Miami’s Back, Noles Aren’t, My Face Still Hurts And A Blackout On Saturday?
Posted by NoleCC
Hi everyone. Once again I thank all of you for your well wishes over the last few days. I’m healing, and I’m due for surgery on Tuesday I think. But, I’m feeling pretty good considering everything. Since I don’t know how long I’ll be laid up post surgery, I wanted to post some thoughts about yesterday’s football games.
First up, congrats to Boston College. I love to hate on the Eagles, but the Mark Herzlich story was wonderful. I was happy to see FSU donate $9400 dollars to his cause, and they played well against the Noles. Other than some very, very stupid “You can’t do that” (seriously how stupid is that?) cheers on FSU penalties by B.C. fans, it looked like a pretty good crowd considering the weather.
Da U, yeah they’re back. I’ll admit that I fell asleep in the 2nd half of the Miami game last night and had to read about it this morning. All indications are that the Hurricanes are back after going 3-1 through a brutal first four games. They came back, and more importantly for them, hung on to win the game. Something the Noles have had trouble doing. I guess we have our questions answered on which program was close to being back, and which one wasn’t.
Now let’s move on to the Noles:
- On the bright side, Christian Ponder is really a much bigger talent than I ever thought. I enjoy watching him play.
- Everything else pretty much sucks, but I wasn’t upset because I expected FSU to lose, and to potentially lose 4 more games. My preseason prediction looks pretty stupid right now, and I thought I was being a Debbie Downer about it at the time.
Last week I said that Boston College had the opportunity to kick the Noles into a bottomless pit, 300-style and they did. Multiple news outlets are saying that Bowden should call it quits, that this has gone on long enough and that FSU can’t move on until he leaves the program in someone else’s hands. It took the main streamers a long time to get there, but finally they’re not worried about their bread-and-butter access anymore and are saying what needs to be said. Bobby must go at the end of the season. Whether or not Jimbo Fisher will lead the Noles back to respectability, who knows? The point is that he needs to be given the opportunity to fully succeed or fully fail.
As for a blackout:
Evidently there’s a Facebook group out there promoting that everyone wears black to the game against GT in order to black out Bobby Bowden, even thought the game isn’t a blackout. Let me first say, that I get the point. Let me also say that if I was able to go to the game Saturday night, which I won’t because I’ll be recovering from surgery, I would not wear black to the game. I’d wear garnet like usual. Why? Because wearing black, or not showing up doesn’t really send a message to anybody, it just makes the fanbase look stupid in my opinion. Wearing black does nothing to hit the Athletic Department wear it counts, in the pocketbook. Neither does not showing up after you’ve already paid for a ticket. Sure, it might send a “We don’t like you” message to Bobby Bowden and / or the players, but judging from postgame interviews, does anybody really think Bowden would let that get to him? I don’t. I’m not sure he’d even noticed. The denial in post game  interviews over the last 10 years is an 11/10.
Honestly, I don’t want to harp on the players either. The guys that show up to practice every day and haven’t been discipline problems deserve better than that. Yes, the dropped balls are bad. The defense is bad. But at the end of the day, insulting the young men that put their bodies on the line to entertain us is classless. There’s a right way and wrong way to go about it. The right way always involves money and being forceful with an opinion to the right people.
If you really want Bobby Bowden gone, then voice it the right way.  Hit them in the wallet, it’s the only language many of those in charge understand. Email Seminole Boosters. Email FSU. Email Randy Spetman. Tell them you won’t tolerate the way the program is being run, and if changes aren’t made your booster donation and season tickets will not be renewed. Explain to them that the sooner that there is an announcement of Bowden’s retirement, the sooner FSU can point players both current and future to the new leadership and the new direction. The  squeaky wheel gets the oil.
But by all means, please don’t embarrass FSU or yourselves with a half-brained blackout next Saturday night against the Yellow Jackets. Do you think the Gators would do that? Wouldn’t ESPN love to talk about how classless FSU fans are at that point? Instead of wearing black on Saturday night, wear garnet on Saturday night, bring a  notepad, Blackberry, whatever and write a letter or an email to the people in charge at FSU and tell them what you want. Tell them you’ll pull your money. Tell them FSU needs a change. Do this the right way.
*****
I don’t know when my next update will be, until then though Go Noles!
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Nancy on 
Nole4ever on 
Abe Fr0man on 
First, hope everything goes well in healing for ya!
Second, the way that you put it–hard to disagree that the whole blackout thing is a bad idea. On the other hand, we are a very visual culture. I think that’s why the idea of a blackout could be so popular. A visual solidarity of the fanbase that is still there to support the team, but united against the coach could be powerful.
That said, does Bowden really deserve this? I have been wrestling with this since last week with USF loss. Isn’t Bowden FSU? Have we become so much a “what have you done for me lately” culture that Bowden deserves such scorn and disgrace on his way out? I don’t know. It would be different emotions for me if I was a FSU fan, but I really don’t know.
Good post, NoleCC!
Good point about being a visual society. I just don’t think the blackout is the right way to go. A couple of 1000 letters and emails to the right people is also very visual, to the people that can make the changes.
“Isn’t Bowden FSU?”
You hit the nail on the head. I feel like he thinks he is. He’s not. FSU is FSU. Nobody should be bigger than the program or the institution.
Don’t you think the right people have gotten thousands of letters?
Jason,
I easily could be wrong, but no I don’t. I think there’s been a lot of talk, and not a lot of action when it comes to stuff like letters and emails. There certainly hasn’t been enough of a threat to withdraw serious amounts of money until changes happen.
Money is the only thing that people seem to understand.
Oh and thanks for the well wishes. I’m healing well I think, but still have the surgery to get through. So, hopefully the healing well trend continues after that. :)
I agree that the blackout Saturday against Bobby Bowden would be a classless act and cause more bad press for the University.
I agree that it appears that Bobby Bowden, who is a Football Coaching Legend, seems to believe that he made FSU what it is and that he is owed extreme loyalty.
Bobby Bowden has been rewarded with many honors at FSU; financial security for his family, countless opportunities away from FSU such as commercials, endorsements and book deals!
FSU is more than one person! FSU football is more than one young man at any given time!
I agree that if you love FSU and FSU sports, it’s time to send the letters, emails, faxes, calls, and tweets so that your message is heard!
Support the team composed of dedicated young men but let the leadership know that change is overdue!
First, belated well wishes for a speedy recovery. It makes *my* face hurt just thinking about that :)
I’m in 100% agreement on the blackout thing (remember that blackouts haven’t worked well for us), but it is much better than some of the other ideas I’ve heard, such as sign protests at the home games.
Hide the checkbook from the boosters. Money talks, all this other BS walks.
I won’t be buying tickets to the remaining games.
However, you have to admit it not buying tickets is bad for recruiting and players. I mean if a recruit were there and the stadium were half full what do you tell a recruit? “It will be full when the next coaching staff comes in, people are just protesting at the moment.” I’m assuming attendance is something recruits care a little about.
Wearing black is not that bad of an idea. You still support the players and the stadium won’t look empty. It shows people are displeased with the current situation but does not rob the school of money that it needs.
I think right now, the coaching staff’s issue are a bigger issue to recruits than the stadium being half full. I might be wrong, but I’ll stick with my line of thinking.
And yes, I’d be torn about not supporting the players, because this isn’t their fault. But something needs to be done to wake up the administration that doesn’t embarrass FSU and the fans in the process.
To all the classless fair-weather fans out there that plan on showing up with black on, don’t bother. Don’t bother now or anytime in the future. I live in S.C. And have had to endure Gamecock fans everyday. When they went through there 1-11 season every game was sold out and every fan showed up. They didn’t call for anyones head, they just rallied around the team, the coaches, and the university. I know I know, that USC, there not used to being at the top of the mountain. FSU is only 10 years removed from a championship. Not terribly long in the scheme of things. How about instead of going to a game and acting like a bunch of clowns we show up and shake Doak to its core. Let’s face it, Notre Dame almost crumbled from the fever pitch the fans showed during the Washington game. And that’s Washington. Our Seminoles deserve better support, let’s give it to them.
Bowden does not deserve better, at this point.
CC, hope everything is going and continues to go well with your recovery.
Now, I like the idea of a blackout, actually. I like it because it will help to make the topic of conversation on that saturday night slot that FSU fans are unhappy with Bobby Bowden and want him gone. I like TN’s endorsement of this and then the boycott to the following games. Show our displeasure, and then hit them in the wallets. We may not have as much power as we wish we did, but we can make a statement through doing these things.
Not in favor of that blackout. Just go to cheer the team on. The win lose record will take care of the situation. When you have FSU trustees calling for his resignation that’s a significant development. The powerful boosters and alumni have more impact than doing a blackout in the stands.
I’m in favor of the blackout. For the students, recent alumni, and the alumni just starting a family, who are not big time boosters, it gives them a way to show where they think the program should be going. Keep in mind, those wearing black to the GT game may not represent a big financial impact at the moment, but those are the potential future boosters, and their voices are important too.
Agree that boycotting the game is dumb. You’ve already paid, just support the players.
I think that Coach Bowden is hurting the FSU program, and has been for a while. But I don’t blame the coach for sticking around too long or for feeling that its ‘his decision’ when to leave. This mindset was started by the FSU administration. Allowing Jeff Bowden to report directly to his father in violation of state law (but then somehow determining that the coordinators report to the AD instead of the coach ??) was just one instance where the university bowed to pressure from Coach Bowden. Installed TK as president was another mistake because he owes so much to his former coach. Letting Jeff keep collecting a salary after he destroyed the offense and recruiting is yet another mistake by the university.
I don’t blame Coach Bowden for feeling like he, and only he, gets to decide when to retire. No one has stood up to him for more than a decade. The people that love Coach Bowden and are close to him need to pull him aside and tell him that he’s only hurting FSU and his personal reputation by hanging on.
I spent my life watching Coach Bowden create a dynasty almost single-handedly, now I’m watching him tear it all down.
Couldn’t agree more. FSU has been the enabler in the relationship for as long as this abuse has been going on.
I like TN’s endorsement of this and then the boycott to the following games. Show our displeasure, and then hit them in the wallets.I might be wrong, but I’ll stick with my line of thinking.