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oldbull77

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  1. As my name implies, I graduated in 1977. The winter of '76-'77 was very cold, and featured a freak snowstorm - you heard me correctly. Somewhere I used to have a photo of snowdrifts piledu against the main entrance sign on Fowler Ave. I lost that photo over the years. Anybody else ever seen one?
  2. I'm 64 years old; haven't played organized football on any level in nearly 50 years. I think I can do as good a job at QB as White's performance. How could I possibly do any worse. I'm in favor of 'open tryouts' for QB. Hell, I could enroll at USF and try out. This could be my big chance for gridiron glory. Reminds of when I played in High School. Our place kicker was so bad, when ever it was time for a field goal, or extra point, attempt, the coach would ask "Any body think they can get it through the uprights?" If you volunteered, and made it, you became the regular kicker - until you missed. Then the call went out for another volunteer.
  3. Cool story Unless you really want to go tenure track and teach full-time, you don't need to go back. Your JD is an acceptable terminal degree for many programs. Test the waters by adjuncting, It's a fun, low-risk way to find out how much you like teaching, and you don't need to wait until retirement. You can start in January if you find a school that needs you. Good luck! I appreciate your feedback. I'm not looking for tenure track - I'm too old for that. I've been an Adjunct a couple of times in an undergard program related to my legal specialty, guest lectured at my alma mater law school, taught continuing legal education courses to other attorneys for 20 years, and published in my specialty - but I don't want to teach law anymore. However, because I don't have a graduate degree in Pol Sci, I'm told I can't evan teach Intro to Government 101 in an accredited college! I thought the legal profession was a closed shop! My former law prof that I guest lecture for thinks it's because most of the Pol Sci faculty would be intimidated by my JD. I hope that isn't true - but I'm not familiar with the personal dynamics of academia. In my profession, success is determined by how you perform, not such extraneous BS.
  4. If they are of a gender you're interested in, what's the problem? Perhaps you should view this as an opportunity to pass on your wisdom to the next generation !
  5. Long ago, in what seems like another lifetime, I graduated from (what was then) St Petersburg JC with an AA degree - and dodged the draft by entering the USAF, where I was trained as what would now be a combination paramedic & physician's assistant. Came home from a war, and 4 months later was a Jr at USF, with no idea what I wanted to major in - other than I knew I didn't want to go to med school. I'd had all of medicine I could handle (some of it still haunts me 40 years later). So I took a major, that interested me, about as far from medicine as I could get - Political Science. Never even gave a thought to whether it would lead to a job. After graduation, got a job in an industry that only cared that I had a BA degree, in which I spent 7 years working. Then on a bet, and with a hangover from getting good and drunk the night before, I took the LSAT - and won the bet by scoring in the 90th percentile. Next thing I know, I'm getting invites from law schools to apply. 30 years later, I'm about to retire from a legal career with the State. I'm often asked what major I'd recommend for someone wanting to go to law school. My first response - do something else instead. Unless you are 'called' to the law - much like being 'called' to the priesthood - you aren't going to like being a lawyer. Second, there are already too **** many lawyers - and not enough legal jobs. So unless you want to do something else - and just also happen to have a law degree - don't assume you will be employable after law school. For example - having a law degree, and being an attractive blond, seems to be a ticket to a job with Fox News ! Third, it doesn't really matter what undergrad major you choose - just do well in it. Which is far easier if you are majoring in something you really enjoy, rather than a major you don't particularly like, but you think it will lead to a job. My best friend in law school had a BA & MA in Fine Arts. When I retire next year, I'm planning on going back to USF for a Master's/Phd Degree in Political Science - maybe embarking on a teaching career - and having a law degree so I can handle my own traffic tickets. But I haven't really decided, yet, what I want to do when I grow up.
  6. Maybe the coaches felt it would be better for us than replying to a: "Why did they try to go for it on a 4th and 3 at the 36 yard line when we have one of the best kickers in CFB" ...type thread THAT is exactly the point ! The Coach was more concerned with being criticized for a wrong decision about going for it than he was with winning. Punting/kicking a FG in that situation tells your team "I don't have faith in you" - whereas going for it says the opposite. "When the game is on the line, winners want the ball ! (I know it was a cheesy movie - but that is still the truth.)
  7. The difference in the game today was a blocked punt - returned for 7, and a botched FG snap. Turn them around, and USF wins. The defense played very well: They put points on the board, forced 6 turnovers - all of them in critical situations - then made a goal-line stand that forced Maryland to lose yardage and settle for 3. Can't ask for any more from the D. Dropped passes, and forced passes that Bench should have just pulled down and run with - like he did on the TD - were the biggest problems with the O. Considering the back-up QB played the whole game, they didn't do too badly. Which brings us to the special teams. A couple of the other punts were nearly blocked - and it looked like the slow-arching snap was the cause. If you can't snap the ball to the punter, and FG kicker, it's time to just go for it on 4th down. If you read Greg Easterbrook's 'Tuesday Morning Quaterback' column on ESPN, he has compiled some stats on punting over the past years, that convincingly suggest teams should rarely punt. On every punt, there are three possible results - and two of them are bad: 1) You get the punt off, and down it deep in the opponents territory; 2) The opponent returns the punt beyond where they would have gotten the ball if it had been turned over on downs on a failed 4th-down attempt - or even return it for 6; 3) The punt is blocked, which virtually always gives the opponent the ball further advanced than a turn-over on downs - or returned for 6, as happened to the Bulls today. Easterbrook's stats show that in scenario #1, the punt receiving team often takes only two sets of downs to get back to where they would have taken over on downs. Given those stats -why punt?
  8. There's a college football team in South Bend, Indiana, that has been wearing gold helmets for quite a while - and they seem to have been somewhat successfull !
  9. On Saturday the defense was less than spectacular, and except for a few big plays, the offense sputtered - but the Bulls Won. Because one member of the team stepped up, and carried the rest of them to the victory. When the team needed it, someone reached deep down inside and found what it took. This week it was a running back - next week it may be someone else. The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day. All it takes to have a winning season is for at least one player each week to want it bad enough that he brings the team along with him. That's team football. That's what Coach Taggert understands.
  10. Yea, Bobby is 'Boddy's' alterego - who can type ! The comparison between early-Bowden FSU, and the present-day Bulls is not so "absurd". Back then FSU was an independent, unaffiliated with any conference (because the SEC rejected FSU's request to join). That left Bowden free to build a program that would "play anyone, anywhere, any time" - and travel to the preminent teams' home stadiums. One year they went to Tuscaloosa, and played a Top 10 Alabama team, lost 7-0 - and got a standing ovation from the 'Bama' fans at the end of the game. A friend of mine played on that FSU team. He said when they went to places like Alabama, Bowden told them they had nothing to lose except their self-respect, so they should play for pride. Eventually, Bowden recruited quality players who wanted to be a part of a program that feared no one, held their heads up even when they lost - and the rest is history. It's true the economics of college football today is severly weighted against an independent - so a conference affiliation is necessary. The same thing eventually happened to FSU - so they joined the ACC (an Eff U to the SEC, who by then invited FSU to join), dominated the ACC so they got to a top-tier Bowl every year, beat the so-called premier schools from the "Big" conferences in those Bowl Games - and kept playing "anyone, anywhere, any time" in non-conference games. USF can do the same. Dominate the AAC, win Bowl games, schedule the monsters (like FSU) for non-conference games - and just win, or at least look good losing. I spent many Saturdays in Doak Campbell stadium watching ACC schools who didn't have a snowball's chance in hell against FSU, play their asses off, and the FSU fans respected that. Swagger into Doak Campbell, make a good showing, and other teams will respect you. More importantly, the recruits will start to come to Tampa - which is a hell of lot warmer than Tallahasse or Gainesville during the winter - because they want to be showcased on big stages like against FSU. Some will come because they were rejected by FSU, and want to prove something. Then watch what happens. Bear Bryant (Bowden's idol) built his great 'Bama teams by recruiting the kids who were considered to small for the "Big" programs that put a premium on size and brute strength in those days. Bear said he wanted 'em "small and hungry". Tell some kid who FSU or Auburn didn't want that he can play for USF against those schools to show them what they missed - and watch what happens. That's how you build a program - regardless of which conference you play in !
  11. Once upon a time, there was a college football program that was so bad the boosters would walk around the campus on game days giving away free tickets to students - just so there would be someone (anyone) in the stands to cheer for the home team. Just 10 years earlier, they had briefly been ranked #1. Their record over 2 years was 4-18. No wonder no one wanted to go to the games. So they fired their head coach, and hired an guy who had played his college football at a small school - and only the year before had been burned in effigy (literally - the students burned him in effigy outside his office) at the school where he was fired as head coach. What a fortuitous hiring. His name was Boddy Bowden - and the school with the 4-18 record that hired him was FSU. Keep the faith guys. It can only get better from here.
  12. Both - and one still is after 28 years. i understand crazy !
  13. You would, you're a fellow bitter old bastard. Bemused - not bitter ! But I won't hold your youth, and inexperience, against you.
  14. Having been involved in two marriages, various other relationships with women in my 60+ years, and having three teenage grandaughters, I can attest to the accuracy of this matrix. If anything, they are being generous !
  15. Back from vacation, decided to see if anyone responded to my intro, and the first one I get says I need a thick skin. Golly gee whiz - so nice to know that my welcome to the board is an admonition to beware of the flamers ! Well, having survived a war in my youth, I'm not really phased by insecure malcontents who bolster their lack of self-worth by denigrating strangers while annonymously hiding behind a fake persona. So fire away youngsters - having been shot at by professionals, amatuers don't really bother me.
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