We Have to Accept It: We are the bad guy now. | Syracusefan.com

We Have to Accept It: We are the bad guy now.

FreakTalksAboutSU

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No...not really. Anyone looking at this objectively. realistically, and logically, can understand full well that Syracuse and Pitt both made moves for the preservation of their programs, bailing on a football conference that was falling apart, probably on the verge even if they stayed of either losing their BCS bid, or at the very least, being put into some sort of arrangement with other lesser conferences in which they were forced to compete based on top finisher for that spot.

The conference was falling apart at the seams, and the leadership was doing virtually nothing to save it. The die was cast long ago. This game of musical chairs was started by Miami, BC, and VT years ago (although, admittedly, it could and should have been us then).

That said, let there be no mistaking it. Every bit if vitriol that we felt for those 3 8 years ago is now being hurled at us by all sides. We never applied true levels of logic toward the argument. Our anger was based purely on disappointment and, more specifically, anxiety over where we were going to be left in the equation.

Our move now actually, in my opinion, comes at a time when, while there is more instability, there may also be fewer destination options to consider for many programs. If I am Rutgers...there are basically the 2 spots in the ACC, or a hail mary that the Big 10 decides they want a football bottom feeder...thats IT. There is nothing else. So...if I am a Rutgers fan, I am pissed. Pissed that SU and Pitt are bailing, getting a ticket to the big time, and my own path there is questionable at best. I dont give two shits about SU and Pitt "doing what is best for their schools". Just as we didn't give two shits about BC, Miami, and VT doing the same thing. If I am West Virginia, who has been 3 times the football program we have been over the last decade, and I just saw my SEC application rejected, and I know that the ACCs academic standards make it a longish shot, I am incredibly pissed off at SU and Pitt. Why should these inferior programs get this lifeboat? While our competitive, complete program is left twisting in the wind. Why is that fair? The fact is, they have a right to be pissed. These are the same barbs we were throwing at the other 3 schools when they bailed. I can't tell you how many snarky Donna Shalala remarks I made back then.

If I am ESPN, and Dana O"Neil specifically...does it make sense to write the real article about who destroyed the Big East as it stands now, that being about the teams that left in 2003? No. Thats not the story people care about today. Thats not the glamorous story. And, frankly, why should ESPN care about that today? ESPNs cash cow when it came to the Big East is the Big East Tournament. Those 3 marginal at best Big East Schools were merely a ripple in the pond when it came to their little gem. It still went on as scheduled, and they still made their millions. But now, with 2 of the conferences 4 best hoops programs over the past decade leaving, and UConn potentially on the way out as well, the whole thing is probably over, at least in its current form. And yet we wonder why E$PN is churning out story after story, especially out of glorified lifestyle reporters like Dana O'Neil, ripping Syracuse for doing what every single level-headed school would do in this scenario?

We are Darth Vader. We are the bad guys. We need to accept it. The preservation of our own self interests has come at the expense of many others'. And we need to understand that when the shoe was on the other foot, we did not use logic to determine whether or not we would be pissed off at anyone else. We used our own bruised psyche and our own sense of shattered loyalty to get there.

We should expect no more from anyone else, particularly given this simple fact: the once lilting Big East ship is now irreparably sunk.
 
The First SU/Pitt 12 Step Meeting:

"Hi, my name is OrangeHeel & I am a bad man."

(In Unison) "Hi OrangeHeel"
 
Good post.

Within a couple days the national attention will go away completely and we'll just be part of the larger story about the unabashed greed of conference realignment.
 
Nothing but a ton of rationalization for greedy,self centered, and disloyal behavior. We left for the Dark Side.
 
images


You need people like me so you can point your f*ckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So... whats that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem.
 
Whatever anger is directed at Pitt and SU will fade away quickly, imo. Anyone who claims that SU and Pitt started the big unraveling is just being ignorant.
  • A handful of teams changed conferences last year.
  • Rutgers was actively pursuing Big10 membership last year. They have also been in contact with other conferences for the last several weeks, according to a Star Ledger interview with an anonymous insider.
  • WVU has been angling for an SEC bid since Luck took over.
  • aTm left for the SEC after UT made their network play.

We didn't start it, and we certainly aren't finishing it. If people want to be ignorant and hypocritical while viewing us, there's nothing we can do about it and I don't care what they think.
 
Nothing but a ton of rationalization for greedy,self centered, and disloyal behavior. We left for the Dark Side.

Ok. If survival = greedy, self-centered and disloyal. Even a blind monkey could see the handwriting on the wall as far as conference alignment is concerned. If you want to label us that way, I guess you're going to do it. But I'd rather you call us names like that then heap pity on us when we got left out of the conference musical chairs.
 
This wasn't like the BC backstab in 2004 when they pledged their loyalty to the Big East. Everyone in the world should have known we were talking to the ACC and Big Ten, just like everyone else. We just happened to get the call. So screw 'em, they would have done it too.
 
Nothing but a ton of rationalization for greedy,self centered, and disloyal behavior. We left for the Dark Side.

Is it greedy to want your athletics program to be able to compete at the highest levels? Or is it survival?

Look, I hate the arms race that has become college sports. Spending millions on weight rooms, player's lounges, flat screen TVs, XBOXs, luxury suites, pro-style practice facilities, and the like is absolutely obscene. But it is what it is. We can either play in that world, or downgrade like the Fordham's, Colgate's, Holy Cross's and Ivies of the college sports world did 60 years ago.

Loyalty is such a strange word to use, IMHO. Look back at the history of college sports, and you see that conference affiliation has forever been in flux. Outside of a few core teams in the Pac-8, Big Ten and SEC, there has been constant motion for near-on 70 years. This is nothing new. The money is a lot more, and thus the stakes are higher, but schools have been looking out for #1 forever. I mean did anyone mourn for our old ECAC rivals when the BE hoops league was formed? What's become of those programs?

There could not be a more perfect cliche to use for what's going on than "don't hate the player, hate the game".
 
Is it greedy to want your athletics program to be able to compete at the highest levels? Or is it survival?

Look, I hate the arms race that has become college sports. Spending millions on weight rooms, player's lounges, flat screen TVs, XBOXs, luxury suites, pro-style practice facilities, and the like is absolutely obscene. But it is what it is. We can either play in that world, or downgrade like the Fordham's, Colgate's, Holy Cross's and Ivies of the college sports world did 60 years ago.

Loyalty is such a strange word to use, IMHO. Look back at the history of college sports, and you see that conference affiliation has forever been in flux. Outside of a few core teams in the Pac-8, Big Ten and SEC, there has been constant motion for near-on 70 years. This is nothing new. The money is a lot more, and thus the stakes are higher, but schools have been looking out for #1 forever. I mean did anyone mourn for our old ECAC rivals when the BE hoops league was formed? What's become of those programs?

There could not be a more perfect cliche to use for what's going on than "don't hate the player, hate the game".

No complaints here.
 
Media and talking heads...Short term memory problems.

Nebraska and Colorado. Where was the stink then?
 
Is it greedy to want your athletics program to be able to compete at the highest levels? Or is it survival?

Look, I hate the arms race that has become college sports. Spending millions on weight rooms, player's lounges, flat screen TVs, XBOXs, luxury suites, pro-style practice facilities, and the like is absolutely obscene. But it is what it is. We can either play in that world, or downgrade like the Fordham's, Colgate's, Holy Cross's and Ivies of the college sports world did 60 years ago.

Loyalty is such a strange word to use, IMHO. Look back at the history of college sports, and you see that conference affiliation has forever been in flux. Outside of a few core teams in the Pac-8, Big Ten and SEC, there has been constant motion for near-on 70 years. This is nothing new. The money is a lot more, and thus the stakes are higher, but schools have been looking out for #1 forever. I mean did anyone mourn for our old ECAC rivals when the BE hoops league was formed? What's become of those programs?

There could not be a more perfect cliche to use for what's going on than "don't hate the player, hate the game".

Seriously...I was listening to this guy on the radio drone on about how unloyal the Big 12 schools are being. OH, THE SAME BIG 12 that broke up the Southwestern Conference? Who was crying for RICE then? NONE of this is new. Just the 24 hr news cycle.
 
Is it greedy to want your athletics program to be able to compete at the highest levels? Or is it survival?

Look, I hate the arms race that has become college sports. Spending millions on weight rooms, player's lounges, flat screen TVs, XBOXs, luxury suites, pro-style practice facilities, and the like is absolutely obscene. But it is what it is. We can either play in that world, or downgrade like the Fordham's, Colgate's, Holy Cross's and Ivies of the college sports world did 60 years ago.

Loyalty is such a strange word to use, IMHO. Look back at the history of college sports, and you see that conference affiliation has forever been in flux. Outside of a few core teams in the Pac-8, Big Ten and SEC, there has been constant motion for near-on 70 years. This is nothing new. The money is a lot more, and thus the stakes are higher, but schools have been looking out for #1 forever. I mean did anyone mourn for our old ECAC rivals when the BE hoops league was formed? What's become of those programs?

There could not be a more perfect cliche to use for what's going on than "don't hate the player, hate the game".
Honestly I don't disagree with anything in your post but I would say College football has become crap and we are now officially up to our necks in it.
 
Honestly I don't disagree with anything in your post but I would say College football has become crap and we are now officially up to our necks in it.

It's like I always say: college football is great on gameday, and awful every other day.
 
Ok. If survival = greedy, self-centered and disloyal. Even a blind monkey could see the handwriting on the wall as far as conference alignment is concerned. If you want to label us that way, I guess you're going to do it. But I'd rather you call us names like that then heap pity on us when we got left out of the conference musical chairs.
I'm labeling myself as well because Im still an Orange fan.
 

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