By the Belt: A MAC Sports Blog

By the Belt: A MAC Sports Blog

@bythebelt.bsky.social

Your new home for MAC sports coverage, continuing the Hustle Belt legacy! Website coming soon.

3,499 Followers 175 Following 767 Posts Joined Nov 2024
2 days ago

Per Pete Thamel of ESPN, Toledo athletic director Bryan Blair has been approached for the same role at Syracuse and is expected to accept the offer.

Blair had been at UT since 2022.

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2 days ago
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Pioneers of the New West, carrying with them both tradition and innovation.

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3 days ago
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Directional state schools with a strong shared tradition, all in one peninsula.

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1 week ago
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2026 By the Belt Audience Feedback Survey Welcome Page Hello there! Welcome to "By the Belt", the new name for the blog formerly known as Hustle Belt. We'll go long on the name choice later, but please know for the purposes of the survey that any referen...

If you would like to help shape By the Belt's future coverage, please fill out this anonymous, four-question survey!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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4 days ago
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Proud flagships of their respective states, compatriots of the Northeast.

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5 days ago
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Two OGs of the Mid-American Conference, bitter rivals with a common passion for bricks.

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6 days ago
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A pair of rivals connected by an interstate.

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6 days ago
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Discussing Miami (OH) online

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1 week ago
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Two rivals, separated by mere miles. Both attached to the same belt.

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1 week ago

Glad you asked!

"Hustle Belt" was a reference to the term "Rust Belt" that followed a lot of the Midwest around the time of the blog's establishment back in 2010.

We've carried it over in the new identity.

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1 week ago
Preview
2026 By the Belt Audience Feedback Survey Welcome Page Hello there! Welcome to "By the Belt", the new name for the blog formerly known as Hustle Belt. We'll go long on the name choice later, but please know for the purposes of the survey that any referen...

If you would like to help shape By the Belt's future coverage, please fill out this anonymous, four-question survey!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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1 week ago

We hope to have the exact details pinned down over the next few weeks. A short survey will be out soon to gather data for this endeavor!

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1 week ago
Preview
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Coast-to-coast? I thought this was Mid-America!

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1 week ago
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By the Belt.
For the Belt.

Your new home for everything Mid-American (including California).

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1 week ago
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See you this time tomorrow?

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1 week ago

Miami University does it AGAIN. Now 30-0 overall and 27-0 vs. D-I teams after a lemon-booty 74-72 home finale win over Toledo.

Miami's maximum losses possible before Selection Sunday: 2.

Important: No team with two or fewer losses has ever been kept out of the NCAAT in the 64+ team era.

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1 week ago

He is supposedly going to "give it a go" tonight at the last home game. This looks nasty!

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1 week ago
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And with that, Hustle Belt comes to a close - FIN -

"As a people, we are in constant need of community and connection, and we provided that for the masses of #MACtion. It was our honor and privilege."

Our editor-in-chief Alan Rucker reflects on the journey in Hustle Belt's final column: www.hustlebelt.com/site-notes-o...

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1 week ago
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Thank you, Hustle Belt. From, Texas. A baptism by fire made a sportswriter for life.

"As somebody with zero geographic or personal connection to the MAC prior to joining... this gritty Midwestern conference of underdogs will forever be apart of me. "

After 1,597 articles over 10 years of service, @shelwick.bsky.social gives his thanks: www.hustlebelt.com/site-notes-o...

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1 week ago

Thanks! Hope we have something to say soon.

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1 week ago
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1 week ago
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What A Small Town in Washington and Bert Bell Can Teach Us About Change Pardon us a last ramble as we walk into the night.

"History never just ends. That’s probably the most important thing to take away from all of this. Like a phoenix, football— and the spirit of Hustle Belt— will return from the ashes of wherever this current epoch is heading."

Our own Alexis Baker's look on change: www.hustlebelt.com/site-notes-o...

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1 week ago
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Sports Should Make You Hopeful A note as Hustle Belt closes its doors.

"Me and you: we are college sports. ...These games need participation from everybody... everybody from the field or court (or wherever) to the ones on the sidelines. And that means you, too."

A final note from former EIC @aralvarado13.bsky.social: www.hustlebelt.com/site-notes-o...

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1 week ago

Respect to the end of one of the greats. (That old SBN site format was sooooooooo good)

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1 week ago
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Still, That Lasted A Lot Longer Than Expected One last post from the man who started it all.

"Websites are so much fun. ...[I]f your idea is... to put a nice neat thing into the world because you enjoy it, then go for it. Who knows where the idea will lead. Mine definitely surpassed the expectations."

One last byline from @suss2hyphens.bsky.social:
www.hustlebelt.com/site-notes-o...

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1 week ago
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To Hustle Belt, from Sam Kasuga A local boy wanted to make good, and did.

"I remember my first piece that I ever wrote... Before that, I wasn’t much of a writer. I didn’t know what to expect... After putting it together, and seeing it on the site for the first time, I felt an immense amount of pride."

To Hustle Belt, from Sam Kasuga: www.hustlebelt.com/site-notes-o...

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1 week ago
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How do you say goodbye when you’re not ready to leave? The light shines its way through, even when the path is dark. So it is, and so it shall always be.

"[E]ven in this final hour, we’re still not ready to leave. There are humans behind all these words written on this page. Hours, days, weeks, even months or years of thought behind every sentence published."

We reflect on the current moment as our last day begins: www.hustlebelt.com/site-notes-o...

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2 weeks ago
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TREY PERRY FOR THE WIN! 29-0!

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2 weeks ago

Lost in November for the season: the starting PG
Potentially lost for the season before this game: the backup PG
Fouled out with lots of time left: the soon to be MAC POTY

STILL WON BABY

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2 weeks ago
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Getting acquainted with Sacramento State football A rundown of the MAC’s newest program for 2026.

It's been two weeks since the big news of Sacramento State's addition to #MACtion.

Get acquainted with the MAC’s newest football program, from being a stop for four current NFL contributors to a story about their head coach's past life that... can't be touched:
www.hustlebelt.com/mac-football...

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