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Notes on being a fan when we sucked

skyman said:
Worst part, we had A BUNCH OF sunshine pumpers on here saying everything is fine,
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Right, it was a daily battle with those dudes on here. During the Diaz era was the worst, Diaz was paying dudes to post positive stuff, they defended everything, the BOT, admin, Blake "beta" James. It was comical. Stevie Wonder could see things weren't right. What a time
 
Jonnyblaze said:
This type of reasoning just baffles me. The whole championship or the season was a failure mentality is crazy.

If you can’t enjoy where we are now when we were irrelevant just a few years ago, I don’t know what to tell you. Of course we want to win it all, and losses will always sting, but have some perspective.

Enjoy the ride, because we weren’t even in the race not long ago.
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This happens in every thread. We haven't won anything yet has nothing to do with whether or not people enjoyed the playoff run.

It was a great run, but we lost the Natty. Job is not finished.
 
First game was when Danny Miller beat the gator in 1981. I was 11. Seen all the highs and the lows that followed. Can’t wait till Friday at 9pm.
 
You know I became a fan in '85 and it's been all Miami since. I know a lot people will get an upset stomach over this but I really thought '05 and '06 were off years and Miami would be back. No one could convince that those two seasons would turn into 20 seasons of being a nobody. You can (as I have and do) blame the admn for the **** effort in helping restore Miami but the REAL enemy was Mark Emmert and the scum at the NCAA who made sure Miami stayed down by allowing the SEC to lie, cheat and steal (RIP Eddie Guerrero). Yes there were garbage hires over that 20 years (minus CMR) that made you raise an eyebrow and say "hmmm maybe this is the season" but it was just a fart in the wind. The portal and NIL leveled the playing field and once that happened, Miami got a second wind. For all the wrist wringing the previous 20 years caused us, these last two seasons reminded me of the 80's early 90's when saying Miami Hurricanes football made teams and coaches pee in the bed the night before!

Man, this feels good!!
 
Angry Ibis said:
Jonnyblaze said:
This type of reasoning just baffles me. The whole championship or the season was a failure mentality is crazy.

If you can’t enjoy where we are now when we were irrelevant just a few years ago, I don’t know what to tell you. Of course we want to win it all, and losses will always sting, but have some perspective.

Enjoy the ride, because we weren’t even in the race not long ago.
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This happens in every thread. We haven't won anything yet has nothing to do with whether or not people enjoyed the playoff run.

It was a great run, but we lost the Natty. Job is not finished.
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Absolutely agree the job ain’t done, but some people seemingly will never enjoy increasing success until we win it.
 
BrockBerlin said:
I am 34 years old. My first canes game was in 2002 as a ten y/o with my dad and uncle. I have never seen the Canes win a title. I have followed the Canes religiously from childhood to now. This is the first off-season since elementary school in which the canes are a legitimate title contender for me. I was just thinking to myself about how simple it was to follow a garbage team.

I attended the title game with my father and it took me a week to un-wind emotionally from the stress of that game. Waiting 20 years to get there and finally see the Canes take the field to contend for a title was surreal. Now I am thinking through the season and realizing that there are only two realistic outcomes: either we win it all, or we face heartbreak in the playoffs. I don't see us not making it deep into the playoffs either way (barring injury ofc)

Remember how stress free August used to be? We'd hope for an ACC title appearance. Get excited about completely stupid wins (just saw a highlight of the NC State game where Morris threw a bomb to PD 60 yards to win) - we'd get excited over the stupidest **** and then go back to following the sport as fans of college football with the Hurricanes as a footnote on the season as a whole. I would show up game after game and get excited to beat UVA like a complete ******.

Now we have two Heisman candidates on the roster - arguably the best recruiting class ever for the Canes - and are picked by respectable analysts to go all the way. It's a completely different experience. I used to long for national media to mention us and talk Miami football, now its everywhere. I couldn't consume it all - I don't have the time as an adult with kids to listen to every podcast talking up Miami. When I do hear it, it just stresses me out.

This isn't a complaint. Just an observation now that our longed for return has become a reality. I'm not stressed about Stanford, I find myself now thinking about the playoffs and the title game a full five months from now. I didn't realize it would feel this stressful. All worth it - just wondering if anyone remembers how hilariously chill it used to be following this team when we were stacking up 7-5/8-4/6-6/9-3 seasons on repeat. What a strange feeling!
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Some of us older guys also had to deal with them sucking for a few years in the late 90s. Granted much shorter than the last drought but at least you didn't have to go through two droughts
 
First UM game I ever saw was Jim Kelly and the Canes beating Penn State on national television (which was a big deal back then) and being completely floored by how liberally UM threw the ball compared to what I grew up watching 15 minutes form my house in Ann Arbor. And how entertaining college football could be when compared to 3 yards and a cloud of dust at Michigan, or the wishbone/option at OU and Nebraska, or the I-formation pitch offenses of the SEC

And just like that I was hooked. And then came the title in 1983 against what was considered the greatest college football team of all time. And then came Jimmy and the trash talking. I feel bad for those of you who missed out on the Canes of the 80’s. Not only was it the best football but it was the most entertaining.
 
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Jonnyblaze said:
Absolutely agree the job ain’t done, but some people seemingly will never enjoy increasing success until we win it.
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Some of that is largely related to @skyman's commentary above. Winning is always better. Most here enjoyed the run. No one is really complaining about anything. Others are pouring champaign ahead of time like always.

Season is here. Let's win.
 
My dad grew up in the shadow of the Orange Bowl when his parents immigrated and would walk to the games in the 50s and 60s when you couldn't give away tickets. Then he went to UM for undergrad and med school. Going to games was my family's thing growing up. I started going in the 1987 season when I was four and we traveled to a lot of great games and places with family and friends over the years since. I took my daughter to the GT game with Cam up here and now she is fully on board, despite the loss.

I was talking with someone over the weekend about the loss at home to Washington in 1994 and that was essentially the first home loss of my childhood, since I was too young to remember the one prior. I still remember being so confused and asking my parents what do we do now (we went to Outback Steakhouse for a bloomin onion).

Of course there were a few more good times after then, and mostly a lot of frustration. I pretty much accepted that "the good old days" would stay just that, as we went from Coker to Shannon to Golden to Richt to Manny to the start of Mario's tenure. The playoffs last year and each game being meaningful (and stressful) was, as Phish puts it, a feeling that I forgot.

All of this is to say, enjoy the nerves, enjoy the special times and wins, bring friends and family, spend it with people you love, because you never know when the merry go round will come to a stop.
 
BrockBerlin said:
I am 34 years old. My first canes game was in 2002 as a ten y/o with my dad and uncle. I have never seen the Canes win a title. I have followed the Canes religiously from childhood to now. This is the first off-season since elementary school in which the canes are a legitimate title contender for me. I was just thinking to myself about how simple it was to follow a garbage team.

I attended the title game with my father and it took me a week to un-wind emotionally from the stress of that game. Waiting 20 years to get there and finally see the Canes take the field to contend for a title was surreal. Now I am thinking through the season and realizing that there are only two realistic outcomes: either we win it all, or we face heartbreak in the playoffs. I don't see us not making it deep into the playoffs either way (barring injury ofc)

Remember how stress free August used to be? We'd hope for an ACC title appearance. Get excited about completely stupid wins (just saw a highlight of the NC State game where Morris threw a bomb to PD 60 yards to win) - we'd get excited over the stupidest **** and then go back to following the sport as fans of college football with the Hurricanes as a footnote on the season as a whole. I would show up game after game and get excited to beat UVA like a complete ******.

Now we have two Heisman candidates on the roster - arguably the best recruiting class ever for the Canes - and are picked by respectable analysts to go all the way. It's a completely different experience. I used to long for national media to mention us and talk Miami football, now its everywhere. I couldn't consume it all - I don't have the time as an adult with kids to listen to every podcast talking up Miami. When I do hear it, it just stresses me out.

This isn't a complaint. Just an observation now that our longed for return has become a reality. I'm not stressed about Stanford, I find myself now thinking about the playoffs and the title game a full five months from now. I didn't realize it would feel this stressful. All worth it - just wondering if anyone remembers how hilariously chill it used to be following this team when we were stacking up 7-5/8-4/6-6/9-3 seasons on repeat. What a strange feeling!
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I just turned 35 last week and basically have the same fan experience as you. I was always overly optimistic going into the season but never realistically thought we had a chance to contend for a title. First time I’ve felt anything else would be disappointment. I can take the disappointment of how the season ended if I know we can win a natty (which we can) but it was so hard to swallow. Still is especially since one of my best friends went to Indiana
 
RickySpanish said:
Some of us older guys also had to deal with them sucking for a few years in the late 90s. Granted much shorter than the last drought but at least you didn't have to go through two droughts
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At least we could point to probation- some of this other crap was due to terrible Miami leadership. In particular- our football program was unbelievably destroyed from within.
 
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I'm 38, so I'm old enough to vividly remember the 2001 season and the heartbreak of the 2002 season. I truly feel bad for younger millennials who didn't get to at least experience the peak of the 2001 canes. That being said, I take the D$ approach, I'm just happy to be relevant again. The rest is gravy.
 
It's kinda ironic that I started to be a fan of this team a decade ago. Sounds a lot, but it really isn't compared to some other folks on here.

Going into my 11th season now. If anyone had told me then, that it would take eight years of BS, one year of being good and another of being great before truly being considered a contender, man... what a rollercoaster it has been.
 
BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati said:
Moral to this story:

Take your kid/nephew/niece to a game.
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Indeed, this year my son and I are taking his son, my grandson to the games. I love that my son stayed true to the Canes bc he basically grew up in rural Ga. Coulda gone UGA like his older sister. But he knew I loved the Canes and so did he, hopefully so will the next generation. Going back to the vicissitudes of Canes fandom, yeah been there and still doing it. Graduated in 73, wait 10 yrs for a Natty. Riding the next ten yrs on high, next 10 waiting hoping, best college team ever delivers#5. And here we are 20+ yers of gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, but again reaching for Holy Grail, legitimately. So Boys, ride this wave and bring fam and friends along. Each season is a sprint to the top of a lifetime legacy marathon. What was, will always be. GOCANES🙌🏽
 
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