(03-03-2013 11:11 AM)Paul of Troy Wrote:  What's worse is that even if app state and Georgia southern join the coference I can't think of a single one of their posters that hasn't ruined their rep by being annoying whores.

We are losing a bunch of good members and as far as I can tell, at this moment, they are not having their shoes filled.

If invitations are extended, I think you will find that there are a number of lurkers (like myself) that will begin to post. Since we aren't pimps, maybe we will act to improve their respective school's board rep, as if that matters to anyone.

(03-03-2013 12:53 PM)fencereagle Wrote:  Dear sunbelt team board members,

This is my second post on this board largely because I, like the vast majority of GaSo and App St fans, believe in holding our tongue until good news actually arrives. Call it superstition from years of disappointment if you want. Nonetheless I feel it is important to point out a few things to the more vocal people complaining about the increase in use of this message board. 

FIRST, this is an internet message board. The entire point of a board is to talk about largely irrelevant junk. Honestly this is the first place I have ever seen that actually is complaining about an increase in traffic coming to your site. I have no access to actual site numbers but I have no doubt hit count is up. Drastically up.

SECOND, if you're bent out of shape now you're in for a world of hurt IF GaSo and App St actually get an invite. The fan base for those two teams has a HUGE Internet presence. Bigger than pretty much any other team in the Sunbelt from what i can derive. (I confess looking at message board member numbers isn't perfect but hey you work with the info you can find.) Add in GaSt who also has a very active Internet fan base and this board will become all GaXx and AppSt all the time.  Don't believe me? Here are some basic facts, (if better numbers exist i would be interested in hearing about them.) 
Total posts for CSNBBS Sunbelt: 186,000 posts. 
Total posts for Gsufans, Yosef's cabin, and panther talk combined: 1.11 Million
Gsufans  total members: 2800 (largest online concurrently 1800 in February!)
Yosef's total members: 1000 (largest online concurrently 490)
Ptalk total members: 880 (and that's only what 3 years in existence?)

You see FCS teams haven't had the attention from the traditional Media outlets so we're accustomed to resorting to the Internet to find fellow fans,  learn of news, even watch our games. And we've been doing that for years. 

And while we're on the subject, THIRD, just because we're fans of an FCS team doesn't mean we're not acutely aware of the FBS world and somehow blind to how 'difficult' FBS is. In my experience the most well informed folks with regard college football are FCS and even moreso DIV II fans because they watch all the divisions of football. FBS doesn't disappear when you become a fan of an FCS team. Same goes for the Div II folks. Want to really get a gauge for the quality of your team ask someone with season tickets to a Div II program. I don't actually know anyone that faithfully pays attention to Div 3 so I can't speak to their knowledge but I wouldn't be surprised if they were excellent sources as well.

My third point may appear to deviate from the point of the thread some but I added it to support my FOURTH point, FCS records definitely are an indicator of future success at FBS. Facts are facts the only team ever approaching the kind of success at the FCS level that App St and GaSo have had to make the jump was Marshal and they won the MAC 5 of the first 6 years they were an FBS team. Now there is definitely an Asterisk with their first years at FBS but the plain truth is that GaSo and App St have done at the FCS level things that no one else including Marshal has done. And before you discount their successes at the FCS level ask your schools coach if they'd like to play them today. Notice how in the below link the winning percentage doesn't deviate a huge amount? Yes the is some downward movement but not a whole lot.
http://www.theunderdawg.com/uploads/7/1/..._teams.pdf

My deepest apologies for the wall of text. I confess I got carried away, if you've made it this far thank you for hearing me out. I will likely continue to hold my tongue until good news is forthcoming. However, should good news arrive... Well I've been on Gsufans for 10 years and only have 200 or so posts so you'll probably not hear a whole lot from me anyway but I'm sure my brethren will pick up the slack.  

(03-03-2013 01:19 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-03-2013 01:12 PM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Paul of Troy. You are about to get the full force of the Eagle nation soon.

My deepest sympathies Paul.

Their charm school teacher was Idi Amin

(03-03-2013 01:12 PM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Paul of Troy. You are about to get the full force of the Eagle nation soon. Time to man up and get your big boy britches on. None of this FAU, FIU go to the football game to get a sun tan or north texas if it aint texas i dont care stuff. Real football teams are coming.

And looking forward to playing Troy. We will quickly become each others top 3 rival. Good for both of us.

Thank you for succinctly putting exactly why people are griping about FCS fans.

(03-03-2013 04:49 PM)mathenis89 Wrote:  

(03-03-2013 01:12 PM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Paul of Troy. You are about to get the full force of the Eagle nation soon. Time to man up and get your big boy britches on. None of this FAU, FIU go to the football game to get a sun tan or north texas if it aint texas i dont care stuff. Real football teams are coming.

And looking forward to playing Troy. We will quickly become each others top 3 rival. Good for both of us.

That's adorable!

They obviously don't know who they are ******* with do they?

The chest-thumping by some of our fans is unnecessary and regrettable. On the other hand, the dismissive attitude toward Ga Southern and App St, simply because they're currently FCS, by a few SBC posters is equally ignorant.

I'm ready for the invitations and for the competition to begin in 2014. I'm looking forward to travelling to your schools and meeting some of you in person.

(03-04-2013 08:18 AM)Eagles Cliff Wrote:  The chest-thumping by some of our fans is unnecessary and regrettable. On the other hand, the dismissive attitude toward Ga Southern and App St, simply because they're currently FCS, by a few SBC posters is equally ignorant.

I'm ready for the invitations and for the competition to begin in 2014. I'm looking forward to travelling to your schools and meeting some of you in person.

I'm still a big doubter that WKU will be leaving the SBC so let me add my thoughts about AppSt and GaSouthern.....

I'm ecstatic that the SBC has the ability to pull in that kind of football quality. AppSt and GaSouthen will quickly transition and make noise. I believe it without a doubt. In my opinion, there's a big dropoff after those two among the available (aka interested) FCS schools that can quickly reinforce the SBC after the loss of MT, NT, and the F_U's. Any SBC fans not happy with those two or who challenge the quality of those two programs are fans of schools that fear their own program is going to be pushed further and further down the ranks of the SBC, which is probably true. Just my two cents.

......also, being a WKU fan, I must say that any concerns from our fanbase about AppSt and GaSouthern is merely based on basketball potential. Our unhappiness with the SBC has always been about the weakened state of SBC basketball.

Tons of respect here for the Sun Belt schools. Had our administration had the cojones 10 years ago to move up, we would be right with you rebuilding the conference after CUSA overlooked us. I think the remaining teams have made tremendous strides and have a lot of potential. This is why i have stated the best days are ahead for the Sun Belt and why I am looking forward to joining. Hopefully we can all begin moving forward shortly.

(03-04-2013 08:18 AM)Eagles Cliff Wrote:  The chest-thumping by some of our fans is unnecessary and regrettable. On the other hand, the dismissive attitude toward Ga Southern and App St, simply because they're currently FCS, by a few SBC posters is equally ignorant.

You have to allow for the very real possibility that the condition outlined in your first sentence begat the the condition you complain of in the second.

Like other Cajun posters on this thread explained, I too am very aloof right now. My school was never FCS, and we took some serious lumps for that. We've paid more than our price. We were excited that all the sweat equity we put in to this conference, especially in building football was finally going to pay off when Lucy pulled the football away. Again.

So, I will make no apologies to anyone about my lack of enthusiasm about potential new members. History may not repeat, but it sure in the hell does rhyme. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm getting tired of building something up so a newcomer can just latch on for as long as needed to pass us by based upon the good fortune/dumb luck of being in a mythical media market based upon hypothetical (more likely fictional) viewers who can't name your school's mascot.

And if you don't believe me, please consider that Utah State was a SBC member and that UCF was a member in name only because CUSA grabbed them before the ink was dry. So the F_U phenomenon is nothing new and will likely be replaced with GSU squared.

Our history is long, as are our memories and I for one am tired of seeing the same show over and over again. From my view, we should change the conference to the Groundhog Conference, because we wake up every day, right here, right in Punxsutawney, and it's always February 2nd, and there's nothing we can do about it.

(03-03-2013 11:20 AM)Paul of Troy Wrote:  Am I incorrect or didn't a mod come on here already and tell the FCS fans to chill out? I think this happened a couple week ago or so.

The problem is that you have someone saying "ok guys, chill with the FCS pimping, lets just keep it to logical posts about what's going on with the conference."

And then LITERALLY two posts later a MOD starts trash talking and mocking a specific FCS school.

there is a big difference between pimping and trying to educate or re-educate folks on what your school would bring to the table.

(03-04-2013 10:21 AM)Seven Would Be Nice Wrote:  

(03-03-2013 11:20 AM)Paul of Troy Wrote:  Am I incorrect or didn't a mod come on here already and tell the FCS fans to chill out? I think this happened a couple week ago or so.

The problem is that you have someone saying "ok guys, chill with the FCS pimping, lets just keep it to logical posts about what's going on with the conference."

And then LITERALLY two posts later a MOD starts trash talking and mocking a specific FCS school.

If you're talking about MTPiKapp (or something to that effect), he wasn't so much mocking a specific school, as he was mocking a poster and his incessant blustering about a team that I think most will agree will struggle when moving to FBS (not because of that school, but because the nature of moving divisions).

(03-04-2013 10:11 AM)AstroCajun Wrote:  

(03-04-2013 08:18 AM)Eagles Cliff Wrote:  The chest-thumping by some of our fans is unnecessary and regrettable. On the other hand, the dismissive attitude toward Ga Southern and App St, simply because they're currently FCS, by a few SBC posters is equally ignorant.

You have to allow for the very real possibility that the condition outlined in your first sentence begat the the condition you complain of in the second.

Like other Cajun posters on this thread explained, I too am very aloof right now. My school was never FCS, and we took some serious lumps for that. We've paid more than our price. We were excited that all the sweat equity we put in to this conference, especially in building football was finally going to pay off when Lucy pulled the football away. Again.

So, I will make no apologies to anyone about my lack of enthusiasm about potential new members. History may not repeat, but it sure in the hell does rhyme. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm getting tired of building something up so a newcomer can just latch on for as long as needed to pass us by based upon the good fortune/dumb luck of being in a mythical media market based upon hypothetical (more likely fictional) viewers who can't name your school's mascot.

And if you don't believe me, please consider that Utah State was a SBC member and that UCF was a member in name only because CUSA grabbed them before the ink was dry. So the F_U phenomenon is nothing new and will likely be replaced with GSU squared.

Our history is long, as are our memories and I for one am tired of seeing the same show over and over again. From my view, we should change the conference to the Groundhog Conference, because we wake up every day, right here, right in Punxsutawney, and it's always February 2nd, and there's nothing we can do about it.

I empathize with your situation completely. ULL (in this round), East Carolina, Southern Miss, and a few others have been "passed over" by start-ups and poorer on-field products in favor of media markets. What choice do we (small-market schools) have but to embrace who we are? I can see Ga State leaving the SBC to join UAB, Charlotte, and the F_U's in the CUSA, but Ga Southern will be a member for quite a while.

You've already met some of our obnoxious fans and there are many more where they came from. App's fans are pretty rowdy too. I guess the positive side of that is we have strong and passionate fan bases which translates to great game day atmospheres.

(03-04-2013 11:11 AM)knucklehead Wrote:  there is a big difference between pimping and trying to educate or re-educate folks on what your school would bring to the table.

This makes the assumption that anyone here has the interest in being "re-educated". There's a joke in there, but I'm going to leave it alone. I'd hate to be accused of mocking a FCS school.

(03-04-2013 11:11 AM)knucklehead Wrote:  there is a big difference between pimping and trying to educate or re-educate folks on what your school would bring to the table.

You're from Liberty. You have no right to use the word "educate" in anything you post.

(03-04-2013 10:21 AM)Seven Would Be Nice Wrote:  

(03-03-2013 11:20 AM)Paul of Troy Wrote:  Am I incorrect or didn't a mod come on here already and tell the FCS fans to chill out? I think this happened a couple week ago or so.

The problem is that you have someone saying "ok guys, chill with the FCS pimping, lets just keep it to logical posts about what's going on with the conference."

And then LITERALLY two posts later a MOD starts trash talking and mocking a specific FCS school.

Where have I ever mocked or trash talked any of you? The one jackwagon with the sig about 30 years and 250 schools has the distinction of being one of the most myopic folks I've ever encountered, but never have I mocked your school or App State. Did you miss the thread where I posted conferences I had drawn up in 2011 and 2012? The sixteen member conference I drew up last summer had you guys and App taking the place of Memphis and UCF(who were in my 2011 version).

All of you FCS fans make the mistake of thinking just because I frequently point out that FCS and FBS have zero to do with one another that I don't respect your programs and/or don't believe you guys will be any good in the Sun Belt. Nothing could be further from the truth. I respect your programs, I think you both have a shot at being a perennial power in the Sun Belt, but that doesn't mean that I have to pretend like your FCS titles mean more than they do(which is precisely zero the second you become FBS) or that I have to take fans seriously who liken themselves to Alabama or say things like "we're different, we expect to win every game we play". First of all every fanbase has fans like that, you guys may have more fans like that because currently you win at a much higher percentage than any of us and you're currently at the top of your division. FCS powerhouses expecting to win every game is no different than FBS powerhouses expecting to win every game, neither one of you have anyone looming over you within your own classification, the only difference is when you guys play a FBS team, that's the only time Georgia Southern or App will ever be completely overmatched from the opening kick, you won't ever have that worry playing within FCS, us non-AQ FBS schools on the other hand, depending on how your program schedules out of conference have the opportunity to be completely overmatched four times in one season. Anyhow is your fanbase having unrealistic expectations really a tangible benefit? What does it matter if your fans expect to win every game? Of course you want your coaches and players to believe you're going to win every game, but we as fans can be objective without it having an adverse effect on the game. I fully expect some of your fans will always expect(or at least say they always expect) to win every game, like I said every fanbase has those fans, but once you get your feet set in FBS and realize that 7-5 is a decent season and in some cases it takes you four seasons to win the number of games you did in two seasons at the FCS level, you'll see a change in the attitude of your fanbase. Don't get me wrong, both GaSo and App have great fanbases and tradition and I don't expect either of you to see your fanbase ever resemble FIU, but you will see a change and your fanbase will much more closely resemble the more successful fanbases of the current Sun Belt.


Gosh, I'm such a jerk, mocking poor ole Georgia Southern by including them in my "ideal conference" I drew up almost a year ago...

(03-03-2013 11:15 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(03-03-2013 08:31 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  If we get an invite are we still in subordinate status during transition or do we receive full rights and privileges?

Of course, for the most part I am only posting on realignment threads that directly mention the FCS schools.

We treat Georgia State and Texas State as members, despite they dont play in the league yet. You guys will get the same treatment, provided you understand that our outgoing members will be treated as members as well, and will certainly still be around as they play out their final year in league.

We'replaying some Olympic sports in the SBC already and have already won a conference championship. Thanks

(03-04-2013 01:40 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Gosh, I'm such a jerk, mocking poor ole Georgia Southern by including them in my "ideal conference" I drew up almost a year ago...

You're certainly nicer about it than C-USA fans were about that "ideal conference" draw-up.

(03-04-2013 01:11 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-04-2013 11:11 AM)knucklehead Wrote:  there is a big difference between pimping and trying to educate or re-educate folks on what your school would bring to the table.

This makes the assumption that anyone here has the interest in being "re-educated". There's a joke in there, but I'm going to leave it alone. I'd hate to be accused of mocking a FCS school.

Especially since that 46% FBS Winning Percentage make the Blue Raiders soooo much better than said FCS schools.

I'm sure someone told you McNeese finished 5-4 vs FCS competition in 2012?

(03-04-2013 01:11 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-04-2013 11:11 AM)knucklehead Wrote:  there is a big difference between pimping and trying to educate or re-educate folks on what your school would bring to the table.

This makes the assumption that anyone here has the interest in being "re-educated". There's a joke in there, but I'm going to leave it alone. I'd hate to be accused of mocking a FCS school.

Just now noticed this post.

I took care of it for you.