Brotherhood of the U

daytonacane

Redshirt Freshman
Joined
Nov 3, 2011
Messages
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The uniqueness of the brotherhood of former players at the was mentioned in another thread. Our former players return to work out while in the NFL, they return to the sidelines of games, they return to the school to talk with current players & encourage them. This is unique in that no other college football team in the country does this in the mass that the U does.

I have wondered why and how this came about. My thoughts on the reason is as follows: South FL is pretty different from the rest of the country & has a lot to offer in the way of entertainment and sports. Look at the numerous former players who have elected to live there. Secondly, we were never really good until the 80's & were always teams' choice for their homecoming game for an assured win. When we became a force to contend with & actually were feared by many teams, it turned into "payback" & revenge time. We became very vocal, arrogant, confident, sassy & loud-mouthed (but we were NOT thugs), however, because of our arrogant, confident loud-mouthing we got that reputation & still quite ridiculously still have that reputation.

I would be interested in your thoughts as to how this unique brotherhood came about.
 
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Unlike most schools, the majority of our current and former players (especially the great ones) were born and raised within 25-50 miles of the school.

So when they come home on breaks, they are a short ride away from The U.
 
Unlike most schools, the majority of our current and former players (especially the great ones) were born and raised within 25-50 miles of the school.

So when they come home on breaks, they are a short ride away from The U.

Great point - I had forgotten that fact.
 
Dissimilar to other college football powers, University of Miami isn't located in some backward, intellectually impoverished, trailer trash, dystopian redneck swamp.... Makes it a much easier place for former NFL players to live and/or vacation close by....And visit The U....A trend I expect to continue until a high end luxury real estate boom takes out all the Nick Saban Ford Dealerships in Tuscaloosa....
 
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All good points. One other notion that people underestimate is Miami is a small school. You often end up taking lots of classes with your friends (mostly in the same school within the university), and usually live in pretty close proximity to each other. You pass people on the way to class, run into people on campus and in the Grove, etc. There's a closeness from the size of the university that most big (good) football programs don't have, because they're all huge schools.
 
I think it really got started with Jim Kelly giving part of his first signing bonus to The U for a scholarship I think. The us against the world thing really cranked it up in the 80’s. A lot of our players were Miami boys so they had local bond not common in those schools where the student body outnumbers the population.

For me I have always thought that the root was the fact that our young players are the one who really made Miami The U and they know it. It other schools, a great coach or big donors or huge fan base or the institution itself are the reason the team succeeds. Here, it was done almost despite the administration, under a series of coaches and without those big rich boosters being buried in caskets of school colors. The kids did it. I think that fact united them and also, strangely is the reason we are hated. The big conferences and schools did not like it nor, di many politicians and media types who do not like the thought of young bLack men doing something for big without any institutional help.

Whatever the reason it is unique to Miami. Ever ND does not have what we do. It is a blessing and great source of pride.
 
A big part of it is that we are in the city of Miami. Every single other P5 school besides USC/UCLA are located in some schithole town/city. UCLA sucks so they get removed. The only other one I can think of is Ga Tech who not only sucks at football, but is located in a second rate city that is nowhere near the level of LA and Miami. The real question is why USC doesn't have this going on.
 
There are several reasons for the Brotherhood.
1. Many of the players played with or against each other in High School
2. Us against the World mindset
3. Uniqueness of the Campus and Miami/Dade locales
4. Iron sharpens Iron out on Greentree, thus creating a major bond
5. Many players from 'The Hood" wanting to give back
 
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The U stands for something.

Urban hardasses that are tough, unique and uncompromising, unafraid, and unafrsid to tell you.

Add to that they love their school and manly bond, all cemented by championships.

Strngethed by the unmitigated hate they get from anybody that’s not us.

There’s no other place or group of men like it.

There really is only one U.
 
U former players are special and I’m confident there some mentoring going on , going to local parks working on techniques and field presence the little things in pre play reads and so on.

Back in the day Steve Alvers ( U, NFL alumni) would take me to Tropical Park with no cameras nothing just to work on my long snaps and interior line reads.

Just the little things .

I would take this more then cheering on sidelines to this day I remember Steve’s help 40 years later🙌🙌🙌

GOCANES
 
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