Below is the rock I will boldly jump off, into the shimmering waters off the coast of “south beach”.
Quoting RVA because it illustrates something I've been thinking about lately, regarding why there seems to be so many issues on the site right now. So here’s my piece of moldy cheesecake on the last few months, as a mod:
This place has sucked. Badly and progressively. It makes me long for the days of debating the 2-gap 4-3, Yearby v Cook, and Butch v the world. Those were the conversations that, no matter how awful people acted in the moment, I could shrug off as the angry ramblings of internet nutjobs who were just as bored yet passionate as me. We were looking for ways to connect, and this was the place much like grassy, CI, etc before it. It was simple.
Right now everything is as jacked as a 4th quarter halfback pass in an actual war zone. Nothing makes sense, the weather is terrible, but worst of all I know many, many people fiercely and honestly believe there is a life or death struggle happening for millions of Americans “like them”. Who look like them, talk them, smell like them. Whether its COVID or their business or their job or their dad or their mom or their black child or their black self or their white uncle who’s a cop or his wife who lost him in the line of duty or an immigrant who can’t get his family in the country or a Christian who feels like she can’t believe in Christ himself without losing her job or Muslim who gets blamed for ish he’s never even considered let alone done it’s just a head wrap man chill or the many, many members aged 60+ we have on CIS who can’t even go to Publix without a stupid, stupid freaking mask on that just might save their life but should they wear gloves too or check their temperature or see their grandkids just once please God or die alone in their house telling everyone they’re cool and can’t wait to get “back to normal” while their neighbor can’t survive another day without his gun shop open or her food truck is about to get repo’d while his son with diabetes just went into a coma and his boss’ wife is tired of reminding her boys exactly how to act if they get pulled over or to not go into anyone’s yard and to leave the area if they see a white person on the phone.
I have never felt so different than all of you in my entire life on CIS. I have never felt more unlike all of you, and it hurts. I can’t escape the anger, fear, weariness and all of the above on every page of every thread. (I am not saying each of us has endured the same things). Especially when each and every thread quickly takes the same tornadic form and empties all kindness down the same heartless drain with the same torrential force to the same sickening sound. For the first time being at CIS I feel like I’m trying to moderate hearts instead of words, and I love y’all but it’s the worst. I can’t do it, I don’t know your lives, I don’t really know your hearts. But I know you’re not ok.
If CIS was a patient I’d say she’s pretty sick, and that I don’t know how to help. I want her to get better — soon — but it’s going to take some time and a lot of healthy choices along the way. All I can ask is that you guys try — just try, please — to be softer with your words and compassionate in your approach.
I don’t want lifelong enemies to be made in this awful window of time, it makes me ill to see it unfolding. Again, hate each other because you think Butch should be the head coach — that crap is irrelevant. But don’t hate each other because of things that matter, because of who you are as people. That hurts to see, because you will remember that in your heart far longer than you will who supported Golden til the end (except for that one guy who everyone somehow remembers. No, not him, the one who confuses his meat with his charcoal. Good guy regardless.)
My dad was the one who made me a Cane. He was from Illinois and moved to Ft. Lauderdale when he was in his early 20s, back when Miami was still Suntan U. We left south Florida when I was ten, but stayed true canes and learned to live alone with our fandom. He died 14 years ago in a construction accident.
I have one real life friend who’s a Miami fan,
@Cribby, and I met him through CaneInsider. We started goofing off in the chat feature they had way back, then when Brandin Odoi went nuts on everyone we took it off the site and emailed each other, way back when that was not so easy to do. Eventually we started texting, I thought he was black, learned I was wrong, normal internet friend stuff. We didn’t speak on the phone for years, maybe 5+, until he lost a very close relative. Since then it’s no big deal to chat, and it’s become an amazing friendship. We even spoke today about the State of the U and the State of the Union. It was great. It was simple.
You can’t be Cribby’s friend like me, but please don’t lose sight of why we are all here: to participate in the privately-funded social circus known as UM athletics, alongside the countless uncaged animals who inhabit it like me, Cribby, and the rest of you.
Anyway, you don’t care and I look forward to locking this thread.
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