T1B

No, we won't see him again until around September.

Nice wytch if you just threw that together for this occasion...

He is watching the game as I write this. He taped it and wanted to watch it when he got home. He's prolly about to the 3rd quarter right now.

Talk about hard...working with Van, "watching" the game on ESPN.com, and knowing the outcome without giving it away was about the hardest thing I have ever done! I SOOO wanted to start the fun at his expense. I still sting from the lashing I took from Texas' meltdown following KSU and A&M. His time is coming...the whole store is primed to open a can of "WTF Happened?!?" on Tuesday. I can't wait! :twisted:

StrandedTexan wrote:He is watching the game as I write this. He taped it and wanted to watch it when he got home. He's prolly about to the 3rd quarter right now.

Talk about hard...working with Van, "watching" the game on ESPN.com, and knowing the outcome without giving it away was about the hardest thing I have ever done! I SOOO wanted to start the fun at his expense. I still sting from the lashing I took from Texas' meltdown following KSU and A&M. His time is coming...the whole store is primed to open a can of "WTF Happened?!?" on Tuesday. I can't wait! :twisted:

Thanks, Van

I guess we'll see you next week?

:D

If you want that pic to be of Van, it should be a bandwagon, not a van.

the_ouskull

Van is a lot of things but he isn't a bandwagoner.

socal wrote:Van is a lot of things but he isn't a bandwagoner.

Sin,
Van...next September

Nah, I'll be here through the bowl season, same as always.

I've never been a bandwagoner, and to even suggest such a thing is just lazy cheap shot bullshit, but I'm also not so into this that I'm going to sit around posting about recruits and whatsuch during the offseason.

Once the bowl season is over I pretty much switch over to NFL Playoffs Mode and then NBA Mode. I'll worry about the CF Recruiting Wars once all the recruits are suited up and playing/making an impact for their respective CF teams. Potential is great and all and certainly recruiting is the absolute backbone of any great CF program but I still need to see it on the field before I'll get excited enough to post about it.

We were more referring to your whereabouts the years leading up to 2003, which, oddly enough, coincides with your appearances around these parts... It's not like this board, and these posters, are brand-spankin' new. You, on the other hand, are... and you didn't show up until USC started claiming championships they didn't win.

Personally (sorry Meds) I wish USC would go to shit long enough to allow us to ditch you again. Two months or so will probably suffice, as long as it happens at the beginning of a season. You're m2 with less enthusiasm. Acting aloof isn't the same thing as actually being detatched. Jus' sayin'.

the_ouskull

the_ouskull wrote:You're m2 with less enthusiasm.

You shouldn't insult M2 like that.

Cal could lose 10 straight, and Chimey would still be annointing them as the BEST 10-LOSS TEAM IN D1!!!!!!

Van...would just disappear.

perhaps i'm not in the know, but i've found van's takes to be well-reasoned. actually, too well reasoned. (i usually catch his point right away and don't need to read the ensuing ten paragraphs where he maps out his logic progressions.) bandwagoning is mostly made up of you suck you suck we only lost b/c you suck you suck. i'm on van's side, if only b/c usc lost today.

You suck?

emotive?

Sort of like emotive, but with more cowbell.

that redeemed you from the chuck norris quip.

Chuck Norris and Jeff Tedford co-engineered the first cowbell.

And nuclear fission.

You have your dates wrong, skull. Way wrong.

Meds will verify that I've been posting on these various CF boards since BEFORE Pete ever got hired as USC's coach. I've been here (the various "here"s) since I first started on the internet, which was back in the original Jim Rome/SC I days.

Again, Meds will verify this. So too will Terry and SoCal, among others.

If Meds needs a refresher to jog his memory he can recall that before Pete got hired many of us Trojan fans were posting about the various candidates up for the job. Pete was about sixth in line, after all the others (even the Oregon St coach!) turned down the USC job.

We were all calling for Mike Garrett's head.

Finally, Pete got hired. I was extremely lukewarm about the hire, thinking like so many others back then that Pete was a bad hire; another in a long line of NFL retreads, a guy who was only marginally successful in the NFL and, again...our sixth freaking choice!

I was against the hire; Meds wasn't nearly as pessimistic about it. Turned out he was right with his prediction: "Give this guy a chance. He's a good hire. You'll see." Meds will definitely recall our conversations back then on the board and skull, that was back in '99, back when USC was still in the doldrums.

So, skull (and Dins), unless you want to admit that you're just trolling me it's time for you to drop the "bandwagoner" bullshit once and for all. I've been following USC since 1972 and I've been posting about CF ever since I first found about these BBS message boards.

Was I always on this specific CF board? Hell, I don't know. There've been so many Jim Rome spinoff boards it's hard to keep track of where I was with each one. I've definitely been posting about CF though since the very beginning and I've posted about the entire world of D-1A CF since the beginning too; not just about USC. (I'll admit that I don't give a rat's ass about 1-AA or lower level CF. Great stuff, no doubt, but I don't follow it.)

skull, your only real beef with me is that I don't worship at the altar of the Big XII the way you'd like. The rest of your bullshit towards me, ie, all this "bandwagon" and "you don't watch football" nonsense, it's all nothing but pure smokescreen. If I were just an OU Fan posting what I post instead of a USC Fan posting what I post you'd have no problem with me. Your problem is you've become a bitter prick where I'm concerned. You have nothing on me other than I'm prolific and strident in my support of USC and in the way I rail against those aspects of CF which I loathe: creampuff scheduling, overrated/inflated records and jingoisitc Big XII and SEC fans who think the Pac 10 sucks.

You've never forgiven me for ripping OU's farcical inclusion in the title game in '03, and then when USC ruined OU in '04 that sealed the deal for you where I'm concerned. You stopped responding to what I'd post; instead you've made it about me, always, ever since.

"You're a bandwagoner! You were never a USC fan until just now!"

Sour grapes, skull. Total bullshit too and a complete cop out.

The truth hurts, and you became a bitch about it. You attacked the most vocal messenger. Where I'm concerned you've basically turned yourself into OU's bradhusker, only with less homosmack and a greater ability to read and write.

Grow up already. I'm not the enemy. I'm just a USC Fan; always have been. Hell, I'm actually an OU Fan too. Down through the years (beginning with the Selmon brothers, specifically, along with Greg Pruitt and Billy Sims) OU was always my second favorite team; well, them and Ohio St. Whenever USC wasn't in the running for the title I always rooted for OU and Ohio St to beat Nebraska and Michigan. That's what mattered to me, always, those rivalry games. If USC couldn't win it all I at least considered it a halfway successful season if Nebraska, Michigan and 'Bama went down too.

Van wrote: If USC couldn't win it all I at least considered it a halfway successful season if Nebraska, Michigan and 'Bama went down too.

nevermind, i hate van. bandwagonner.

M Club wrote:

Van wrote: If USC couldn't win it all I at least considered it a halfway successful season if Nebraska, Michigan and 'Bama went down too.

nevermind, i hate van. bandwagonner.

:-)

Hey, what can I say? As a little kid you pick your teams, for whatever reasons...

I gravitated to Ohio St over Michigan. I had GOOD reasons too, for once...

-I hated Michigan's old astroturf field and the overly small (or so I thought) "M" at midfield. The whole place just looked so gloomy and industrial. Ohio St's field/stadium/unis/coach were all so much more fiery.

-Woody reminded me of George S. Patton. I was REALLY into war when I was a little kid. Patton was God/Woody reminded me of Patton/Gotta root for Woody

-Compared to Woody, well, Bo always looked like a weasel. Woody looked like a general. Bo looked like an assistant coach with a bad case of constipation.

-My best friend and my archrival in life was a real bandwagoner and out of the blue one year he glommed onto Michigan and then he began acting like his shit didn't stink. Of course I then had to hate Michigan and I had to love Michigan's Enemy.

It was just little kid's stuff but hey, once you form your allegiances they tend to become ingrained for life.

socal wrote:Van is a lot of things but he isn't a bandwagoner.

Sorry, yes, he is.

From his condescending elitist interminable posts, that has been self-evident from where I'm standing since like, a whole 3 years ago.

I imagine the look on Van's face was much like Pete Carrols after that INT... stunned disbelief, and then no acceptance whatsover.

WW, "elitist" doesn't mean "bandwagoner", you ignorant choad.

Also, you imagine incorrectly. The look on my face was more one of benign resignation. The way the game went it didn't exactly come as any major surprise that USC tripped up at the end too.

Two thoughts went through my head...

"Man, so close, again. Another close loss. Coupla close losses, that's it, otherwise, wooo, an absolute dynasty."

"Good for SoCal and Seer. Wtf is SoCal going to stick me with for a sig?? Better be good..."

Exposed.

the_ouskull wrote:We were more referring to your whereabouts the years leading up to 2003, which, oddly enough, coincides with your appearances around these parts... It's not like this board, and these posters, are brand-spankin' new. You, on the other hand, are... and you didn't show up until USC started claiming championships they didn't win.

the_ouskull

I may need to check my dates on this but if I am not mistaken, Skull, you didn't show up until December of 2000. If memory serves correct OU was already in the Championship game when you showed your skull for the first time. I do not question your loyality to OU but dude, c'mon. Pulling the You weren't here until SC started winning card is hitting a little too close to home.

Just sayin'

Jsc810 wrote:

Van wrote:"Man, so close, again. Another close loss. Coupla close losses, that's it, otherwise, wooo, an absolute dynasty."

:P

And dont forget there was another undefeated major conference team in 2004 as well...Auburn.

Dynasty my ass.

I said "so close...", regarding a dynasty. Didn't say they achieved it.

USC is only two plays (one against Cal in '03 and one against Texas last year) away from having three straight consensus/AP/UPI/BCS/Dins' National Championship Award national titles. If USC converts on that last shot inside the red zone yesterday they're likely going on to play in what would've then been a chance for their fourth straight national title.

Three plays, spread out over four seasons.

Yeah, that would've been anybody's idea of a dynasty, an unprecedented dynasty in the modern era, and they came oh so close...

And dont forget there was another undefeated major conference team in 2004 as well...Auburn.

Yeah, like there's any chance of my ever forgetting that, as often as I mention the BCS catastrophe that was both '03 and '04.

Van wrote:USC is only two plays (one against Cal in '03 and one against Texas last year) away from having three straight consensus/AP/UPI/BCS/Dins' National Championship Award national titles.

Huh?


Oregon won both the 2004 and 2005 Dinsdale National Championship.

I know, it's a TOTALLY whack system I came up with, that grants my team a championship every year without actually playing in the championship game.

I devised my system by watching USC fan.

Dins wrote:Huh?


Oregon won both the 2004 and 2005 Dinsdale National Championship.

I know, it's a TOTALLY whack system I came up with, that grants my team a championship every year without actually playing in the championship game.

I devised my system by watching USC fan.

Bullshit. You devised that system following multiple opium den soirees with Cal Fan, during which m2 somehow managed to convince you amidst the smoky haze and the naked writhing Thai chicks that piling up four losses in a season is the real key to winning this new DCS title.

Van,

STFU and get to work on my baby blue balls.

Sin,

BTW-I'm leaning towards giving the DNS title to Hawaii this season.

Sure, they might have lost 3, but Junebug is the coach, therefore he can do no wrong according to DCS rules.

Actually, any one-win team that employs any variant of the Run-and-Shoot is eligible for my non-postseason play.

A truly sickening thought...

SoCal, for twelve hours straight now, scouring his hardrive for his very best pic of a shirtless Mark Harmon.

SoCalhusker much?

:blech:

:-)

socal wrote:

Someone needs to wytch that overly-dorky image of JSC standing next to him.

Van wrote:A truly sickening thought...

SoCal, for twelve hours straight now, scouring his hardrive for his very best pic of a shirtless Mark Harmon.

SoCalhusker much?

:blech:

:-)

Nope, not my hard drive. Just your porn stash you left on the bean bag.

Van wrote:Hell, I'm actually an OU Fan too. Down through the years (beginning with the Selmon brothers, specifically, along with Greg Pruitt and Billy Sims) OU was always my second favorite team; well, them and Ohio St. Whenever USC wasn't in the running for the title I always rooted for OU and Ohio St to beat Nebraska and Michigan. That's what mattered to me, always, those rivalry games.

Oh well, okay then, you're cool by me.

Is THAT what you were expecting to hear? Great. I don't care if you're a Pac-10 shill. All I care about is, when I see you on here, breaking down your thoughts on a game, they all sound like shit that somebody who doesn't watch / know the game would say, or some shit that you heard on College Gameday.

I don't need your A&E freakin' biographer to tell me that you're a fan of a team, and have been for blah, blah, blah. If you like 'em, great. If you don't like the Big 12, or if you don't think that they're as good as the Pac 10, that's cool too... but you need to expect to argue about it, and, if you're going to bring your, "but I'm a fan, ask around" argument to a football discussion, then what the shit is that?

Harv: You're close, but in this case, the months were the difference... It was a post about the OU / Tejas game from that year that got e-mailed to me that "told me" of the Rome board. I signed on shortly thereafter, and both OU and Texas fans alike thought I was a troll 'cause I came in, guns a' blazin'. Then Frozen and I realized that we knew each other, and some of the same kitten, from OU. After that, everybody realized that I wasn't a troll... or a bandwagoner... just an asshole. Things haven't changed much. :D

the_ouskull

the_ouskull wrote:I don't need your A&E freakin' biographer to tell me that you're a fan of a team, and have been for blah, blah, blah. If you like 'em, great.

That ain't the point and you know it. The point is that lacking anything else you keep resorting to the generic cheapshot insult used across the land towards USC Fan: "You're a bandwagoner, and you don't even watch football!"

That's bullshit, skull. I'm no more of a bandwagoner than you are, which is to say, not at all. I've likely watched every bit as much football as anybody else here, save for those few of you who coach or ref or otherwise have the active participation in football as part of your daily adult lives.

Have YOU seen more football than me? Maybe you have. Very possible. You've probably seen more football than just about anybody and really, so have I. I've certainly seen more than my fair share and more than enough to successfully debate CF here.

Bottom line, if you have a problem with something I say then attack the comment. I NEVER see you do that, not with me. You keep saying that I look like I don't know what I'm talking about but you never actually point out any specifics where you think I'm wrong. You just cop out and bail out after dropping your usual generic bullshit accusations. This makes you look like a bitter prick moreso than a guy who has the ability to successfuly refute my points.

If you don't like the Big 12, or if you don't think that they're as good as the Pac 10,

Never said either thing. All I ever say is that the Pac 10 ISN'T a "pussy conference" and the Big XII doesn't have some birthright of superiority over the Pac 10. Some years the Pac 10 is better, some years the Big XII is better. They definitely feature different offensive philosophies and a lot of that is most likely to be chalked up to the different climates in which they play. West coast (NFL or college) offensive football has always tended to be more wide open and explosive than midwest/upper midwest/northeast football, where their harsher climate during fall and winter make it much more difficult to run, cut, throw and catch.

My main beef with the Big XII is the same beef I have with far too many conferences and elite programs: piss poor scheduling combined with the arrogance of conference entitlement. I have no problem with the quality of the athletes in the Big XII. They're on a par with anybody's. I DO have a problem though with the constant diet of unbalanced schedules and ridiculous OOC scheduling that are both so prominent in the Big XII. Additionally I have a problem with Big XII Honk going to the SEC Card with their robotic excuse bullshit about how their conference is so much better that they don't need to schedule OOC and that the Pac 10 HAS to schedule tougher OOC.

No, they aren't, and no, the Pac 10 doesn't. The Pac 10 could EASILY go the same route as so many other conferences and simply pad their schedules with numerous extra home games and instant six win seasons. Nobody's going to deny USC their shot at the title game, even if they loaded up on teams like Sam Houston St, Mc Neese St and Middle Tennessee St. USC could afford to do this, same as all these other teams who do it.

that's cool too... but you need to expect to argue about it,

Yeah, like I've shown any inclination to back down from an argument! There's a big worry! LOL!!!

skull, I welcome debate. No problem. All I ask is that the debate be about the issue at hand rather than having it instantly dissolve into a bunch of pussified nothings where my opponent bails on the actual debate in favor of throwing out lame accusations about me. I know you know enough about football to debate the actual points. It'd be good to see you actually do so rather than go to the cop out card every time.

and, if you're going to bring your, "but I'm a fan, ask around" argument to a football discussion, then what the shit is that?

I didn't tell you to ask around about whether or not I was a fan. I told you to verify with others here that I didn't just show up recently to bandwagon USC during the height of USC's recent success. That's been your main accusation of late and it's total bullshit and if you won't believe me about it then I'm telling you to check with the people here whom you will believe. These people will verify that it's total bullshit and that I've been posting about CF since I first arrived on these boards back in '99 or whenever; a period which happened to coincide with USC still being in their down period. I was posting on these boards about CF for a good three years before USC finally turned their program around in '02.

Refute my points. Point out those points of mine with which you disagree. That's fine. That's why we're all here. Just get off this cowardly "bandwagoner/typical Johnny come lately USC fan/you don't even watch football" bullshit trip you've been on lately.

FWIW, I've always thought of Van to be a very solid poster. I think all SC fans are forced to overcome the bandwagon tag, especially in here. Even Van has to admit that there are a large group of assholes in Cali who didn't know what USC stood for five years ago now donning the cardinal and gold. All winning programs attract bandwagon fans but schools from urban, professional-market cities seem to attract the biggest asshats.

Case in point, I was at a bar in Pasadena last year after the OU / UCLA game. Some douchebag in a Reggie Bush jersey saw my OU hat and told me to "go back to Arkansas." He continued, "we play real college football in socal."

x1,000,000

To be fair, Arkansas was playing SC that day but he was still a dumbfuck.

WS, you'll get no argument from me that far too many USC fans and California team fans in general are inveterate bandwagoners. The list of bandwagoners out here is just absolute...

-Lakers Fan: Depending on whether they're playing for the championship of the NBA or just the championship of L.A. it's simply amazing, the disparity in the number of 'tards sporting Laker gear as they burn down Toyotas outside Staples.

-Angels Fan: In '02 the world was suddenly confronted with nine million "lifer" Angels fans who previously spent their lives disguised as empty seats, Blockbuster video rental addicts and/or Dodger fans.

-Clipper Fan: Do we even have to go down this road?

-Raider Fan: All the world's seemingly a "Raider Nation" yet no matter where they play from the early '80's forward they've struggled to sell more than half their game tickets. Meanwhile, every tatted up construction worker in Cali has some sort of Raider sticker somewhere on his truck from when he got it back in '02 during the heyday of "Chuckie"...

-Giants Fan: PacBell Park has given them the appearance of being a well supported team. Oh fuck no. Besides their few die hards what little popularity enjoyed by the Giants is almost entirely down to the appeal of PacBell Park. Back when the Giants still played in Candlestick the only time they ever drew well was when the Dodgers were in town and even then it was just an excuse for fans to show up and get drunk and fight as they chanted, "Beat L.A.!"

Make it a Tuesday night tilt against the Expos and you could strip down Jessica Biel and fuck her right there in the bleachers above the "385" sign in right center and nobody would be the wiser.

-USC Fan: Obviously, the worst of the lot. Half filled Coliseum during The Dark Years, even though USC was still at least as good as plenty of other programs around the country who always manage to fill their stadiums. USC gear showing up everywhere these days, and nearly all of it is brand new shit recently bought in some mega mall.

In terms of California fans here's who they have, by and large, who are true fans, longstanding fans...

-Niner Fan: Those guys may not be as well known as Raider Fan, nor are they anywhere near as obnoxious, but Niner Fan is at least a true blue football fan. They've been there selling out decrepit old Candlestick forever, through thick and thin, supporting their team in full.

-Chargers Fan: Same deal.

-Sharks/Kings/Mighty Ducks Fan: It's hockey. They're rabid, regardless. Literally. They need to get their shots.

-Sacramento Kings Fan: Easily the best in the NBA and the best in California. If the Maloofs painted a piece of shit purple and trotted it out to center court at Arco 17,000 fans would still sell out the place to come and see it. In fact, that's exactly what they did, many times, what with Greg Ostertag, Olden Polynice and the most obvious example of all, foisting Brad Miller and Mike Bibby on us these past few seasons as they laughably attempted to "guard" somebody.

Without a doubt though the oddest fan situation in California exists with the A's in Oakland. That team wins every damn year and they play the game the right way. They're not "Money Ball", they're a scrappy, fun to watch team made up of a bunch of gamers who are way underpaid compared to most other teams around the league. For all that the A's still have to offer Free Parking Day and $1 Hot Dogs Night and they have to give away thousands upon thousands of seats to local corporations if they even want to draw 15K to most of their games. If the Yankees aren't in town the Oakland Coliseum will be two thirds empty (or worse, and sometimes much worse) almost no matter what, even in late September during a a pennant race.

Weirdest situation in sports; a perennial winner, and a relatively great bargain for the $$, and they can't draw to save their lives.