This may have been the saddest thing I watched yesterday.
“Where is the loyalty?” The romantic’s creed.
This is what gets me the most about college football. The folks getting paid count on the passion of folks like that fellow. They milk it while relentlessly pushing the envelope with conference realignment, postseason expansion and conference networks with all the scheduling compromises those bring because it allows them to monetize the romance. Then they all share the wealth. As far as what this gentleman is feeling goes, at best he’ll get lip service from those assholes, at least as long as he’s got his checkbook out.
People like him deserve respect and appreciation, but giving him what he’s earned by his love of the game would cost money and that ain’t in the cards. That’s why he got shown the door. (It’s to his credit he didn’t take a swing at the jerk who pushed him out of the room.) The rank cynicism doesn’t make me angry, but it’s impossible not to feel embittered by it.
That’s something I hope some of you realize when we debate amateurism here. While I sometimes grow frustrated with certain commenters’ unwillingness to grasp basic economic realities, I never fail to recognize that at the heart of it lies that same sense of romance that drew us to the game and made us love it in the first place. I may argue with you about it, but I don’t disrespect where you’re coming from.
As for those questions some of you ask me about how I can feel any of the same emotions about college football when this kind of crap drives me up the wall, I have an answer for you. I’m a human being, and one thing human beings do when they’re faced with difficult contradictions is to compartmentalize. Somehow, I manage to separate my feelings for the sport’s financial side from the enjoyment I still get from the purity of the social experience when I go to games, and, of course, the on-field play itself. I’m still good as long as I can do that.
The depressing part is that every year I find maintaining separation harder and harder to manage. At some point, those walls are gonna come tumbling down and that will be the end of it for me. It’s a bittersweet ride, but I’ll stay on board as long as I can. I hope that FSU fan can do the same.
Get The Picture 
Well said Sir. I see the same light at the end of the tunnel.
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That light, I’m afraid, is a train run by the likes of Delany, $ankey, $mith and their money enablers at the WWL.
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Amen Senator, I would not have taken those shoves between the shoulder blades as well as that gentleman did….
Hollywood has forgotten who pays their bills; Hollywood works for me. This institution that we love is blind to this b/c of their biggest checks don’t come from me.
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I agree. The man was leaving willingly and peacefully after having made his point. That asshole that tried to strong arm him (very early in video) and then continued to show-boat by pushing him was way over the line.
Also, there was implied approval by those sitting and enjoying the show.
I couldn’t have handled it as well..too much Irish in me.
The pusher dude is a coward, a showboat and a sycophant. Probably has a 2 inch dong.
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LOL!….Dilly Dilly!
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I would have swung on that dude after the second push. Not real sure how the guy held back.
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Well just look at the guy – doesn’t exactly look like someone who knows how to throw down. This might sound lame but what the heck – this is one of the many reasons why its important to be in good shape and incorporate strength training into your regimen. The health reasons alone are paramount, but generally people won’t screw with you in social settings like this. If that guy was in good physical shape with decent muscle composition, there’s no way that little dorky looking guy would have pushed him like that. He would have maybe tried to grab the mic away and that’s it.
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in high school, one of the biggest “nerds” in our school was dating a real unnattractive girl, and they were walking down a sidewalk holding hands. The center on our basketball team (about 6 10, missing a tooth from a fight) kept pushing the nerd from behind. Nerd finally gets fed up and basically has to jump punch the dude, but hits him in the mouth.
It wasn’t a story book ending, the center yelled, “are you crazy!?!?” and threw the nerd in the bushes. But nobody f-ed with the nerd after that.
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Where is Miyagi when you need him ;). Totally agree. As we get older and the world gets meaner, you better prepare yourself for the incidents that are happening more often. You may still take a beat down if the guy is much larger and younger but you can at least you make them pack a lunch.
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Yep. Even if the other guy is larger, he still absolutely is going to think twice about screwing with you regardless. Unless he has a really low IQ with few previous beat downs, he’s going to quickly think to himself, “hmm, well I’m bigger than that guy but obviously he gives a damn and is doing something to look like that…he might be some blackbelt or does MMA training for all I know, and his stamina probably is better than mine too.”
Reminds me of the time Brian Urlacher in his prime tried to pick a fight with the much, much smaller but legendary fighter Bas Rutten as a charity event/party after Bas accidentally stepped on his shoes or something. Brian figured out something was up quick when he noticed how ripped Bas was, along with when Bas happily agreed to step outside with him so they could fight and led him out the door. Brian immediately backed down and apologized. Later his friends told him that was a smart move, as Bas would have utterly destroyed him.
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Me and some friends watched this last night and that is the first thing every guy will notice. The man was willingly leaving and the punk was not security. He would have gotten one courtesy warning from me, then would have gotten dropped with another shove. It was all on video and would be totally justified.
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Wait until age catches up with all of us romantics and then see where college football sits. I just don’t see it from the younger fans. They’d rather read the gossip on their Twitter than spend what they don’t have on the games.
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Exactly…the balloon is gonna burst before too long…already happening in the NFL..and the dumb asses are killing their own golden goose.
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With money comes power. Then greed, arrogance, and corruption. FSU fans need to be on the phone to the sponsors of that show reminding them who pays the bill.
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If Jimbo were a man and he had any self respect or respect for his team and their fans he would have stopped that gentleman from being ushered out and he would have answered the question. If you ever questioned the true character of Jimbo Fisher, he just gave you your answer right there. By not answering.
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I saw all I could stand of Jimbo’s “character” a few years ago when he covered up and then played a rapist at QB. He’s basically the same as Art Briles to me.
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Yes, exactly. Jimbo is a sloth. He sat right there and let a man with the courage and conviction to ask a hard question, get manhandled and abused.
JF is a self-serving jerk with no sense of decency.
He’s Boss Hawg wearing an FSU hat.
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Fans, by and large, are far more disloyal than the coaches.
We need look no further than CMR. We had a guy who entertained no offers and never held the school hostage because some other school was willing to pay him. Very few of our fans were willing to treat him differently than just any other coach. If you’re a coach and that’s you’re livelihood and you see how things work, why would you do anything but look out for number one?
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Even so, when you put yourself out there on a fan call in show, you owe it to them and yourself to be man enough to answer questions honestly.
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Remind me. Which program backed a truck load of money at Richt’s door while he was here? (Like TAMU is doing to Jimbo, or Arkansas is doing to Gus)
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Funny you should mention Texas A&M…
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I did not recall the TAMU offer, thanks for pointing it out.
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Yeah, and we see how hard he struggled to find a job after we canned him. I mean, NOBODY wanted that guy. A regular Ray Goff.
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Youre right. What was I thinking? CMR couldn’t have cashed in say in 2004, 2005, 2007, or 2012. Couldn’t have.
You know how I got there. I took a double barrel shot gun. Inserted into my mouth. Boom! Once my brains were scattered all over the wall behind me, I thought about your post and decided that I agreed.
It takes some effort, but without a fucking brain, you seem like a damn genius.
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Not one day goes by without you showing your 10 year old ass on here. Honestly, I beleive you are likely a danger to those around you. If you have a wife, kids, hell…even a dog, I really take pity on them. They probably get kicked daily. Go fuck yourself and have a nice day in the trailer park.
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The guy has a point. OTOH lotta fans are pretty quick to boo and get on the fire ’em bandwagon.
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I meant the FSU fan, not Dreck.
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I just don’t remember anyone coming after Richt in view of the public the way TAMU and Arkansas are doing. Especially Arkansas.
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There’s a reason for that, dude. Richt didn’t have an agent playing the leverage game the way most coaches do. Say what you will about him as a coach, but he’s always been a pretty honorable fellow. He meant what he said about not leaving Athens.
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That makes sense. I wasn’t challenging whether he was honorable. I think most of us who wanted him gone realize that he was a class act in pretty much every conceivable way. I will say that I am not 100% convinced that he could have not been lured away with the kind of money that is getting thrown about currently. It is a different ball game being played currently. No team is safe.
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Well we’ll never know because he never looked for it. Which was my point.
We had a guy who said “I’m not leaving for any reason including money” and did it.
Many fans gave him not one more inch of rope for that loyalty and in fact you have idiots (you) who are willing say that he didn’t really mean it, he just wasn’t good enough to draw any offers.
That is world class stupid right there.
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All I can tell you is that I was told he stayed at UGA for less money than TAMU offered.
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If you started with what you thought, acknowledged that you are so stupid that the opposite must be true, and went with that opposing view you’d be much, much closer to actual reality.
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Keep talking asshole. You are just proving me right.
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Having said perhaps the dumbest thing I’ve read on this blog, an impressive feat btw given that Bonerfart posts here regularly, you should probably scurry off before you make it even worse.
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This is why I don’t read the comments here anymore.
Y’all knock it off, you’re ruining this blog for everyone else. Nobody is going to “win” this argument and it’s a waste of your time and everyone elses.
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Sure thing Mom. Call me in the house when supper is ready…ok?
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Clean up your act or you get brussell sprouts AND NO DESSERT
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Pretty impressive you being able to comment on comments you don’t read and all.
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Something to keep in mind when conversing with Derek.
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George was talking about you idiot:
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Dude, you’ve already established you have abhorrent morals. I wouldn’t go about casting aspersions. But bless your heart.
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Oh shut up Dreck.
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No, but thanks for the suggestion.
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The only problem I have with Derek’s premise that “very few fans” were willing to give CMR more (consideration..leeway…respect..whatever) just isn’t accurate.
A LOT of fans were. I don’t know the numbers of the split, but I’d say it’s close to 50/50.
Almost everyone expressed their admiration and love for CMR
. A few resented his pro-active Christianity, but without that, he wouldn’t be who he is. CMR was a great coach at UGA, he was and will always be a DGD and most of us love the man.
Whether one thought it was time to make a change or not doesn’t change the respect.
As is the case in a lot of things..the ones that were unhappy made the most noise. I’m happy the way things have worked out and hope CKS and CMR meet in the NC game every year until I’m gone.
For those of you that did express disdain for CMR in a disrespectful way, you were wrong to do that.
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I don’t remember very many people agreeing with me that firing a coach who had won 10 games in back to back seasons was dumb nor do I recall very many saying that he deserved more leeway because of how loyal he was to us. I know I was in that category, but I had few people with me as far as I can recall. There were a couple but not very many.
Go back to the posts around here in November of 2015 and see how much support CMR was getting around here. Not much.
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How many middle schoolers do you know with a wife and kids? I mean, seriously!
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Yes, you really have to keep it all in perspective when you find yourself getting too emotional about your college football team. For the majority of us, the players are not the kind of guys you would hang out with or see in class in college. These coaches don’t wear the team colors and logo for the same reasons we do.
That’s why we loved CMR. Sure, he makes a lot of money too. If you’re a little cynical, perhaps you could say that what he lacks in Saban or SOS qualities, he makes up for in customer service. Maybe it was an act, but you really got the feeling that CMR was as loyal to UGA as we are.
It’s no accident that a lot of us Bulldog fans have been doing the unthinkable the past couple of seasons — watching and cheering for the Miami Hurricanes along with the Georgia Bulldogs.
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I donate, I buy tickets. What I don’t do is feel entitled. If it becomes too much, I’ll stop. It’s my choice…
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I understand the comments on scheduling and conference alignment.
However, this is a coach. Coaches have jumped around since Pop Warner, John Heisman etc. Duke once hired a coach away from Bama in Wallace Wade, yes mighty Bama and Duke later named their stadium after him.
Coaches moving is part of the game, always has been, always will.
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College football is passion. Pro football is a job. I’m with you Senator that the lines are getting much closer. But I’m still compartmentalizing as well.
At least for a while longer.
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“Somehow, I manage to separate my feelings for the sport’s financial side from the enjoyment I still get from the purity of the social experience when I go to games, and, of course, the on-field play itself. I’m still good as long as I can do that.”
As one of the little guys huddled around the tube radio in the filling station, I salute you for that thought.
But one of the dangers of what you do for fun is that the more you know, the less you care. Maybe your day job training helps with compartmentalization.
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Favorite memory: Sitting with my dad and uncle on a Saturday afternoon dove hunt
In September with a battery powered radio listening to them listening to Munson call the game. I miss that. I was the bird dog, too young to shoot. I miss that. I miss
Munson. My sons got to sit on the same field with me and their grandfather listening to
The game. Scott Howard is no Munson, but lord willing I will sit on the same field
With a grandchild and listen to the Dawgs play on a radio. TV money and season ticket
Prices be damned.
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I follow Georgia football because I love the game, the passion, and the camaraderie among fans. It has been my mistress since I matriculated in 1979.
But for over a decade, it has been clear college football is changing. For me the breaking point will be when one random weekend the kids say “if you don’t pay us we ain’t playing”……..I do not know when that day will happen, but it is inevitable.
Until that time, let’s pray the Senator (the cranky mensch that he is) does not not follow T. Kyle King, the other godfather of Dawg blogs, to some other pursuit (e.g. an esoteric music blog).
Once again, thank you for all your hard work. There really would be a lot of lost souls without Get The Picture.
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This is fsu at its most basic level. Thuggery. Rapists, thieves, women beaters ect ect. Having lived near Tallahassee for thirty years now seeing behavior like this is commonplace. It is who and what fsu is.
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How true.^^
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