Behind The Wall S8E2 2023

What if we talked about ourselves like they talk about us...

Beratement doesn't produce good results.  Speak life. 

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. - Proverbs 18:21

Nah we like our edge.  They soft.  Troy beat Troy Saturday.

You think people like your edge.  Don't kid yourself. 

Got to airport a good two hours before flight Sunday.  This is a good thing because the Enterprise car guy is a KSU graduate and we had to talk about the game and notes that just like their coach said, the score was pretty deceptive.  KSU was probably better than we are but not by that much.  Basically, as Hemi said, the fans were highly complementary of our team.  The score before half was identified by some at hotel in Kansas City as the true turning point of the game pretty much like Coach said in his press conference.

In the spirit of camaraderie and being self-aware, I'll admit I probably come on strong.  It's in my nature and can be both a virtue and a vice.  My wife says my family loves by yelling.  What she means is it's the tussle that somehow bonds us because we know our inside baseball.  Someone outside who doesn't know us would think we're hard on each other but they're on the outside looking in.  We actually enjoy it, crossing swords like in fencing.  The tips don't hurt and we're well-padded.  But I get it's not for everyone and here is no different. 

My angst here comes from the objective reality that many or our fans truly are like a schizophrenic or manic-depressant....or both.  We're absolutely Jeckle one minute and totally Hyde the next.  Neal is heralded by TBB and others with pretty rose-colored glasses, as if they don't remember games and moments in seasons where his ability to coach was seriously called into question.  I don't mean in "debate" terms as you're saying but rather "should he be our coach or should we look for another" terms.  Not word-for-word but that's clearly the innuendo. 

So it's in-authentic looking and disingenuous to one minute claim a coach as being great but then allow one play, one series, one half, or even one game to redefine or quickly call into question his identity and all the good he's done.  And I'm not talking blind loyalty.  Absolutely not.  I'm not blindly loyal to Craddock, Watson, or Sumrall.  You can be loyal without being blindly so AND without the voice of a cynic.  There are plausible reasons why Craddock's offenses don't have incredible stats and those are largely out of his control.  Last season it was known our offense was not going to meet the expectations of what we were used to.  The coaches knew game management and defense would HAVE to be the key to winning the games because the offensive weapons were just...not...there.  Sumrall and Craddock knew that before a single snap of football.  They didn't telegraph that to the opponents or to the fan base, of course.  That would be foolish.  We see the wisdom in hindsight - and Sumrall's genius to find a way to win ball games under those circumstances.  Yet all season long the fan base,  though it suspected we had a weak offense but with a set of expectations still, consistently rode Craddock as a poor offensive coach.  Sumrall was loyal to him because he knew what was up when none of us did.  We talked like we did...but we didn't.  We debated like we did...but we didn't.  

So I trust Sumrall to choose his OC and his quarterback because I don't possess any facts in order to make the decision or to even debate it seriously.  I'm all for debating Troy football but I'd rather do so about something I know about.  Otherwise, I'm just "that" dude at the party who is just bloviating while everyone else rolls their eyes behind his back.  There are a handful here that if they could wave a magic wand, they'd have Craddock gone.  Perhaps Sumrall knows why he's not going to do that.  Either he knows he's got what it takes OR he knows Craddock is the best we can get right now and to fire him would mean to step backwards and the fans would be shortsighted to have their way. 

At any rate, I'm all for debate but is it too much to hope our extremes wouldn't be so far apart?  Honest to goodness, there are two or three posters that I'd swear in a court of law, they don't actually love Troy football.  They just love something to hate.  Everything they say about the team and the program is negative and cynical; it's just that they've found a community to be a part of when not selling cars and so here they are.  Yeah, probably too much to hope for.  Go Troy and have a good one, Saint.    

You sir have passion for Troy. I appreciate that and respect that because I feel for Troy greatly.
I will say you did make several assumptions in this post. That is ok because that is what every college football fan base does when they discuss their beloved programs. It makes it fun.
It’s also ok for fans to disagree, everyone doesn’t need to take it personally. For instance, when Hemi and his crew believed and defended Rowell as a good defensive coordinator (some even thought he should be the next HC after Larry) up to the end. A lot of people disagreed, me included. For me it was not personal but I had no issue defending my opinion. (Although it did play out he was not a good DC, just sayin )
We obviously disagree on points but I do enjoy your (and everyone else) posts and perspective. Mine sometimes does change after seeing some of y’all points.

Also I believe people bring a lot of passion to their college teams because it means so much. And yes too must passion.

I love every Trojan fan even if they are 100% negative. We need everyone we can get.
I celebrated last year like a rock star, in fact celebrate every win with crisp whiskey and awesome fellow alumni. And we often discuss how we can get better. It’s fun becoming he love it.

And YES totally understand “loves by yelling” That is mine too.