The Fake Lonnie Finch

They are lucky not to have to be embarrassed on national and regional cable television by the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Bruce Van De Velde, rather than writing a cover-your-ass letter, should take out a full page in the New York Times and thank the Liberty Bowl for not putting his school in what was certain to be an enbarrassing on field situation for them against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The only thing as powerful as a Golden Hurricane, even if only temporarily, is a Cyclone anyway. They will not have had their chance to take a shot at giving it a try because of the thoughtfulness of the Liberty Bowl.

I don't understand why this is a surprise to anyone. I mean, Malzahn practically lived in Auburn the three years he coached there. He already knows where the grocery stores and churches are.

Oh, I see...now, it's the Liberty Bowl's fault. The Liberty Bowl are just a pack of liars. Can't trust 'em. Bwaaahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaha! Can't wait to beat the Bulldogs next season!

I, for one, think it's hilarious! Yes, it's sad for the players, but.... This van de Velde, guy...what a card! Thought the Independence Bowl should just wait on Louisiana Tech to sort through imaginary suitors. What a dope! As if one 9-3 season in the crappy WAC gives you the street cred to tell a bowl game to hold the door for you. Stupid...but, funny!

Nebraska isn't in the whatever academic thingy that the Big Ten schools are so proud of. It doesn't matter. Louisville hustled to get what they have gotten. Frankly, I'm starting to care less and less. Wherever we end up as we drift, I just hope we start winning. And, that's all I'm going to say about it...for a long time.

Athletically, Louisville was a tangible upgrade from Maryland. The sticking point was academics, with the school 160th in the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings. Ultimately, the ACC dropped academic pretense and made an athletic decision. Louisville was the best choice. That's hard to believe, given the department Tom Jurich took over 15 years ago. From C-USA outcast to the Big East to the ACC, he dragged a once-troubled program to where it never could have dreamed of being.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--louisville-s-move-to-acc-a-sporting-miracle-192050157.html Story of AD Jurich taking a program in shambles in the late 1990s, then leading it to eventual place in ACC. You'll read similarities to us - bad football stadium, reputation as commuter school, etc. Hard to digest in some ways; but, congrats to them, I guess.

This is where I am. They could take what is leftover of the Belt, C-USA, and throw in NMSU and Idaho and make a couple of conferences. Like I said yesterday, all of these "left behind" schools need to come to a point where they realize that they entered the college football arms race two decades too late, accept it, and begin to work together. The truth is, the SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 are not going to be coming after the rest of these schools. The Big 12 might pick off Clemson and Florida State from the ACC. The MWC or Big East might take pity on Tulsa, but I doubt it. Truth is truth, Banowsky and Benson were asleep at the wheel and now grasp at whatever straws are left. No one seriously looks at MTSU and FAU as equal replacements for ECU and Tulane. No one. And, I'll say this further about Banowsky, though it may piss some people off. The only reason he is where he is today is that his daddy was a college president and had many "ins" from his days as president of OU and Pepperdine. Daddy got sonny boy into the business of college athletics administration. But, he is not well suited to going up against the big boys. That much is clear. From having SMU and UH swiped last year, to this year's loss of ECU and Tulane. It's not getting more competitive, nor is it getting more attractive for television advertisers. Unfortunately, you can't sit around and expect people to be nice. You just can't. Everyone has their own agenda. And, if you don't make your entity be part of that agenda, you are left in the dust.

Pointing out the fact that other schools haven't taken as much time isn't jealousy - it's just pointing out a fact.

We didn't have the guns because, outside of Chanceller, there were no threats at WR.

What will happen is Tulsa and UTEP will bail...thereby making the new C-USA look a whole lot like the old Sun Belt. Great job, Banowsky. I can see why people admire the leadership qualities of this guy. What stealth! To almost completely steal one conference and put it in his own, while losing the best members of it! Genius! Well...at least we'll be familiar with our foes. Who is our rival, again, in the C-USun Belt?

Who said anything about we? It's about the presidents and athletic directors that were asleep at the wheel. All of this rearranging now among three poor conferences is stupid. It's just a result of years of lack of planning. When you look at it now, do you really think C-USA is anymore competitive than Sun Belt? C-USA "powers" - with the exception of Tulsa (whose AD will be hated if they don't get an invite into MWC) - are now gone, and the reloads are new programs (Old Dominion/UTSA) or Sun Belt defections. So, what has really been done except bigger conferences catching Banowsky sleeping at the wheel? You can't get me to believe that 48 hours ago C-USA presidents were pushing Banowsky behind the scenes to get FAU on board. The guy is a step behind every time.

I thought Hattiesburg was closer to the coast.

So...how does Cowherd explain guys like Willie Taggart and the dude at Kent State, also coaching traditionally downtrodden and financially thin programs, who get it done in a year or two?

No. Life is all about them. It's never about us. That's 21 Century America. We have given up on asking people to be responsible, and have instead turned to requiring that the responsible pay for the irresponsible. There is no incentive for the stupid to act smart anymore. That battle is over. The stupid and their politicians won it long ago. What part of my rant, as you call it, is wrong? All I'm doing is pointing out the obvious. Are we not now expected to pay for everyone's birth control to, supposedly, keep them from having children they can't afford and/or catch diseases they can't afford the drugs to treat? Are we not now expected to pay for everyone's children they can't afford because they don't use the birth control that we have to pay for? Are we not now expected to pay for everyone's health care when they contract sexual transmitted diseases because they make poor choices sexually? How is that a rant? All I'm doing is pointing out the obvious. What you seem to want is for no one to say anything about it. Just pay up and don't ask any questions. And, least of all, don't point out to the stupid the actions that brought them to their current circumstances. As the actions of the queers in John Boehner's office demonstrate, the stupid are not thankful for what help they do get from those of us who are footing the bill for their irresponsible stupidity, the now brazenly demand that we either keep doing it or increase what we are already paying. You see where we are, right? We just pay for the stupid to have sex with each other - protected or unprotected, safe or unsafe. That's the point to which this republic has devolved. Also, they don't sweep my floor or clean my restroom. At this office, it's a pair of guys from Vera Cruz. Mexicans. Same with most fast food restaurants around here. And, they are grateful for the jobs. Believe me, it's not the queers or welfare queens doing anything like sweeping, cleaning, or cashiering.

Surely he has the phone numbers of the presidents and ADs of New Mexico State and Idaho. I'm not even kidding.

It's not an attitude at all - it's a reflection of looking realistically at reality. We, and other schools, were very slow to react to an athletics department arms race that began in the early to mid 1990s. The "traditional power" schools and their conferences then began to take control of the best bowls in the mid 1990s, culminating the formation of the BCS. Some schools pouted and preened about it. Others got compeititve enough on and off the field to join them. Congratulations to the Utahs and TCUs, their administrators and alumni who didn't sit back and feel sorry for themselves. You have to, at some point, take the lemons you have and make lemonade. We reacted too late. By we, I mean everyone - presidents, administrators, athletic directors, fund raisers, alumni. So, forget the past and move forward. Get together with those fellow schools that have been left behind and build a conference or two that makes sense. The commissioners need to be working on keeping bowl ties in place. School presidents and athletic directors need to be working on what makes sense geographically as well as commercially. You aren't just magically viable. Someone has to be out there selling it. We all lament the marketers and sales people of the world. But, how the hell else do you get your product sold? By sitting around and bitching and complaining about the competition? Hell no. As the fella said in O, Brother, Where Art Thou, "We've just got to beat that competition!" It's high time Britton, Rick, and the rest found a Soggy Bottom Boys to pitch their wares.

Banowsky is an idiot. It is apparent that C-USA is going to be a greatly watered down proposition. Look, the war is over. The BCS automatic qualifiers have won it and are now taking the last shreds of what they consider to be "good land" away from those who lost. In other words, the victors are going after the spoils. What Banowksy and the other idiots who were too slow to react need to do is admit defeat and come up with a conference or two for those schools and conferences whose administrators and commissioners were too slow or dumb to act. (There is a reason Bubba Cunningham left the Ball States and Tulsas of the world to go to North Carolina. Those on the inside, if their eyes have been open, have seen the writing on the wall and positioned themselves accordingly.)

As if on cue...here is a picture of the stupid demanding that we pay for the disease cause by their sexual stupidity: http://news.yahoo.co...s-politics.html This is 21st Century America. Be proud.

We pay for it one way of the other, either (1) in welfare, or (2) now that we have national health care, for the drugs and medical services for the people who can't control their libidos and end up with HIV. The gensis of every type of problem you can think of is the same - stupid people who do not plan ahead in life. Whether it's governmental or personal...makes no difference. And, the answer is always the same - responsible people (and countries) have to bail out the stupid. In college, we had a saying, "F*ck the dumb." In other words, ignore them. The problem is that now we are adults, we realize we are constantly paying for the dumb whether we want to or not. Stupid people are going to be elected to government. You can't change that. The parties have figured out that only a few states matter in national elections, so they target only the stupidest of the stupid in those states, killing themselves to get them to vote. What a picture: the stupid desperately trying to get the stupid to keep re-electing them. Individually, stupid people are going to pull their dicks out of the pants and f*ck stupid people who spread their legs or bend over for them. You can't fix stupid. But, the government forces you to pay for the results of their sexual stupidity. If they want to f*ck all they want without getting pregnant, the government wants you to pay for their birth control. If they f*ck each other without birth control and have kids they can't support, the government wants you to pay for their kids' well being...and, their rent, school breakfasts and lunches, health care, etc. If they f*ck each other and give each other diseases, the government now will have you foot the bill as well through national health care, so they can buy drugs to keep themselves alive long enough to keep f*cking each other and spreading their disease. You pay and pay and pay because the stupid won't control themselves sexually. This should be abundantly clear at this point and time in history. This is the story of 21st Century America. It's not good enough to be responsible for yourself. You've got to support the stupid people as well...otherwise, you are mean, prejudiced, cruel, heartless, homophobic, racist, etc. You cannot tell the stupid to be smarter. You cannot teach them to be smarter. That is absolutely wrong. The stupid must be able to f*ck and vote, and you must pay for consequences of the stupidity resulting therefrom... ...or, you're not Patriotic or compassionate enough. Got it?

...this offseason? He's done his one-year rebuild at Arizona State. Lots of openings.

Agree with both. Visited a few churches in Frisco before settling into a smaller one with half or more "old" people. One that we visited was ridiculous. The music was so loud, my wife just walked out. I left when pastor guy amce out in hawaiian shirt. I guess it's for some people, going to rock concert/backyard barbeque church. It wasn't for us. The funny thing is, when I was young I didn't want to go to "old" people church. Now, I can't imagine going anywhere else. It's been good to hear "It Is Well With My Soul" "There Is A God" as well as "Amazing Grace." My parents dragging me to church through high and low times somehow stuck deep within me.

This is, for sure, later 20th Century/early 21st Century Church, Inc. It would be interesting to see the budget of this church.

Yes. One verse says to save money and give; the other speak metaphorically about the essense of Christ. But, neither are a budget sermon like the ones today where we're saving up for buildings, gyms, coffee shops, bookestores, etc.

I know this has already been said by someone here but...Larry Coker knows what he's doing.