ETSU Football in prose

From the Elizabethton Star comes another letter to the editor about East Tennessee State University cutting football.  Rather than a normal rant on why the administration has made a poor choice or why the students voted down the return of football, a local reader puts an interesting spin on his feelings.

 

    There is an administration we all know,

    Which a great athletic program they did blow.

    Under the guise of saving money,

    And aspiring to be a school of athletic honey,

    They, in all their wisdom made the call,

    Totally without logic, to drop football.

    Then as we all know,

    The so-con said, you must go.

    So after all was said and done,

    E.T.S.U. had no choice but to enter the Atlantic Sun.

    Now their athletic trips are far and wide,

    It’s the next thing to impossible for us to ride.

    You can follow their basketball to Hawaii for 1520,

    But only if you have money aplenty.

    I’m sure the A-Sun trips are of no worry,

    We can travel by plane and not have to hurry.

    Following the Bucs in the so-con wasn’t by chance,

    To follow our team in the A-Sun requires a re-finance.

    E.T.S.U. fathers have a 1 hundred million vision at best,

    One can only wonder if this they can digest.

    There is no money for football, and the students won’t pay,

    I wonder if the students would mind paying for the soccer the Bucs play.

    If losing money warrants giving athletic programs a toss,

    Then all programs must go, because everything left is a loss.

    Regardless of E.T.S.U. releases Buc fans, do not despair,

    There is a strong movement to restore football in the air.

    All Buc fans the writing is on the wall,

    Nothing brings pride and recognition to a college campus like football.

 

Richard L. Dykes

Elizabethton

Georgia Headlines

So it’s been awhile since I posted anything. I’ve been wrapped up with things for work. So for just a quick update today I thought I’d post some of the latest headlines involving my always favorite subject, the Georgia Bulldogs.

UGA’s Stafford just another hack on links

Bulldogs’ freshmen face their initiation

Cowboys impress Bulldogs safety

Recalling Munson’s most memorable calls

SEC kicks off its 75th season with Media Days

Oldest Living Dog has a Unique Tale

Travis Helgeson Advances At Pan American Games

And just for fun, I’m throwing in a Spurrier link. He’s well known for having great quotes and this one is full of them.

Spurrier at SEC Media Days

Sooners to forfeit 2005 season

Last August Oklahoma starting QB Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman JD Quinn were dismissed from the team after it was discovered that they had been paid for work they did not perform at a local car dealership. A walk-on player Jermaine Hardison was also paid for work at the dealership as well as for his participation in a scrimmage and the spring game.

The NCAA led an investigation and has declared that the Sooners “demonstrated a failure to monitor” the employment of several athletes, including some football players who worked during the school year. The NCAA said that failure led to the university not detecting NCAA rules violations.

The Sooners went 8-4 and beat Oregon in the Holiday Bowl to end the 2005 season. Records from that season involving quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn must be erased, the NCAA said, and coach Bob Stoops’ career record will be amended to reflect the erased wins, dropping it from 86-19 in eight seasons to 78-19.

Oklahoma challenged the investigation saying that the NCAA should commend the school’s actions to root out violations instead of investigating them.

The NCAA has ultimately decided that Oklahoma must erase its wins from the 2005 football season and will lose two scholarships for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years.

Oklahoma plans to appeal the ruling and has 15 days to inform the NCAA of any appeal.

Complete details of the story can be found here.

Being A Georgia Bulldog

Growing up a Georgia Bulldog hasn’t always been easy. But when you’re the daughter of not only two UGA alums but one also being a former linebacker on the 1968 SEC Championship team loving the Dawgs is just in your blood. 

During my grade school days I was relentlessly teased by my Tennessee Volunteer loving classmates. My one ally was a South Carolina Gamecock. The Ray Goff years from 1989-1995 were pretty bleak with the 1991 and 1992 seasons being the brightest. The Jim “Donnan of a New Era” wasn’t much better. Sure the Dawgs were over .500 every season but his first but the amount of talent he squandered is just painful to remember.

Then came Georgia’s current coach Mark Richt. A good man and a successful coach. I hesitate to use the word “good” because there has been a lot of talk about just how “good” he actually is. While Richt hasn’t experienced one losing season since coming to Athens there have been moments when Georgia fans have questioned his decision making and at times very predictable playcalling. Additionally, it seems every year there are a slew of players who are forced to miss the first several games due to stupid and usually alcohol related mistakes which while I’m sure it’s always happened it has seemed to have increased (or at least the Athens-Clarke County cops have gotten tougher).

In Richt’s tenure Georgia has been to the SEC title game three times and has been crowned the SEC champion twice. He’s led the Dawgs to a 4-2 bowl record, including wins in the Sugar Bowl, the Capital One Bowl, and the Outback Bowl.

Hoosier Football Coach Hoeppner dies at 59

In a bit of sad news today, Indiana University’s head football coach Terry Hoeppner passed away at the age of 59 due to complications from a brain tumor.

IU’s Athletic Director Rick Greenspan said, “Terry’s fight was courageous and will serve as an inspiration to those who have known him. This is a truly sad day for our community and all of our thoughts and prayers are with the Hoeppner family and to those whose lives he has touched.”

This story is especially tragic because Hoeppner had IU on the rise. In his first season, Hoeppner, a lifelong Hoosier fan, used his love of Hoosier Athletics to help increase the per-game attendance by 39 percent, the overall season ticket sales by 46 percent, and an astounding 110 percent increase in student ticket sales. He established new traditions at the university, calling the stadium “The Rock” because of it’s limestone construction and even had a large limestone remnant from the original construction placed near the north end zone. He added “The Walk”, where the football players march into the stadium surrounded by the marching band and thousands of fans.

In 2006, his second season with the team, Hoeppner led the Hoosiers to three victories in the Big 10, a first since 2001. These wins included a win over No. 13 Iowa, Illinois and Michigan State. The victory over Iowa was the first victory over a Top 15 program since 1987 and the victory over Illinois came on the road, the first since 2001. IU’s win over Michigan State, a dominating 46-21 victory came on Homecoming and they brought the Old Brass Spittoon back to Bloomington for the first time since 2001.

Hoeppner is survived by his wife, Jane, his three children – Drew, Amy (Steve) Fox and Allison (Drew) Balcam – and his four grandchildren – Tucker and Spencer Fox and Tate and Quinn Balcam.