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Post by jackal on Sept 10, 2014 11:59:34 GMT -5
I definitely think Mercer is in the "just happy to be here" stage. They have been very successful starting the program and have had great support from the community and alumni. Just like everything else, though, eras of good feeling ebb and flow with time. I lived in Macon for seven years. Just moved about a month ago. I get the impression Macon leadership is finally recognizing the importance of Mercer to the Middle Georgia community. I think continuing to foster that relationship is absolutely critical to both sides. Macon is not Greenville, Birmingham, Chattanooga, or Charleston. Mercer has an opportunity to be the only show in town. Jackal, what part of last week's game gave you any indication that we are in a "just happy to be here stage?" I know you hope we are in that stage because that's the only hope Furman has. Over 12K came to pack the finest facilities in the conference and create an atmosphere that most schools only dream of so that they can watch their freshman, sophomore, and some juniors go toe to toe with the defending champs for 4 quarters and almost beat them. Each year we admit more and more freshman while the Average GPA and SAT score continue to rise, our baseball team has reached top 25 rankings for multiple years in a row, and I do hope you got to see our basketball team on ESPN for the entire month of March. Happy to be here? You wish, we're on a mission and Bobby Lamb is out for blood; enjoy your wins while you can... I am not discrediting Mercer, here. I have often said they could write a book on the best way to start a football program. One your own fans called it a "honeymoon" stage. I do think that Mercer, like most southern-FCS teams, will ebb and flow with their popularity. You get a top 10 UGA team playing at the same time as Mercer's kickoff, and you'll see what I am talking about. Even last year you saw Mercer's attendance dip significantly at certain points in the season (Mercer has not played at the same time as Georgia yet). It's not a bad thing, it just is what it is. As I mentioned, I am an alum of both Furman and Mercer. I am intimately familiar with both universities. They are similar in many respects, and different in many respects. There are things Mercer can sell to recruits the Furman cannot. There are things that Furman can sell to recruits that Mercer cannot. I think they are fine addition to the conference. |
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Post by jackal on Sept 10, 2014 12:05:02 GMT -5
Since there has been some discussion concerning this topic, I just thought I would put the exact quote up from the FurmanFootballMom on the Furman Fan Page: "It gets really old to log on here before and after every game and see almost pure negativity. Do you all realize that some of the players DO look at this board?" I wouldn't want anyone to think I was making things up….. I don't think anyone is suggesting you are making things up. I think with any group of people you find a group of the "perpetually dissatisfied." I find them at church, at work, and on football message boards. They would complain regardless of what the score is. I imagine if you read over things, you'll find about three "perpetually dissatisfied" posters on our forum. Most of our fans cannot stand them either. |
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Post by BearDownMU on Sept 10, 2014 14:52:54 GMT -5
I don't think Jackal was trying to diss anyone. I think he was saying that it is still new to everyone, which makes it more exciting. To be honest, I'm worried what happens when we have a year that doesn't go so well, or just see how excited people are after a few years. I hope we keep it up, but it's a tough thing to maintain.
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Post by bear38 on Sept 10, 2014 15:57:42 GMT -5
I don't think Jackal was trying to diss anyone. I think he was saying that it is still new to everyone, which makes it more exciting. To be honest, I'm worried what happens when we have a year that doesn't go so well, or just see how excited people are after a few years. I hope we keep it up, but it's a tough thing to maintain. I don't have any problem with what Jackal said, I just think the current Mercer fan support is much more than the "honeymoon" phase support. As I said earlier, that may be part of it, but there is something else going on that is much deeper. Now maybe that is the " exceeding every expectation in the book" support, but so be it. That is how you build a program. For anyone to have said 3 years ago that Furman would come into Macon and escape with a 5 point win with Mercer only having ONE class of scholarship recruits, we would have all classified them as looney. No way anybody could pull that off. But that is just what Bobby Lamb & Company have done and I am sure that 99% of Mercer fans realize just how incredible that is. That is why support continues to build. Perhaps the rest of the SoCon doesn't see that yet. That's OK. The PFL didn't see it coming last year either. The Bears are going have to continue to put a competitive team on the field each Saturday. It is a tall order, but if they do it, then we should all acknowledge what an amazing accomplishment it is. Middle Georgia and Macon have a "high football IQ" and they appreciate the early success of the program. |
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Post by jackal on Sept 10, 2014 20:19:23 GMT -5
I don't think Jackal was trying to diss anyone. I think he was saying that it is still new to everyone, which makes it more exciting. To be honest, I'm worried what happens when we have a year that doesn't go so well, or just see how excited people are after a few years. I hope we keep it up, but it's a tough thing to maintain. I don't have any problem with what Jackal said, I just think the current Mercer fan support is much more than the "honeymoon" phase support. As I said earlier, that may be part of it, but there is something else going on that is much deeper. Now maybe that is the " exceeding every expectation in the book" support, but so be it. That is how you build a program. For anyone to have said 3 years ago that Furman would come into Macon and escape with a 5 point win with Mercer only having ONE class of scholarship recruits, we would have all classified them as looney. No way anybody could pull that off. But that is just what Bobby Lamb & Company have done and I am sure that 99% of Mercer fans realize just how incredible that is. That is why support continues to build. Perhaps the rest of the SoCon doesn't see that yet. That's OK. The PFL didn't see it coming last year either. The Bears are going have to continue to put a competitive team on the field each Saturday. It is a tall order, but if they do it, then we should all acknowledge what an amazing accomplishment it is. Middle Georgia and Macon have a "high football IQ" and they appreciate the early success of the program. I definitely agree with you on that. I personally thought the score would be in the neighborhood of 35-17. You could not (and thankfully Furman's coaching staff did not) take Mercer for granted in that environment with that much on the line. Furman had some chances to put the game away, but Mercer just wasn't going to let them. Best of luck to the Bears going forward. Glad Furman was able to land the win and look forward to seeing you guys head up to Paladin Stadium next season. |
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Post by bear38 on Sept 10, 2014 22:25:52 GMT -5
I definitely agree with you on that. I personally thought the score would be in the neighborhood of 35-17. You could not (and thankfully Furman's coaching staff did not) take Mercer for granted in that environment with that much on the line. Furman had some chances to put the game away, but Mercer just wasn't going to let them. Best of luck to the Bears going forward. Glad Furman was able to land the win and look forward to seeing you guys head up to Paladin Stadium next season. That is IF Furman gives us any tickets….  Or maybe I will take a play out of the Furman playbook and use the Furman Alumni page to get tickets. Just saying. |
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Post by jackal on Sept 11, 2014 5:44:41 GMT -5
It won't be a problem for you. I bought my seven tickets with the Mercer alumni code because I am, in fact, a Mercer alum. I am not completely sure what Mercer's grand plan was with their ticket policies.
Come on up. Greenville is a beautiful city, Furman is a beautiful campus, you can get a ticket, and we do not even charge for parking.
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Post by bear38 on Sept 11, 2014 13:22:18 GMT -5
It won't be a problem for you. I bought my seven tickets with the Mercer alumni code because I am, in fact, a Mercer alum. I am not completely sure what Mercer's grand plan was with their ticket policies. Come on up. Greenville is a beautiful city, Furman is a beautiful campus, you can get a ticket, and we do not even charge for parking. Ahhh, so that is how the Mercer alumni code was posted on the Furman Fan Page. LOL. I'll be there. Furman does have a beautiful campus and I enjoyed downtown Greenville as well. |
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Post by jackal on Sept 11, 2014 14:07:04 GMT -5
It won't be a problem for you. I bought my seven tickets with the Mercer alumni code because I am, in fact, a Mercer alum. I am not completely sure what Mercer's grand plan was with their ticket policies. Come on up. Greenville is a beautiful city, Furman is a beautiful campus, you can get a ticket, and we do not even charge for parking. Ahhh, so that is how the Mercer alumni code was posted on the Furman Fan Page. LOL. I'll be there. Furman does have a beautiful campus and I enjoyed downtown Greenville as well. Despite the connection, it was not I. Unsurprisingly, I have had to convince a few people of that. |
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Post by orangejuice on Sept 12, 2014 8:30:55 GMT -5
Does anyone know that the off-setting penalties were on the long #7 touchdown run that was called back? I did a re-broadcast and the announcers didn't know either. I'm not sure I've ever seen off-setting penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct in DURING a play. We ended up scoring on the drive anyway so it didn't hurt us. I just want to understand the call.
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Post by jackal on Sept 12, 2014 8:54:45 GMT -5
Does anyone know that the off-setting penalties were on the long #7 touchdown run that was called back? I did a re-broadcast and the announcers didn't know either. I'm not sure I've ever seen off-setting penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct in DURING a play. We ended up scoring on the drive anyway so it didn't hurt us. I just want to understand the call. Boggled most of us too. I thought there was certain holding (the flag was thrown right in front of the OL). It was about a 40 yard penalty that never will show up in the box score. |
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Post by bear38 on Sept 12, 2014 13:48:13 GMT -5
Does anyone know that the off-setting penalties were on the long #7 touchdown run that was called back? I did a re-broadcast and the announcers didn't know either. I'm not sure I've ever seen off-setting penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct in DURING a play. We ended up scoring on the drive anyway so it didn't hurt us. I just want to understand the call. The incident occurred between the DB and the WR about 10 yards or so from scrimmage on the Mercer sidelines. John Russ was already about 20 yards down field on his way to the end zone. The DB pushed the WR out of bounds and then kept pushing him. The WR then pushed him back. It was a similar situation to the unsportsmanlike conduct call where the Furman player was on top of the Mercer player after the play was over and the Furman player was not making any attempt to get up. The Mercer player pushed him off and received the flag from the ref about 30 yards away from the incident. The sideline ref who was right there did not throw his flag. |
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Post by orangejuice on Sept 13, 2014 8:35:34 GMT -5
Does anyone know that the off-setting penalties were on the long #7 touchdown run that was called back? I did a re-broadcast and the announcers didn't know either. I'm not sure I've ever seen off-setting penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct in DURING a play. We ended up scoring on the drive anyway so it didn't hurt us. I just want to understand the call. The incident occurred between the DB and the WR about 10 yards or so from scrimmage on the Mercer sidelines. John Russ was already about 20 yards down field on his way to the end zone. The DB pushed the WR out of bounds and then kept pushing him. The WR then pushed him back. It was a similar situation to the unsportsmanlike conduct call where the Furman player was on top of the Mercer player after the play was over and the Furman player was not making any attempt to get up. The Mercer player pushed him off and received the flag from the ref about 30 yards away from the incident. The sideline ref who was right there did not throw his flag. Thanks 38. What a terrible call considering the play. Those refs loved to throw the flag. It made the game hard to watch at times. |
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Post by bear38 on Sept 13, 2014 11:07:12 GMT -5
A lot of chippy play on both sides. This particular call was the classic retaliation call. Although usually the ref only sees the second part and the first part goes unpunished. That is just the way it is and players have to rise above it and not respond. I'm not sure that I fault the ref from throwing a flag on the play, but the end result cost Mercer 6 points and was hardly offsetting in that regard.
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Post by bear38 on Sept 14, 2014 12:27:57 GMT -5
Wow. They are sharpening the knives over on the Furman Fan Message Board.
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Or maybe I will take a play out of the Furman playbook and use the Furman Alumni page to get tickets. Just saying.