E-mail I sent to a friend tonight

"LSU fans are idiots"

Just kidding. Not all of us. It's not even most of us. In reality, it's probably a very small percentage. But against my better judgment, I went to tigerforums.com tonight. You would have thought we lost today 49-7, and this was the first win of the season.

Is it just that there's so many young fans/bandwagon jumpers? They don't know the history of LSU--that winning more than losing hasn't always been the norm, that the program sucked for most of the 90s and 80s, that it hasn't been too terribly long ago when we had to steal Vanderbilt's coach, that the Independence Bowl was cause for celebration just over a decade ago?

I know you're like me, you don't believe in p*ssing off the Sports Gods. When fans get to feeling entitled and too egotistical, that's when the Gods fight back, dishing out punishment (much worse than 8-5 seasons after a title). The way some of these idiots act is disgusting. It's only been 20 months since the last title, for crying out loud, enjoy it. Apparently Bill Simmons's "5-year Rule" is hogwash to some (Google it if you haven't read it, it's brilliant). And two titles in 4 years/5 seasons? We should be happy with a 2-10 season after the good fortune we've had this decade.

There's a reason nobody goes undefeated EVERY SINGLE YEAR; it's very, very, very hard to do, so stop acting like we're supposed to do it. Jeez, even the two title seasons this decade contained losses. Success comes in cycles-USC sucked for years before Carroll, Texas sucked for years before Mack, Florida's only been great under two coaches, etc. Stop acting like we're entitled to a 30-point win every single game. Enjoy the good, deal with the bad. Most teams (OU, Cal, Miami, Penn State, Ole Miss, etc.) would kill to be ranked as high as LSU will be on Monday, so enjoy it as long as we can. Yea, it could be a lot worse, but it isn't.

As far as today's game, yes, the offense blew except for the 3 or 4 deep passes that connected. But if we can do more of that again against Georgia's DBs, then that opens up the running game. And the defense was great for the most part, causing turnovers, making MSU's passing game MIA. Likewise for the special teams, save for the extra point after Peterson's TD. But like you said, a win's a win. Unfortunately, some people refuse to believe this simple fact.

Several ranked teams lost today. We almost did, but we found a way, so be thankful. Were we lucky at times (Chad Jones' 3rd down deflection)? Heck yes, but that beats the alternative. I personally think next week will be extremely tough, and my gut is leaning towards a close Georgia win, but I hope I'm wrong. Hopefully LSU can win going away. God forbid they win a close game, I don't think some people could handle that.

 

whoopity doo you wrote an email. want a cookie?

 

One thing I fail to understand. I have seen it is in lot of responses in the last 2/3 weeks. "Oh..we were so bad and these bandwagon fans are spoiled and they have no idea how things were to enjoy while it lasts, that we are lucky..blah blah". Yes, we were bad, well, very bad for lot of years but why does it have to mean that we have to always keep our standards/expectations lower and count our blessing each time we squeak a win. So we were bad but improved over the last few years. Is it time to raise the bar permanently? If we aim lower, we will always get lower results. Now although vice versa is not always true but that higher goal will keep you one your toes. Now lets kick some dogs next week.

BTW.. am glad I am not in 60s. I don't think I could take these kinds close games

 

damn, y'all. give dude a break. he does make some good points.

however, we're not a 3-8 team anymore, the standard should be higher and the team should be judged in a way that reflects that.

the major problem right now in the dissention of fans is the difference btwn now and the future.

the ultra positive fans see only now, see only a W is a W.

ultra negative fans see us going 4-8.

my question is, after yesterday, compare your thoughts this past off season when looking at the schedule you counted some games as auto wins, ark, miss st, and so on.

now looking at the rest of the schedule of games, if you're still counting games (besides tech and tulane) as auto wins, you may have your head in the sand.

there's a difference btwn improvement from game one to game two and what should be going on by now. but after 4 games, your team should more or less show what it's going do for the rest of the season.

you could argue that LSU looked better than this a year ago at this time before going 7-5.

my expectations this year were 9-3 based on chavis turning the D around and jefferson playing better than the qb play last year. another unspoken part of that was the running game. everyone thought with keiland and scott being seniors, a good running game would be a given. if anything this season should show the importance of a good o line as well as the quality of o line we've had throughout the 2000's.

however this year, the running game is failing and miles pretty much bases all offensive success around a running game especially with an inexperienced qb. that said, this team has scored over 30 pts in 3 of its 4 games.

yesterday however, the offense was aided by a def and spec teams TD. even though the miss st offense was aided by our own spec team mistake and a blown coverage.

most of the negativity comes in where these 1st four games are probably the easiest stretch of the sched. the tigers need to grow up quick in the next two weeks.

i am counting auto wins against tulane and tech and those wins will make us bowl eligible.

that may be very important later on.

call me what you want, since most fans either have adopted a "you're with us or against us" frame of mind and there is no gray area i'm sure to be lableled something.

last year after the auburn game, i thought LSU was a 9 win team.

i was wrong.

this year, right now, wins will be hard to come by in the rest of sec play.

i hope i'm wrong this time, but can only go by with what the tigers have shown so far against teams that may be fighting for winning records by the end of the season.

yes, i'm aware of other top teams losing, yes i'm aware that other teams aren't looking great winning.

i know the tigers will probably be ranked in the top 5 this week, and if you're happy with rankings in sept then good for you.

i simply want some of you to realize the rest of the road will not be gloom and doom nor will it be sunshine and roses.

realize there is a difference btwn those who raise concerns and those who want the coach fired.


the great variable will be expectations and the realization that there will in fact be other season besides this one.

thanks, TF, for my therapy this morning. :thumb:

 

I, for one, always try to stay positive regarding my Tigers. But I also temper that with a dose of realism.

If you actually wrote an email, in which you described our performance yesterday as "good," then I'm not sure you watch much football.

We couldn't run on Washington, Vandy, ULL, or MSU. Yes, we connected on a few long passes--thank goodness, but if you think connecting on 3 or 4 passes will open up our run against UGA, then I must respectfully disagree.

Our defense yesterday could put together a couple of nice stops, then would give up a huge big play. We don't pressure the QB, and when we do, we either run right past him (instead of the getting the sack) or pursue him all over the backfield only to have him connect on a TD pass or a huge 1st down play.

Our special teams scored a TD for us yesterday. Thank goodness--no matter how improbable because Jones probably shouldn't have fielded that punt, like he certainly shouldn't have fielded the next one, as it set up a field position nightmare for the rest of the 4th quarter (mainly because, well, we can't run the ball, though other teams can run ON us; therefore, we can't hold onto the ball and control the clock.)

But...special teams is the reason that more than unlikely goalline stand was necessary in the first place. We missed a PAT and a chip-shot FG. Unacceptable. Oh, and our deep snapper put one over our punter's head again, giving the Bulldogs a TD. On a side note, shouldn't Helton have kicked the ball out of the endzone or something when that happened? Two points being better than 7 (or 6 guaranteed, I guess, if one has our special teams.)

Those who know me on the board know that I'm usually very, very positive. So believe me I say that I'm positive we're a pretty bad football team that has been exposed every single game so far, only to have our talent be better than our competition's. The games where our talent is better comes to an end on Saturday. We'll see what happens then and the next week and against a much-improved AU and against Alabama and against OM.

 

So far this thread is in the lead for the award for "thread with most posts too damn long to read"

Congrats!

 

i'd like to thank my agent and my supporting cast and without them this award would have never been possible.

i almost put at the end of my post how that was my longest post ever here, but i thought that made it too long.

 

no need to jump on the thread starter. i can see where hes coming from.

our play was not good yesterday. HOWEVER, being one of those that lived through and watched the teams of the 80's and 90's i agree that there are some that dont realize we are not "entitled" to a nc every year. those kinds of delusions are for bama fans.

this morning, i was thinking about all of these things. how it used to be we were estatic just to go to a bowl game, and how now it is a let down when we dont go to a bcs bowl game. that we/i need to temper expectations with reality. thinking about how were supposed to beat moo u handily but barely won.

then i remembered something. the 07 kentucky game. a game we were supposed to win. a game that knocked us off our pedestal. but still only one game to the nc that year.

do i think we are on our way to the nc this year? no. i still think this team has growing and improving to do, but i am hoping this is the year that sets us up for that next year.

hell, now i dont remember where i was going with this. not enough sleep last night or espresso this morning. i guess just to say its not the end of the world. there are a few teams out there that probably should be unbeaten and arent. right now we are the ones a lot of others envy. even with what are some glaring problems.