Greg has dropped a comment of support. Read on:
Naay! For so long we were content to just "win enough to make a bowl"...the first seven games of the year we end up beating everyone we were supposed to (minus LSU of course) and then it falls apart. I am with you on this.
We sampled the top ten, and now we're probably not going to a bowl. I'm scratching my head and asking questions as well. As fans we root for our team, but fandom also brings the right to make noise when the system is not working. You keep on shouting...there should be more folks out there making the same noise.
Maybe they feel like their clique-mates on the forums and websites out there will banish them? Maybe their friends in the GCC will shun them for being so loud? Shame on them for being pacifists and settling for the mundane. Keep it up.
Thanks for the comment Greg. Will do! You have earned a hero!
I don't get fan mail, I get hate mail. Usually I ignore it, but this one from what I am can only assume is an LSU fan, is worth looking at.
This guy is very polite and does not hurl insults and I can understand where he is coming from. He is sad that I called out LSU and the officials from the Carolina game. Still, his explanations leave a lot to be desired and since his email was so "unlike other LSU fans" I chose to post it here and respond.
I reviewed your video of the game against LSU, and I do not agree with your assessment of poor sportsmanship and poor officiating.
Lessons 1 (facemask), 5 (Block to the back) and 1-B (tackling/facemask) were clear fouls.
But the refs threw the penalty flags, all resulting in first downs and yardage gains for USC.
Soooo…… What’s the problem?
Penalties happen to all teams.
This is true; penalties do happen to all teams. However, the issue is not whether or not the flag was thrown; it is the aggravated nature of the penalty itself. Both face masks were more than unintentional. The first face mask was especially disconcerting because after the LSU player grabbed the face mask, he left his feet and put all of his weight in to pulling down on the face mask. It looked like a guy swinging on a trapeze. The second face mask was equally bad because the guy ripped the helmet off and then celebrated along with a couple of other LSU players.
Blocks in the back:
One block in the back happens a lot, 4? On one play? Not often!
I find it amusing that just because the penalties resulted in a first down, you feel it is a fair trade. This is not about first downs and winning or losing. It is about protecting the players. You should understand that after LSU freaked out about the chop block against Dorsey.
Less 2 – Sportsmanship.
I was unclear what you were after on this one at first.
Surely, you understand a bit of celebration after a goal-line stop?
Then I saw the push to the head in slow motion. To be honest, I can’t be sure if that was intentional or not. But it sure doesn’t look that bad in real-time. Slow motion can be deceiving.
You can't be sure if it was intentional? The LSU player looked Cory Boyd in the face and then pushed his helmet to the ground. Celebration after a goal line stop is one thing, pushing a guy to the ground as he is trying to get up is another. Slow motion is not deceiving, it is the exact opposite, it is revealing. That is why they use it to help determine replays on challenged calls.
Lesson 3 –Acting.
If a receiving team signals fair catch on a punt, it is the duty of the kicking team to give the player clear access to catch the ball.
It isn’t as if the LSU player ran into the USC player.
Although he did wave his arms in a somewhat wide swath, he is within his rights to do that.
The USC player was too close, and the flag was appropriate.
I could just as easily see someone making a video showing the USC players do not give opponents a clear field in which to catch the ball when a fair catch is signaled.
Again, my complaint here is that the LSU player reached out and touched the Carolina player. The Carolina player did not run in to the LSU returner.
Lesson 4 – 12th man
Looks like a fumble that was then recovered by LSU?
If there is a problem here, your video does not clearly demonstrate the questionable call by the officials.
This one is about common sense. Unfortunately, the game video did not show the rest of the play. However, look at the ball, the LSU players and the Carolina players. The LSU player (running back) credited with recovering the fumble would have had to dislocate his arm to get to the ball. There were no other LSU players around. Only garnet.
Lesson 6 – Injuries.
This did not look flagrant to me, unless you effectively freeze the frame with ultra-slow motion.
I believe the injury actually happened earlier in the play. The blow at the end was not severe.
Are you kidding? The guy was 5 yards away from the play when it was ruled dead. The gained momentum and speared Captain in the head. How is that not flagrant? This one is one that (up until this point) even LSU fans refuse to argue about.
Lesson 7 – Fans rock.
Well, there was a prankster on a college campus.
What a hell of a surprise.
Look, in your video, you went not just for the football team, but the SEC officials.
As Pink Floyd said “Leave them kids alone”.
That was meant to be funny, but as I have said before, I can't show it, if it doesn't happen.
Lesson 8A – In refs we trust
Looked like a good spot to me – freeze that frame when his knee hits the ground.
The ref did not move the ball with the other officials standing over his shoulder!
I think you are in LaLa land on this one.
You would think that! I mean how do you get away with moving the ball on such an important play? I don't know but the video clearly shows the ref making the other ref move his hand off of the ball and then he moves the ball backwards. It is clear as day.
Lesson 9 No harm, no foul.
See Lesson 7.
See my response.
Lesson 10
I don’t see interference here. Sorry, but I don’t.
No apology needed. You are not the one who committed the interference.
I am please that USC is such a good team this year, adding to the depth of the SEC.
But let’s play some football, not slam the reputation of our conference opponents at every turn.
I am glad as well. I would never have made the video if LSU had not played dirty. Why is that you take me to task for point it out and not the ones who actually committed the infractions?
I got an email telling me that I should focus on South Carolina's off the field problems versus worrying about what LSU does on the field.
I find that quite funny because of this little thing called the FULMER CUP. Basically, the FULMER CUP follows reported off/on the field problems of NCAA football teams. They assign a point score based on it (it is the same for all teams) and they release standing.
LSU is ranked #9 in the country. For more information you can click here.
2007 Fulmer Cup Standings
The Top 10:
1: Illinois - 24
2: Penn State - 19
3: Florida - 17
3: Idaho - 17
5: Michigan - 15
6: Texas - 13
6: UTEP - 13
8: Nebraska - 11
9: Georgia - 10
9: LSU - 10
Also In Contention:
11: Iowa - 9
11: Eers - 9
13: Duke - 8
13: Ohio - 8
13: Toledo - 8
16: NUTT - 7
16: FULMER - 7
16: Wisconsin - 7
19: Cal - 6
19: Purdue - 6
19: USF - 6
Looks like I made the LSU fans angry. Which clearly... proves my point. How so? Read on.
The only reason you should ever get mad about someone calling someone (say your mother) a bad name (say a ho) is if they are right. And then you shouldn't get mad at them for saying it. You should get mad at your mother for being a ho.
I saw this over at EVERYDAY SHOULD BE SATURDAY. I think these guys need help.
Poor cat. It looked pathetic enough before they put the stripes on it.
I give props to the two of the three Clemson fans in the videos below. They may not be the brightest people in the world... but they were good sports.
Video #1.
A Clemson Fan Admits he has a new daddy.
Video #2.
At a little bar near Gaston South Carolina it is a yearly tradition that one fan of the team who lost the rivalry game between South Carolina and CLemson must give up their hat. This year it was especially sweet because the hat was purchased for $28.00 not a full 24 hours before South Carolina won the game. What do we do with the hat? We shoot it. With a shotgun. I love it.
From the good to the ugly.
Video #3.
A South Carolina Fan (me) attempts to give a Clemson fan parenting lessons.
Obviously, a bar is no place for your kid and really you should try and limit the number of F-bombs you drop in front of your kid if you happen to be in a bar. The guy below... well the video speaks for itself... The kid in the video is his son. Not the older kid... the younger kid.
Lessons:
1.) Don't take your kid to a bar. Not really an enriching enviroment.
2.) Don't say f*** in front of your kid... more than... well 0.
3.) See a dentist.
-The COol Chicken.
I really do not like to crawl through the mud with Clemson fans but I just thought I would share with all of you exactly why I have a hard time liking... well Clemson in general.
Of course last week you will recall I posted my prediction for the 2006 Carolina Gamecock season. A Clemson fan apparently posted a link to my prediction on troglodytenet... oops I mean tigernet and of course instead of debating the validity of my prediction by talking about the football teams... they decided to come here and bash me. They really have had some witty things to say as well...
Such as: (as always Clemson comments are in orange)
Chicken Curse is alive and active this year. Lamecocks will get thier a$$es kicked. Clemson dominates. Clemson owns Lamecock U. Cocky_ghost
Good one!
You are a total douche bag.
Glad he cleared that one up for me. I wasn't sure if I might just be a partial douche bag. Now I know... I am a total one.
The guy is a idiot!
Spoken like a prophet.
and thus far my favorite one...
Hope you didn't blow a Mammery Gasket with your emotional picks there, PunkWorld! You got as much chance at going 10-2 as we Tigers do about keeping a straight face over the Moe Thompson lawsuit. Com'n, how thick were your beer goggles when you wrote this? I'll give you this MensaBoy, you will win at least 7, but come November, you'll be so used to Strawberry icing on those cupcakes, you'll be barfing up the beefsteak you'll see the rest of the way.Live It, Love It, Dig it...DEAL WITH IT, Dr. Nikola Tesla
Now I have never claimed to be a genius. I am sure many would agree I am just an average guy who might be slightly vociferous when sharing my opinions. Really that is all I am. So... I do not like taking shots at people who apparently take quite a bit of pride in their ability to turn a phrase and who consider themselves to be... witty. But... at times you have to at least acknowledge the ironies that beg to be noticed.
I find it quite ironic that a man would have the arrogance to sign his name Dr. Nikola Tesla* and yet misspell the word mammary** while attempting to harpoon someone's intelligence by referring to them as Mensaboy***.
Again I am not one to attack someone's grammar because I am sure there are many things on this blog which are misspelled. However, I do not sign my posts Einstein.
The last thing I am going to say in regards to this post is this: Writing is hard. Being witty when you write is even harder. I write as things come to me. If people like the way I write then good... I hope something somewhere along the way entertains or informs. But, when you are writing... if you try and force wit by peppering your sentences with one too many turns and or attempts at sounding smart (Mensaboy, mammery gasket, punkworld, barfing up beefsteak etc...), you come off as well... forced and as if you are just trying too hard.
So... in your next attack on someone, try and keep is spot on subject and just type what you are thinking. Content matters way more than presentation.
-The Cool Chicken
