Seen Enough?

[Kaos]

I have purposely (and enjoyably) avoided all things AU football related this season.  "Tiresome" or not, it was my personal protest against what I've seen AU become over the last decade or so.  First year in my entire life (as far as I can remember, at least) that there won't be anything Auburn related under my Christmas tree. That's what the mind-numbing ineptitude of Gus Malzahn and the overall bullshit "wokeness" that's infecting the campus has done to me.  It destroyed my willingness to care.  It doused the passion I once held for that place, our colors and what it meant to be an "Auburn man."  There was a time not so long ago that I would have believed that impossible.  

So yesterday -- basically unaware that the season was still going -- I was out shopping with the fams and went to out to eat.  The place they selected was filled with enormous televisions all tuned into the buffoonery that is currently Auburn football.  It was impossible to avoid.  And what I saw on the screen was the same chucklehead bullshit I've seen season after season with Malzahn.  

Auburn is where quarterbacks go to die.  Bo Nix is terrible.  Not because he doesn't have a great arm, good wheels and a passion for the game.  No doubt in my mind the kid wants to win, wants to be great, wants to write his name in Auburn legend. He never will. He's terrible because the coaching he's receiving is third-rate at best.  Mac Jones doesn't have half the natural ability Nix does, but he is being taught how to play the game .Bo simply isn't.  What's being done to him is criminal. 

The receivers are talented, but the routes they run are shoddy.  We can't keep a tailback healthy for an entire season. Nobody ever comes to Auburn and gets better. 

Later, as I sat with a shellshocked LSU fan as the dumpster fire that is her program got raped by the Steroid Sabans, I was treated to a review of the high(low)lights in review.  It was worse than I imagined. 

Gus Malzahn is what they said he was. He's a high school coach, in over his head, with a staff (save Kevin Steele) of people who should be coaching at the high school level.  

The evidence is clear and incontrovertible.  He's never going to figure it out.  This is who he will always be until and unless he gets thrown out on his ass and has to start over and learn somewhere else.  

Watching that yesterday was sort of like running across an old girlfriend and discovering she's still working at Chick Fil A, has gotten fat and greasy and is dating the manager at Waffle House now.  She's the same "never-gonna-go-anywhere" small town girl she was when you knew her in high school. She's never going to be anything different.  

Seven straight four-plus loss seasons.  That's what I heard Gus has given Auburn.  Merry Christmas.  

I'm perfectly content with leaving Auburn and Auburn football in my past unless something changes.  I think it's going to have to be more than just the football coach, though.  He's just a symptom of the overall decay.  But he's got to go or he's going to wreck the program.  

[GH2001]

He’s a less qualified less experienced version of barfield but with an easier schedule to navigate on an annual basis. 

[wesfau2]

 an easier schedule to navigate on an annual basis.

Say what?

I'm not necessarily defending Gus, but this is ludicrous.

The current state of college football, the SEC and specifically the SECW is light years beyond whatever bullshit Barfield faced.

[GH2001]

Say what?

I'm not necessarily defending Gus, but this is ludicrous.

The current state of college football, the SEC and specifically the SECW is light years beyond whatever bullshit Barfield faced.

O. K.

The automatic 2-4 cupcakes are a thing of modern cfb history. Yeah we know - we keep saying the same stuff over and over. We got the message the last ten times you said it.

What you saw this year was gus without the cupcake padding. We should be 4-5 going into a game that is totally losable. That’s Gus. That’s barfield. Seriously. It may not be a convenient thing to think but look at barfields last 3 seasons schedules and Gus’ this year. Hint: they’re very comparable. Barfield was a slightly above .500 coach playing schedules with no cupcakes. That’s what Gus will be this year. The out of conf games we played in the late 70s and 80s were way different than now. Ranked wake forest. Good tech teams. Va tech. Miami. Maryland with boomer. Texas. Aggie. Fsu and on and on. None of this directional Louisiana or Illinois crap. Or hbcu schools getting a quick check. 


And it’s not the losses to Bama. Georgia. Or even lsu or Florida. It’s the losses to bad tenn and sc teams. And a shoulda loss to Arkansas. Sorry dude but when you take away the smoke n mirrors and cupcake padding the dude is no better than barfield aside from the occasional rabbit from the ass he would pull off by virtue of perfect storm scenarios.

[The Six]

The global answer is "No" and always will be because too many people who "love" Auburn pull strings and try to copy what they think the other side is doing. It'll never change. 2010 was luck. So was 2013. It inflated expectations to the point that they are unsustainable. The PTB will eventually can Gus but they'll screw up the next hire. Before you know it, Auburn will be just like Tennessee and Florida State - a dead, lifeless, hull of what used to be. Accept this and let go of dreams of Auburn success and you'll be much happier. 

[Buzz Killington]

But in a normal year, 6-4 is a solid record.  Just ask the man himself.  
You know...the year where we get at 2-3 automatic wins?  I gotta admit, I thought a 2-6 or a 3-5 conference record was bad until Gus explained it so eloquently.

[wesfau2]

The global answer is "No" and always will be because too many people who "love" Auburn pull strings and try to copy what they think the other side is doing. It'll never change. 2010 was luck. So was 2013. It inflated expectations to the point that they are unsustainable. The PTB will eventually can Gus but they'll screw up the next hire. Before you know it, Auburn will be just like Tennessee and Florida State - a dead, lifeless, hull of what used to be. Accept this and let go of dreams of Auburn success and you'll be much happier.

So is the problem the administrations of AU/UT/FSU...

Or is it a systemic problem where Bama/OSU/Clemson have cornered the market (legitimately or ill-) and are so far ahead no one can catch them?

[CCTAU]

O. K.

The automatic 2-4 cupcakes are a thing of modern cfb history. Yeah we know - we keep saying the same stuff over and over. We got the message the last ten times you said it.

What you saw this year was gus without the cupcake padding. We should be 4-5 going into a game that is totally losable. That’s Gus. That’s barfield. Seriously. It may not be a convenient thing to think but look at barfields last 3 seasons schedules and Gus’ this year. Hint: they’re very comparable. Barfield was a slightly above .500 coach playing schedules with no cupcakes. That’s what Gus will be this year. The out of conf games we played in the late 70s and 80s were way different than now. Ranked wake forest. Good tech teams. Va tech. Miami. Maryland with boomer. Texas. Aggie. Fsu and on and on. None of this directional Louisiana or Illinois crap. Or hbcu schools getting a quick check.


And it’s not the losses to Bama. Georgia. Or even lsu or Florida. It’s the losses to bad tenn and sc teams. And a shoulda loss to Arkansas. Sorry dude but when you take away the smoke n mirrors and cupcake padding the dude is no better than barfield aside from the occasional rabbit from the ass he would pull off by virtue of perfect storm scenarios.

This is a very valid comparison.

[Snaggletiger]

So is the problem the administrations of AU/UT/FSU...

Or is it a systemic problem where Bama/OSU/Clemson have cornered the market (legitimately or ill-) and are so far ahead no one can catch them?

I have zero doubt that the NCAA knows/thinks that having certain programs remain at the elite level is a good thing for the big picture ($$$$) of college football. It's parity at the top for a select few and there are no Sheriffs patrolling those athletic departments. 

In answer to the comment above of 2010 being "luck" and creating unsustainable expectations, I disagree wholeheartedly with that.  2013, I can get on board with.  That wasn't the most talented team in the world, but they got a on a roll with a special combination of players.  As for 2010, everyone points to Cam being the sole reason for their success.  Not even close.  Without one of the best, most experienced lines in college football, that team doesn't sniff of a conference, much less a Natty Championship.  Nor do they sniff of it without a senior laden front 7 on D and the most disruptive player in the game in Nick Unfairly.  That team was stacked and deserved the ring.

With regard to expectations, I truly believe Auburn fans are as reasonable as they come, overall.  As I said above, 2013 was a team that got serious momentum with a special combination of players in Marshall, Mason etc.  What it did reaffirm was that between the 2010 and 2013 seasons, Auburn is and always has been a program that can put teams on the field that can compete on the national level.  I don't think AU fans expect to be in the playoffs every year, but I do believe we should expect to compete for conference championships on a consistent basis.  4-6 losses a year never has and never will do that.  I can take a down year or two, but to go into each and every year knowing you're going to drop that many games given the tradition, facilities, support etc. is simply unacceptable.  We're now at 7 straight years of that. 

I'll also agree with the above, and have said many times, I don't trust anyone in power to make the right decision in hiring the next corch if they do in fact, let Gus go.  But it's to the point of no other choice.  They have to try.

As for letting all this go....hell no.  Unless they quit on us, I will never stop watching, supporting, being invested in and wanting the best for this program.       

[wesfau2]

As for letting all this go....hell no.  Unless they quit on us, I will never stop watching, supporting, being invested in and wanting the best for this program.     

I'm with ya, leather.

[The Six]

So is the problem the administrations of AU/UT/FSU...

Or is it a systemic problem where Bama/OSU/Clemson have cornered the market (legitimately or ill-) and are so far ahead no one can catch them?

Both are true, Gateway.

[wesfau2]

Both are true, Gateway.

If so, then no matter the hire we're fucked forever.

Or at least until there is some shake up at Bama/Clem/OSU.

Sweet.

Might as well sit back and enjoy the football.  Let go of your expectations and enjoy the ride.

[Kaos]

As for letting all this go....hell no.  Unless they quit on us, I will never stop watching, supporting, being invested in and wanting the best for this program.     

See that's where you and I diverge. 

From my perspective, AU has given up on me.  Not the players.  But Auburn itself. All the things we say we are have been demolished in an arms race and slathered in smarm.  Giant TVs?  Rap music that drowns out the band (constantly)? The spectacular bonanza of colors, flags, and personal spreads set up all over campus by families (many of whom had been coming to that same spot for decades) replaced by the bland monotony of white corporate tents?  Things that used to be spontaneous and organically-driven have been replaced by colorless, pseudo-emotional drone.  Everything Auburn does has become a Hallmark movie.  Nice to look at but completely and utterly predictable, drained of all authenticity by a paint-by-numbers canvas.  It has all the spark and resonance of the snow-dappled passionless mashing of faces between the (almost always gay in real life) sweater-wearing reindeer barber who captures the heart of the city girl at the end of every one of those Hallmark classics.

I tolerated all that.  I railed against it, but I tolerated it.  But when Gus waddled his big man tits down the street raising his fist for Black Lives Matter -- a movement he clearly didn't research or understand -- in an effort to appear more "woke"?  Fuck. All. That. Noise.  

BLM stands in opposition to almost every single fragment of the Auburn Creed. You know, the thing we laugh at people for adhering to when it's convenient for them, but that thing that actually sort of matters in the way you're supposed to carry yourself.  

That was the last straw for me.  Masked titty man, tromping down the street was the final erasure mark in removing everything that (in my mind) made Auburn, Auburn.  

I didn't leave them, Snags.  They. Left. Me.  And they don't care.  I can't keep loving something that doesn't love me back.  Tried that before and it always ends badly. 

[Kaos]

If so, then no matter the hire we're fucked forever.

Or at least until there is some shake up at Bama/Clem/OSU.

Sweet.

Might as well sit back and enjoy the football.  Let go of your expectations and enjoy the ride.

Please explain what in the fucking fucktiy fuck there is to enjoy about massive incompetence, squandered talent, clueless ineptitude, utter fucktardation and a litany of well-rehearsed platitudes about "getting better"?  

I'm honestly curious what joy anyone of sound mind could possibly derive from that. 

[wesfau2]

Please explain what in the fucking fucktiy fuck there is to enjoy about massive incompetence, squandered talent, clueless ineptitude, utter fucktardation and a litany of well-rehearsed platitudes about "getting better"? 

I'm honestly curious what joy anyone of sound mind could possibly derive from that.

I still enjoy the game.

I get excited when the RBs break a long one.

I hold my breath on the long bomb throws whether we're on O or D.

If championships are the only measuring stick, then congrats: you've completed your turn to bama-esque fandom.

[Kaos]

I still enjoy the game.

I get excited when the RBs break a long one.

I hold my breath on the long bomb throws whether we're on O or D.

If championships are the only measuring stick, then congrats: you've completed your turn to bama-esque fandom.

You know less than Jon Snow.

I could give a shit about championships. They're fun. I enjoyed the hell out of 2010. I enjoyed every moment of 2004.  And 1983.  But they don't mean dick in terms of my interest in or enjoyment of the game.  Truth be told, after you get over the hurt some of the losses are memories I treasure.  Losing to Georgia early in Dye's tenure, but knowing that I'd seen a team that was on the verge of kicking some ass down the road?  Love that as much as any win ever.  There are a lot of those stored away where I loved the team for what it gave us, even if the final score didn't show it.  The preparation. The heart. The tenacity.

I care about how Auburn plays.  Pat Dye's teams lost a lot of games, but I knew that even in defeat those guys were getting better, they were becoming men.  They'd learn from it.  Now, we look like a pack of bumbling idiots half the time.  Did you see the fourth quarter offensive stats for this team?  It was like seven plays, three yards or some disgraceful shit like that.  That's untenable. It's unbearable. It's NOT how an Auburn team plays. 

What happened when Auburn went to the Cotton Bowl in 1985 and laid a putrid egg against Texas A&M with Bo in the backfield?  I doubt you remember Pat Dye had a personal come-to-Jesus moment.  He recommitted himself and if you weren't with him you were against him.  Tell me about the next few years?  39 wins over four seasons against a schedule that would have Gus sucking his own giant boob in the corner.  None of those teams won a championship, but that still remains probably the greatest AU era of my lifetime.  Those guys played like men.

Do you have any faith in Gus to yank his head out of his butt and recommit himself?  Change things up?  Why would you?  He's been running this same exact offense since he was coaching in high school.  Hasn't changed anything.  What about Dye?  Ran the wishbone. Ran the I. Ran a pro-style when Stan came along. Could Gus do that?  

I know you don't like Gus.  Why accept this? 

Why would you get excited when the RB breaks a run knowing that Gus is either going to a) do that same thing the next 43 plays until the poor kid breaks in half or B) never return to that play again? 

Why would you hold your breath when the ball is in the air?  Oh, I know. Because our QB threw the ball off his back foot across his body and it's a fucking jump ball.  I've seen that for about a decade now.  No suspense there. 

Fuck a championship.  All I want is competitive.  And as long as Gus is there, that's not part of the equation.  Not willing to endure that.  You shouldn't be either. 

[wesfau2]

You know less than Jon Snow.

I could give a shit about championships. They're fun. I enjoyed the hell out of 2010. I enjoyed every moment of 2004.  And 1983.  But they don't mean dick in terms of my interest in or enjoyment of the game.  Truth be told, after you get over the hurt some of the losses are memories I treasure.  Losing to Georgia early in Dye's tenure, but knowing that I'd seen a team that was on the verge of kicking some ass down the road?  Love that as much as any win ever.  There are a lot of those stored away where I loved the team for what it gave us, even if the final score didn't show it.  The preparation. The heart. The tenacity.

I care about how Auburn plays.  Pat Dye's teams lost a lot of games, but I knew that even in defeat those guys were getting better, they were becoming men.  They'd learn from it.  Now, we look like a pack of bumbling idiots half the time.  Did you see the fourth quarter offensive stats for this team?  It was like seven plays, three yards or some disgraceful shit like that.  That's untenable. It's unbearable. It's NOT how an Auburn team plays. 

What happened when Auburn went to the Cotton Bowl in 1985 and laid a putrid egg against Texas A&M with Bo in the backfield?  I doubt you remember Pat Dye had a personal come-to-Jesus moment.  He recommitted himself and if you weren't with him you were against him.  Tell me about the next few years?  39 wins over four seasons against a schedule that would have Gus sucking his own giant boob in the corner.  None of those teams won a championship, but that still remains probably the greatest AU era of my lifetime.  Those guys played like men.

Do you have any faith in Gus to yank his head out of his butt and recommit himself?  Change things up?  Why would you?  He's been running this same exact offense since he was coaching in high school.  Hasn't changed anything.  What about Dye?  Ran the wishbone. Ran the I. Ran a pro-style when Stan came along. Could Gus do that? 

I know you don't like Gus.  Why accept this?

Why would you get excited when the RB breaks a run knowing that Gus is either going to a) do that same thing the next 43 plays until the poor kid breaks in half or B) never return to that play again? 

Why would you hold your breath when the ball is in the air?  Oh, I know. Because our QB threw the ball off his back foot across his body and it's a fucking jump ball.  I've seen that for about a decade now.  No suspense there. 

Fuck a championship.  All I want is competitive.  And as long as Gus is there, that's not part of the equation.  Not willing to endure that.  You shouldn't be either.

Well, my choices are: give up watching football or find my joy where I can.

The rest is out of my hands.

So, rage on, Spartacus.  I'm still riding with my team.

[Kaos]

Well, my choices are: give up watching football or find my joy where I can.

Find joy away from it.  

And it's not out of your hands.  If you don't walk away, if you don't somehow express your distaste for what you see?  Then you're complicit in it never getting better.  Why should they change anything if people still pay?  

You can either bitch and do nothing (getting the same results that caused you to bitch) or you can draw a line in the sand.  

I drew mine. 

[wesfau2]

Find joy away from it. 

And it's not out of your hands.  If you don't walk away, if you don't somehow express your distaste for what you see?  Then you're complicit in it never getting better.  Why should they change anything if people still pay? 

You can either bitch and do nothing (getting the same results that caused you to bitch) or you can draw a line in the sand. 

I drew mine.

I got joy fallin out my ass.

I don't buy tix from the school, or otherwise contribute in any meaningful way.  I've come to hate the stadium experience as compared to my home setup, so they're not even getting concessions out of me.  I borrow login credentials to view the games, so I'm not even contributing to the TV revenue.

So, Imma watch football.  I will cheer at the successes and cuss the failures.  I still love football.

[GH2001]

I got joy fallin out my ass.

I don't buy tix from the school, or otherwise contribute in any meaningful way.  I've come to hate the stadium experience as compared to my home setup, so they're not even getting concessions out of me.  I borrow login credentials to view the games, so I'm not even contributing to the TV revenue.

So, Imma watch football.  I will cheer at the successes and cuss the failures.  I still love football.

Dude. Sling and Hulu are like 50 a month. Cheapskate.