Let's Talk About Football

In the mornings, I listen to a sports talk program on my four hundred hour drive to work. This morning the topic was whether my alma mater should fire their head coach. Yes, I am a Mississippi State University graduate. And yes, they should fire the coach, burn down the field, and get rid of their football program entirely, but I disgress. And maroon should be outlawed.

You see, State has a B-L-A-C-K (said as a whisper) coach. I have no idea if Sylvester Croom is a good coach, but I have no doubt that State sucks at football. Anyhoo, it was said that if they fire Croom, it would be said that it was because of racism. And you gotta know how much I loved that topic.

Let's look at the numbers over the past twenty-three years and gauge Croom according to the past. You have to understand that my research was done in a rudimentary way, because I am at work, folks.

THE NUMBERS
1983 3-8-0
1984 4-7-0
1985 5-6-0
1986 6-5-0
1987 4-7-0
1988 1-10-0
1989 5-6-0
1990 5-6-0
1991 7-5-0
1992 7-5-0
1993 3-6-2
1994 8-4-0
1995 3-8-0
1996 5-6-0
1997 7-4-0
1998 8-5-0
1999 10-2-0
2000 8-4-0
2001 3-8-0
2002 3-9-0
2003 2-10-0
2004 3-8-0
2005 3-8-0

This equates to a total of 4.91 wins per season over the last twenty-three years people. Wonder how many National Championships that State has in the cabinets?

If you will notice that there are three years in the past twenty-three (1998-2000) where State actually did pretty well, the rest, well not so much. The hiccup in those three years was when Jackie Sherril wound up getting State put on probation for all kinds of violations of NCAA rules. So you kinda gotta count those out, huh?

Now, for the racism charge. Let's see, now. Mississippi State was the absolute first football team in the Southeastern Conference to employ a coach of color. This makes them racist? That is absolutely stupid. It makes all the other universities in the SEC racists.

If State fires Croom, it is because they have no memory of exactly how bad they suck at football.

UPDATE: I just re-read this post and a lightbulb came on. The SEC experiences a periodic/cyclic wave of strong teams because of...well...I don't know, but they are up one year and down the next. When I get home tonight, I am going to dig a little deeper into strength of scheduling for State and make a definitive call about their football program. And all y'all Ole Miss fans, don't get all high and mighty, if you recall the records for both schools were the same last year and State beat Ole Miss. And I am pretty damn sure that Ole Miss sucks just as bad as State.