The thrill is gone....

[NewEnglandBull]

Just now, Brad said:

Careful, Jim sort of quit this board months ago, if you didn't notice.  He returned to post that.  Let's not stain the hundreds that disagree with him.  Thanks.

Read my last sentence...

[Brad]

You set off the censorship with that first comment. 

Jim was a rock solid fan for a long time as was WoolyBully.  There are several more I could name, but won't.  They also don't come here to admit it's over, either.  They just slip away.  Things change.  That's why it's important to find three more for everyone that moves on.  Keep building the fan base.

 

[NewEnglandBull]

6 minutes ago, Brad said:

You set off the censorship with that first comment. 

Jim was a rock solid fan for a long time as was WoolyBully.  There are several more I could name, but won't.  They also don't come here to admit it's over, either.  They just slip away.  Things change.  That's why it's important to find three more for everyone that moves on.  Keep building the fan base.

 

I think many of us real fans would prefer “the slip away” method over the “look at me method.” 

Edited August 8, 2018 by NewEnglandBull

[Brad]

Eh, perhaps.  I think it's more a feeling of being defeated and tired - a surrender - than a "hey look at me".  For the group that has been around since 1997, it's pretty emotional to come to the point that it's time to move on.

[Calibull]

31 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Unreal, really getting sick of the whiners on this board. There is always something...Joyey is not writing nice things...boo ******* who...The AAC sucks...cry me a river...my lifestyle has changed...then stop watching and stop treating your decision as a major media event. Last I checked there are a bunch of USF football players busting their asses everyday in the hot weather preparing to win games and capture our elusive conference championship. I am supporting those guys and my alma mater, as most on this board are doing as well. 

I'm right there with you ... I support my Alma Matar and am dam proud of it.  People act like we still are terrible and we aren't.  I get life happens, but I love my school and the sporting teams as well as direction we're headed on all fronts. 

[Wildrover]

Such a strange though timely thread for me to read for my first time back since the end of last football season.  Before that I hadn't visited in years. The incompetence of the offensive side of the ball motivated my drunken return one night after watching what should have been an easy win be anything but (not sure which game it was). 

Anyway,  I can agree with Jim for so many reasons, he's not a whiner, its just hard for those of us who were there the night WV came to town and Ray Jay was sold out and we were witnessing, unknowingly, the immediate Zenith of a very young football program.  What do USF fans have to really look forward to?  Even if they go undefeated it will be a footnote as the powers that be celebrate themselves in the club they structured to keep 'up and comers' out since college football, as Chris Fowler once put it "is about tradition" (my political history is a little rusty but isn't the reinforcement of the ruling class the whole idea of fascism?  but I digress). 

I moved away in 2009 fully intending on coming to one or two games a year.  I have only been back in FL once. I do go out of my way to watch on Saturdays but I have also started a family.  I have two young kids and live several states away. While I was changing USF was changing too, they changed their trajectory, they went from being on the rise to taking a step back, into a place they really can't get out of. their level of competition has gone down and the college football community once again sees them as part of the JV league. That in and of itself would pose its own problems but to have to bear those in a finicky sports town where you once had moved past those problems into the top tier, well, whether any of us like it or not, that just takes a lot of the shine off program and makes it hard to get excited about the upcoming season.  

I'll still watch as I always do but that's about it.  Everything else is simply taking time away from the other, more important things I have to do.  

$0.02 

[Brad]

Ok, stop now, we were only trying to understand, not start a #movement.

[SpeedyBull]

We have to remember we are just going into our 19th year of football, we are just now reaching the point where guys that went to school and watched the first season are now having their kids possibly attend the same school. These other schools have had the tradition of college football instilled back when game day was a better live experience. I can understand wanting some of the comforts of the home set up and maybe going to a few select games a year for the older bulls generation. 

I completely understand the disgruntlement of not making the same money as the other big conferences. But I do not agree that this conference does not have quality opponents. Temple, Houston, Memphis, Navy, and central have put some good teams forward in recent years. SMU and Cinci, are also capable. The only true dogs i see in football are Tulane, Tulsa,  ECU and UCONN.

I could understand the sentiment of the OP if CCS started to bomb and the floor completely fell out on the team but FFS we have finished the last 2 seasons ranked. We have a bit of unknowns heading into this season but still a very talented group of guys that are going to bleed green and gold for our entertainment. And we are belly aching that these kids, who are going to put it all out there, are not entertaining enough to watch? wtf lets get excited that we have just as much chance as the previous seasons at getting some quality wins and establishing a tradition of being at the top of our conference year in and year out. 

This is about being a bulls fan end of story.

 

[Bausfkid]

I can assure you Jim was as avid a bull's fan and USF advocate as there ever has been.  Today, his focus is elsewhere.  Life's Priorities happen.

I was there for the WVU game and it was epic.  To hope that every game is that would liken everyday to my wedding day or the birth of my children. These are life events, not day in day out happenings.

Go to the games and have fun.  Enjoy the commrodire of the tailgates and this board's interaction.  It's entertainment, nothing more. 

Go Bulls!

[Orlando Bull]

52 minutes ago, Bausfkid said:

I can assure you Jim was as avid a bull's fan and USF advocate as there ever has been.  Today, his focus is elsewhere.  Life's Priorities happen.

I was there for the WVU game and it was epic.  To hope that every game is that would liken everyday to my wedding day or the birth of my children. These are life events, not day in day out happenings.

Go to the games and have fun.  Enjoy the commrodire of the tailgates and this board's interaction.  It's entertainment, nothing more. 

Go Bulls!

This is quite true. As I mentioned earlier, marriage and child have happened in my life. I no longer have season tickets because I can't spend the day traveling to Tampa for a game and back. It's not fair to my family (at least that is how I see it). I don't think Jim's intention was that he will just stop pulling for USF football. It was more that he can't pour his life into it any more. I get that.

I have also been around since the beginning and those of you who weren't around in 2007 really have no frame of reference for some of the conversation that has transpired here. I don't mean that to say your opinion doesn't matter, it 100% does. I can't explain it. I went to Auburn, it was loud, gave me goose bumps to be in that stadium with the tradition and passion that I witnessed there. I remember longing for that environment... even had an exchange with an Auburn fan who told me congrats on the win. I said I wish we had this environment in our stadium and he responded saying that he wished they had our team.

Fast forward a few short weeks and I will tell you that the WVU game was louder than Auburn. It was absolutely INSANE. The City was lighting up the top of one of those buildings in green and gold. Jim Leavitt was speaking with ESPN during a weeknight game. Everyone has their own story about when USF Football became a passion for them. Certainly when I graduated in 2003 it was a big part of my life. I followed the team in the years to come, but, when we got into the BE, I had been working long enough to have a little bit of money, and, the excitement was night and day different than the prior years.

My first post in this thread was mostly in agreement with Jim, and, while I still see his points. I still have the same issues with the conference... the fact that August is here and I can't stay off of this board tells me that the thrill is not gone for me. It just has to be balanced a little more than when I was in my 20's and early 30's without other priorities in life. I'm back baby!