jd77

Did we finally get his LOI? :-/

Interesting topic. My take.  If you are talking about your school's team then "we" is appropriate. If you never attended the school, taught at the school, don't donate to the athletic program, then you may be a fan, but you are not authorized to use the word "we" when referring to the teams. Pro teams, I don't like the term "we" but I even slip up and use it sometimes.  I would say probably no to "we" with pro teams.  Unless you feel like me and the home teams are an extension of the city you "LIVE" in and that they represent your community...then we is probably ok. i.e. in Tampa Bay you can use "we" when referring to the Buccaneers, Lightning, Devil Rays, and Storm. If you are supporting an out of market team...I.E. the Yankees or Red Sox and living in Tampa Bay, then Hell no you can't use the term "we."  You give up that right when you chose to leave that other city. If you've never lived in that city then you are a bandwagon fan with no civic pride and should have your ability to watch sports revoked.

Can someone tell me where this low income garbage comes from when talking about the Tampa Bay area. My wife works for one of the largest banks in the country and the Tampa Bay area ranks very high for overall wealth and amount on deposit. It actually ranks #1 in the southeast market. They have more wealth strategists working with clients in the Bay Area than any other market in the southeast. 2ndly, maybe its because I live in the New Tampa area, but there are a lot of pretty wealthy and upper middle class all over the place. South Tampa is very wealthy. Plus we lead the nation in job growth. The company I work for moved here 2 years ago and the average salary in the building is $72K and with bonuses it well exceeds $100K average per emplyee. Are there poor people here? Yes, but there are also a lot of very wealthy people here with a lot of disposable income. Why do you think there are so many new retailers popping up everywhere? And look at the malls in the area. They are always packed. You can go to the Citrus Park Mall at noon on a Wednesday in May and its packed. The average income #'s are scewed in the area due to the retiree crowd that is living on small pensions and social security.

Gross. Just gross. :-[

Back on topic.... A guy I work with saw my USF mini helmet (I have a USF and a Bucs helmet on my desk at work) and asked me about getting season tickets. He is from NY, so he isn't too familiar with the program but has heard some good things about them. He said one of his neighbors is trying to get together a group of 8 people to pitch in and buy the $10K donation seats. They think it will be a good investment and can foresee the day when seats will be impossible to get. I was shocked and pretty excited. I emailed him the seating chart with the donation requirements and my ticket reps contact info. Its happening...

How well does Elon travel? They don't. When my wife went there they played on a high school field in front of maybe 500 to 1000 people. They have now built a new stadium, but Elon is a VERY small private school. There were only like 3K enrolled when my wife graduated in 2000. I would be shocked if there were more than 100 people there supporting Elon. And I would bet most of them live in the area and did not travel.

My wife, who is an Elon grad, would be upset if I didn't point out that we are playing them at home this year too. Just adding to an already great home schedule. :

Interesting. So he is a big hockey fan. Maybe our recruiters should point out that the Lightning play in the same division against the Hurricanes and that they come to Tampa 4x per year at a minimum.

I found the answer to my own question. http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2006/11/plea_agreement_.html ****! :-[

Last I heard we placed him at PRCC, but has anyone heard an update? Are his academics finally in place where he can return to USF?

When I bought my season tickets this week the rep said that they are seeing a strong increase in interest and in season ticket sales already.

Here is a link to the video of the interview. www.tbo.com/video/xml/MGBMI906YWE.html

Marve was just on channel 8's Sports Extra show. He talked mostly about Alabama and that they were still the favorite. When asked about other schools still in the running he rattled off about 8 schools, none of which were USF. :-[ He is visiting Miami and Hawaii and has 2 visits left to use that he has not scheduled.

A guy who posts on Pewterreport.com and supposedly knows him says that since 2 of his best friends have commited to USF that Noel Devine is now stongly considering USF.  This is based on a conversation with him this weekend....which was after the Mike Ford and  Tyson Butler commitments. Apparently he would need to go to prep school like Mike Ford did to get his academics in order. But, he is a local kid from Fort Myers and is the #1 rated running back in the country this year. This would be an amazing coup if we could pull it off.  The guy who posted this said it is between USF and WVU. Here is his Scout.com page for those not familiar with him. http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=2392416

What does that have to do with anything? Showing up at a Rays game in Sox/Yanks gear may be a problem, but I don't think it's a problem (other, perhaps, than fashion) at a completely different sport. Besides, I don't think the argument (at least mine isn't) is that Gators gear should be sold... just that it shouldn't be sold at a place called BULLS Heaven. I get just as upset when I go into a local sports store wanting to buy Rays gear and they have a wider selection of Yankees and Red Sox gear than D-Rays stuff. As much as I love this town I hate the lack of civic pride.  Everyone is too stuck on where they are from and not where they are. I grew up in the DC area, which has a lot of transplants too.  And I don't ever remember seeing the the Redskins, Capitals, Wizards/Bullets, Orioles gear outnumbered in local stores.

That might change when we get a real major league team here, not the faux team that plays in the cockeyed dome... That team you are referring to is going to field one of the best outfileds in all of MLB on opening day this year.  They have one of the best young pitchers in all of MLB.  They just a Japaneese star (Iwamura) who has won 6 straight Gold Gloves in Japan and has hit as many as 44 HR's in a season. Oh and they now have the #1 rated farm system in all of MLB according to Baseball America. And besides that, they are OUR team.  They are the (Tampa Bay) Devil Rays.

Wow. I love the passion. Now if we could only get this fired up about local stores selling Yankees and Red Sox gear. Or the idiots you see at Bucs and Lightning games with a Bucs/Lightning jersey on with a Red Sox/Yankees hat.

This move helps the Bucs and Bulls! Mckay makes another stupid head coaching signing. Atlanta being in the same division = good for the Bucs. And obviously this helps the Bulls by getting him out of our conference. Are there any local kids that were commited to Louisville that we could steal now?

Wow. This kid looked like a man among boys out there. That kid can hit. I am so excited about this program's future. Is it August yet? ;D

I received this from my ticket rep today... Edit. It is in Adobe format and will not let me post it. Any suggestions?

^I agree with everything, but the Rays being a worse alternative.  The Trop gets a bad rap.  I drive from New Tampa to the Trop at least 20x per year to see a game and love it.  Go Rays!!! I am torn on the OCS issue.  As cool as it would be to have an OCS, I think Ray Jay would be a great setting when the fan base starts to grow.  Bucs games are awesome.  No reason to think our games couldn't be just as electric as we begin to fill up the stadium.

Well in that case I am now a Stanford fan. I have always respected their academics and their beautiful campus. I can't afford it and even if I could I couldn't get accepted into that school, but none the less. Screw my alma mater. Fairwell Bulls and hello Cardinal! : Whatever....and I did answer your question regarding people who never went to college.

With a theory like that.... I guess people who dont go to college are NOT ALOUD to root for any college sport then right?? If you never went to a school then obviously you are going to be a fan of a school you didn't go to. Many people root for their state school's even if they didn't go there. But, once you go to a school that is a different story. Your college is a part of who you are and a huge part of your life. I just don't understand how you can be a student/alumni of school A and root against them when they play school B. That just doesn't make sense. I went to High School with guys that went to Maryland, Canisius, Wake Forest, Pitt, UVA, etc. If I based my allegiance on where the kids I played High School football with and not the school that I personally went to then I would have some major split loyalties. But, I just choose my loyalties based on my life experiences and not the one's of the guys I played High School football with. That's just me, though.

The only exception I could see is if you graduated from one school and then went to another for grad school or just to get a 2nd degree. The school you went to first would probably have priority in your heart. But, if you never went to a school....that doesn't even make sense.

How in the Hell can you go to a school and be a fan of another school's athletic program instead of your own??? :-? That doesn't even make any sense. Are there kids at Chamberlain that are fans of Plant, Jesuit, Armwood, etc. ??? If you go to USF or any school and root against that school's teams vs. another university, you should be shot for being an absolute idiot. I support all of the Florida teams, except for UCF ;D, but USF will always come first if they play the Gators, Noles, or Canes. I have never even stepped foot on any of those campuses. I grew up in Maryland and was a HUGE Maryland basketball fan. I also liked Georgetown. Do you think I would ever dream now that I am a USF alumn that I would ever root against USF if they played MD or Georgetown in basketball?