If you hadn’t heard yet, Willie Taggert is gone

A bomb dropped in Tallahassee today… coach, or should I say former coach Willie Taggert has been relieved of his duties at Florida State. If you didn’t already know that, you probably haven’t been on Facebook, or the internet in general, this afternoon.

As a graduate of Florida State, a lot of my Facebook feed revolves around the breaking news. I’d talked to some of my family just a few weeks ago and we agreed if he finished the season with 6 wins and 6 losses, he may be given another year. But if it were 5 wins and 7 losses, no sir, gone! Well, we were kinda right… but he’ll never get a chance to get to 7 losses. At least not at FSU.

I don’t know of any names floating around that fans would happy with. Many fans are fed up, and they’re not alone. Even ESPN host Kirk Herbstreit had a real hangry outburst about FSU and the crazy part is he’s probably right about everything.

Kirk, you are my spirit animal. pic.twitter.com/KZDD5Ptq9J

— Put on a happy face! (@NHA_305) November 3, 2019

It’ll be interesting what happens next as far as head coaching goes. A return of Bobby Bowden? Perhaps, Mark Richt? I may even become a fan again if either of those two great men were hired for the job. But it’s FSU, so they’ll somehow mess things up further for the football program, I’m sure.

For now, gone are the days of great football at Florida State.

-Out of the Wilderness

Florida State’s “turnover” backpack

Seminole football may be in the spotlight but for an embarrassing reason. Whenever the defense gets a turnover, one of the players involved “gets to” wear this Dora the Explorer inspired backpack. Tell me, Noles, do Chanel accessories conflict with your Nike deals?

-Out of the Wilderness

Why Florida State still enrages me

When Florida State football won the national title in 2013, I was pumped that we were relevant again on the gridiron. After the decade in which we do not speak of (a la Chris Rix fiasco, a la Tim Tebow dominance), it was nice to think of FSU football and have hope. Then it all went to heck when, out of nowhere, the university decided to change the iconic logo. While that may seem like no big deal, it showed the school’s true colors. Not garnet and gold, but green. To this very day I feel duped, like a partner who was cheated on. It keeps becoming more and more clear that from top to bottom all that matters is money.

Well, more drama lies ahead as head coach Jimbo Fisher might be leaving, and this will be days after the university president said, “Jimbo’s here…as long as he wants to be.” Everyone knows that’s a joke, right? If Fisher stays and has another very mediocre season, he’ll be on the next Capital City Pedicab out of town, whether he wants to or not. Why does the university continue to act as if fans and the general public don’t know anything? Just come out and be honest with them. It’s called transparency and it seems to be lacking in Tallahassee.

Anyway, here’s my list of gripes against FSU after I woke up and realized they care about making money a lot more than upholding tradition, supporting fans, or even doing things the right way.

Radio analyst (& former player) Peter Tom Willis fired for critiquing FSU offense (2008)

Coach Bobby Bowden pushed out of head coaching job (2010)

City botches national championship celebration in Tallahassee (2014)

FSU surprises everyone with new logo (2014)

FSU begins “Ignition Tradition” campaign, immediately after scrapping the traditional logo which was the logo for 50+ years (2014)

Record since logo change (& undefeated 2013 season): 13-1 / 10-3 / 10-3 / currently 5-6

Many FSU coaches linked to Nick Saban (Alabama coach), a coach and a team I dislike wholeheartedly (2017)

Fan is booted from radio show after politely asking Jimbo Fisher a question (2017)

Giving me a ‘D’ in pre-calculus (1999)

OK, OK, that last one’s on me. But I ask, what kind of tradition is being established at Florida State? Football should be about having fun, believing in and cheering for your hometown team. But the logo change, as harmless as it was, lifted the veil to expose FSU’s true intentions. Money. It’s all about money. Well, money and acting like Tallahassee is Stepford, Connecticut.

Maybe everyone else already knew that, but I was under the impression fans mattered, tradition mattered, not just seeking any way possible to capitalize on fans loyalty. Or selling out to the highest bidder (ahem, Nike). Not to mention they’ve also used the stadium for advertising… to make more money:

via Tallahassee.com

Obviously, I still get heated up about FSU. It was a bad breakup between us so it’ll take time for me to be indifferent towards them. But I know one thing is for sure, it’ll never be how it once was. I’m an FSU graduate. But there is no more ‘we’ and ‘us’. There’s ‘me’ and there’s ‘them’. And I’m actually really happy about that! I feel more free now and let’s be honest, I’ve avoided a lot of heartache too, with all the losses and whatnot. Now as soon as I can get them to stop calling me for donations, we’ll be all set. 🙂

-Out of the Wilderness

Why I no longer “fear the spear”

I grew up as a die-hard Florida State fan. Most family members who went to college went to FSU. I went to FSU, too. In middle school, I had a Seminole Starter jacket. I heartily defended the Noles at high school in Miami, Florida. As a student at FSU, I painted my chest at multiple home games. In my 20s and 30s, I was a faithful fan cheering at any game I could watch even all the way up here in Tennessee.

When we won the championship a couple years back, I was on cloud 9. Then it all came tumbling down when FSU redesigned the Seminole head logo.
It wasn’t the redesign that ticked me off as much as why they redesigned it. This article states:

Nike designers were involved uniform redesigns for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and other NFL teams, as well as the University of Oregon. FSU’s new look won’t be so untraditional, according to reports.

“We tasked Nike for help in refining the logo so that consistency can be achieved without diminishing the identity of the iconic image,” the university said. “We arrived at a design that can take FSU Athletics into the future.”

The release date of the logo is officially April 11 as part of an “Ignition Tradition” campaign.

But let’s be honest. It’s about money. Nike wanted more of it. Florida State wanted more of it. Do you think it was a surprise that the brand new redesign came right after a championship season? There’s definitely some luck there (unless it’s all a big conspiracy?? 😉 ), but it also seemed quite premeditated. Right when FSU was at it’s height in popularity, fans had to then go out and buy all new gear with the new logo. Money. Money. Money.

I also remember thinking how ironic it was that the campaign they mention was “Ignition Tradition,” as they got rid of the traditional logo that’s been used for almost 50 years. Tradition meant nothing… c’mon man!

It was (and is) just another way to abuse fans and reap the financial reward. Plus, there was a level of secrecy in the entire process that stank of guilt and trickery. Why not announce that there’s a rebranding going on? The above article said it was a 2-year process, yet the majority of everyone found out about it through Walmart accidentally stocking shelves with apparel featuring the new logo. It was all so shady.

I know, I know, most people who read this will think it’s pretty trivial. Maybe they’re right. It’s just a logo. It’s not a huge change from how it looked before. Plus, a school valuing money over everything else isn’t a new thing. I get that. But when it all went down, I felt invisible. I felt useless. I felt used and that my opinion as a fan and member of the alumni counted for nothing. Like the wool had been pulled over my eyes. The almighty dollar had a stronger influence, and that still makes me sick.

It’s been a couple years since all this went down, and I haven’t given in by overlooking the university’s careless acts. I no longer cheer for the Noles. I can’t and I won’t. It still gets me fired up thinking about it, but there’s also a freedom in it, too.

College rankings, polls, losses… none of those affect my mood during the week, and that’s been a fantastic side effect of unassociating myself with Florida State. I’m still proud of graduating college, and thankful for the teaching they provided me. But that’s where my support ends. In history.

Now if I can just get my family to stop including me on the group texts during football games! Gee wiz!!!

-Out of the Wilderness

FSU “THIS IS OUR LOGO” ESPN College Gameday

Florida State Seminoles Logo

In my world, only 1 logo exists. And does this record not speak for itself? Tradition > Nike.

I Fought the Law and the Law Won

It’s taken me weeks (ok, years) to accept the fact that I stink at fantasy football. Like, really stink! The problem usually starts on draft night. This year I had the 3rd overall pick which is a prime position for picking up a stud player, even in a keeper league. I went with Matt Ryan which, if you care, was a pretty good choice. Then in round 2 everything began to unravel. I picked Shonne Green which, if you care, was a pretty bad choice. The underlying problem is that I coach The Billy Oceans with my heart and not my head! It’s propelled me to a 1-7 record that my head knows is right, and my heart is aching for it. The silver lining this football season is that the Noles are ranked in the top 5 with a chance at a National Title! If only I was part of the group that helps come up with the BCS rankings because this time, my head and my heart agree… FSU is the best team in the country.

Oh, so the reason for the title of this post… law: every time I let my heart influence fantasy football picks, I end up with a terrible record. I tried to prove that wrong this season and, well, the law won.

It’s a rebuilding year I guess,
-Out of the Wilderness