Life On The Edge:
IU Hate Week Edition
IU Hate Week EditionI think if John Lennon were alive, he'd stage a week-long peace demonstration in bed if he could read some of the vitriol being passed back and forth between Ball State and IU fans. It's starting to get nasty, and who couldn't understand? I mean, it is IU Hate Week at OTP (Ed. note: hatehatehatehate). Maybe Lennon wouldn't waste his time with this argument. I don't even know why we have to waste our time with this argument. Let's have a talk...
Rivals.com message boards are always fun to peruse. It's like watching a comedian go back and forth with a witty audience member. It's entertaining, like most boards. But when the comedian turns to you and rips on your sweater your mom made for you, it's not funny anymore. The gloves have to come off.
So here we have some arrogant IU fans -- you know the type -- who claim their team will make history by defeating Ball State. Puh-lease. This is like me bragging about beating my 2-year-old daughter at Guitar Hero. We all know Ball State is the red-headed stepchild of Indiana collegiate athletics (whereas Purdue is the uncle in jail for misconduct with a minor). We are constantly embarassed by our athletics, most recently the racist Ronnie Thompson. I don't even want to get started, but just hear me when I say BSU alum are used to being let down.
But what about IU? Well, you have Bill Lynch. There. We're even.
Yes, IU was in a bowl last year (loss). Yes, IU had a 7-5 season. Were any of these kids Lynch's recruits? Didn't IU have a lot of "let's win this one for the ol' Gipper" in them last year?
Don't get me wrong. Bill is a nice guy. I've never heard anyone outside of the football community utter a negative word about him off the field. And his lack of success at Ball State is debatable, I won't lie. Poor facilities, poor alumni support, and poor choice of assistants = Letterman fodder.
But come on -- the guy is the Michael Scott of Indiana football. It's hard to say a bad thing about the guy because he is so genuine, but it's also hard to overlook the fact that he just might not be that good at his job. Time will tell, but if I'm a betting man, my money's not on Lynch succeeding past this year.
Here's the deal: neither Ball State or IU have faced their real challenges yet this year. In around 48 hours, forget about the midterms. Forget about the warm-up gigs. Forget about the hood rats. It's go-time.
My money is on the Cardinals. That's mostly an indication of my allegiance. Do I think IU can win? Yes. Either team could to be honest. There's a good chance that this game will be tight most of the day. And in the end, it may come down to turnovers, penalties, and special teams. Whichever team controls those three elements will win.
As a side note, I was told by a former IU defensive back that Ball State only runs 3 or 4 plays in any given situation (such as 3rd and short, 3rd and long, etc.). He said they had the most tendencies of any team he ever faced and that the defense should be able to tame the Cards easily. I'll take his word for it, so this is the one thing that scares me. IU -- I think you have the edge in this game.
Then again, you have Bill Lynch.
Rivals.com message boards are always fun to peruse. It's like watching a comedian go back and forth with a witty audience member. It's entertaining, like most boards. But when the comedian turns to you and rips on your sweater your mom made for you, it's not funny anymore. The gloves have to come off.
So here we have some arrogant IU fans -- you know the type -- who claim their team will make history by defeating Ball State. Puh-lease. This is like me bragging about beating my 2-year-old daughter at Guitar Hero. We all know Ball State is the red-headed stepchild of Indiana collegiate athletics (whereas Purdue is the uncle in jail for misconduct with a minor). We are constantly embarassed by our athletics, most recently the racist Ronnie Thompson. I don't even want to get started, but just hear me when I say BSU alum are used to being let down.
But what about IU? Well, you have Bill Lynch. There. We're even.
Yes, IU was in a bowl last year (loss). Yes, IU had a 7-5 season. Were any of these kids Lynch's recruits? Didn't IU have a lot of "let's win this one for the ol' Gipper" in them last year?
Don't get me wrong. Bill is a nice guy. I've never heard anyone outside of the football community utter a negative word about him off the field. And his lack of success at Ball State is debatable, I won't lie. Poor facilities, poor alumni support, and poor choice of assistants = Letterman fodder.
But come on -- the guy is the Michael Scott of Indiana football. It's hard to say a bad thing about the guy because he is so genuine, but it's also hard to overlook the fact that he just might not be that good at his job. Time will tell, but if I'm a betting man, my money's not on Lynch succeeding past this year.Here's the deal: neither Ball State or IU have faced their real challenges yet this year. In around 48 hours, forget about the midterms. Forget about the warm-up gigs. Forget about the hood rats. It's go-time.
My money is on the Cardinals. That's mostly an indication of my allegiance. Do I think IU can win? Yes. Either team could to be honest. There's a good chance that this game will be tight most of the day. And in the end, it may come down to turnovers, penalties, and special teams. Whichever team controls those three elements will win.
As a side note, I was told by a former IU defensive back that Ball State only runs 3 or 4 plays in any given situation (such as 3rd and short, 3rd and long, etc.). He said they had the most tendencies of any team he ever faced and that the defense should be able to tame the Cards easily. I'll take his word for it, so this is the one thing that scares me. IU -- I think you have the edge in this game.
Then again, you have Bill Lynch.
Posts
3 comments:
Well, Bill Lynch is bringing in our best class in years next year. And don't you think he helped recruit a lot of our current team? I mean, assistants do a ton of recruiting.
anonymous-
Some of us have followed (willingly and unwillingly) Lynch's career for more than 13 years. You kind of tend to pick up on certain things after awhile. Like I said, maybe BSU's problems weren't all his fault, but I wouldn't jump at the chance to put him on a pedestal if it were my team he was coaching. I've been down that road, and it's not fun.
And when I asked the question of "his recruits" I thought I should clarify that I meant players IU recruited while Lynch is the head coach. Again, we went down that road when he took over at BSU.
-Edge
If Bill Lynch is Michael Scott, then Rick Greenspan is Kevin from accounting.
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