will be. These articles only serve as placeholders. Lizard (talk) 17:40, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Rename the following: 1917 Tennessee Volunteers football team, 1918 Tennessee Volunteers football team. A team was fielded, but it wasn't the Volunteers. Lizard (talk) 17:40, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Lizard makes a good point. I think the Vols would object, and say something like 1918 Tennessee (SATC) football team is better. The 1898 team article can be merged into the main article. The 1943 team perhaps can be dealt with by merging the body into the main article and having a note on the draft article. Then again, a few articles do a decent job of covering the war-torn seasons, and it can seem weird with the gaps. We also have to account for the 1894-95 Tennessee teams. Cake (talk) 17:58, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Delete the 1918, 1943 and 1944 Montana team articles. Those three articles are devoid of significant content, and there is no indication that Montana even had teams for those seasons. Undecided for now about the others. Cbl62 (talk) 18:56, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Delete the 1917 and 1918 Georgia team articles. Those two articles affirmatively state that "the Georgia Bulldogs did not play football" in these years. In these cases, there was no team, football was not played, and the articles are devoid of significant content. Still undecided about the others. Cbl62 (talk) 19:01, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Rename the 1917 and 1918 Tennessee team articles as per the comments of Lizard and Cake above. Cbl62 (talk) 19:11, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Keep All - These are legitimate placeholders for collections of articles on the teams. The fact that no games were played in each of these years by each of these teams leaves a potential GNG-passing articles to be written. Carrite (talk) 19:30, 18 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

At a bare minimum, the 1918, 1943 and 1944 Montana team articles should be deleted. There is no evidence whatsoever that articles on these non-existent teams/seasons received significant coverage in multiple, reliable sources such that WP:GNG could ever be satisfied. Cbl62 (talk) 00:02, 19 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Lizard brings up an excellent point. There is a reason they weren't included as part of the Wikipedia:WikiProject College football/Season articles campaign in the "still needed portion" makes me wonder about the 1871 Rutgers football team.UCO2009bluejay (talk) 04:47, 22 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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.

[Name1-1] "How the Crimson Tide got its name". bryantmuseum.ua.edu. Paul W. Bryant Museum. Retrieved June 30, 2013.

[Name2-2] Kennedy, Scott (April 8, 1992). "Tide football tradition began with 1892 team". The Tuscaloosa News. Google News Archives. p. 2F. Retrieved June 30, 2013.

[3] Alabama football teams were not referred to as the "Crimson Tide" until the 1907 season. Prior to 1907, the team was called the "Crimson White" from 1893 to 1906 and the "Cadets" in 1892.^[1]^[2]

[Griffin-4] Griffin, John Chandler (2001). "1896: Trustees Thwart Alabama". Alabama vs. Auburn: Gridiron Grudge Since 1893. Athens, Georgia: Hill Street Press. p. 13. ISBN 1-58818-044-1.

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