I am really have a hard time understanding why so many of us are having to seemingly "defend the honor" of LSU lately. I know we all have a right to our opinions but I swear I didn't hear this much nega-tiger action when we really deserved it. 24-2 over the last two regular seasons. Best 5 year stretch ever. Already ranked #1 in most preseason (super early) polls. Projected by most "experts" to be favorites for the BSCNCG next year. Another Top 10 recruiting class and anyway you dice it we are no lower than that so chill. Already WAY AHEAD OF THE GAME on 2013 and 2014 recruiting. Great QB and excited (follow on twitter- they are pumped) WR corp ready to air it out next year. All of this...when we should be chomping at the bit to pull this new team out of the garage again in September 2012...and all I keep hearing is how we are headed down the drain. We had ONE BAD NIGHT. We manhandled the very best of the best last year...except for one friggin night. Where did all the diehard FANS go? Who the heck are you people and why the HECK are you posting on an LSU FAN forum? I find myself defending LSU more against "so called LSU fans" than I do against other team's fans. Something ain't right about that.
The perception of success has shifted over the past few decades. You are no longer building a legacy or even afforded the opportunity to establish a culture at a school anymore. You either provide instant positive returns or you're quickly being ushered out. Exit stage left. The thing is when you're successful to the level that LSU has been in the past decade you don't see the door. You get thrown off the stage. It isn't even that your record warrants such a knee-jerk or volatile reaction, that is just how society has matured and I use that term with much chagrin. If you do not provide instantaneous gratification then you are not deserving of whatever successes or recognition you actually have earned. If you do, well, you're proclaimed the greatest ever and the best in the game -- until the next major loss, of course. Then the whispers begin again only slightly louder that maybe it was all a mirage or a product of circumstance and not the result of effort and dedication. Anyone think Alabama's fanbase might be feeling different about Saban right now had he lost to Miles on January 9th? Third straight loss to the perceived 'lucky' buffoon of a coach and LSU on the heels of blowing a huge lead against Auburn at home the year before.. yikes. Imagine if Saban had lost to LSU and Auburn in consecutive years essentially enabling them to win the National Championship. That title he won for them just two years prior wouldn't support the weight his shoulders would bare. Instead, Saban won and people are praising him as one of the greatest ever and stating that Miles' team's incredible run was somehow an illusion or profoundly fortunate. It was luck! Missed field goals. Takeaways at key times. LSU wasn't really that good after all. Well, maybe LSU just got their asses handed to them by a team that was embarrassed in their own home -- a team with tremendous talent and pride and played with something LSU did not on January 9th -- a chip on their collective shoulder. We can argue all day about the state of the LSU program and its decline or demise, but that is simply not the case. This is certainly a disappointing time only because the heights of which the program reaches are truly for greatness. Anything less than that isn't good enough. Just try to keep things in perspective, though. The Tigers did just play for a crystal football and beat every single team they faced the first time they did so.. they weren't fighting for the crumbs falling off the grown-up's dinner table. The Tigers are the grown-ups, and they just happened to get knocked down by the only one as strong as they are. Something tells me come September they're not only going to get back up, but they'll come out swinging with something they sorely lacked. A nice chip on the shoulder with an axe to grind. Let's see who is left standing when all is said and done.
There is a cultural component. But there's also a financial one. The price of maintaining a top college athletics program is higher than it's ever been, which means fans are paying more than ever to support their teams, and coaches and universities are earning more than ever. College programs are now a big business, and the stakes of success and failure are huge for their bottom line. The larger the investment, the bigger the demands for a significant return, by fans and college administrators alike. In other words, Les is the CEO of the LSU Inc. widget company and we're all shareholders. This past season was the equivalent of the company making huge profits in the first 3 quarters of the year, and then falling flat on its azz during the holiday season when the company and CEO should be at peak performance.
What's astounding to me is how alot of you guys seem to think you are defending the honor of LSU, when the majority of the "nega tigers" as you put it, are merely just being critical of obvious flaws and weaknesses. The only person that frequents this board that is really negative and just ridiculous is Eliminator 55. No one else is calling for Miles to be fired, or saying he is the worst coach in the world, or that we need a new coach. It's a message board, and people are going to express concerns they have. At this point alot of you guys are acting like the big brother who goes to the school of his little sister to kick the ass of the boy who made her cry. But when you find out the real story, it's really your little sister's fault in the first place. Miles gets paid millions, no job is without criticism, much less his. Let's just argue our points, and keep it civil, and continue to support LSU no matter who is at the helm.
I temporarily quit coming to the forum for this reason. I don't know what the state of LSU football truly is at the moment but I am optimistic after the 90's. There are a lot of questions that have been asked but what you have to understand is the timeline and the way everything went down from the 9th on. I am not saying this is the case only pointing out the perception. You had an LSU team that didn't show up offensively for arguably the biggest game of its history against a Rival team and an Ex Ball coach. You had a head coach that did nothing to address the issue at hand to try and fix the offense or try something different. Hmmm, Gunter Keil decommits? May have been because of this game and the offense or the coaches decision to do nothing to change QB's or not? We may never know. We did lose some of the top talent this year, Davis going to Texas, Collins to Alabama. The class probably isn't as good as some expected. Right now things are a little down or seem that way. Doesn't mean that it truly is. It also seems to me every time CLM's has a good run and "seems" to turn the corner to really show folks he is a good ball coach he does something to make people scratch their heads. To some he is still in the shadow of Saban and the game on the 9th only adds to this. I realize some will disagree BUT I have tried to look at things a little bit out of the fanbase and away from the purple and gold perspective, out of the box. Maybe I am wrong, who knows here. I as an LSU fan though will never quite get over the game on the 9th, not that we lost but the way it all went down OR maybe I will after next season, who knows? I didn't play or participate so I haven't lost any sleep over it. I have avoided ESPN and all outlets, will continue to do so until football season starts. Its either avoid the football games next year or watch and hear about it. Too many questions and not enough answers about the way the season ended but I am optimistic and looking forward to next year. As negative as the program seems to be and what some people think it can be turned around in ONE year. I can't believe I just said that after a 13-1 season but I can't believe the way that last game panned out either.
Great original post and also Brian's and others. It's still a great era to be a Tiger fan and I'll always remember the 2011 season for both the highs and the low. As long as the majority of our fanbase stays positive and supports the coaching staff, the best should be yet to come. If we criticize every little thing possible and create false rumors nonstop, then we'll get what we deserve. That Sean Payton story of watching an LSU football game with overly rabid fans (a few years ago) comes to mind.
