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MrPhlegm

By MrPhlegm
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Armybrat

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Y’all poke fun at a septuagenarian like me, but I ‘m not the oldest fart on Surly by a long shot. There is at least one octogenarian (and some other septuas) here, but he’s a lot smarter than me and has kept his mouth shut about his “seniority”.  

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JesusSweatDuck

JesusSweatDuck 17787

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9 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Y’all poke fun at a septuagenarian like me, but I ‘m not the oldest fart on Surly by a long shot. There is at least one octogenarian (and some other septuas) here, but he’s a lot smarter than me and has kept his mouth shut about his “seniority”.  

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Deej

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51 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Y’all poke fun at a septuagenarian like me, but I ‘m not the oldest fart on Surly by a long shot. There is at least one octogenarian (and some other septuas) here, but he’s a lot smarter than me and has kept his mouth shut about his “seniority”.  

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NoName

NoName 16367

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17 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

for the benefit of anyone that doesn't know futbol, twellman is 2nd only to colbi jones on the all-time most-over-hyped least-production-per-number-of-undeserved-caps in US National Team History

he is also partially legendary for this:

...the guy had 30 total national team caps and never made a world cup squad. he's literally outside the top 100 capped players in USMNT history.

Cobi Jones had 164 caps and played in 3 world cups and the Olympics - most national team caps in USMNT history.

your metric is funny. 30 caps and 6 goals for Twellman. Sargent has 23 caps and 6 goals. Weah has 29 caps and 4 goals. are they all shit too?! come on.

 

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Dennis Taylor

Dennis Taylor 18849

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25 minutes ago, NoName said:

he is also partially legendary for this:

...the guy had 30 total national team caps and never made a world cup squad. he's literally outside the top 100 capped players in USMNT history.

Cobi Jones had 164 caps and played in 3 world cups and the Olympics - most national team caps in USMNT history.

your metric is funny. 30 caps and 6 goals for Twellman. Sargent has 23 caps and 6 goals. Weah has 29 caps and 4 goals. are they all shit too?! come on.

 

I'm assuming there's a soccer thread somewhere 

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BurntOrange&White

BurntOrange&White 39944

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45 minutes ago, NoName said:

he is also partially legendary for this:

...the guy had 30 total national team caps and never made a world cup squad. he's literally outside the top 100 capped players in USMNT history.

Cobi Jones had 164 caps and played in 3 world cups and the Olympics - most national team caps in USMNT history.

your metric is funny. 30 caps and 6 goals for Twellman. Sargent has 23 caps and 6 goals. Weah has 29 caps and 4 goals. are they all shit too?! come on.

 

US Mens soccer is shit

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Teamdirtyleg

Teamdirtyleg 1060

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58 minutes ago, NoName said:

he is also partially legendary for this:

...the guy had 30 total national team caps and never made a world cup squad. he's literally outside the top 100 capped players in USMNT history.

Cobi Jones had 164 caps and played in 3 world cups and the Olympics - most national team caps in USMNT history.

your metric is funny. 30 caps and 6 goals for Twellman. Sargent has 23 caps and 6 goals. Weah has 29 caps and 4 goals. are they all shit too?! come on.

 

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Hagbard Celine

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1 hour ago, NoName said:

he is also partially legendary for this:

(twellman)..the guy had 30 total national team caps and never made a world cup squad. he's literally outside the top 100 capped players in USMNT history.

Cobi Jones had 164 caps and played in 3 world cups and the Olympics - most national team caps in USMNT history.

your metric is funny. 30 caps and 6 goals for Twellman. Sargent has 23 caps and 6 goals. Weah has 29 caps and 4 goals. are they all shit too?! come on.

twellman is not legendary at all in any way and in particular for that rant which voices opinions held 25 years ago by the original supporters in the mid90s

colbi jones scored FIVE (5) goals in competitive Full Internationals and 10 goals in friendlies - his hype-to-performance ratio is the worst in US Nats history because of the number of caps

he was marketed by the fed to sell kit to overachieving short kids and african american kids when our only other african american of note was eddie pope, one of the best defenders in US history

you bringing up sargent and weah is funny given that they are in the first half of their careers, so their number of caps vs. their performance delivered is apples/oranges

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Doctor of Neighborhood

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On 3/31/2023 at 9:45 AM, Dennis Taylor said:

I'm assuming there's a soccer thread somewhere 

Admittedly coming into this conversation late and uniformed … but did aggy claim to invent soccer a century+ after the fact like they did with rail travel?  If you are going to invent, it’s always easier to invent something that already exists.

https://www.ccjdigital.com/business/article/14933809/truck-less-freight-system-prototype-introduced-by-texas-am

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Armybrat

Armybrat 40861

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18 minutes ago, Doctor of Neighborhood said:

Admittedly coming into this conversation late and uniformed … but did aggy claim to invent soccer a century+ after the fact like they did with rail travel?  If you are going to invent, it’s always easier to invent something that already exists.

https://www.ccjdigital.com/business/article/14933809/truck-less-freight-system-prototype-introduced-by-texas-am

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Did they run out of gondolas?

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Deej

Deej 76875

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8 hours ago, Doctor of Neighborhood said:

Admittedly coming into this conversation late and uniformed … but did aggy claim to invent soccer a century+ after the fact like they did with rail travel?  If you are going to invent, it’s always easier to invent something that already exists.

https://www.ccjdigital.com/business/article/14933809/truck-less-freight-system-prototype-introduced-by-texas-am

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Not quite enough room to get their dance team to an away baseball game. 

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closetojumping

closetojumping 62769

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On 3/31/2023 at 6:59 AM, Armybrat said:

Y’all poke fun at a septuagenarian like me, but I ‘m not the oldest fart on Surly by a long shot. There is at least one octogenarian (and some other septuas) here, but he’s a lot smarter than me and has kept his mouth shut about his “seniority”.  

Listen, I know he posts like a crotchety, 85 year old man with severe anger and spelling issues, but I’ve known @SydneyCarton for 20 years and he’s not that old. 

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pyrohornIII

pyrohornIII 4817

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So this ran in the Battalion last week.    And while this guy heaps the current problems on Jimbo, they still can't seem to grasp the bulk of their problem is their insistence on their traditions being respected and envied.  They can't see the problem because they are too close to it, and people think they are just off a bit, try to hard.  And that fucks with their recruiting and then the athletes once they hit campus.   There has always been a choke mentality to that school.

So yeah, while Jimbo sucks, he's just the latest in a long line of coaches that couldn't bring success to that school.  They have no tradition of actually winning much beyond moral victories and the occasional upset.  They do have a tradition of overvaluing themselves.  Self awareness is not ever a feature.  

I thought maybe this article would address that, but it didn't.  They cite BOMC often, but it's really battered aggie syndrome. 

Quote

How to ruin a football team: A step-by-step guide to the dissolution of an ego on turf

A commentary on the downfall of A&M's 2022 football season

 
Jimbo
Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher walks back to the locker room as Aggies leave Kyle Field after Texas A&M loses to Florida 41-24 at Kyle Field on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. Photo by Robert O'Brien▲
 
 
 

Editor’s note: Casey Stavenhagen is a former student and former sports editor of The Battalion.

“The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure.”

- Sigmund Freud, Der Humor

This quote doesn’t really mean what it reads as; it’s intended as a reflection upon dark humor. But I’m going to use it anyway because I was a liberal arts student. Now, I’m not a student, but I like to think back to when I was — I was mostly happy then.

Texas A&M football had just finalized the No. 1 recruiting class of all time. Mastermind head coach Jimbo Fisher was signed to a near-$100 million contract. Every day I was inundated on social media with juice box emojis and ‘We ain’t done yet’ GIFs. It was great; this was MY team that I had criticized and received angry Twitter messages from athletes’ parents, all grown up. I was like the father who was too scared to tell you he was proud.

Every sports journalist enjoys watching the teams they cover succeed, though we set that aside in writing. It’s just more fun to cover a good team.

Jump forward 10 months, and the Aggies seem to be on a rollercoaster slathered in maroon paint that has gone straight off the rails and into the molten core of the Earth. The seats in the carts are a scratchy upholstery blended from three wins, seven losses and no bowl appearance. Everyone is screaming on the way down, not because they’re afraid of death, but because they’re pissed at the ride’s operator for dooming them. Why did we ever get on this ride? Did we not see the flashing neon sign screaming “excruciating pain ahead?” How the hell did we get here?

We watched it unfold in front of our eyes, cloaked behind flashy graphics of each blockbuster recruit and quotables from the beloved West Virginian personality. It was during the months when even the most jaded and baggy-eyed journalists in Aggieland were enthusiastic that fate was sealed.

There is a formula to failure this catastrophic, and I’ll lay it out for you. But first, here’s the kicker — the buried thesis — this was the only way A&M would ever escape the 8-4 jokes.

Step 1: The monomyth

Fisher’s journey to only his second losing season as a head coach has been interesting. He worked under Nick Saban at LSU for four years and under Bobby Bowden for two at FSU. A coach can’t ask for better mentors than those two.

He became one of only five active head coaches to win a national championship, and his program at Florida State began to decay. From 14-0 to 13-1, to consecutive three-loss seasons, to finally ending on a 5-6 note as he headed to A&M just four years removed from the ultimate prize.

Sure, flukes happen in the world of college football. But Fisher coached three excellent seasons with the Seminoles and six or seven great ones. He was surely searching for more. Maybe more money, maybe a nice place to retire when the time comes, but definitely more wins.

And he found all of those in Aggieland, especially wins. Not once in his first four seasons did he lose more games than in his finale at FSU. Things looked good, the program just kept recruiting better and better and Fisher’s system was working. So why did it snap?

 
Football vs. Ole Miss
Freshman WR Evan Stewart (1) catches a pass from freshman QB Conner Weigman (15) during Texas A&M's game against Ole Miss at Kyle Field on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. Photo by Robert O'Brien▲
 
 

Step 2: Isolation

In winning the 2013 National Championship, Fisher had Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston under center. When he arrived at A&M, Fisher had Kellen Mond. Fans look back at Mond fondly, as he was a steady, dependable shot caller. The duo of Fisher and Mond won three bowl games together. Mond would appear in press conferences and talk about poise and camaraderie; he handled everything, losses included, with infectious charisma. Sound like anyone we know?

Fisher seems to talk about those things a lot still. The only difference is there is no quarterback appearing in front of the media — nobody has talked to one since Mond. There are no coordinators appearing in front of the media, either. Even with a massively successful defensive coordinator in Mike Elko, he only spoke in press conferences three times.

Elko departed in the offseason. In his stead, Fisher hired DJ Durkin, who I can almost guarantee will never appear in front of the media.

Fisher has enacted measures to make him stand alone as the brand of A&M football, intentionally or otherwise. Off the top of your head, who is A&M’s offensive coordinator? Technically there are two, but in name only. Fisher calls the plays. Its special teams' coach? There isn’t one. There is one face for Texas A&M football and it's Jimbo ‘We Ain’t Done Yet’ Fisher. He must be the lifeblood of the program. He must prove that without Kellen Mond, without Jameis Winston, without Bobby Bowden, without Nick Saban, he is the truth.

Maybe he’s too prideful to admit he needs help. Maybe that’s his weakness.

Oh, and Nick Saban.

 
Football vs. Alabama27.jpg
Freshman DL Shemar Stewart celebrates getting possesion of the ball during a game against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Ishika Samant▲
 
 

Step 3: Achilles in College Station

“We’re going to beat his ass,” Jimbo Fisher said of Saban in 2021.

Outside the gates of the SEC Championship game, Fisher beat the ass of the College Football Playoffs’ most legendary warrior: Nick Saban. Yet, upon approaching the doors in Atlanta, the Aggies tripped and fell at the steps. A weakness exists, but nobody can find it yet.

A football team is exactly that. A team. There has to be at least 22 maroon helmets to even play the game. What are the fundamentals of a team, besides just bodies? My gut reaction is these elements: selflessness, good coaching, an on-field leader and talent.

All signs point toward Fisher wanting to be a one-man army while his athletes act as cannon fodder to his football genius. It’s not the team that plays selfishly.

It’s Fisher who, despite media persistence, refuses to hand off the playcalling. It’s Fisher who made the choice to not sign another Elko-caliber right-hand man. It’s Fisher who has named Haynes King starting quarterback for two years despite having a veteran SEC QB and a five-star stud on the bench. It’s clear now, at least to fans, that approach will not work.

Yet, when the program has any success, Fisher is the face of it, the cocky mouthpiece of a cocky fan base desperately reaching for a hero. And when the program has faced any criticism, hold on to your seats.

 
Football vs. Appalachian State
App State's Nick Ross (4) grabs freshman WR Chris Marshall (10) at Kyle Field on Saturday, Sep. 10, 2022. Photo by Cameron Johnson▲
 
 

Step 4: How to kill an ego

Nobody pays attention to a 3-7 record in the SEC when that’s your brand, just ask Derek Mason, Will Muschamp or Barry Odom. They got to hang out, have a few losing seasons in the big chair and head off to be coordinators once again. They’re not calling Nick f****** Saban a “narcissist” and then proceeding to have their ass beat. They’re not picking fights with the entire landscape of their sport.

A little humility goes a long way. You don’t see any of those other four title-winning coaches having problems nearly like the ones Fisher has. I mean, benching a star player in an already struggling offense for wearing arm sleeves in the cold? Be for real. The Aggies are loaded with talent, at least they were before Fisher suspended a majority of those athletes for running around like they owned the damn place. It’s hard not to imagine a cocky coach and cocky fan base being complicit in the creation of cocky athletes.

Fisher’s ego has been a spike strip on A&M’s road to anything better than decent. The play calling hasn’t changed despite having the country’s 24th-worst scoring offense; the schemes are the same and A&M still runs three-man fronts under Durkin despite having the worst run defense in the SEC by nearly 100 yards.

To be this hesitant to change when answers are under your nose, the only answer can be an attitude problem. Fisher is so insistent on proving that everyone else is wrong that he can’t prove he has the capacity to be a good coach.

 
Football vs. Ole Miss
Freshman DB Bryce Anderson (1) and junior Antonio Johnson (27) kneel in the end zone before the start of Texas A&M's game against Ole Miss at Kyle Field on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. Photo by Robert O'Brien▲
 
 

Step 5: Without agony, there can be no ecstasy

So many excuses can be made for A&M. They’re young and they’re hurt. Officiating is often questionable, and they tend to come up just short rather than being blown out.

But it’s all deflection. It seems as if they’ve been young and hurt for the last four years. Officiating isn’t going anywhere; we’ve heard about poor “execution” since Fisher's arrival. To be fixed, you must first be broken.

Without diagnosing problems at their origin, everyone becomes complacent to them. Saban is notorious for being upset with his team after winning by huge margins. He has never shown a sense of, “OK, we’re good now.” A team can always get better.

And lucky for A&M, five minutes on Twitter will yield him 10 football-expert fans who have the answers. I’m not going to pretend I have them all, I’m just a writer. But the focus of the team has to be decentralized from our fast-talking protagonist. Fisher must kill his ego and enlist help somewhere — maybe even everywhere.

There’s no reason A&M can’t be great. This season will undoubtedly hamper it for a while. Nobody knows how many players will enter the transfer portal and how many recruits it will cost the Aggies, but A&M has been good before and has done it without half of what it has now.

If you have the right level of detachment from the team, this season has been the pinnacle of dark humor. Everything was ego-stroking less than a year ago. Reality has set in and ego has blocked any progress. There are two paths forward: use the atrocious season as an opportunity to show the excuses are valid and you’ve been right all along to please the ego, or set it aside and take a new approach.

As of now, what Fisher said of Saban appears to be true of only one man. “The narcissist in him doesn’t allow those things to happen when he’s not on top,” Fisher said.

We’ll see if that changes. This season is the wake-up call.

 

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Born Burnt

Born Burnt 6182

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2 hours ago, pyrohornIII said:

So this ran in the Battalion last week.    And while this guy heaps the current problems on Jimbo, they still can't seem to grasp the bulk of their problem is their insistence on their traditions being respected and envied.  They can't see the problem because they are too close to it, and people think they are just off a bit, try to hard.  And that fucks with their recruiting and then the athletes once they hit campus.   There has always been a choke mentality to that school.

So yeah, while Jimbo sucks, he's just the latest in a long line of coaches that couldn't bring success to that school.  They have no tradition of actually winning much beyond moral victories and the occasional upset.  They do have a tradition of overvaluing themselves.  Self awareness is not ever a feature.  

I thought maybe this article would address that, but it didn't.  They cite BOMC often, but it's really battered aggie syndrome. 

 

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