|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 19, 2017 1:40:39 GMT -5
As someone who has been in the program, we definitely hate Furman more than any other team. “There’s always a sour taste in our mouth when we play Furman. Even when I first arrived here, you could tell with Furman week. It is a bitter rivalry; I’m excited for this week.” - Kaelan Riley in the Telegraph this week. Also Jackal saying that the Furman fanbase dislikes teams they haven't played in 3+ years probably encapsulates it best. We're here to give you that work and they aren't anymore so sit down, hold these 2 Ls, and keep complaining about our marketing strategy. I totally understand why Mercer would dislike Furman (in a football context, I guess). It's a natural connection and Mercer, as a new program, has no obvious rival. Mercer has sort of "created" their own football culture from whole cloth - band, students, stadium, uniforms, traditions, etc. Makes sense they'd want to kind of create a rivalry too. I'm not suggesting Furman still sees itself as rivals with Georgia Southern and App State anymore than Auburn is rivals with Georgia Tech. They used to be, but now play in different conferences and those days are gone. My only point is that rivalries don't just exist because people want one or the schools are sort of similar. They develop over time. I think there are 3 types of rivalries... * Mutual rivalries (2 types) ** Traditional Rivalry - this is what Jackal thinks of when he thinks of the words rivals or rivalry. In the SoCon, this is The Citadel & Furman and it was WCU & App State. It is Michigan & Ohio State. It is Clemson & USC. It is Roswell & Milton (trust me). ** Flash Rivalry - it is mutual, but for various reasons, does not require time to develop. Furman & GaSou were instant rivals when GaSou joined the SoCon in 1992 because they played each other in 2 prior (& recent to that year) 1-AA National Championships that were hard-fought, amazing games. I believe ETSU & WCU may soon have a rivalry that fits in this category. WCU is looking for something to replace their Battle for the Old Mountain Jug rivalry with App & ETSU could use a rival in the hills also. I think these schools may have been hoops rivals in ETSU’s earlier SoCon tenure also. Last year’s game at Bristol was cool & an upset. Let’s see if this year’s game can add some fuel to The Blue Ridge Border War...I heard that’s what WCU is calling it. * 1 sided Rivalry - In this type, 1 team thinks there is a rivalry, but the other does not. Furman & Wofford used to be an example of this. Wofford fans saw FU as a big rival & FU fans saw Wofford as a smaller school up I-85. This has changed, over the years that Wofford has been in the SoCon & is now another (almost) Traditional Rival for Furman. The Georgia & Georgia Tech Rivalry almost, or probably did, morph from a Traditional Rivalry to a 1 sided rivalry as Tech moved out of the SEC & their Teams weren’t very competitive. GT saw it as a Rivalry & Georgia saw it as an annoying game before The Sugar Bowl. ...So, back to Mercer & Furman. Which is it? I believe I’m as qualified as anyone to assess this. Jackal may have attended & graduated from both schools & Ursus may have knowledge of FU from his formative years & been an Insider at Mercer Football, but I have been actively involved with both Football Programs & their Fan Bases...and I have more of a perspective of “Tradition” than either as my personal perspective extends back to 1977, when I first visited Furman. Jackal would like to think this is a 1 sided rivalry, in that Mercer sees this as a Rivalry, but Furman does not. And that seems like what it ought to be. Furman already has 2 current rivals in The Citadel & Wofford. (By the way, GaSou, App State, & Marshall are not FU’s rivals. GaSou definitely WAS a Flash Rival & was becoming a Traditional one, but they elected to de-emphasize their Football Program & move down to the Slum Belt. Appy & Marshall were brief Flash Rivals before they both also moved on to irrelevance.) Do the Paladins really need another Rival? Of course they don’t. But they DO have one in Mercer & it’s a 2-way Rivalry both inside (Players & Coaches) & outside (Fans). Ursus has already stated how the Bears Players (and Coaches) view Furman. Let me share the other side. I was speaking, recently, with the Spouse of a Sr member of FU’s Coaching Staff. She was actually speaking to a group of 4 or 5 people (not just to me) & said, “We were so surprised when we got here & started talking to the Players & all of them told us that beating Mercer was their Top Goal.” I’m sure the current staff has realigned those goals, but the comment stands on its own. I also had the an experience of touring FU’s locker room before this year’s Spring Game & 1 member of our party was wearing a Mercer BEARS (the Bear face was BIG) shirt. If the FU Players’ eyes were daggers, he would have been an Asian Chopped Salad. The Paladin Players DO NOT LIKE Mercer; not one little bit, and that is the stuff from which rivalries spring. The Fans are the same. Check the UFFP & count posts or words vs. ETSU or Chatt...or anyone...except maybe CIT & Woffy. Also examine the vitriol, the resolve, and the stridency of those posts. Do you know how often I’ve been asked by Furman Fans about Mercer’s Band playing the Mercer Fight Song in 2015, while Furman was announcing the Sr.’s & Families on Sr. Day? It was a boneheaded thing to do, but fans remember that stuff, like the Mercer fans remember hearing about Furman trashing the Visitors locker room after the 2014 win over Mercer. They saw that as a “Welcome to the SoCon” hazing type of gesture & saw it as classless. These, also, are the things from which rivalries spring. So, Jackal, you are correct. Mercer vs. Furman is NOT a Traditional Rivalry. But, ursus, you are more correct, this game, this year is a MUTUAL Rivalry Game...even if some Furman Fans do not want to admit that it is...which makes it even moreso! |
|
|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 19, 2017 2:04:21 GMT -5
Another very well-written article; similar to the 1st post in this thread, with some additional info...this one from Robbie Ross at Southern Pigskin Homecoming at Furman |
|
|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 19, 2017 2:28:55 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by jackal on Oct 19, 2017 5:54:57 GMT -5
Looks like the Paladins will be as close to full strength as they've been in a number of weeks. |
|
|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 19, 2017 6:52:23 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 19, 2017 6:57:18 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 19, 2017 10:33:14 GMT -5
I appreciate BearDownMU and jackal defending Cullowhee, but that had nothing to do with my post. I was trying to say that when a team most needs their fans is when they are trying to get over a hump. IMO the Bears have gotten to this hump faster than most would realistically have thought primarily due to the location, facilities, academics, administration, and the coaching staff. Every game left in the SoCon is a big game for WCU, Furman, Samford, and Mercer. But if any of them tail off and finish outside the playoffs hard to imagine any of them other than Samford feeling like this was a poor year. Many pre-season polls I believe had Mercer 5th, WCU 6th, and Furman 7th (Samford was picked 3rd). So Mercer is a little better than the "experts" expected, and the other 2 are way better. But all of that is right now - lots of football left. Apologies to the Mercer fans - I typically don't want to post much on any other team's board unless it is specifically about my team. I am lurking here more than normal because I am a former Furman player (just one season - under Bobby Lamb as the QB coach) and am a WCU graduate, and the Cats play both of these teams in the next few weeks. |
|
|
|
Post by BearDownMU on Oct 19, 2017 12:01:50 GMT -5
I appreciate BearDownMU and jackal defending Cullowhee, but that had nothing to do with my post. I was trying to say that when a team most needs their fans is when they are trying to get over a hump. IMO the Bears have gotten to this hump faster than most would realistically have thought primarily due to the location, facilities, academics, administration, and the coaching staff. Every game left in the SoCon is a big game for WCU, Furman, Samford, and Mercer. But if any of them tail off and finish outside the playoffs hard to imagine any of them other than Samford feeling like this was a poor year. Many pre-season polls I believe had Mercer 5th, WCU 6th, and Furman 7th (Samford was picked 3rd). So Mercer is a little better than the "experts" expected, and the other 2 are way better. But all of that is right now - lots of football left. Apologies to the Mercer fans - I typically don't want to post much on any other team's board unless it is specifically about my team. I am lurking here more than normal because I am a former Furman player (just one season - under Bobby Lamb as the QB coach) and am a WCU graduate, and the Cats play both of these teams in the next few weeks. No apologies. We're happy to have you at any time. The more the merrier. And, honestly, if Jackal hasn't worn out his welcome already, you certainly couldn't.  |
|
|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 20, 2017 0:28:13 GMT -5
Hmm? Is that the strains of Scorpions “Rock You Like a Hurricane” that I hear setting the tone for the Mercer Football Uniform of the Week ‘Reveal?’
I wonder if the person who selected this music knows that, prior to 1961, when all of Furman’s Athletics Teams became known as Paladins, the Football Team had been known as the “Hurricane” or the “Purple Hurricane.” And so, for many years & back to FU’s post-1984 glory years, “Rock You Like a Hurricane” has been used extensively by Furman’s Band as sort of their ‘signature tune’ to play at Football games & I believe, with the accompaniment of the PA system, has been the ‘runout song’ for the Football Team.
However, this year Furman is trying something new & has a DJ spinning tunes at the games...and I believe there is a bit of consternation among traditional FU Fans as “Hurricane” has not been played, by the DJ or the Band...and something about how they lost the music to a certain version...or something strange.
Anyway...interesting selection of music...and, intentional or not, this too, is the kind of ‘picking at a wound’ thing that develops & deepens rivalries.
|
|
|
|
Post by jackal on Oct 20, 2017 4:44:41 GMT -5
Music and uniform choice seem oddly coincidental. I know Mercer has a bunch of uniform combinations, but the selection of white on white on white probably isn’t random either.
Also - purple gloves?
|
|
|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 20, 2017 5:58:30 GMT -5
Music and uniform choice seem oddly coincidental. I know Mercer has a bunch of uniform combinations, but the selection of white on white on white probably isn’t random either. Also - purple gloves? You're probably right. What Jackal is referencing is that Furman has worn ALL white on the road for years. Wore black pants some in recent years, but I don't think we'll see those again. Interesting side story to how All-White on the Road became a Furman Tradition... In the 70's (and maybe prior) FU wore purple pants as a fixture of the away ensemble. In 1980 though, the Players, who mostly hated the purple pants, 'lobbied' Coach Sheridan to wear the Home white pants, with the white away jersey, & white helmets (only 1 available) @ UNC. I think the purple is hotter than white, heat, fatigue, depth argument won him over. Paladins didn't knock off the #5 Tar Heels, but played well & had a chance to take the lead just before half, if not for a C/QB exchange fumble on UNC's 1 YL. The purple pants were back on until FU played Florida to open the season in '81. Again no upset of the highly ranked Gators, but the Paladins again played well & kept it close until Charley Pell ran up the score late, but FU gained more yards against Florida that year than any SEC Offense. Opened '82 in all-white @ NC State. Didn't play well, but the All-White vs. "BIG" school was established, so FU was in All-White when South Carolina was scalped 28-23 later that season. The purple pants were shelved after that BIG win & All-White Away thus became a Paladin tradition. Coach Satterfield brought them back for a few games in his tenure, but from Coach Johnson assuming the reins through the aforementioned black pants experiment, FU traveled in All White. I didn't notice the purple gloves. I think that seals it...music selection is no coincidence. I love it. Head games are part of THE game. You have to HAVE GAME to win, but the Head Games just add to the fun...unless your imagined vision of college football is as it was portrayed in an old Ronald Reagan movie...which it NEVER has been like. |
|
ursus
Spires Bear
Posts: 222
|
Post by ursus on Oct 20, 2017 8:23:00 GMT -5
The gloves are pink for Breast Cancer awareness.
I wish we had all orange uniforms. I agree that the all-white looks clean, but it's a little too close to that lower tier program and being original would be more interesting.
|
|
|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 20, 2017 8:42:07 GMT -5
I wish we had all orange jerseys. ? - I see all orange jerseys - ? Did you mean orange pants?  |
|
ursus
Spires Bear
Posts: 222
|
Post by ursus on Oct 20, 2017 9:15:10 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by FUBeAR on Oct 20, 2017 9:31:23 GMT -5
All orange everything. Orange is the new black OK - not a fan of All-Orange, personally...despite my Clemson & Mercer (in addition to non-Orange Furman) affinities. But you can't wear All-Orange on the Road, unless you're playing GT (sometimes) or the Dallas Cowboys. If you don't pref. the All-White for the Bears, what would you have them wear with WHITE away jerseys? |
|
