My Pledge

[DiamondM]

Repeat after me

"I, (state your name), do solemnly swear that I will no longer feed Stallion's ego by responding to his posts. I will let his contradictory statements speak for themselves. I will remember that you feed a flu but starve a bad case a gotta-be-ritis. I will be confident that others will recognize his constant, repetetive, pompous, over the top negativity for what it is without having to point it out to him or others. On my honor, I will not let Stallion's [deleted] and moaning infect me or curb my enthusiasm for the Mustangs. Instead, unlike Stallion, I will be part of the solution. This I swear on the grave of Peruna."

[jtstang]

"I, state your name,...."

Get real, Stallion's posts are for the most part right on target. Dear old Faber surely had a better program than SMU.

[Stallion]

also please state your age and pledge class so we know whether you ever witnessed quality Division 1A Football.

[Dooby]

also please state your age and pledge class so we know whether you ever witnessed quality Division 1A Football.

I am so F'ing sick of this BS. I am allowed to care about SMU football even though I didn't go here until the '90s. I am allowed to have an opinion, too. Anybody that disagrees can [deleted] ****.

Just because you saw the Dickerson and James play week in and week out, doesn't mean you know football or this team any better than me.

Rest assured Stallion, SMU needs more fans from my demographic than yours.

[jtstang]

Yeah, baggin' on what few fans we have ain't cool, Stally. Bag on the program all you want, but there's nobody who posts here who doesn't want this ship righted. Even the sunshiners, if only so they can get an ounce of cred.

[Dooby]

Yeah, baggin' on what few fans we have ain't cool, Stally. Bag on the program all you want, but there's nobody who posts here who doesn't want this ship righted. Even the sunshiners, if only so they can get an ounce of cred.

Stallion doesn't give a [deleted]. I honestly believe if SMU, by some miracle, won 6 or 7 games this year and went to some lower tier bowl, he'd be pissed. It wouldn't be an acceptable level of winning to him. He can't be happy if this team makes progress. He's a sour, old MF, who needs to strap on Uncle Rico's time machine and go back to 1982.

[jtstang]

Right on, doob--what's Uncle Rico's number again?

[couch 'em]

Stallion doesn't give a [deleted]. I honestly believe if SMU, by some miracle, won 6 or 7 games this year and went to some lower tier bowl, he'd be pissed. It wouldn't be an acceptable level of winning to him.

I'm not defending Stallions constant negitivity, but would 6 games and a lower bowl every year be satisfactory to you? I would be encouraged by that, but a level to accept should be competing for the national championship.

[PK]

Stallion doesn't give a [deleted]. I honestly believe if SMU, by some miracle, won 6 or 7 games this year and went to some lower tier bowl, he'd be pissed. It wouldn't be an acceptable level of winning to him.

I'm not defending Stallions constant negitivity, but would 6 games and a lower bowl every year be satisfactory to you? I would be encouraged by that, but a level to accept should be competing for the national championship.

That's a nice thought couch 'em, but for all the realist out there, competing for the national title is probably a pipe dream for any non-bcs team. For the immediate future I think a realistic goal for us is to be competing for a conference championship every year, and considering the last 15 years, that would be very satisfying indeed.

If memory serves me right (and it may not) in the last 50 years, the only time we were in contention for a national title we were cheating along with all the others...that isn't going to be allowed to happen again and therefore, we will never be on Stallion's mythical level playing field. Now then, if we were to somehow manage to become a member of a bcs conference or the whole bcs thing went away, maybe we could up our goal...

[jtstang]

I'm not defending Stallions constant negitivity, but would 6 games and a lower bowl every year be satisfactory to you? I would be encouraged by that, but a level to accept should be competing for the national championship.

Where can I buy some of the stuff in your pipe?

[OldPony]

PK- you just proved Stallion's point. You can't remember us playing the n ational champs and giving them everything they could stand. Now you want to play Ark St ansd think a win is satisfying. Our schedule next year would have been laughable in the 40's, 50's 60's, 70's or 80's. We now hope to win 5 which wuld have been a horrible year against that competition. Yes we cheated during the 80's. We played very good football almost all of the time otherwise. I'm gald that there are young fans and amazed that us old guys still care. Stallions buddies in the 80's ruined SMU football and the admin since has made sure that our legacy was squandered. We now have a guy who can't coach and an AD who doesn't know the difference, By extending Bennett's contract we said to recruits- We don't care if we win. This is evidenced by the lack of recruiting in the past 2 years. Bennett needed to beat someone that was a little better than SMU byut didn't do it. Now until Copeland is fired and a new coach comes in, we won't do well unless you think 5 wins agaiinst easy scehdule USA in good. Keep supporting the Ponies but don't telll me things are progressing.

[OldPony]

PK- you just proved Stallion's point. You can't remember us playing the n ational champs and giving them everything they could stand. Now you want to play Ark St ansd think a win is satisfying. Our schedule next year would have been laughable in the 40's, 50's 60's, 70's or 80's. We now hope to win 5 which wuld have been a horrible year against that competition. Yes we cheated during the 80's. We played very good football almost all of the time otherwise. I'm gald that there are young fans and amazed that us old guys still care. Stallions buddies in the 80's ruined SMU football and the admin since has made sure that our legacy was squandered. We now have a guy who can't coach and an AD who doesn't know the difference, By extending Bennett's contract we said to recruits- We don't care if we win. This is evidenced by the lack of recruiting in the past 2 years. Bennett needed to beat someone that was a little better than SMU byut didn't do it. Now until Copeland is fired and a new coach comes in, we won't do well unless you think 5 wins agaiinst easy scehdule USA in good. Keep supporting the Ponies but don't telll me things are progressing.

[OldPony]

PK- you just proved Stallion's point. You can't remember us playing the n ational champs and giving them everything they could stand. Now you want to play Ark St ansd think a win is satisfying. Our schedule next year would have been laughable in the 40's, 50's 60's, 70's or 80's. We now hope to win 5 which wuld have been a horrible year against that competition. Yes we cheated during the 80's. We played very good football almost all of the time otherwise. I'm gald that there are young fans and amazed that us old guys still care. Stallions buddies in the 80's ruined SMU football and the admin since has made sure that our legacy was squandered. We now have a guy who can't coach and an AD who doesn't know the difference, By extending Bennett's contract we said to recruits- We don't care if we win. This is evidenced by the lack of recruiting in the past 2 years. Bennett needed to beat someone that was a little better than SMU byut didn't do it. Now until Copeland is fired and a new coach comes in, we won't do well unless you think 5 wins agaiinst easy scehdule USA in good. Keep supporting the Ponies but don't telll me things are progressing.

[Dooby]

Old Pony and Couch ‘em:

You are proving my point. You are ignoring reality.

The fact is the SWC no longer exists. The bigger schools left SMU, Rice, Houston and TCU to fend for themselves. They only took Baylor because the Governor wanted it that way. They get big, big checks every year and we don’t. They get big TV contracts and we don’t. The get big bowl money for the conference every year and we don’t. They get on TV every other week and we don’t. They have more money. They have more exposure. They have more fans. They don’t worry about attendance.

SMU, thanks to Pye and a whole host of others, is a shadow of its former self. Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech don’t care about us anymore. They would be no more upset for losing to us in 2005 than if they lost to Appalachian State. When they play us, they do so because we are everybody’s favorite homecoming opponent or because they want to play in Dallas. We are not their rivals anymore.

Is the BCS level something we should aspire to be? Absolutely. Before SMU can compete at THAT level, SMU needs to be able to compete at THIS level. I don’t know if you have noticed, but SMU can’t even do that. SMU is a perennial loser. SMU has had one winning season in 20 years. We won five games a total of three times. SMU is in a conference that 2/3 of the teams would jump at the chance to leave. SMU constantly has to worry about its attendance figures.

Now, look. Stallion is right (SHOCKING!). In order for us to compete at the level we are at, we need to play on the same playing field as the best schools in THIS conference. We need equivalent money and we need equivalent policies and standards. Maybe if we accomplish those things and win a few games, we can get equivalent fan support.

But if you are not willing to go to an SMU home game and be happy when they win, whether it be against Tulane or Texas or Arkansas or Arkansas State, then I feel sorry for you. If you can’t be happy going to the New Orleans Bowl rather than the Sugar Bowl, than I feel sorry for you. The fact is we have to get better before we get good. I for one am going to enjoy the getting better because it is better than where we are now. And that is good.

[PK]

PK- you just proved Stallion's point. You can't remember us playing the n ational champs and giving them everything they could stand. Now you want to play Ark St ansd think a win is satisfying. Our schedule next year would have been laughable in the 40's, 50's 60's, 70's or 80's.

At no time have I said our teams over the last 15 years were of the caliber of many of the teams in those years you speak of nor have I said I want to play Arky State. Next year, five of the teams we will play are old SWC teams...most of whom have suffered the same fate we have of being regulated to a lower level conference or being the doormat of a bcs conference. That is the reality of our situation...wishing it weren't so isn't going to change that.

Playing a national champion and giving them all they could handle is not the same as contending for a national championship. I stand by my statement above...we only contended when we were cheating. Look at the records of the last 50+ years.

1940's 58-46-10 ... thank you Doak Walker.
1950's 47-48-5 ... a .500 record basically.
1960's 35-65-3 ... not even close to a .500 record.
1970's 48-59-3 ... still below .500.
1980's 63-25-1 ... the best money could buy.

Yes I know that most of the teams we played back then were of a better caliber than what we play now, but the times unforunately have changed. Today the big state schools and bcs schools (usually the same thing) have an inherent advantage over private schools...lots of money and noteriety. You guys that think we will ever return to the situation we were in before the DP are the ones who are delusional...regardless of who the coach or AD is unless as I stated above we manage to be in a bcs conference or the bcs goes away and even then it's not too likely...look at Baylor, Duke, Vanderbilt for evidence of the likelyhood.