Breaking Bread with Steve Duemig

[aragingbullII]

Sometimes you have to move beyond the fray in order to move closer to the truth. Well, last night after a joyous ride home from our football baptism of Central Florida I decided to stop in to a watering hole and take in the LSU-Kentucky game....As I decided on the spirit of the day I looked to my right and low and behold there he was---The "Big Dog" in his football fan friendly glory...

The conversations were about college football and I waited to hear the latest excuse as to why USF would not earn his love again this week. Now, Steve knows my name but we had never met so I knew I could ease my way into his comfort zone easier and I let it be known right away I knew who he was....

After a round of what if's and what happened today I braced for the question. Steve whats your problem with USF? He looked at me as if it were a live radio broadcast and I was his guest and said "I got no problem with USF"...This I had heard him say many times on air but now I could dig deeper and ask other questions. I had the help of brother Jack, cousin Sudds and a nice good ole boy atmosphere that set the stage...It was fare game...

I continued. Steve, I asked, why then are you always finding reasons to play down our recent success? At this time I knew I could not be cut off or hung up on and he was actually very nice and explaned his position. "I said to everybody that USF had to have a 50 point plus game this week in order to get more respect" he said. I thought maybe  that's a safe way to go considering the game was 5 hours done....

We went on for two hours and talked about life, his daughter, basketball and USF's rise to the Big Time. Steve said this week would be a great week for USF. He's starting to see things different now. The real Steve Duemig is not the person we hear every day. He does have his opinions and we both agreed the constant back-and-forth between USF callers has been good for business....

I told Steve I would post today. He knows I won't ever call in but thought I would let our USF faithful know that the love we seek, and righfully so, from our number one local critic is on the way....He ain't heavy, he's our brother...

Go Bulls!

[Griggsy]

Sometimes you have to move beyond the fray in order to move closer to the truth. Well, last night after a joyous ride home from our football baptism of Central Florida I decided to stop in to a watering hole and take in the LSU-Kentucky game....As I decided on the spirit of the day I looked to my right and low and behold there he was---The "Big Dog" in his football fan friendly glory...

The conversations were about college football and I waited to hear the latest excuse as to why USF would not earn his love again this week. Now, Steve knows my name but we had never met so I knew I could ease my way into his comfort zone easier and I let it be known right away I knew who he was....

After a round of what if's and what happened today I braced for the question. Steve whats your problem with USF? He looked at me as if it were a live radio broadcast and I was his guest and said "I got no problem with USF"...This I had heard him say many times on air but now I could dig deeper and ask other questions. I had the help of brother Jack, cousin Sudds and a nice good ole boy atmosphere that set the stage...It was fare game...

I continued. Steve, I asked, why then are you always finding reasons to play down our recent success? At this time I knew I could not be cut off or hung up on and he was actually very nice and explaned his position. "I said to everybody that USF had to have a 50 point plus game this week in order to get more respect" he said. I thought maybe  that's a safe way to go considering the game was 5 hours done....

We went on for two hours and talked about life, his daughter, basketball and USF's rise to the Big Time. Steve said this week would be a great week for USF. He's starting to see things different now. The real Steve Duemig is not the person we hear every day. He does have his opinions and we both agreed the constant back-and-forth between USF callers has been good for business....

I told Steve I would post today. He knows I won't ever call in but thought I would let our USF faithful know that the love we seek, and righfully so, from our number one local critic is on the way....He ain't heavy, he's our brother...

Go Bulls!

A surprisingly good quote from the most recent Batman movie:

"It's not who you are on the inside, but what  you do that defines you"

Deep down, I may be the biggest USF Fan in the world. But if all I do is denigrate the program publicly, well....

If he really comes out and makes a big deal and gives USF UNQUALIFIED love and keeps it that way, then we'll start to listen. But making promises in a little bar somewhere amidst a small crowd just aint gonna cut it.

GO BULLS!

[bull2saintleo]

I know there's been a lot of threads on here bashing Duemig with people saying that they'll stop listening to him because he's bashing USF.  What I've learned to realize is that he may be one of our biggest proponents. 

You have to consider that most of his USF callers have only become Bull fans (or should I say flagwavers or bandwagoners...LOL) in the past month or so.  Duemig isn't as bad as some of you all put him, as the original poster has said.  I for one have not stopped listening, but I feel he's out there for us in Bulls Country.  He may play devils advocate once in a while, but hey thats why he's on the radio and we're not.

I challenge those of you who have given up on him to tune your radios in on Monday at 3:00 PM and listen to him from the realist perspective.

GO BULLS!!!  ONE GAME AT A TIME!!!

[Bull Matrix]

I never really thought Duemig disliked USF that much. I always thought he was just trying to get the reaction from USF fans when he asks the question that USF may not win. I think a lot of USF fans went on the attack on his show which made him frustrated with USF fans. Sometimes, you have to agree to disagree with him, but dont start attacking him because he will always have the last word on his show. Now, I remember when Steve had his show at Barnacles, and I can tell you that many people have stated that Steve is not that bad of person as he sounds on the radio. Sure, he does not really know about the USF program, but that is because he has been paying attention to other top 10 teams instead of the Bulls. Now, he has learned a lot more about USF football this year since we are in the top10.

[Economics_Nerd82]

I also think he's never disliked USF. However, in the process of trying to get fans reactions so they will call in he paints our fan base in a bad light. THAT is worse that him actually disliking us. A lot of people listen to him and now whether we are or not, we're a horrible fan base.

Steve, I know you're reading this.... Could you do something for us. Start your show with our fight song and then in your first segment just say UNQUALIFIED nice things about us. And then when you come back from the first break you can go into what we need to work on, how our players need to stop dropping the ball, how Grothe is an average QB, and tell us how hard it is going to be to get us in the NC game. Just give us the first segment.

Thanks

[mikebeau]

I also think he's never disliked USF. However, in the process of trying to get fans reactions so they will call in he paints our fan base in a bad light. THAT is worse that him actually disliking us. A lot of people listen to him and now whether we are or not, we're a horrible fan base.

Steve, I know you're reading this.... Could you do something for us. Start your show with our fight song and then in your first segment just say UNQUALIFIED nice things about us. And then when you come back from the first break you can go into what we need to work on, how our players need to stop dropping the ball, how Grothe is an average QB, and tell us how hard it is going to be to get us in the NC game. Just give us the first segment.

Thanks

I agree---Steve doesn't dislike USF.  All he has done to anger the masses is question how good our team is.  There hasn't been slander or outright dislike.  At the worst he hasn't believed that we are as good as our ranking--and actually stated it on the air.  He's not the only one.  And Mr.  Deumig as well as many other critics only need to be shown week in and week out that USF is for real.

BTW, remember his show isn't an ode to USF.  But it will probably start to be if we keep winning strong.

[Rays]

I always thought Duemig was given a real hard time by a lot of USF fans for no reason...

I really get annoyed listening to him sometimes, and sometimes when he talks about USF, but really, half the time he's bashing our fans or whatever it's being asked for...

Was he crazy for asking USF fans to call in and make a case for the Bulls beating WVU? No, that's his job! Start intelligent sports discussion on the radio. He wasn't rooting against USF.

Pointing out that we drop too many passes, or that we fumble too much or even that Grothe needs to improve his accuracy just a little bit (or the gameplan needs to put him in better situations to suceed IMO) is not hating USF. It's pointing out legitimate problems that we have.

I think the way the D stood up against Kevin Smith answered a lot of questions about our toughness and no one can question the D now... But the offense still left a lot of points out there yesterday with drops and fumbled a couple of times (although they were not lost). We're not a perfect team, and to win the NC you almost need to be.

So give the guy a break. His job is not to be a cheerleader, it's to create discussion on the radio about sports, and by simply saying "USF is the best" he's not going to be doing that.

However, I would like to see someone make the legit case that we should be #1 to him tomorrow... Considering the unbeatens, I believe we are the only team with a quality win, and we have two VERY quality wins... But we'll see...

[Boomer]

I have to believe that if Steve did his show from a station in Gainesville or Tallahassee and took the "devil's advocate" stance, he would get the same, if not worse, reactions to his comments.  I guess I don't (and shouldn't) have a problem with him doing that, but nor should he have a problem with the way some of our fans have attacked him.  I think he should have expected it better than he has.  I also think he's gone beyond reacting to what a very small minority of our fans have said to going on the attack himselt.  Posting those pictures of the stupid protesters outside the TV station on his website was uneccessary for him to do other than trying to tarnish the image of all fans.  But anyone that knows Steve knows that his on-air personality is arrogant and confrontational - after all, it says right there on his website that when you call, "..prepare to go to war".  I actually don't know whether he wants the Bulls to win or wants them to lose so he can enjoy being right.

He also needs to understand that people tune in at various times of his show and do not hear all the comments.  I hear him all the time using the term USF fans instead of putting the "some" or " a few of the" terms in front, but one day I heard him start off the show by correctly saying, "some of the fans".  That may seem petty, but it does offend some of us long-time fans that try to act (and win) with a little dignity.

Now, with all that said, let's not give up on him.  I think he'll come around and so with the rest of our fans.  Besides, I want to continue discussing USF sports with him for a long time.

[JoeB]

If he had the same angles for shows in Gainesville and Tally, he wouldn't survive.  Those fans wouldn't put up with it.  Since we're relatively new, he uses that to his advantage every chance he gets.  He'll get no love from me.  I honestly think he doesn't know much about college football.

Don't give him the time of day Bulls fans.

[Griggsy]

If he had the same angles for shows in Gainesville and Tally, he wouldn't survive.  Those fans wouldn't put up with it.  Since we're relatively new, he uses that to his advantage every chance he gets.  He'll get no love from me.  I honestly think he doesn't know much about college football.

Don't give him the time of day Bulls fans.

I'm with you, Joe. I think these "feel good" times are leading people to forgive and forget. A good thing, I suppose, but I think your true friends are those that are with you when you're down.