Post by 6stringbuddy on Oct 16, 2013 21:46:18 GMT -5
I'm probably in the minority of being a avid college football fan and a replacements fan but a ran across an article comparing Fresno State's team to the Replacements.
www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/78456/college-football-midterm-shootaround-first-half-takeaways-identity-crises-and-constipated-elves
www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/78456/college-football-midterm-shootaround-first-half-takeaways-identity-crises-and-constipated-elves
The Replacements were never far from my mind when I watched the Pat Hill–era Fresno State Bulldogs between 1997 and 2011. Maybe it was their brazen, “anybody, anytime, anywhere” motto when it came to throwing down. Maybe it was their tendency to get just close enough to the big time only to realize how far away they really were. Or maybe it was simply that former coach Hill’s mustache made him look like the kind of guy who could probably drink Paul Westerberg under the table in his prime. It certainly wasn't because their on-field product reminded me of “Gary’s Got a Boner” or anything. Those Bulldogs were the closest thing college football had to a shit-kicking, blue-collar, ill-fated punk team.
Much like the Replacements inadvertently invented “alternative rock” while failing upward, Fresno State’s influential-but-doomed Hill teams showed the world how to be a BCS Buster before we even knew what that really meant. This cuts both ways: In the same way that the ’Mats are to blame for Dave Pirner’s trips to the White House and Winona Ryder’s bedroom in the early ’90s, Fresno State has played a huge role in defining a term that now triggers little of its initial buzz. It’s not unthinkable, for example, that Northern Illinois could inflict its MACtion on the BCS twice on account of finally beating Iowa.
And yet, on October 15, 2013, the Replacements were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And Fresno? Fresno has carved a path to a BCS bowl. Unsatisfied no more? But truly, Fresno feels more like Paul Westerberg circa Singles, a patron saint who hung around long enough for the more conservative version of his former self to not so much succeed as to be set up not to fail.
Whereas Hill was a grizzled lifer, his replacement, Tim DeRuyter, is relatively young and fresh-faced and will be one of the leading candidates for every BCS conference coaching gig west of the Mississippi, up to and including USC. The Bulldogs' offense is led by Derek Carr, the brother of Bulldog record holder/NFL clipboard holder David Carr. The younger Carr has been great, though the Bulldogs haven't needed to tackle much while playing a weak slate: They beat lame-duck AAC squad Rutgers by one point in overtime, toppled a not-what-it-used-to-be Boise State (also by one point), and missed the chance to beat Pac-12 cellar dweller Colorado after that game was canceled on account of biblical flooding. Their biggest remaining challenge is a trip to Laramie and a potential rematch against the Broncos in the MWC championship game, which is almost assured since Utah State is a nonfactor following the season-ending Chuckie Keeton injury that made atheists of us all.
As of now, ESPN’s bowl projections optimistically posit that Fresno will be Fiesta Bowl cannon fodder for Baylor, and truth be told … I wouldn’t turn that down, no more than I’d turn down a 2013 Replacements reunion at a venue larger than the band ever played in its heyday.
If Fresno runs the table and DeRuyter goes, hopefully the program will do the closest thing possible to “getting the band back together” by having Hill and his mustache return to serve as the interim coach. It’s within our reach.
Much like the Replacements inadvertently invented “alternative rock” while failing upward, Fresno State’s influential-but-doomed Hill teams showed the world how to be a BCS Buster before we even knew what that really meant. This cuts both ways: In the same way that the ’Mats are to blame for Dave Pirner’s trips to the White House and Winona Ryder’s bedroom in the early ’90s, Fresno State has played a huge role in defining a term that now triggers little of its initial buzz. It’s not unthinkable, for example, that Northern Illinois could inflict its MACtion on the BCS twice on account of finally beating Iowa.
And yet, on October 15, 2013, the Replacements were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And Fresno? Fresno has carved a path to a BCS bowl. Unsatisfied no more? But truly, Fresno feels more like Paul Westerberg circa Singles, a patron saint who hung around long enough for the more conservative version of his former self to not so much succeed as to be set up not to fail.
Whereas Hill was a grizzled lifer, his replacement, Tim DeRuyter, is relatively young and fresh-faced and will be one of the leading candidates for every BCS conference coaching gig west of the Mississippi, up to and including USC. The Bulldogs' offense is led by Derek Carr, the brother of Bulldog record holder/NFL clipboard holder David Carr. The younger Carr has been great, though the Bulldogs haven't needed to tackle much while playing a weak slate: They beat lame-duck AAC squad Rutgers by one point in overtime, toppled a not-what-it-used-to-be Boise State (also by one point), and missed the chance to beat Pac-12 cellar dweller Colorado after that game was canceled on account of biblical flooding. Their biggest remaining challenge is a trip to Laramie and a potential rematch against the Broncos in the MWC championship game, which is almost assured since Utah State is a nonfactor following the season-ending Chuckie Keeton injury that made atheists of us all.
As of now, ESPN’s bowl projections optimistically posit that Fresno will be Fiesta Bowl cannon fodder for Baylor, and truth be told … I wouldn’t turn that down, no more than I’d turn down a 2013 Replacements reunion at a venue larger than the band ever played in its heyday.
If Fresno runs the table and DeRuyter goes, hopefully the program will do the closest thing possible to “getting the band back together” by having Hill and his mustache return to serve as the interim coach. It’s within our reach.
