Cincinnati crying about respect

Let’s face it, I can’t stand 90% of the people that work at ESPN (and, yes, Erin Andrews is in that 90%.) Of course, it’s funny to laugh at them due to all the horndoggery stories you read about ESPN that’s published on Deadspin.

Brian Bennett is another person I can’t stand at ESPN… how this moron got a job covering the Big East for ESPN.com is beyond me. Anyway, this Bennett article was brought to my attention by a mis-guided Cincinnati fan… big mistake, my friend.

Cincinnati, in their quest for importance, still thinks nobody respects them… well, how the hell can someone respect a team that gets beatdown two years a row in the BCS by Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl and Florida in the Sugar Bowl? Apparently, Brian Bennett (thinks) he has all the answers… more after the jump (my response will be in BOLDFACE type.) Get ready for an FJM-style ride! [ESPN.com]

Cincinnati still fighting respect battle

By Brian Bennett

Some teams have established enough name recognition to merit inclusion in the preseason rankings just about every other year. Other programs earn preseason spots based on what they accomplished the year before.
Yeah, teams like Alabama, Florida, Boise State, Texas, etc. deserve to be ranked high each year due to name rec and accomplishments.

And then there is Cincinnati.
Who?

It seems that no matter what the Bearcats do, they’re not going to get much praise before the year starts. They won 10 games in 2007 but weren’t ranked to start 2008. They won 11 games and a Big East title in 2008 but stayed out of the preseason polls last summer. In 2009, they finished the regular season 12-0 and No. 3 in the BCS standings, yet they’re nowhere to be found in either major poll right now.
THAT’S BECAUSE THOSE BEARSHITS CAN’T GET THE JOB DONE IN THE POST-SEASON! At least WVU has won 4 out of their last 5 bowls, including two BCS bowls against formidable SEC (Georgia) and Big-12 (Oklahoma) opponents!

“The respect part,” running back Isaiah Pead says, “is always an issue.”
Shall we open the floodgates for you and every other UC football player?

Only one other team has gone to back-to-back BCS games and failed to garner a preseason ranking the following year. That was Notre Dame in 2007. Like Cincinnati, the Irish didn’t play well in their BCS games. They were outscored 75-34 in the two games, while the Bearcats have been outscored 71-31. Both teams also were beaten by 27 points against a SEC team in the Sugar Bowl in the second BCS appearance (Notre Dame to LSU, Cincinnati to Florida).
Not the comparison of Notre Dame I’d want my team to have!

The Bearcats didn’t really care about history. They figured no one would give them props again this year despite their 18-game regular-season winning streak.
That’s because the Bearshits have NO HISTORY and NO RELEVANCE! Before they were in the Big East, they were just another above-average mediocre football team in C-USA! Besides, who the hell wants to respect a team that plays in a 35,000-seat stadium?

“We don’t really expect anything different,” linebacker JK Schaffer said. “Any time we lose, people go ahead and say we’re not going to be back this year. That definitely puts a chip on our shoulder, because year in and year out, they keep forgetting about us. We have to go out and prove we haven’t gone away and that we’re not going to anytime soon.”
That chip will be knocked off, stomped on, spit on, kicked around and laughed at only because you all demanded respect! Then you all will sink into Big East obscurity AGAIN!!!

First-year coach Butch Jones says he doesn’t really play up the lack-of-respect angle as motivation. This kind of fits his theme of 2010 being a new year and the team finding a new identity anyway. And besides, Cincinnati can show everyone what it’s made of with a stern test right out of the gates.
Cincy needs to realize that they’re not playing checkers here…

Some reward for back-to-back Big East titles. Jones will make his debut at Fresno State on Saturday night as the Bulldogs look to hang another BCS scalp on their wall. The Bearcats needed a late defensive stop to turn back Fresno 28-20 at home last year.
Ahh… looks like Fresno State almost gave ‘em fits last year… hope to see ‘em actually pull off the upset this year!

It’s also a cross-country trip with a 10 p.m. ET kickoff time. Luckily, Cincinnati has gone to such hostile environments before.
I doubt they’ve been to a NYC Pizzeria at 3am like I was at one time… NOW THAT’S A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT!!

Last season, they opened the season at Rutgers and won before a record crowd in the Scarlet Knights’ newly-expanded stadium. Later in September, they flew to Oregon State and won there, too.
Well, whoopty-doo… living in the past! Of course, I will say that anywhere in New Jersey could be considered a “hostile environment”, including that damn turnpike… or Snooki’s apartment. Oregon State can’t be THAT hostile of an environment, with all the reefer smoke in the air…

Jones has his own experience with preparing for an opener out West. He took Central Michigan to Arizona to lift the lid on 2009 (the Chippewas lost 19-6).
Ewwww… lift the toilet lid!? What a way with words you have, Brian Bennett!

“The great thing about our players is they expect to win and they’ve been in these situations,” Jones said.
What situations… in the crapper like your CMU Chippies were!? BLAME BENNETT!!!

Cincinnati will probably get more attention for losing this week than it would by beating Fresno State. But if the Bearcats win on Saturday, that’s a sign that this team definitely deserves more respect than it has received.
Sorry, Brian, they are NOT the Rodney Dangerfield of College Football for two reasons: 1) People outside of Rodney’s family actually liked him and 2) Cincinnati has done NOTHING outside of the regular season to warrant respect!

“It kind of bothers you,” Pead said. “But at the same time, whether you’re unranked or ranked number one, you’ve got to go play ball. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
And you all will play TERRIBLE ball this season!