A LITTLE BIT OF DUMB SHIT ON TIGERNET

The DSOT posts have been a little less frequent lately, and not because there's any less dumb shit on there, I just didn't want to run it into the ground any more than I already have. That, and you can only subject yourself to Tigernet for so long before you feel yourself being pulled into that kind of mindset. Don't get me wrong, I love Clemson, I love most Clemson fans, but those who spend inordinate amounts of time on Tigernet make Clemson look bad. As I've said before, this isn't a problem unique to Clemson, hell even the new SecDef Gates took flak for being outed as a poster on a Texas A&M board. Anyway... here's the DSOT.

Coby D Tiger did the worst thing you can do on Tigernet. He gave an unbiased, truthful statement about the messageboard. I know plenty of Clemson coaches and people who work for the athletic department and Tigernet is considered, at best, mildly embarrassing. Coby D's post was treated just as you'd think it would; he was cursed and labeled a COOT. (I would like his post even more if he ditched the Chuck Norris tag at the bottom of it. I didn't even know people found that crap funny any more.)



He said what none of us were thinking.



In the year 2507, Clemson's football team is commanded by RoboBowden and averages 9 wins a season. Tommy fans claim they're almost there... just a little more time... just a few more facilities.



Mongotiger provides us with some form of dumbass haiku.



This mouthbreathing dope fired off an angry salvo at Bowden and supporters, saying Bowden has to "S__T are get off the camode." I've corrected his post in an attempt to make his angry posts more grammatically correct.



99%? That's absurd. I'm positive it's 96% at the most.



AWWWW! But he worked so HARD!! Can't we just give him a break, pretty please!



Sir, in your post you have demonstrated such a command of the English language and presented me with such irrefutable facts that I have no choice but to concede on each and every point you bring up. You are a credit to your fanbase and I wish you Godspeed. Good day sir.



Your mom.



So, wait, you saw a VT Hokie Edition Rav4... and... and you liked it? Fag.



He's a kid, chill the f*ck out. I really feel for Willy Korn. He is coming into Clemson with more hopes and dreams piled on his shoulders than perhaps any player in Tiger history. Having a hundred thousand middle-aged men drooling over your every move: creepy fact or creepiest fact?



I'm closing this episode of DSOT with a mind numbing display of ignorance from Tigernet's biggest retard, JD1stdown. This dolt likes to get hammered in his double-wide and go online and make country fried stream of consciousness posts that would make William Faulkner proud. Here's a brief sampling of his Jack Daniels-fueled musings from just one night last week.









I found some bigger "n00bs" than myself, and I "pwned" them, as the kids say.

KENTUCKY PREVIEW

Kentucky (7-5, 4-4 SEC) v. Clemson (8-4, 5-3 ACC), Friday, December 29th, 1 PM, ESPN HD, XM Satellite Radio Channels 191-193.

The Stats

Line: Clemson -10

Edge goes to:

Offense: Clemson

Defense: Clemson

Special Teams: Both. Kentucky is extremely good at blocking kicks and extra points, however Clemson has some of the best returners in the ACC.

Intangibles: UK. Kentucky has not been to a bowl game in seven years. They are more than happy to be playing in a bowl game and even happier to be sitting at 7-5. Winning this game would be a true step in actually turning a terrible program around. Clemson, on the other hand, seems to be dealing with a sour mood in the locker room. This team knows what they could've achieved this season and is pissed that they didn't. Their heads and their hearts just aren't in it.

The last time these two teams met in a bowl was December 31st, 1993 at the Chik-Fil-A Peach Bowl. Clemson, led by MVPs Emory Smith (Emmitt's little brother) and Brenston Buckner, won in the final minutes by a score of 14-13. Yours truly was in attendance to see the Wildcats get edged out by the Tigers... one of my more memorable games from a team that also sported Patrick Sapp and Dexter McLeon.

What won't black people do to confuse white people? Video unrelated, but c'mon, we had to show it to you.

Our panel of DFIG hacks say:

Willy Mac: The sole key to the game is stopping Kentucky WR Keenan Burton. And with Duane Coleman on the sidelines, it's not going to be easy. Burton reminds me more of Sydney Rice, who pecker-slapped the Clemson Defense at the Clemson/USC game by gaining 103 yards receiving on 8 catches. He really made a difference in that game, and if Burton has a similar game... oh boy. I mean, the Clemson defense is pretty good... at stopping the run, too bad Kentucky passes the ball A LOT more than they run it. Other notes:

- Kentucky is going to put eight in the box and force Proctor to pass, much like everyone else has. Proctors passing is like kryptonite for our team. And I don't mean like a little, I mean, flashback to Superman Returns and he straight up gets stabbed with a kryptonite shard, Lex Luthor straight breaks the shit off, and he's stuck on an island made out of kryptonite... that's how bad his passing is for our team. Hopefully now that he has Rendrick back in a line up of stunners, all he has to do is get it NEAR a receiver... which he's not real good at anyways. Remember when teams used to make Woody Dantzler pass it??? Yeah, same thing. He's got the short bullet passes down, but when he needs to throw it long its the ol' heave and hope. Plus, Proctor doesn't have the same ankle shattering running abilities that Woody did.

- Kentucky is f*cking incredible at creating turnovers the past few games. Clemson is f*cking incredible at turning the ball over the past few games. Clemson has to hang on to the ball and not turn it over. Kentucky will do anything short of a reach around and a blowjob to create a turnover.

- My apologies for ditching you guys there after the USC game, but I had finals, etc.

- If our defense can really pressure Kentucky QB Andre Woodson, he will fold faster than Reggie Ball. Gaines Adams needs to be a beast man in this game and he might need reinforcements from the good ol' bear cavalry known as our linebacker squad.

- If this game is close at the end, we will more than likely lose... of course you know this cause you've seen it happen time and time again.

Clemson 27, Kentucky 10
Should have read:
Clemson 20, Kentucky 28
One big goose egg of a loss.

Clemson = Linebacker/Bear Cavalry University

Chili: One time I killed a man with my bare hands. That's not the point here. I'm here to talk about the game. This bowl of football. Which team will advance the lil pumpkin farther than the other team? Well, I don't know. I'd like to say Clemson, but then again, I have a diploma from there up on my wall, so I'm biased. Frankly, I'm sick of Clemson. I'm sick of a team constantly failing to meet expectations. Hell, not just expectations, we know how lofty fans' expectations can be, this team just hasn't even played up to their ability. Something has been wrong with the team since the Virginia Tech game. We've heard nothing but reports of bitching and complaining from players and general indicators of a shitty attitude amongst players. I'm also sick of Tommy's excuses. I'm so sick of Tommy that I'm even sick of people picking apart his comments and bashing him. It's just too easy, you might as well be picking fights with paraplegics. I don't hope Clemson loses, but I won't be surprised if they do. I won't really care all that much either. Music City Bowl? Who gives a shit. I'd almost rather not display that trophy. Anyway, here's some stats I ripped off a betting site: Clemson is 9-1 outside the conference lately, but 1-4 against the spread in the last 5 games. UK is 4-1 ATS and 5-5 out of conference. Yay. Here's a link to a decent preview - LLLINK.

Prediction: Mini Ditka 49, Clemson -3
or.... Clemson 23, Kentucky 14

One last random picture for the 06 season.
"One dog goes one way, the other dog goes the other way, and this guy's sayin', 'Whadda ya want from me?'"

IVAN DRAGO: JUSTICE ENFORCER

Perhaps the greatest game mankind has ever devised. Download it, learn it, love it.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOU'RN

Unnecessarily large Santa Cat wishes you a happy holiday season.

DUANE COLEMAN ARRESTED

Mmm.... just what Clemson fans want right now. A disappointing season's end, constant talk of Sakerlina's great recruiting class (our is still pretty damned good, just we got all our bidness taken care of months ago), the Gaylord Hotels/Junior Johnson Country Ham Music City Bowl on the horizon, and now a key player gets arrested for simple possession. Duane was a partial qualifier coming in, but has busted his ass on and off the field and is set to graduate in December, it's a shame to see him end his career like this. I wonder if we can slide this under the rug as easily as USC did the arrest of Ricardo Hurley in his hometown of Greenwood a few years back. (Yeah, I had to bring them up, we can only hope to one day have the arrest record they've got)

Maybe this is a case for a crime syndicate to open up in Clemson. It'd give the cops something to do besides harass students for petty shit.

The cops got my man D on a humble.

GUEST RANT BY SAMBO

One of our readers, Sambo, has decided to share some thoughts with us...

Now, I know this is a Clemson first blog, but there is an outside world if none of you have noticed (tully) and I would like to take a minute and express some things I have noticed while watching other games, random TV, Sportscenter, and porn.

• The World Series of Poker is rigged! Online Poker companies have a sweet gig going here. Think about it, if some chump accountant or patent attorney wins and then claims online poker helped them do it, this will cause other chumps to play online poker and BAM! Online poker companies profit. It’s genius, I’m playing right now.

• Does anyone else giggle when they hear the word “screwball?”

• I finally figured out why Alabama can’t find a new head coach, they’re being Punk’d. I was sure Ashton was going to jump out after Rich Rodriguez declined the job, but he didn’t. I guess the question now is how long are they going to let this go on before we see some Ashton?

• Sakerlina swallows.

• Paris Hilton and Britney Spears should just go ahead and give us their sex tape, we all know they did it and naturally filmed it like all celebrities do. Plus, I am tired of watching Screech getting it on more than I do.

• Tom Brady has to be a robot.

• Barry Bonds has NEVER taken steroids…………in a box, he has never done them with a fox, he has never done them in a house, he has never done them with a mouse, but he has done them here and there, he has done them anywhere, he has done steroids, Sam I Am.

• How has Metropolis not figured out that Clark Kent is Superman?

• And how has no one ever made the connection between Sakerlina and Pure Evil? Their colors are black and some dark evil looking red, evil is often associated with black and evil red. Sakerlina plays the Imperial March (for those non-dorks, that’s the Star Wars song that’s played whenever Vader is around) constantly throughout games, along with another evil sounding song, evil likes evil songs. Sakerlina's coach is Steve Spurrier, evil is Steve Spurrier. And most importantly, Sakerlina has never scheduled the colossal matchup between the Cocks and the Oregon State fighting Beavers, evil has never played the Beavers either. In conclusion, Sakerlina is evil.

THURSDAY RANDOMNESS

I'm in Charleston until the weekend, and since clearly I'm the backbone of DFIG, things around here have been kind of slow. I'm taking some time this morning to post some random happenings relating to Clemson sports and our blog.

- I've set up an ESPN Group to display your bowl picks in addition to sending them to chili -@- dannyfordisgod.com. Here's the link, set up your picks.

- There are some postseason Blog Awards announced on a Vols blog and hosted on a Wolverines blog (whaaa?), please vote for us if you feel we're deserving of any recognition, just paste our URL (http://www.dannyfordisgod.com) into the proper boxes. Thanks in advance.

- Tommy Bowden was rumored to be in contention for the Alabama job. No, I don't know why they'd want him either. Maybe if they got a powerhouse OC in there under him it wouldn't be such a confusing choice. Tommy says no to Bama, however.

- Tommy, his brother Steve, and his pop bought a Georgia plantation this week for a cool $2.7 million. Rumor has it that Bobby has just been meandering about the plantation attempting to coach chickens and goats. He then put a quarter of an orange peel in his mouth and chased Steve around the tomato patch. Info by Kevin Donahue of Fanblogs.

- Gaines Adams is a unanimous First Team All-American. Congrats, Gaines, you've come a long way, baby. From catching Walter Roark's long bombs as a WR at 8-man Cambridge Academy to ripping the heads off of opposing QBs, here's to you. He becomes Clemson's first unanimous FTA-A since Terry Kinard in 1982.

- For the first time since 1999, Clemson basketball is ranked in the Top 25, holding firm at number... 25. We are also #1 in the Sagarin rankings this week. Seriously.

To make Willy Mac happy, here's a completely unrelated picture of Slick Rick.

MOTIVATION

I figured with our boys going through exams and training for the bowl game just around the corner, they could use a little motivation.

Willy Mac: rocky had no chance in that movie
Willy Mac: not only is he fighting a beast man russian, its a beast man russian on steroids
Chili: and a clemson alumn
Chili: so I just turned down an offer to coach at Alabama. they're really getting desperate.

BIG FAT BOWL CHALLENGE

The Mac Cup might be over but there's a new chance to win some goodies. 1st and 2nd place will both get some sort of prize, we haven't determined yet, it depends on how much AdSense money we get from Google, you know, for the ads on the sidebar. So, just in theory, if it got clicked a lot, we could possibly give away a better prize. In theory.
Instead of adding your picks onto the comments section, mail them to chili -at- dannyfordisgod -dot com- (address not linked to avoid spammers) and make sure to make the subject line of your email Bowl Picks - (name) so I can sort them from other comments and complaints and random emails to my DFIG address.


Poinsettia Bowl - Dec 19
TCU vs. Northern Illinois
Las Vegas Bowl - Dec 21
BYU vs. Oregon
New Orleans Bowl - Dec 22
Rice vs. Troy
Papajohns.com Bowl - Dec 23
South Florida vs. East Carolina
New Mexico Bowl - Dec 23
New Mexico vs. San Jose St
Armed Forces Bowl - Dec 23
Tulsa v. Utah
Hawaii Bowl - Dec 24
Arizona State vs. Hawaii
Motor City Bowl - Dec 26
MTSU vs. Central Michigan
Emerald Bowl - Dec 27
FSU vs. UCLA
Independence Bowl - Dec 28
Oklahoma State vs. Alabama
Holiday Bowl - Dec 28
California vs. Texas A&M
Texas Bowl - Dec 28
Rutgers vs. Kansas State
Music City Bowl - Dec 29
Clemson vs. Kentucky
Sun Bowl - Dec 29
Oregon State vs. Missouri
Liberty Bowl - Dec 29
Houston vs. Sakerlina
Insight Bowl - Dec 29
Texas Tech vs. Minnesota
Champs Sports Bowl - Dec 29
Purdue vs. Maryland
Car Care Bowl - Dec 30
Navy vs. Boston College
Alamo Bowl - Dec 30
Texas vs. Iowa
Chick-fil-A Bowl - Dec 30
Georgia vs. Virginia Tech
MPC Computers Bowl - Dec 31
Miami vs. Nevada
Outback Bowl - Jan 1
Tennessee vs. Penn State
Cotton Bowl - Jan 1
Auburn vs. Nebraska
Gator Bowl - Jan 1
West Virginia vs. Georgia Tech
Capital One - Jan 1
Arkansas vs. Wisconsin
Rose Bowl - Jan 1
USC vs. Michigan
Fiesta Bowl - Jan 1
Boise State vs. Oklahoma
Orange Bowl - Jan 2
Louisville vs. Wake Forest
Sugar Bowl - Jan 3
Notre Dame vs. LSU
International Bowl - Jan 6
Cincinnati vs. Western Michigan
GMAC Bowl - Jan 7
Ohio vs. Southern Miss
BCS Championship Game - Jan 8
Florida vs. Ohio State

THE MACALLAN CUP: IT'S OVER

This week marked the final week of the Macallan Cup Pick 10. Remember, the winner will get a bottle of The Macallan Fine Oak, 18 Year Old. Whisky Magazine gave it a prestigious 8 1/2 out of 10, though one reviewer had a problem with the sherry wood barrels used in the aging process. Enough about the single malts, here's the results:

Last Week’s Games:
Army @ Navy - Navy
Rutgers @ West Virginia - WVU
Arkansas vs. Florida - Flawda
Wake Forest vs. Georgia Tech - WFU
Nebraska vs. Oklahoma - Oklahoma
USC @ UCLA - UCLA
Oregon State @ Hawaii – Oregon State
Conneticut @ Louisville - Louisville
Stanford @ California - Cal
Div 1-AA: Montana State @ Appalachian State – ASU

This Week’s Results:

JoeCU08 -2
NoleCC -2
Uttles -2
Willy Mac -2
Chili -3
Lola -3
Sambo -3
FishTaco -4
Brad -5
CUstudent -5

FINAL RESULTS
Name – Score – Record - Percentage

1. Chili -36 – 104-36 – 74%
2. Lola -48 – 92-48 – 65%
3. Willy Mac -51 – 89-51 – 63.5%
4. Brad -52 – 88-52 – 62.75%

I AM TEH WINNAR!!!!! I am looking forward to next year when we have even more regular pickers and a little better competition, though Lola gave me a run for my money. Next year we will probably pick games by spreads, more than likely using a Yahoo! Fantasy Sports group. Willy Mac, I want my booze! Gimmie!

GREAT... GRAND... WONDERFUL

Nashville, Tennessee... prepare to get swamped by two dollar bills with tiger paws stamped onto them.

The look on Bowden's face says it all... Does he even enjoy coaching football?

Clemson will face Kentucky in the 2006 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. The game is set for Friday, December 29 at 1:00 Pm (eastern) and it will be shown by ESPN. The last time these two teams met in a bowl game was the 1993 Peach Bowl. Clemson edged out the Wildcats by a score of 14 - 13, winning the game in the final minutes of regulation.

MY NEW FAVORITE FOOTBALL PLAYER

What were his parents thinking?

FREE CRAP

SportsGamer reports that, as of yesterday, EA was giving away alternate uniforms for download for NCAA 2007 on XBOX Live! Marketplace. Clemson is among the teams with new unis to download. No word on what uniform it is, but I'm pretty sure it's the purple alternate uni. Not that big of a deal but it's nice to see the company that charges money to download tutorials and wallpapers of their games is giving something away.

Update: As of last Thursday evening, I couldn't find shit about this on XBOX Live Marketplace. LIARS!

Updated Update: Apparently, the new unis were uploaded by EA late last night/early this morning, can someone confirm this?? I haven't any access to my XBOX right now. - Willy Mac

Last Update: It's true. Go to XBOX Live Marketplace and go to the "Newly Released Downloads" section and it should be under "NCAA 07" - Willy Mac

How much purple can your Xbox 360 handle?

BASKETBALL AND COWGIRLS

Ahh, the first Clemson basketball post on DFIG. Expect many more of these as the season goes on. At the first sign of a downfall (probably in middle or late February), expect to see me jump off the bandwagon and do a barrel roll so as to avoid being skinned up too badly by the untamed earth. Until then, enjoy.

Last night, Clemson didn't let the ACC down in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge by crushing Minnesota's bones and making eggnog out of their innards beating them by a score of 90 - 68. This bumps our squad up to an 8-0 record for the year and another great start to the season. Let's just hope James Mays can stay in school and OP can keep it together.

An impressive bullet point in the game was that our bench outscored their bench 40 - 5. Another very impressive note is that K.C. Rivers came off the bench and rattled off 22 points draining five shots from beyond the arc and going a prefect 5-5 in free throws. I'm so glad that K.C. is showing signs of life and I hope he keeps it up when we go into conference play. The sophomore is really starting to stand out and could help fill the gap and step up next year to take the place of Vernon Hamilton.

K.C. Rivers... Mere mortal or 3-point machine???

Something the Tiger's do need to step up is the field goal percentage. Last night we only had 46.5% shooting from the field. Our free throw percentage did seem to be improved at 66.7% but both of those numbers are terrible if we want to have a good season in conference this year. To counter this point, the Tigers created 24... yes, count em again... 24 turnovers. I don't know if that's just our awesome defense or Minnesota's terrible offense. It's still early though and pending we don't lose to South Carolina or a very good Wofford team, we could hope to be the proud owners of a perfect record going into conference play.

The next game on the schedule is at South Carolina this Sunday at 1pm EST which you should be able to catch on FSN. After that we have Wofford at home next Tuesday at 7:30pm EST. If you're in the area, you should try and catch it seeing as our home attendance this year in basketball is comparable to that of attendance at a Wake Forest... or even worse... Duke football game.

Let's just hope for once we don't get out hopes up. A friend on The Rant (whose handle happens to be "PissedOffMoFo") told me "Dan Scott will tell us that Clemson's basketball team is poised to do something special this season. And when they trip and fall, we'll be told that our expectations are too high and how dare anyone expect a team to win." My response to this: "EXACTLY. F*ck the homers and f*ck Dan Scott and his big ol' cheeseburger belly. He's too fat to even be on radio... which is sad. His show gets interupted by his throat fat putting a slow strangle-hold on his trachea causing him to breathe every so heavily."

"This is Dan Scott.... *gaaaasp* And you're listening to... *gasp* Cruise Control here on the Drive... *gaasp* *gulp* *lick* 104.9.... (Takes a large bite out of double quarter pounder."

To get that mental image of Dan Scott's morbidly obese, tomato shaped body out of your head, I would like to state that I am very appreciative that the Rally Cats decided to go with a cowgirl theme at the Appalachian State game last week.

I've said it before and I'll say it many more times to come... Thank god for Rally Cats.

GO JACKETS!??

From the Charleston Post & Courier today,

"The Gator Bowl has agreed to select Georgia Tech over Clemson if the Yellow Jackets lose Saturday's Atlantic Coast Conference title game in Jacksonville, Fla.

Mike Hartley, chairman of the Gator Bowl's selection committee, said the bowl and the ACC have resolved a dispute over contrasting interpretations of a new "one-loss rule" the conference applies to its bowl-selection process.

The rule would bar the Gator from taking Clemson (8-4, 5-3) over Georgia Tech (9-3, 7-1) because the Yellow Jackets have two more ACC wins. The Gator Bowl Association strongly sought an exemption to the rule because it didn't want the loser of the ACC title game to end up back at Alltel Stadium for the Jan. 1 bowl."

Earlier this week it looked as if Clemson to the Gator Bowl to possibly play Texas or West Virginia was nearly a done deal. The Gator didn't want Tech because their fans don't travel well, especially if they've just been to the stadium a month before for the ACCCG. The ACC has come to an agreement with the Gator that they will buy any unsold tickets from Georgia Tech's allotment if Tech loses the ACCCG and misses out an Orange Bowl bid. This leaves Clemson fans having to root for Tech versus the Deacs on Saturday. I'm a big fan of Jim Grobe. The guy is a class act and I was one of the few people on Tigernet picking them to do well this year (I said 2nd in the division, sue me.). It sucks to root for the Jackets, but the alternative is to have Clemson go back to the Champs Sports Bowl, to the Music City Bowl, or to the Car Care bowl.

Before the rabid fans start spouting off about the ACC conspiring to screw Clemson over, stop and look at the facts. A league must protects its members, and if you're a Georgia Tech administrator and you hear this talk about the Gator dropping you from a bowl you are contractually obligated to be in, you are sure as hell going to turn to the league directors for help. Clearly an agreement was reached to keep an ACC team in the Gator Bowl, and we know that the league has crappy enough bowl tie-ins as it is and can't afford poor relations with another one. At 8-4, I don't think Clemson deserves a shot at the Gator, but dread the thought of watching a matchup with Navy in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

So Clemson fans, break out your pocket protectors and English-Gujarati phrasebook to converse with your fellow Jacket fans and root for the Engineers on Saturday. If you need a ticket to the game, there's a guy outside Alltel Stadium wearing a ACC Commish jacket and sporting a Lego man haircut who's got some tickets he needs to unload.

GOOD TO GREAT

When I took over a certain venerable student organization at Clemson, a good friend of mine gave me an important book. Good to Great by Jim Collins is an important analysis of what makes great companies excel and why some companies never reach the top of the mountain. The business principals exuded in the book can be applied to anything; a small company, a fraternity or sorority, even a football team. While some Clemson fans take a fascist view of fandom, “Real fans don’t question their coaches,” as one of the faithful stated, others are openly questioning Bowden’s ability to lead Clemson to an ACC title and beyond. While the primary question is clearly Bowden’s leadership aptitude, some fans would like to instead question one’s qualifications for even beginning to ponder the coaching ability of Tommy Bowden.

Socrates said “the unexamined life is not worth living,” and I think this goes not just for introspection but for honest questioning of authority and political dissent. Simply stated, you and I have the right to question our coaches for the same reasons we should question our government: they ultimately rely on our financial support, if left unchecked they’ll ultimately become corrupt, and it’s just our goddamned God-given right. I don’t have to be a politician to know our politicians are f*cking up and I don’t have to be a coach to know our coaches are f*cking up all the same.

Now that I’ve dispelled the absolutely ignorant notion that “real fans” shouldn’t question their coaches, let’s take a structured look at Bowden and staff and how they stack up using Jim Collins’s Good to Great diagnostic tool. Collins states that building a great organization is a process of four stages consisting of two principles each.

Stage 1: Disciplined People

Level 5 Leadership: Collins states that a Level 5 Leader is “ambitious, foremost for the cause, displaying a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will”

Tommy: At the start of his Clemson campaign, Tommy was known for his ambition, certainly not his humility. While I don’t feel a coach needs to necessarily be humble to succeed (See: Spurrier, Steven Orr), and that any lack of humility should be earned through championships, I’d like to see a coach not have to be humbled by nearly being fired for ineptitude like Tommy was in 2003. I can’t say for sure whether Tommy has the professional will to reach greatness, he has stated more than once that he wants to be out of coaching at 60, and at the pace he’s going we’ll have just enough facilities to satisfy him by the time he retires.

First Who… Then What: Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off, the right people in the right seats, and only then do you figure out where the hell the bus is going.

Tommy: Rich Rodriguez was the right guy, but we couldn’t help but lose him to his alma mater, that’s understandable. Tommy has shuffled through numerous OCs and DCs in his tenure. While I feel Koening is the right guy in the right seat, I think Spence is best getting the Rosa Parks treatment or getting the f*ck off the bus altogether. Currently we have no special teams coach, and considering 2 out of our 4 losses this season can be attributed at least partially to special teams woes, I’d say this is a poor example of personnel management. That’s one big seat that’s sitting empty. I’d also like to see better development of our quarterbacks after the Proctor conundrum. Sure Korn is the second coming, but he’ll still need to hone his skills.

Stage 2: Disciplined Thought

Confront The Brutal Facts: “Retain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties” and “confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Tommy: Tommy confronted his current reality and demanded, and got, top notch facilities. He claimed that we couldn’t recruit with the big boys without them. Recent recruiting classes have proven him right in most people’s opinion. I think he’s done well in this facet of leadership, but at the same time how one frames the brutal facts of one’s current reality is important too. This edges into excuse-making territory. All week prior to the USC loss this year we heard sound bites about how our 66% winning percentage versus our rival was bound to begin to even out sometime. True or not, that’s not what a coach needs to be saying prior to a matchup with a big rival. Also, nobody wants to hear the word ‘parity’ thrown around by Bowden as an excuse for losing anymore.

The Hedgehog Concept: “the Hedgehog Concept is an operating model that reflects understanding of three intersecting circles: what you can be the best in the world at, what you are deeply passionate about, and what best drives your economic resource engine.”

Tommy: Without a doubt, winning is what best drives his “economic resource engine.” While maybe he is in the business because he got help from daddy, I’d like to think he has a deep passion for coaching. Clearly he can’t and won’t be best in the world at it. Here we encounter a problem. His best, which to this point has been 8ish wins a season, may just not be good enough.

Stage 3: Disciplined Action

Culture Of Discipline: Described as “disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and take disciplined action,” an environment where people don’t have jobs; they have responsibilities.

Tommy: Who has the responsibility for special teams? Who is the dedicated QB coach? Wouldn’t halftime adjustments, clock management, and playcalling fall under disciplined actions? Clemson definitely needs a lot of work here.

The Flywheel: There’s no magic bullet to success, no one act to achieve greatness, instead Collins likens the pursuit more to “relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction” until it finally moves the way you want it.

Tommy: Facilities, recruiting, and winning are the big building blocks to success here. Two are taken care of, and with 8 wins a pop, the flywheel is ever so slowly creaking along. More wins will get it really rolling.

Stage 4: Building Greatness To Last

Clock Building, Not Time Telling: Build an organization to last through future leaders instead of building it all around oneself.

Tommy: Having not exactly reached “greatness,” I don’t feel that this one applies. Also it is a rare occasion that a coach sets up a program to be successful under a series of successors. Building greatness around a single coach is the name of the game.

Preserve The Core And Stimulate Progress: Preserve the barrier between “what we stand for” (which should never change) and “how we do things” (which should never stop changing).

Tommy: I think we know what he stands for: a fairly solid program with competitive facilities that graduates players and recruits kids who generally keep out of trouble. I’d like to see the bar for “what we stand for” set a little higher, i.e. competing for the ACC title yearly. Once Tommy figures out how to do that we can assess whether the ways we achieve that need tweaking.

Summary: Core deficiencies in personnel create a rotten foundation for disciplined thought and action. There’s no one stage where Bowden has excelled. Much like his record, he’s proven to be just above average in what it takes to go from good to great. Next season, I feel, is his make-or-break year. 10 wins or bust, Tommy, no more excuses. The facilities are here, the recruits are here, now the coaching needs to step up and match pace.

THE MACALLAN FINE OAK CUP

Chili has officially pulled away. What is interesting is that the fight for the rest of the field has gotten interesting seeing as Lola is letting herself go. Can she hold on??? The season is 14 weeks, not just 12 and a half.

Last Week's Results
South Carolina @ #24 Clemson - South Carolina
#16 Georgia Tech @ Georgia - Georgia
#4 Florida @ Florida State - Florida
#6 Notre Dame @ #3 The REAL USC - USC
#20 Wake Forest @ Maryland - Wake Forest
North Carolina @ Duke - North Carolina
Texas A&M @ #11 Texas (Friday @ Noon, ABC) - Texas A&M
#9 LSU @ #5 Arkansas (Friday @ 2:30, CBS) - LSU
#18 Boston College @ Miami (Thursday @ 7:30, ESPN) - Miami
DIV 1-AA: Furman @ Montana State (Sunday) - Montana State

On the week
1 Brad -3
T2 Chili -4
T2 NoleCC -4
4 Willy Mac -5
T5 Sambo -6
T5 Fishtacos -6
7 Lola -7

Overall
1 Chili -33
2 Lola -45
3 Brad -47
4 Willy Mac -49

Prepping for next year
1 NoleCC - Looks to be a formidable opponent for next year.
T2 Fishtacos - Rough week.
T2 Sambo - Rough week as well.
4 Uttles - Where on earth have you been???

This weeks games are as follows
Army @ Navy
#13 Rutgers @ #15 West Virginia
#8 Arkansas vs. #4 Florida (SEC Title)
#16 Wake Forest vs. #23 Georgia Tech (ACC Title)
#19 Nebraska vs. #8 Oklahoma (Big 12 Title)
#2 USC @ UCLA
Oregon State @ #24 Hawaii
Conneticut @ #6 Louisville
Stanford @ # 21 California
Div 1-AA: Montana State @ Appalachian State

Get your picks in by noon (EST) on Saturday.

Chili's Picks:
Navy
WVU
Florida
WF
OU
USC
Hawaii
Louisville
Cal
App State

Willy Mac's Picks
Army @ Navy - Navy
#13 Rutgers @ #15 West Virginia - West Virginia
#8 Arkansas vs. #4 Florida (SEC Title) - Arkansas
#16 Wake Forest vs. #23 Georgia Tech (ACC Title) - Wake Forest
#19 Nebraska vs. #8 Oklahoma (Big 12 Title) - Oklahoma
#2 USC @ UCLA - USC
Oregon State @ #24 Hawaii - Oregon
Conneticut @ #6 Louisville - Louisville
Stanford @ # 21 California - California
Div 1-AA: Montana State @ Appalachian State - App State

FUCKNUGGETS.

I'm not surprised by the outcome of Saturday's game, but I am incredibly disappointed. Fire Bowden? Keep Bowden? Personnel changes? It was clear from the game that, while SC has formidable talent, we have more. We got outcoached and it wouldn't have taken a great coach to coach over the heads of our staff, but Sakerlina just happened to have one. (Not to mention a couple of flubbed calls that would've given Clemson the ball. Twice.)
I don't have a lot of commentary on the game right now, so maybe the faithful readers can add some of their own. Leave your thoughts in the comments section of this post and I'll put them on the front page. For now, here's a writeup from that fishwrap The State.

USC GAME PREVIEW

South Carolina (6-5, 3-5) @ #24 Clemson (8-3, 5-3 ACC), Saturday, November 25th, Noon, ESPNHD, XM Satellite Radio ch 191-193.

The Line: Clemson -5

Edge goes to:

Offense: Push

Defense: Clemson

Special Teams: South Carolina

Intangibles: South Carolina... They're due. They're more than due. They've been playing well against good teams (almost beating Auburn, Arkansas, and Florida) and Clemson hasn't. USC HAS to win this game. They MUST get this monkey off of their back. They've been Clemson's bitch for 1,460 straight days. Yes I factored in the leap year, so as of tomorrow they will have been Clemson's bitch for 1,461 days.

Our panel of DFIG "experts" say:

Willy Mac:

Amazingly through all the food, alcohol, and sleeping, Chili and I have somehow managed to make our preview post a whopping fourteen hours before the game. This aside, this is going to be the same old sad story for us unfortunately. Much like in past games, our success will rely solely on Tommy Bowden and Rob Spence’s stubbornness and Will Proctor’s cocksuridness… if that’s even a word… which Microsoft is telling me otherwise… f*ck you Bill Gates. We can sit here, and sulk, and think about the honest truth that is an ass whooping waiting in the wings to swoop down and jump on us tomorrow, or we can think about the positives. We’ve had double the time to prepare for this game and I think fourteen days is plenty of time for Tommy Bowden to work all of the stubborn prick out of his system. Carolina has been playing up and we’ve been playing down… but I think two weeks is enough of a break for our Tiger’s to get it in gear. Hopefully... HOPEFULLY... Some changes have been made on the offensive side of the ball. The defense will see a lot of time tomorrow but I think that the play of some of our younger guys will pull us through another close one.

Clemson 20, South Carolina 17
Spurrier to Miami at the end of the season

Mark my words, if tomorrow's game gets out of hand for either side, there WILL be another fight.

Chili:

I was disappointed when Clemson lost to VT this year, but I still held hope that this could be a special season. After the Maryland game, all hope for anything out of the ordinary was lost. The Tigers kept themselves respectable by eeking by NC State. While hope of a good bowl game is gone, we can still put a nice gold star next to this season's record if Clemson can knock off a good Sakerlina squad. Speaking of Sakerlina, some idiot Gamecock just discovered my Gamecocks Say the Dumbest Sh*t post and made a mini rambling and incoherent comment about it, again ballyhooing Carolina's ability to lure the Gameday crew without mentioning that all the crew could talk about was how lame USC's showing was compared to ours. A poster prior to him summed up Gameday's interest in USC pretty perfectly by saying they came to USC more for their coach and for the visiting team than they did the Cocks. Anybody who throws out the "rival school's alumni delivering pizza" line proves them self to be an unoriginal hack unworthy of our full wrath. Okay, all that was besides the point. While many Tigernetters are taking USC lightly and just breaking out their .txt file of old Gamecock jokes, Clemson should absolutely be ready for a battle come Saturday. Sakerlina faired respectably against Arkansas, a team with an offense similar to ours. Our O hasn't sizzled lately and hopefully much tweaking has been done to the system. Offensively, Carolina is starting Blake Mitchell, who has performed well lately but might find it tough to do so with Gaines Adams in his face. Sidney Rice is always a threat, and we may see Syvelle Newton worked back into the O a little bit after some time playing defense. Sakerlina's run defense isn't quite as good as advertised except for the middle, where we will have a tough time running. Hopefully Proctor will keep their D honest by throwing some 15-20 yard passes and you can bet we'll see some screens whether you want them or not. James Davis should be rested enough to make up for 3 subpar games where he managed but a combined rushing total of around 154 yards. I hate to be wishy-washy, but I really don't know how to guage this game. We know what Sakerlina team will show up; the same one that has played some top teams close. The question is whether we'll see the Clemson team that bulldozed GT and prior teams, or the Clemson team that looked lost offensively versus VT, UMd, and NCSU. Will the real Clemson please stand up?

If Clemson shows up: Clemson 32, Sakerlina 24

THIS IS WHAT WE DO WITH OUR FREE TIME

Tully and I have some pretty amusing IM chats and always talked about posting one just for random shits n giggles. Here's one from today as we ponder the frailty of human life.

Tully: im glad im not a kennedy
Tully: i dont want a horrible death
Chili: how do you want to die?
Tully: um
Tully: good question
Tully: my sleep
Tully: yeah
Tully: or super aids
Chili: lol
Chili: i dont want to go in my sleep
Chili: maybe like fighting a lion or something, and i die from blood loss just as i use the last of my strength to choke the lion to death
Chili: all this happens on a sinking battleship
Chili: thats on fire
Chili: and being fired at by russians
Tully: lol
Tully: i want the royal tenenbaum epitaph
Chili: that would be great
Chili: i would just love a giant statue of me in my death grip with the lion
Tully: haha
Tully: yes
Chili: to be placed somewhere in downtown clemson
Tully: if im rich when i die i think ill do something similar than that
Tully: to that rather
Chili: and the plaque will read "YEAH, HE DID THAT SHIT"
Tully: haaha
Chili: and everybody would be like, thats such an awesome statue. i dont know why they had to sculpt what's clearly an 18" penis bulging out of his pant leg. that's just overkill.
Tully: haha
Tully: overkill or accurate representation?
Chili: exactly
Tully: strangling lions just happens to get u hard
Tully: wow
Tully: read that last sentence
Chili: it looks like a couple pringles cans stacked on top of each other
Tully: never before or again will those words be said in that order
Chili: LOL
Tully: haha
Chili: derek and the dominos - layla (piano exit) f*cking awesome
Tully: ya
Chili: its worth downloading the Goodfellas OST on OiNK just for that
Tully: ive already got that song
Tully: but ya
Chili: i think i'll have a hidden speaker in my statue that plays only that song
Chili: everybody just stops by and gets all wistful and shit
Chili: "man, i shoulda written that novel"
Chili: "i shouldve told my father i loved him. now it's too late."
Tully: lol
Tully: as you strangle a lion before htem
Chili: its just the song being played, its a sad song man
Chili: "that's me grabbing the bull by the horns... that really happened."

LE MAC

It's safe to say that the bottle of Macallan is going to be Chili's barring him having a stroke. The real battle now is for third place between Brad and myself. You'll have to excuse me if there are any incorrect numbers because I've been popping Loratabs like they're skittles. Results of the MRI: Torn PCL, surgery probably not needed. Recovery 4 - 6 months... fucking club football.

Last weeks results
#2 Michigan @ #1 Ohio State - Ohio State
#5 Arkansas @ Mississippi State (Miss St. at home in November) - Arkansas
#19 Virginia Tech @ #14 Wake Forest - Virginia Tech
#15 Auburn @ Alabama - Auburn
#21 Maryland @ #20 Boston College - Boston College
Arizona @ Oregon - Arizona
#17 California @ #4 Southern Cal - Southern Cal
Oklahoma State @ Texas Tech - Texas Tech
UCLA @ Arizona State - UCLA
#8 West Virginia @ Pitt (Thursday Night) - West Virginia
Shits and Giggles: Clemson vs. Open Date - Clemson... thankfully.

On the week
T1 Chili -2
T1 Sambo -2
T3 Willy Mac -5
T3 NoleCC -5
T5 Brad -6
T5 Lola -6

Overall
1 Chili -29
2 Lola -38
T3 Brad -44
T3 Willy Mac -44

Prepping for next year
1 Sambo - Good shot on the first try.
2 NoleCC - Not bad... I wanted to insert a hateful FSU type jab... but I got nothing.
3 Uttles - Where'd you go?

This weeks games are as follows
South Carolina @ #24 Clemson
#16 Georgia Tech @ Georgia
#4 Florida @ Florida State
#6 Notre Dame @ #3 The REAL USC
#20 Wake Forest @ Maryland
North Carolina @ Duke
Texas A&M @ #11 Texas (Friday @ Noon, ABC)
#9 LSU @ #5 Arkansas (Friday @ 2:30, CBS)
#18 Boston College @ Miami (Thursday @ 7:30, ESPN)
DIV 1-AA: Furman @ Montana State (Sunday)

Once again, have your stuff in before 7:15 PM on Thursday.

Chili's Picks
Clem
UGa
Florida
USC
Wake
UNC
Texas
Arkansas
BC
MSU

Willy Mac's Picks
South Carolina @ #24 Clemson - Clemson
#16 Georgia Tech @ Georgia - UGA
#4 Florida @ Florida State - Florida
#6 Notre Dame @ #3 The REAL USC - USC
#20 Wake Forest @ Maryland - Wake Forest
North Carolina @ Duke - Duke
Texas A&M @ #11 Texas (Friday @ Noon, ABC) - TAMU
#9 LSU @ #5 Arkansas (Friday @ 2:30, CBS) - Arkansas
#18 Boston College @ Miami (Thursday @ 7:30, ESPN) - Missed it
DIV 1-AA: Furman @ Montana State (Sunday) - Furman