If anything could get me excited about the Compass Bowl it is a Big East School taking jabs at our state and the University of Kentucky. I ran up on this blog called Pitt Blather, which when I first started reading it I had the feeling they felt about their football team’s season like I did about our team’s. As I kept reading, when they started talking about Joker Phillips, I noticed some interesting comments by the writer. I have copied the part about Kentucky below.
[QUOTE]
Not sold on this game? Let’s let Kentucky head coach [URL=”http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/120610aac.html”]Joker Phillips sell the match-up and even Pitt[/URL] (emphasis and comments added where it amuses).
[INDENT]We’re excited because this is our fifth straight Bowl game. There’s [I][B]only 29 teams out there that can say that they’ve been to five straight Bowl games, and we’re excited to be one of those teams[/B][/I]. And there’s 50 teams that are not in Bowl games, and there’s two teams that were in BCS (last season) that aren’t in a Bowl game this year, and like I say, we’re excited to be one of those that are in one.
[/INDENT][B]Translated: there are teams that suck worse than us. Excited to be one of 29. There’s a rallying cry for greatness. I’m surprised John Calipari hasn’t pinned that one up in the Kentucky basketball team’s locker room.[/B]
[INDENT]We’re excited about Birmingham and being able to get down there and get in that community. It’s a community that 26 years ago, that’s where I played my last college game, so I’m excited about getting down there and being around the people of Birmingham, and the last time I was there, we painted it blue, too, so I’m excited about it.
And hopefully the people of Kentucky, the Wildcat nation will come out and support this football team.[I][B] In the last five Bowl games we’ve played four National Championship teams, in my lifetime, Clemson, Florida State — Clemson twice, Florida State and now Pitt. They’ve all won National Championships in my lifetime, so I’m excited.[/B][/I]
[/INDENT]Um, no. You have played teams that have won nattional championships in the past, but not those years. Not by a longshot. Also, by my count that would be only 3 opponents that won national championships. [B]Granted, Joker is a Kentucky grad, so math may not have been a strong suit.[/B]
[INDENT]Our players do remember Florida State. They don’t remember the Clemson National Championship. [I][B]I’m sure they don’t remember the Pitt one[/B][/I] because that was when my man (reporter Alan Cutler) was up in the area running around as a — he wasn’t a teenager yet, what, ’76? And also excited about playing another Big East team. [I][B]Not only are we playing a Big East team, we’re playing a Big East team that tied for the championship. We’ve got an opportunity to play a champion of a conference.[/B][/I]
[/INDENT]Really reaching now.
[INDENT]They are a balanced team. They’ve got a really strong running game, two good running backs. Lewis ran for 260 yards (at Cincinnati) in the snow with a mascot throwing snowballs at him, so we’re excited about having an opportunity to play him.
[/INDENT]Everybody loves that mascot, snowball story.
[INDENT]The quarterback, Tino Sunseri, he’s a kid that was committed to Louisville. His dad is Sal Sunseri, who was the linebacker coach at Alabama. He’s a guy that understands football. He’s thrown for over 200 yards a game. So again, balanced team.
[/INDENT]Nothing there really, but I figure that quote will make the vein in the foreheads’ of some of the readers of this blog start to throb.
[INDENT]Defensively their head coach is a defensive guy, and they play great defense. They’re in the top 20 in rush defense, pass defense and total defense. Got a defensive end also that’s up for the Ted Hendricks Award. Huge challenge for us, but another opportunity we talk about every week.
[/INDENT]Smart sales job. Mention the head coach at Pitt is all about the defense. Stress numbers indicating a top defense — and holy crap, [URL=”http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/ncaa-m-footbl-fbs-team-total-defense.html”][B]technically true[/B][/URL] — but for god’s sake, do not say the actual name of the coach lest the Kentucky fans realize the truth.
[/QUOTE]
[URL=”http://www.pittblather.com/2010/12/06/lack-of-direction-leads-to-compass/”]Source[/URL]
You can click on the Source button and make comments at the website if you want. Maybe there is something to get excited about, it is just sad that someone from the opposing team’s fanbase had to make fun of Kentucky to do it.
