Ridiculous, but welcome to college football—where perception is reality, good ol' boy state schools get away with everything and Miami has been on the outside looking in for decades—which makes those five national championships (and titles competed for) so **** impressive. UM crashed their party in the 80s (dismantling the option and wishbone in the process and changing the game)—which was why the critics played the "thug" card and focused on the urban antics, opposed to the accomplishments.
Honestly when those pencil-****s on CBS took Miami and Jimmy Johnson to task for beating up on Gerry Faust and Notre Dame, 58-7 with second- and third-stringers?? The same Irish squad that used to whoop Sisters Of The Poor, 128-0 — that told everyone anything they needed to know about the bias UM would forever face.
This article was
written in the New York Times in October 2014—six weeks into the new season, ten months after FSU won the national title and eleven months after Jameis Winston was accused of sexual assault.
Yahoo! Sports and Charles Robinson slap together a shoddy story about Miami players partying at the house of a greaseball booster, free Benihana dinners and bottle service at South Beach clubs—and the story runs on ESPN on a constant loop for a week, with cries of "death penalty" from every talking head in the business—yet the most-respected newspaper in the country does an in-depth piece on corruption at FSU (re: rape cover-up / how the case was poorly handled and academic fraud, while discussing a conflict of interest with local police, who protect players, show their affinity for the program on social media and earn extra money by directing traffic / providing securing on game day for the Noles?)—and no one says a word about the piece?
The game is rigged and has been forever. Complaining about the injustice will only make a Miami fan lose their collective mind. The Canes will just have to keep fighting through the noise and stay comfortable being the guys wearing the black hat—which means when you lose, they'll **** all over you and rub your face in it, and when you win, they'll say you did it dirty, or find ways to try and taint the accomplishment.
If any Miami fans are still looking for validation from outsiders or for the flawed system to somehow get corrected, for there to be justice, etc.—never gonna happen. The closest this program got was being looked at as a cool zoo exhibit when "The U" and "The U Part 2" ran on ESPN at popular 30 For 30 documentaries. Outsiders watched because it was interesting—the rise, the fall, the comeback and another scandal. It made for good TV.
Jimmy Johnson always used to remind his players that they needed to take care of business and never leave it up to the refs. Miami saw it first hand in 1988 when Cleveland Gary was down at the one-yard line, but it was called a fumble and Notre Dame football, in an eventual, 31-30 loss after a strong comeback and two-point conversion was batted down. No one batted an eye or cared. "That's football. So it goes."
The Canes saw it again in 2003 when the worst pass interference call in the history of the sport—and while there was some initial outrage due to the egregious nature of the call, if that was an Ohio State, LSU, Alabama, Texas, Michigan, Penn State or Notre Dame getting bent over like that—especially against the likes of a Miami—there would've been an investigation, or at least further action to prevent something like that from ever happening again.
Manny has spent time with JJ this off-season—and at 45 years old (like me) and having grown up watching this program since he was knee-high, Diaz is well-aware of the injustice that has befallen on the Miami program over the years. A safe bet he will preach a winning-cures-all attitude for these kids—opposed to one where he tries to fit some square-peg Canes into a circle, due to over-concern with what outsiders think. Miami has to play its brand of football to be successful and must ignore outside noise, as well any pandering to get the college football warlords or others to respect UM on their own set of terms.
Recipe for disaster and an utter waste of both time and energy
