BigEastBeasts

Not necessarily true. Loose comparison but we haven't been getting it done offensively in football, but its a select few who are making excuses for good ole Rod. The majority of people are more than willing to go over to his house, help him pack his bags and drop him off at TIA with a plane ticket to Buffalo (or anywhere else but here) in hand. And just to retread the question that has been asked over and over, who do you replace him with that we can afford? Also, what do you get out of firing him in the middle of the season? In my opinion you do that now and you just make things worse rather than better.

Thanks guys. Just trying to throw some greater perspective out there cause it always seems like we turn these discussions into personal attacks when we don't see eye to eye with someone else. Obviously we're all passionate about the Bulls or else we wouldn't be here having these discussions, but sometimes we get so fired up we can tend to lose perspective and the posts end up becoming Hatfield v. McCoy level arguments. In response to Herm, I say we weather the storm this year and start over next year. Let Mac show us what he can do with a full bench playing like these kids are this season. Granted not having a full bench falls partly on Mac for dismissing players, but you have to trust that he had the betterment of the program in mind. If there is a problem with a kid and he doesn't feel that they will fit into the program for one reason or another, that would show on the floor and I think we end up in the same boat anyways. There were also things that fall outside of his control that you can't do anything about but fight through them and do what you can. If we were able to go 8 or 9 deep on our bench, I think we already have 3 or 4 conference victories, but between fatigue and foul trouble we just can't hold up down the stretch. One thing I would like to see, full bench or not, is being a little bit stronger offensively inside the paint. Watching the Nova game in particular, it seemed like we were getting a lot of shots blocked because we weren't going up storng on lay-up attempts and rebound putbacks.

Everyone is dissapointed with how this season has gone and the way we are being looked at on the national scene at this point in time, but if you search within yourself, what more (or less) did you expect? We all know that we accepted the Big East bid because it was a step in the right direction for all of our athletic programs in the long run, but the reason we got the invite and the primary reason we made the move was football. If we don't have a football team we're not talking about the Big East right now. Nobody expected us to have a chance in the BE this year basketball wise. In fact, there we many who were figuring us to gt blown out every game (avg. margin of defeat is 7.5 points, in conference games). The fact of the matter is we have a team that actually competes and leave their hearts and souls out on the floor every night. Obviously losing is not acceptable and no one wants to accept mediocrity on a grand level, but personally I am not at all surprised, nor am I overly upset about where we are right now. I would much rather see this group of kids doing what they're doing versus watching the fundamentally unsound street ball team that continuously underachieved given the greater talent and folded up the tents in big games that we were treated to with the previous regime. I'm not here to make excuses for Mac, or to trying to tell anyone else how they should feel about our performance this year, but every basketball discussion basically seems to boil down to 2 sides: The people who are looking for W's and nothing else want Mac gone. The people who are able to pull some form of bright spots from this bleak season are willing to give him at least another season. I fall into the latter category.

Now we're throwing at our own guys in an intra-squad game, Fire Cardieri!!! ;D In all seriousness, best wishes to Matt on a speedy recovery

This post has given me a great idea: Once a month, the bullspen.com presents: Fight a board member night Whenever there is beef between board members that escalates to personal attacks, we put together a card. $10 admission and all proceeds go to USF athletics. Winners are then allowed their choice of coaching the men's BB team for a night, being offensive coordinator for an upcoming FB game of their choice, pick 5 players and recruit them in their sport of choice or AD for a day this way they can fire and hire whomever they wish.

Is there a serum out there that can make people care? If not you're going to be traveling a tough road on this one. The problem is that the majority just don't care. Its gotten better over the past couple of years, but if the opponent isn't ranked or named UCF, they're not gonna show. Those that do are there to tailgate and treat it as a social event versus actually care about the game itself.

Just to throw in my 2 cents, I enjoy the Bull Ring and will continue to frequent and support it. Had a great time yesterday and enjoyed meeting a couple of board members I didn't have the pleasure of meeting in Charlotte. This was my second time there and I've enjoyed the food both times I was there, as it is above average for "bar food" and reasonably priced. The "talent" behind the bar yesterday was also very much apreciated. We have to think that we are dealing with a place that has been open for about 2 months. I'm sure it is still in the building stages as far as getting memoribilia and such in there. I'm just grateful that someone actually took the chance and opportunity to put something out there that wants to cater to USF fans. Beef O' Bradys is a great place, but there is such a diverse group of fans there that there is no we we could call it "our" bar. Obviously everyone is going to for their own opinions and have their reasoning for it, but I think it only fair to give this place a chance and show a bit of appreciation for what they are attempting to do, and who they are attempting to cater to, which is US. Also, we must keep in mind that it has never been self-described as a USF bar, but rather a sports bar with a USF theme. That being said, they do already have more USF memoribilia and advertisement than any other establishment I've been to in the area and from what I've heard they're working on getting more. The only suggestion I could make if you are dissapointed with the amount of USF items there, is go and speak to the owner(s). Both times I have been there they have been right out on the floor and easily accessable to talk to. Also, if you have some USF items sitting around the house that you're not using or going to use, offer it as a donation to be used to decorate the place. If you take pics at games and have some good action shots, offer them up to be blown up and hung up around the place.

From the breakdowns and what CJL had to say last night, it appears that we brought in size and speed where necessary. The WRs, LBs and O and D linemen all appear to be able to bring things to the table that we need in thos positions. As for playmakers in the offensive backfield, i think we already have them in Ponton, Simpson and Plancher (from what coach says). They're all young, so it will give the recruits we bring in at these positions time to grow and develop. QB will be interesting. CJL mentioned bringing in both Allen and Lee with the promise to be able to compete for spots at QB, but with bringing in 2 more "athletes" at QB (on top of Denson and C. Hill coming in last year), it will be interesting to see if they get redshirted or displaced to another position if they fall behind in the QB competition (ala Denson getting moved and C. Hill starting off at receiver to get the playing time/game experience) On a side note, Allen also had some impressive basketball stats on his resume. Coach Mac, let these kids play (Allen and Amarri), as long as you can promise they won't get hurt, since you have control over that and all

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=508287 Rivals Big East breakdown............has us 6th in conference and 58th nationally

I think this past season was just an up and down year for the BE. Pitt didn't live up to the hype, Syracuse and Cincy are rebuilding, Rutgers and USF "came out of nowhere" to exceed expectations and get to bowl games, we really threw a monkey wrench into L'ville's season when we thrashed them and WVU proved themselves to be the cream of the crop. I really feel that the next 2 to 3 years will be a different story for the BE and there will be more bowl eligible teams than there are BE bowls, which isn't a bad thing for the conference. To say WVU took advantage of a weak BE isn't very fair, as they won their Bowl game over  the SEC Champion (which is supposed to be such a superior conference) and I feel they would have beaten Va Tech if they played them later in the year. As for you Mtneer, you guys already have Slayton and White, I propose a 2 year recruiting ban on you guys so everyone else can have a chance ÂÂ

I think we're the only 2 people who actually pay attention to TJ Reaves, and that includes the radio listening audience

You beat me to the punch, but I liked my explaination a lot better

Shoop is the President of the Steve Duemig "You live in Tampa you should root for Tampa teams or go back to where you came from" party

I do, usually at least once a year to see family and partake in the greatness that is New Jersey ;D However, I always have to come back so I can torture you with my unwavering support for the Jets, Devils and Mets and utter distain for the Lightning and Bucs. On a side note, after going to the Rays caravan luncheon today, I think I might have to throw some support behind those boys this year. Very impressed with the new regeme and Joe Maddon seems like he is a great manager for the young talent the Rays have. Besides, I'll jump at any chance to root against the Yankees.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/conference?confId=10&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fconference%3fconfId%3d10 Just found this on espn.com, it shows recruits who have given either a verbal committment or actually signed. It shows that it was updated today, so hopefully they will be keeping a running update on it. Hope this helps.

i'm very well aware that there are tons more people who didn't make it in this position, but i'm trying to put a positive spin on things (since every complains that the boards are filled with negativity lately). Being drafted in the 3rd or 4th round isn't necessarily going to be a career killer, and between Andre's athletic ability and the fact that he's got a good head on his shoulders, I have full confidence that he will make it.

"Come watch the game here or Ron Mexico will come to your house and pass his 'love' on to you" and watch out if he recruits the younger Mexico to join his cause, or else you'll get stomped on in the process

tribune also listed the sports animal (620am), but that'll be on tape delay because of the lightning game

I agree with you 100% Bloom. I could care less about it being an Eagles Fan Club place. If I owned a restaurant and someone approached me and said "Hey, can we advertise you as our 'Official ______ Fan Club Bar'" and they said that they would have 40, 50+ people in per game I'd say hell yes. Just like you said, its a business and if its going to bring in money then go for it. We just need to make sure that ALL Bulls realize what the proprietors of this establishment are trying to do for us and give them our unrelented support. All football season I read about the great times everyone had watching games at Capognia's over there in Pinellas and I think we need to do the same thing with the Bull Ring over here in Hillsborough. Like I said, if we don't throw our support behind this place, it will start to get over-run with fans of other teams, then everyone will be complaining that we don't have any place to watch a game with other Bulls fans. Lets show up tomorrow night and let them see right now that the Bulls are as excited about the Bull Ring as they are about the Bulls. Shoop and I were making our plans earlier to be in attendance. Hope to see everyone there!!!

I don't think people are trying to come down on the Bull Ring for this. I think the animosity is more directed towards the fact that its an Eagles Fan Club. Everyone on here goes on and on ad naseum about supporting the home team and why people support UF and FSU and Miami when USF is right here, but now we see that a group of Philly fans is taking over "Our" bar. I take the same stance as Joe. The Eagles (and NFL in general) are a different entity entirely from the Bulls (football and otherwise). What we need to do is start packing this place on a regular basis with USF supporters (whether it be for road games, after games, just to stop in, etc.) and thank these people for giving us this outlet. The Eagles are good for 16 - 19 Sundays a year, but if we don't support "Our" bar year-round, we'll be right back to complaining that there is no place for us to go and watch the Bulls and to call our own.

I don't know the ins and outs of the rules, but from reading this article it seems there could be some possible recruiting violations in there. Right before the NC game, they were trying to bring accusations against USC because the kids were taken to eat at a restaurant owned by an alum and according to NCAA rules recruits have to be treated to a normal campus experience and cannot be brought into contact with alumni who attempt to sway their decision making (or something to that effect). Dinner at a restaurant consisting of shrimp, pasta, prime rib and ribeyes and lunch at the home of a doctor and alum who told him what he did sounds like it moves right along those same lines of what USC was being accused of.

I wouldn't worry about Andre. If he goes where he is projected (3rd or 4th round) he would join some of these current NFLers who were selected in the same rounds: - Curtis Martin (Future Hall of Famer) 3rd Round - Rudi Johnson (Cincinnatti starter) 4th round - Ahman Green (Green Bay starter until hampered by injuries) 3rd Round - Domanick Davis (Houston starter until April draft) 4th Round - Stephen Davis (Washington and Carolina starter, also hampered by injuries) 4th round - Ryan Moats (Showed some flashes when he got his chance with Philly this season) 3rd round Also: - Priest Holmes  Undrafted free agent - Willie Parker  Undrafter free agent 2 carries in the Senior Bowl isn't going to hurt. Scouts have more than enough game film on him from 2 years at USF. At the Senior Bowl they're looking for how you stack up against the talent around you and how you perform/work when you get your reps in practice. Lets just hope that Andre lands with a team where he'll get a chance to perform and prosper as the guys listed above have. I definately expect to see him at least returning some kicks next year, if not getting some spot duty with whoever drafts him. Depending on how the backs get drafted and where particular teams rank their needs, someone may even "reach" and draft him mid to late 2nd round. Who knows, stranger things have happened

http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGBXY94P3JE.html This one talks about the ins and outs of National Letters of Intent http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGB40USP3JE.html This one is about Katie Ruhe, a USF Alum who is now on the Big Break V on the Golf Channel. She is also quite the looker ;D

Its a good thing we'll be able to watch this game on tv :

Point one, agree totally. Cheesesteak was awesome, but it wasn't really that busy to have to wait as long as we did for beverage refills. On points two and three. I was looking online to find their contact information to see if they had my lost wallet, and the only place I found their phone number was on an Eagles fan club website that listed the Bull Ring as the official Eagles fan watch location for football season. Unfortunately, this is something we'll have to deal with for now because they know that Eagles fans will pack the place and bring in some money. We need to show them that we will pack the place for USF events on a consistant basis, starting with this event. As for the Bulls stuff, give it time. They just opened and have more Bulls stuff than any other establishment in the area. I like the merchandise section in the front. Lets just hope that over time they are able to get some donations or old equipment from the athletic dept to keep the decorating going. And on your final note, yes, you are nitpicking, like you always do.