I wasn't going to post this for a few months at least, but I think now is probably a good time since there is some hostility and slurs being made on both sides of the fence. I am just weeks away from my 60th birthday and have been a football fan since I was a very small boy. My first memories include Billy Cannon's famous run on Halloween in 1959 and maybe before that. So I speak with a long run of being a football fan, and have followed USM since the days that Pie Vann roamed the sidelines and Roland Dale occupied the AD chair at USM.

I want to thank the departing schools for their contributions to C-USA and the memorable moments they have given to me and other fans. I thank them for the rivalry they brought to USM and other schools in our conference, but most of all, so many great and memorable fans that have been a part of this conference. I realize that it is big business, this college football game, and to survive you have to make moves that you feel benefit your school and certainly it would be considered a failure for the powers that be to not make a move that would be thought to be a step forward by most of it's supporters.

I also realize that each schools without exception has those fans, or at least claims to be fans, who tarnish the sportsmanship and dignity of the programs and most fans really resent them as much as the opposition does, and that is a sad but constant part of the game.

I have to say that each school leaving has impressed me as having some of the best fans you could ever want to compete with and teams that have been in most cases fun to compete against. I can honestly say not one of these teams has a general fan base that I would say is anything but a credit to the school, and most of the teams have fielded competitive teams at some stage of their membership.

I wish you the best and hope your move works to your credit, and I will say that I can understand the thinking of making this move even if I might not be in agreement, but I respect the decision.

Once more I thank each for what they brought and I think C-USA has been good to them and them to the conference. Good luck to you in the future and we will see how we all fair in that future.

My father was the biggest college football fan I've ever known. We had a old stereo with speaker boxes that must have been 4 ft by 3 ft in our living room. You couldn't go anywhere in our home without listening to college football on a Saturday afternoon. That Halloween night that Billy Cannon made his run, the play by play of his run bounced off every wall in our house.

Well said SGT. +2. There are fans on here that go overboard......no doubt. There are fans that think their sh*t don't stink simply because they've moved on to greener pastures and that gives them the right to talk down on others. I, for one, have enjoyed ECU's time in CUSA. It was a home when nobody would give us a home. There are school's like yours that told Louisville to go F' itself because Schnellenberger and the powers that be thought they were above my alma mater. I've always pulled for the "the underdog". I love the upsets and when a David App State brings down the mighty Goliath Michigan. Schools move on and they have their reasons for doing so, if one doesn't jump, another will. I've been to Southern Miss, Tulane, Marshall, etc. and met some great fans. I've said before that I'll continue to root for teams in CUSA no matter where ECU ends up except when they play my Pirates of course. I wish the best for all the teams of CUSA (to include the new ones coming in) and hope to continue the rivalries we developed with USM, Marshall, etc.

Memphis has been a member of Conference USA longer than any other conference in it's history. This league has been extremely good for our athletics program, including our basketball program. I personally want nothing but the best to our former conference mates, especially our fellow inaugural members, Southern Mississippi and UAB. I also wish the best of luck to those coming in. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are all in the same boat. There shouldn't be hard feelings toward one another.

Don't forget, as much as we bicker with Memphis fans, it was Memphis who allowed Southern Miss to stay with them after Hurricane Katrina. That's first class in my opinion. I had a cousin who played QB at Memphis, a really good friend who was another QB at Memphis and My granddad played his first two years of football at Tulane. We are all more tied together then we think. Honestly when I think of C-USA, it will be the battles with Louisville, The black and blue game with Memphis, the battle for the bell with Tulane, the Logan years at East Carolina, and Kenyon Martin and company coming to Reed Green, that's my C-USA.

it's college football. these are our alma maters. on the list of emotional intensity, it comes just after changing Gods, insulting our mothers, and loving our country.

it is therefore utterly immune to logic and reason. it's just the nature of the beast. smack is gonna go down. especially now, when the perception is that some are moving "up", and some are being "left behind" (I personally disagree with that entire formulation, but that is a different conversation).

smack just comes with the dinner. don't fight it, revel in it. much of it, perhaps even most, is good natured ribbing. and while there are some a$$hats in the mix, they are generally outnumbered.

I don't think you have seen the camaraderie that is generally exhibited in the live football game threads. it's towel-snapping good fun. the windup is that this group is fine. departing, remaining, arriving, whatever. if some of the departing members are still with us, it's because we're more interesting as a group than the nBE board

and while I recognize the "can't we be friends?" quality to many of your posts, I would suggest that we aren't friends; we are rivals. these are different things. it's up to you, of course, but I think you are, to a certain extent, tilting against windmills.

(02-16-2013 06:28 PM)EagleX Wrote:  it's college football. these are our alma maters. on the list of emotional intensity, it comes just after changing Gods, insulting our mothers, and loving our country.

it is therefore utterly immune to logic and reason. it's just the nature of the beast. smack is gonna go down. especially now, when the perception is that some are moving "up", and some are being "left behind" (I personally disagree with that entire formulation, but that is a different conversation).

smack just comes with the dinner. don't fight it, revel in it. much of it, perhaps even most, is good natured ribbing. and while there are some a$$hats in the mix, they are generally outnumbered.

I don't think you have seen the camaraderie that is generally exhibited in the live football game threads. it's towel-snapping good fun. the windup is that this group is fine. departing, remaining, arriving, whatever. if some of the departing members are still with us, it's because we're more interesting as a group than the nBE board

and while I recognize the "can't we be friends?" quality to many of your posts, I would suggest that we aren't friends; we are rivals. these are different things. it's up to you, of course, but I think you are, to a certain extent, tilting against windmills.

nah I don't think so or at least hope not. The statement that we aren't friends; we are rivals. These are different things are not mutually exclusive. Fact is that rivals can be friendly such as Memphis hosting USM for football practices for the Alabama game after Katrina, when we couldn't use our facilities, and they actually had to give part of their space the normally used to do so creating some difficulty for them. Certainly a friendly act. I have seen teams come play USM and after the games fans get together and have a friendly time and often good lasting friendships were formed. In each case the rivalry didn't end but only increased. I use to talk to Jim Carmody almost every morning when I was a student and he took things as if we were at war and he was the supreme commander. He was fun to talk to but I found his war attitude wrong but then I had already served in the Air Force and Navy before that and during wartime I didn't exactly find the comparison too close. Friends and rivals are possible and to separate that they can't exist mutually only exclusively is probably why we have the division we have in our nation and the world today.

(02-16-2013 11:44 PM)SgtGoldenEagle Wrote:  

(02-16-2013 06:28 PM)EagleX Wrote:  it's college football. these are our alma maters. on the list of emotional intensity, it comes just after changing Gods, insulting our mothers, and loving our country.

it is therefore utterly immune to logic and reason. it's just the nature of the beast. smack is gonna go down. especially now, when the perception is that some are moving "up", and some are being "left behind" (I personally disagree with that entire formulation, but that is a different conversation).

smack just comes with the dinner. don't fight it, revel in it. much of it, perhaps even most, is good natured ribbing. and while there are some a$$hats in the mix, they are generally outnumbered.

I don't think you have seen the camaraderie that is generally exhibited in the live football game threads. it's towel-snapping good fun. the windup is that this group is fine. departing, remaining, arriving, whatever. if some of the departing members are still with us, it's because we're more interesting as a group than the nBE board

and while I recognize the "can't we be friends?" quality to many of your posts, I would suggest that we aren't friends; we are rivals. these are different things. it's up to you, of course, but I think you are, to a certain extent, tilting against windmills.

nah I don't think so or at least hope not. The statement that we aren't friends; we are rivals. These are different things are not mutually exclusive. Fact is that rivals can be friendly such as Memphis hosting USM for football practices for the Alabama game after Katrina, when we couldn't use our facilities, and they actually had to give part of their space the normally used to do so creating some difficulty for them. Certainly a friendly act. I have seen teams come play USM and after the games fans get together and have a friendly time and often good lasting friendships were formed. In each case the rivalry didn't end but only increased. I use to talk to Jim Carmody almost every morning when I was a student and he took things as if we were at war and he was the supreme commander. He was fun to talk to but I found his war attitude wrong but then I had already served in the Air Force and Navy before that and during wartime I didn't exactly find the comparison too close. Friends and rivals are possible and to separate that they can't exist mutually only exclusively is probably why we have the division we have in our nation and the world today.

we are from the south. civility is our brand.

I just think you're a bit dorky to think that you can fix smack talk

(02-16-2013 11:55 PM)EagleX Wrote:  

(02-16-2013 11:44 PM)SgtGoldenEagle Wrote:  

(02-16-2013 06:28 PM)EagleX Wrote:  it's college football. these are our alma maters. on the list of emotional intensity, it comes just after changing Gods, insulting our mothers, and loving our country.

it is therefore utterly immune to logic and reason. it's just the nature of the beast. smack is gonna go down. especially now, when the perception is that some are moving "up", and some are being "left behind" (I personally disagree with that entire formulation, but that is a different conversation).

smack just comes with the dinner. don't fight it, revel in it. much of it, perhaps even most, is good natured ribbing. and while there are some a$$hats in the mix, they are generally outnumbered.

I don't think you have seen the camaraderie that is generally exhibited in the live football game threads. it's towel-snapping good fun. the windup is that this group is fine. departing, remaining, arriving, whatever. if some of the departing members are still with us, it's because we're more interesting as a group than the nBE board

and while I recognize the "can't we be friends?" quality to many of your posts, I would suggest that we aren't friends; we are rivals. these are different things. it's up to you, of course, but I think you are, to a certain extent, tilting against windmills.

nah I don't think so or at least hope not. The statement that we aren't friends; we are rivals. These are different things are not mutually exclusive. Fact is that rivals can be friendly such as Memphis hosting USM for football practices for the Alabama game after Katrina, when we couldn't use our facilities, and they actually had to give part of their space the normally used to do so creating some difficulty for them. Certainly a friendly act. I have seen teams come play USM and after the games fans get together and have a friendly time and often good lasting friendships were formed. In each case the rivalry didn't end but only increased. I use to talk to Jim Carmody almost every morning when I was a student and he took things as if we were at war and he was the supreme commander. He was fun to talk to but I found his war attitude wrong but then I had already served in the Air Force and Navy before that and during wartime I didn't exactly find the comparison too close. Friends and rivals are possible and to separate that they can't exist mutually only exclusively is probably why we have the division we have in our nation and the world today.

we are from the south. civility is our brand.

I just think you're a bit dorky to think that you can fix smack talk

Well, I've never denied being dorky, so ........

Seriously, smack's fine at the right time. However, the "right time" is less than 100% of the time, which a small group has adopted as their "calling."

(02-17-2013 12:36 AM)oldtiger Wrote:  

(02-16-2013 11:55 PM)EagleX Wrote:  

(02-16-2013 11:44 PM)SgtGoldenEagle Wrote:  

(02-16-2013 06:28 PM)EagleX Wrote:  it's college football. these are our alma maters. on the list of emotional intensity, it comes just after changing Gods, insulting our mothers, and loving our country.

it is therefore utterly immune to logic and reason. it's just the nature of the beast. smack is gonna go down. especially now, when the perception is that some are moving "up", and some are being "left behind" (I personally disagree with that entire formulation, but that is a different conversation).

smack just comes with the dinner. don't fight it, revel in it. much of it, perhaps even most, is good natured ribbing. and while there are some a$$hats in the mix, they are generally outnumbered.

I don't think you have seen the camaraderie that is generally exhibited in the live football game threads. it's towel-snapping good fun. the windup is that this group is fine. departing, remaining, arriving, whatever. if some of the departing members are still with us, it's because we're more interesting as a group than the nBE board

and while I recognize the "can't we be friends?" quality to many of your posts, I would suggest that we aren't friends; we are rivals. these are different things. it's up to you, of course, but I think you are, to a certain extent, tilting against windmills.

nah I don't think so or at least hope not. The statement that we aren't friends; we are rivals. These are different things are not mutually exclusive. Fact is that rivals can be friendly such as Memphis hosting USM for football practices for the Alabama game after Katrina, when we couldn't use our facilities, and they actually had to give part of their space the normally used to do so creating some difficulty for them. Certainly a friendly act. I have seen teams come play USM and after the games fans get together and have a friendly time and often good lasting friendships were formed. In each case the rivalry didn't end but only increased. I use to talk to Jim Carmody almost every morning when I was a student and he took things as if we were at war and he was the supreme commander. He was fun to talk to but I found his war attitude wrong but then I had already served in the Air Force and Navy before that and during wartime I didn't exactly find the comparison too close. Friends and rivals are possible and to separate that they can't exist mutually only exclusively is probably why we have the division we have in our nation and the world today.

we are from the south. civility is our brand.

I just think you're a bit dorky to think that you can fix smack talk

Well, I've never denied being dorky, so ........

Seriously, smack's fine at the right time. However, the "right time" is less than 100% of the time, which a small group has adopted as their "calling."

and as a southerner, we disdain the wrong talk at the wrong time . . .