Thanks for the kind words, those of you who have shared them. Glad to hear many of you have had great experiences in Greenville, and hope that next year and going forward you can do so again. I share the sentiments of wishing to be in a conference with USM and Marshall again, though I'm hopeful (fading hope) that the BE will work out.
(12-27-2012 11:19 PM)TheEastisPurple Wrote: I can say that most of the ECU fans I talk to aren't nearly as excited about the move as the few who post here and throw it in people's faces. I fully understand other fans giving it back. The only unfortunate part is that both schools, or at least fan bases, get all rolled into one and what should be a couple people having an argument turns into a full blown :scout:storm because people see something negative written about their university and feel the need to respond in kind.
I know that a lot of this stuff is being started by teams leaving so I try to take comments about my school with a grain of salt and keep my mouth shut instead of perpetuating the smack talk with schools I greatly respect.
As to TH's comments, I'm sure if you asked him in a personal discussion what schools we share a lot in common with and a lot of history with, USM and Marshall would be near the top of the list. I'm not saying this to put anyone down but on the same topic we obviously share a lot more with Houston, Memphis, Tulane, Cincinnati, UCF, SMU and even Temple than with UTSA, North Texas, FIU, etc. There is also the possibility (and this is pure speculation) that maybe if we decline the invite (which I don't think there was really a chance of anyway) that USM or Marshall might be invited in our place. Then we wouldn't be in the same conference either and would be with a lot of new teams instead of ones that we have played for years.
There's good reason for that. If you simply look at the competition from this past season compared to competition in 2014 and taking into consideration that your average fan watches/reads sports news almost solely through ESPN it gets rather bland to that crowd. All the average crowd hears is the talking heads at ESPN laughing at the BE, that Boise is going to leave, and that UConn wants out (Cincy does as well just as much, but I think the average fan more recognizes the desire from UConn).
So essentially you're trading out USM and Marshall, two teams we play every year and have great rivalries with, for POTENTIALLY Temple and USF. That's no shot at either of those programs...but considering they aren't Boise calibur as an average fan you'd rather keep the rivalries. ECU fans know every year that the USM game was going to be one of the toughest in the east and a potential battle for the East crown. Marshall and ECU have such a rich history, and if you don't think the games mean anything look at the past two years -- two games that set the table for an intensification of the rivalry, which sadly will likely suffer starting in 2014.
It's difficult for the average ECU fan, because they see it as a lateral movement at best. The "Gang of 5" and potential money doesn't mean a ton to that fan...they just want to play top notch opponents, win, and play in an important bowl against a top class team. It's not a shot at UH, SMU, UCF and the rest of the crowd by any means. The games and competition with those three alone have been awesome the past few years. But it's sort of like moving from the house you've grown up in to the house next door, and they're both cookie cutter houses. Nothing is REALLY changing...same neighborhood, same payments, same worth of the house.
Only we lost two of the neighbors we liked the most (USM and Marshall).