Color me exasperated
by DC Trojan on Nov 30, 2009 6:31 AM PST
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I'm not going to lie for a second here: I was laughing when Williams shot into the endzone Saturday night. But even at the time it looked like a jackass call, and I doubt it will prove to be worth anything except for tweaking Neuheisel. And in the grand scheme of things, it is symptomatic of a season that has left me more exasperated than anything else with this program.
Put it another way, what did we get out of that touchdown? It didn't change the poor play on offense, where until the last drive the big gains looked like they came from Damian Williams and "USC bounce" on punts. It didn't change the fact that the defense was showing signs of life but racking up penalties like they were 50% off and going fast. Or, indeed, that the defense was killing the Bruins on trick plays but getting bamboozled by the basics.
What it did achieve was giving the players a chance to jump around on the sideline like they had just won the Rose Bowl in a thrilling 35 point come-from-behind effort... as opposed to having snuck in a quick dick-punch to a team they'd already consigned to a .500 record and the possibility of being bowl-eligible but eventually bowl-less.
It didn't exactly bolster any moral high ground about Harbaugh going for two, either. (At least Carroll had said, repeatedly, after the Stanford game that Stanford was free to do what they wanted and it was on SC to stop them.)
Generally speaking I try to not be a finger-wagging moralist about college football. As long as the team is staying out of trouble off the field, that's enough for me in the world of pretense and hypocrisy of college football. However, if you're going to run a team on phrases like "always compete" and "no excuses," then it seems to me that you should be able to recognize when you've just put an unnecessary touchdown on a mediocre team, and that maybe a bunch of woofing and taunting just shows that you're not that good either. Time was, just leaving the starters in the game was enough to run up the score - and in a socially sanctioned fashion.
Again, don't get me wrong: if Neuheisel wanted to extend the game, then the Bruins probably should have been paying more attention on defense. And it was the Bruins who lost their shit and charged across the field, so they get no sympathy points for getting their feelings hurt. This isn't really about the end of the game - it's a question of whether anyone even recognizes that the team fixed one problem for one game.
It didn't seem like this minor detail had escaped anyone's notice last Saturday night who was watching the game and posting here, nor of friends of mine who were watching the game offline. I am exasperated about having to ask if any of the game's participants in Cardinal and Gold grasped that same thing, and of seeing them substitute piddly shit for actual progress.
I'm in for next week against Arizona, but I'm damned if I can work out what this team is likely to do or even is capable of doing.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Conquest Chronicles' writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Conquest Chronicles' writers or editors.
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Very well said
This is perhaps the most level-headed, rational, and objective take on the whole “incident” I’ve read so far.
For the most part, the SC fans have been blindly defending (with some glee) the play, and the taunting afterwards. While for the most part the Ucla fans have been defending Neuheisel’s TO and demonizing Carroll and SC. The fact is this was just pretty embarrassing on both ends. Carroll extended the olive branch with the first knee, which Neu slapped away. From there … well you nearly get a full-scale riot.
It’s too bad because there is more than enough shame to go around in both programs and general fan bases.
Whose Axe?
OUR AXE!
It's Monday it is all over time to get ready for Arizona
My Uclas 2nd rate Fb program rest in peace.
28---7 2nd & 11 Barkley to Williams, so please Bru-Babes call time out again.
by so.cal.native1952 on Nov 30, 2009 9:15 AM PST reply actions
The touchdown
was a big middle finger to the bruins.
The touchdown was for the monopoly ad. The touchdown was for all the trash talk earlier this season. Rick has been talking up a storm on how he was going to beat Pete, so Pete flipped him off in the form of a touchdown.
by frak on Nov 30, 2009 9:23 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
And you know the funny thing is that it could only happen if Slick takes TO.
Otherwise it’s just another game in a 12 game schedule, I love the fact that PC got Ricky for all the smack he was talking. Yah he was talking to anybody and nobody who would listen. Hell he is probably addressing the crowd at the coliseum right now.
28---7 2nd & 11 Barkley to Williams, so please Bru-Babes call time out again.
by so.cal.native1952 on Nov 30, 2009 9:30 AM PST up reply actions
And that’s fine – if it’s a message, it’s less messy than a horse’s head in Rick Neuheisel’s bed. Because I’m a joyless bastard, I just don’t want to lose sight of the preceding 59 minutes and change.
Agreed
that it was ugly. The season is disappointing to say the least, but the bright spots were the defeats of our traditional rivals. ND went down, and ucla went down.
We have a winning season, and if we beat Arizona, a good season by rebuilding standards.
I always tell people that I can cope with a 2 – 10 season as long as the 2 wins are UCLA and Notre Dame. So yes, from that standpoint, mission accomplished. And as rebuilding seasons go, it’s not bad even if SC loses to Arizona. Lord knows any old bowl will provide time for some much needed practice.
Yes, yes, yes
We were more than happy to see the whole sorry affair end; so when our offense came out in a Victory Formation we started walking down towards the tunnel. We couldn’t believe that punk-ass Weasel was calling a timeout just to be annoying. He deserved the big middle finger just for keeping everyone there an extra 10 minutes until the smoke cleared out of the crater. Pathetic…
¡Fusílenlo, después veriguamos! - Pancho Villa
by Locoweed 1.1 on Nov 30, 2009 11:45 AM PST up reply actions
Look, I'm sorry but...
I gotta disagree with you DC Trojan. If CRN didn’t call that timeout, none of this would of happened. He got us fired up b/c that was disrespect on his part to call that timeout. He knows he couldn’t of won and yet, he wanted to “show” that they play all 60 minutes. Well Rick, we did too and we got the best of you. Afterwards, the taunting was a bit much but that’s what you get in a rivalry game. Hell, UCLA was way past their side of their field. If our coaches were as lackadaisical, there would of been several fights breaking out.
FUCLA and fuck the Bruins Nation blog. I went there and commented ONCE and didn’t curse or anything and they banned me haha. I think a couple crybabies might be running that site. :)
Haha, you did make good points and I do agree with some of them. The taunting was a bit much. After going to Bruins Nation blog and being banned twice, it’s nice to see a blog that allows people to express their opinion. I swear I thought I was living in North Korea while I was visiting Bruins Nation. Just all propaganda, it’s pretty sad.
by FozzyTheGamer on Nov 30, 2009 10:17 AM PST up reply actions
not really "their"
unfortunately, the whole site appears to be a power-trip for one person. Sometimes there are some interesting things, but mostly it appears to be one person producing a slew of propoganda and then endlessly extolling those views which agree with his own and lambasting those which do not. This is made amusing, however, by that person’s inability to write. Hooray humor!
by balancedbruin on Dec 1, 2009 4:36 AM PST up reply actions
I’ve always assumed that there is an editor-in-chief and a slate of go-to writers, but to be honest after an immature outburst on my part a while back, I’ve not been perusing their blog particularly.
you're assumptions are mostly correct
I do not have my own sports-whatever blog (part of this network), and therefore can’t comment completely on the structure involved. However, you are correct in terms of the “slate of go-to writers.” I think there is a handful of moderators or admins (or whatever they are) that are in that slate or part of the “inner-circle” or whatever it is you’d like to call it. There are also occassional contributions from other members that get posted onto the main feed. I have only ever really found issue with one of these writers (the main one, whether editor-in-chief or not), though. As aforementioned, his posts are basically propoganda and I have perused them for the articles that are linked to in other media outlets and also for some amusement.
The psychology or socialogy of this would be something that’s very inetersting to pursue, but this is not really the forum for that (you are the enemy, after all). In any case, don’t take the 5 or so people doing 95% of the posts on BN as a true reflection of ucla fans. In fact, it may be hazardous to take the comments by the rest of the members as said reflection as well now that dissenting opinions are banned from the site.
Cheers
by balancedbruin on Dec 1, 2009 1:17 PM PST up reply actions
Don't worry about this
In any case, don’t take the 5 or so people doing 95% of the posts on BN as a true reflection of ucla fans.
I don’t think there’s any risk of that.
The inappropriate celebration has been a problem all season
Remember Brown’s celebration on the play just before UW kicked the winning field goal? This felt less egregious than that (in no small part because it came in an actual win), but it was on a very large scale.
On the other hand, though, the play sealed a win in a rivalry game. The line between celebration and taunting is at least bit less clear. As fans, we recognize where this season hasn’t lived up to what we expected and what we’ve seen in the past. The kids on the team, though, don’t have the same long view. For some of them (including our starting quarterback), this is their first season with the team, and for others, it’s their last. Hard to expect them to be introspective at that moment.
Pete’s celebration is an entirely different matter, but was probably at least unsurprising to most observers.
You know what, that’s a fair point about the players taking the short view. They’ve also been taking a rhetorical beating to go with the on-field let-downs, so perhaps this is a catharsis issue with them.
The nominal grown-ups on the field should be a little better able to deal, though.
at least we were able to contain our team on our side of the field. Imagine if we were as lackadaisical as the Bruins coaches. There would of been a couple fights for sure
by FozzyTheGamer on Nov 30, 2009 10:12 AM PST up reply actions
I was more annoyed with how our kids acted
than with the actual call to throw the ball. Number #91 on our side was doing an obscene amount of taunting after wards. Even Barkley was getting into it.
[DELETED ZOMG NO POLITICS]
Agreed - to some extent
Our kids acted like dumbass young college athletes – which they essentially are. (Any college aged male is a dumbass to a certain degree. I know I was at that age.) They were definitely taunting and being over exhuberant.
The Bruins were worse though in the coming halfway across the field ignoring the coaches and referees trying to hold them back. You want to claim the moral highground, then stay on your sideline and let the press show pictures of USC players looking like arrogant a-holes. Instead, we have pictures of the field littered with blue jerseys and a referee falling over trying to hold them back.
Just not that big of a deal
I honestly think everyone is making way too big of a deal out of this. One coach called a timeout, and another called a play. I would think both continue to be amazed at the complex thought process that the media and blogs inject into these relatively quick and simple decisions.
Thats why I love USC
I loved what Pete Carrol did and I’m not even a fan of USC. I thought it was hilarious and that’s why USC is awesome, they are the new “U” except for the part about USC being a bunch of thugs. Anybody that calls USC a bunch of thugs is just misinformed and dumb. Poor sports and trash talkers? Yeah. But criminals? No. I don’t really remember reading anything about USC players getting arrested or in trouble like Texas, Florida or Tennessee. You either love ‘em or hate ’em. I love USC and the fact is UCLA will always be USC’s little brother.
My favorite part was going and reading the Bruin blog. It was hilarious and they said stuff “this will actually help us” or “thanks Cheatey Carrol for motivating our fan base and rallying us together.” Typical loser talk of a mediocre program and if you need a team to run up the score on you and talk trash to motivate you are playing football for all the wrong reasons. UCLA is a joke and just doesn’t care about football, they are the Virginia of the west coast.
Listen to this and this just replace Virginia with UCLA. While UCLA is certainly better than Virginia it is still similar. Their fan base is a bunch of arrogant elitist pricks who make fun of other school’s academics and campus and think they are better then everybody.
There was a firefight!!!!
Its funny
I remember a ucla football player being charged with multiple counts of sexual battery, and a ucla basketball player is currently in trouble for assault. The same basketball player was involved in allegations last year that he assauted his girlfriend.
I guess getting too loud in the Hamptons makes USC a bunch of thugs to some people.
The star linebacker of your team...
Punching a guy in the face at a party, and proclaiming that he owns the police while being arrested is hardly being a model citizen.
I’m not saying that UCLA is perfect, hell I can name you 3 guys off the top of my head that have screwed up monumentally (DeShaun Foster, Justin Medlock, Dragovich). The whole “thug” argument is ridiculous, and I hate when it gets brought up because every team has their problem children.
I can name more than 3 off the top of my head
but your concession that all teams have these types of issues makes it not necessary to name them. It’s true that ucla has had a cleaner record since Pete Carroll took over, but its also true that the BN laundry list is quite a joke to say the least.
True, but a lot of people were willing to extend some understanding because his father was dying at the time, and he got himself sorted out. They seem pretty happy to have him in Cincinnati and the fans there are understandably short of patience with “troubled” players.
Chris Rock said it best...
It’s stupid to brag about things you’re SUPPOSE to do in the first place. As for Rey, he definitely seems to be in a better place emotionally than he was that night.
I went to the USC – VA game last year in Charlottesville. Aside from some 18 year old trying to talk shit at us for not wearing ties (apparently he’d arrived straight from 1962) it was a pretty low-key fanbase…. many of whom bailed to restart their tailgates during the third quarter. They do have the reputation of being a tad arrogant up around the DC area – sort of like a public equivalent to Stanford but with some real history behind the campus.
They wear suits to games
That’s all you need to know about UVA and their fan base.
There was a firefight!!!!
by ThePhenomenon on Nov 30, 2009 4:18 PM PST up reply actions
Don't knock the suits to games tradition
As DC mentioned, it comes with a very nice bonus: girls in sundresses. Plenty of schools in the South with far more successful track records than Virginia whose frat boys wear suits to the game (read: pretty much everyone in the SEC).
I'm just glad to have someone like you, comment on our blog!
It’s true. I am. (no sarcasm, no funny-business)
Thank you for your kind words and assessments. It doesn’t happen “every day” that a person, from your kinda faraway- gives us a sincerely cool-ass shout! You’re alright people ThePhenomenon, I am way liking your show.
I really have nothing else to add, because I don’t know much about Virginia other than there is some ridiculous hunting goin’ on out there. Supposed to be a hunter’s paradise?
Myself? I’m a NorCal transplant and believe, you- Me! I didn’t have the slightest idea of the type of rivalry that exists between USC and Ucla. It’s practically “cute”, you know? But sometimes, you come across major shitbags who fail miserably at developing a sound relationship with their conscience. Trojans and Bruins alike. See it in both camps. But. . . . . .trust me on this: The Bruin will prove this point to each and everyone that will care to listen, the Trojan-kind? Well, they’re quite comfortable talkin’ shit in the company of like-minded peeps. It’s a “culture” and “sensibility” type-thing. And not entirely all-that complicated.
But, I’m “feelin you” you on Virginia.
Welcome to Conquest Chronicles! (if you haven’t been welcomed yet?)
"As for being a Raiders fan, I wouldn't wish that fucking shit on anybody." [the venerable OTS at Roll Bama Roll}
by BixBeiderbecke on Nov 30, 2009 4:04 PM PST up reply actions
I'm sorry, what?
The comparison between Virginia and UCLA is laughable, at best. Virginia has always been an awful football school – they have a grand total of one conference championship – in 1908! – and their best bowl in their entire history is either the Citrus Bowl or the Gator Bowl, take your pick (roughly equivalent to the Sun Bowl and Emerald Bowl for the Pac-10). Virginia has never reached the equivalent of a BCS bowl – ever.
They’ve never had back-to-back 10 win seasons (and have only won 10 games once – in 1989), and have finished defeated (as in ‘no wins’) in back-to-back years in 1959 and 1960.
By contrast, UCLA has won their conference and played in the Rose Bowl 12 times, has won 10 games or more 7 times, and been to nearly twice as many bowl games as Virginia.
If you want an analagous reference, UCLA’s a lot more like Georgia Tech than Virginia. Georgia Tech’s got 11 conference championships, 10 appearances in what are today BCS Bowl games, and 10 or more wins in 8 years (including this year). If Georgia Tech wins the ACC this weekend, they’ll have 12 conference championships.
Somewhere there's a very old fan of both the Cubs and the Cavaliers
And he or she is very, very sad.
Here is what I think about the USC vs fucla game. I think the best team came out on top. On the last TD I still think its slick Rick’s fault if he doesn’t call a time out then Pete doesn’t call for the play action bomb and all that BS about slick Rick trying to send a message to his team about playing till the end is garbage the game was over Pete wanted to take the high road and run the clock out but slick Rick was saying no its not over well then if its not over what do you expect for USC to do run a running play when they are stacking the box. As far as the celebration USC always does that jumping up and down all the time nothing new there everyone from fucla is bitching about the players disrespecting them by celebrating and jumping up and down that’s BS your players where the ones talking all week about how they where going to beat USC and how they where going to punch us and punch us even if we where on the floor. We I think fucla was down from our punches and we gave them one more punch so they won’t forget us. And as far as next year and years to come fucla is and will continue to be Pete’s bitch.
by Dodgermanramon on Nov 30, 2009 2:48 PM PST via mobile reply actions
I don't think
anyone would want to claim that any team was the ‘best team’ after that night. That was probably one of the ugliest games I’ve ever watched in my entire life. My girlfriend got so bored -she literally started to read on her iPhone about mid-way through the 3rd quarter (and she’s normally one to watch a whole game, know when holding is called, etc.)
It was just an awful, awful game.
The whole ‘running up the score’ bit is a bit overblown, but IMHO, Carroll brought this on himself with the whole “What’s you deal?” thing with Harbaugh just the game before. I don’t think so many people would be so indignant about it if it weren’t for that. It was UCLA’s responsibility to stop the play following Neuheisel’s timeout, and they didn’t stop it. That said, the indignation of USC fans about calling the timeouts is completely asinine. Every coach in that situation with the full complement of timeouts calls them. Every. Single. One. I was actually just kinda’ surprised that Carroll didn’t call at least a run on the first play to pick up some yardage because he had to have known that Neuheisel had all of his timeouts and was going to use them.
What I do take some umbrage with (and completely agree with DC on), is that Carroll’s move seemed to be more of a cover for the pathetic offensive performance than anything else. He could leave the field woffing with his players that they won 28-7, which masked an otherwise atrocious game by both teams. His jumping up and down like a 19 year old certianly didn’t do himself any favors, and that exact sort of ‘competing’ is what got his behind chucked out of New England faster than an old Yankees shirt. People get real tired of the petulance real quick if you’re not winning.
The highlight of the day for me was tailgating with a whole bunch of friends from Marshall and getting a Miller Lite in the stadium from one of the SC guys I was sitting next to – both of whom were as bored during the game as I was. Just an absolutely horrible game to watch.
its never a boring when USC is beating fucla or ND. You are just saying that because USC won the game if fucla would have won everyone would be saying what a great game by the gutty fruins
by Dodgermanramon on Nov 30, 2009 4:33 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Well I was just watching PTI on espn and both Wilbon and Tony C agreed that the Weasel started it.
Wilbon went on to say that with all the talking and ADs Neu has done he deserved what he got, then he said I wish PC would have done a on side kick too.
28---7 2nd & 11 Barkley to Williams, so please Bru-Babes call time out again.
by so.cal.native1952 on Nov 30, 2009 3:17 PM PST reply actions
I am LOVING this thread, DC!
Good comments guys!
For me, as far as the whole “time-out” / “stay-ahead touchdown” polemic is concerned- if anyone with a working synapse can understand that, when you play football, you play football on the field (our team was just a hair better, or luckier? whatever blows yer skirt up?)- and in knowing that, why get your panties in a bunch over the fact that: when your coach does some strategize-ing with barely minutes left on the game clock?- and by golly! if his coaching decisions help your team tie or win the game? he’s a hero! and damn straight “Good on him” if it happens? But then, in actuality- the opposing coach makes adjustments to counter the strategizer and HITS THE JACKPOT- DON’T BE TRIPPIN’ on sanctimony and PUH-LEASE don’t allow yourself to have a “morality attack”. It’s kinda unnecessary.
Now I’m not saying anyone here (be it CC-faithful, or otherwise) is trippin’ or buggin’ out. I’m just stating my peace on the matter.
I have enjoyed both Bruin and Trojan views on this subject. Now, can we move on?
"As for being a Raiders fan, I wouldn't wish that fucking shit on anybody." [the venerable OTS at Roll Bama Roll}
Seconded...
I think it’s been talked to death in the past 2 days. Then again it’s not like I have a bowl game, or a basketball season to look forward to so…….
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