I’m a die hard Nole- you popped up in my google feed- I love your article- well written, funny, and largely accurate- except the net worth of our alumni is 1/100,000,000 that of U$C. I’m not a Bear but I look forward to your next article.
I need to make two small points to this Pulitzer Prize winning literary master performance. First regards the assertion that FSU wanting to leave the ACC is described as “they are actively conspiring to destroy the conference that Cal is in”. How can one school leaving a 17 school conference destroy it? ONE school. ONE. If a conference is so fragile that a single school leaving it would destroy it then something is tragically wrong with the conference, not the school. And lastly “their too good for the ACC”. In the literate portions of the country it’s “they’re”.
Thanks, fixed. My brain replaced the FSU administrator with the former Heisman winner, and you're right that associating him with a segregationist is indeed a terrible mistake.
SC and FSU are not even close, in comparison. FSU endowment 785.2 million versus SC endowment 7.3 Billion. Lets not even compare, claimed and unclaimed national championships. lol....
As somebody who lived in the greater Tallahassee area for a decade, I can tell you that , beyond football success (and wide commercial appeal), FSU is really nothing like U$C. The best comparison to a Pac University is probably ASU....albeit ASU has not had near the success in football as FSU. Both large former normal schools turned party schools who have been actively trying to improve their academic reputation the last several decades.
Tallahassee itself is not a stellar destination but there are definitely a lot of cool things within reach. I recommend heading to one of the nearby Florida springs...or slip down to the Gulf (Panacea or St. Marks) and rent/charter a boat for a beautiful very Florida day on the water (with good fishing). Panama City Beach is two or hours or so to the west and there is a ton of stuff for families there.
FSU = ASU makes more sense to me than the $C comparison. When we start talking about Duke seems like a more appropriate time to haul out $C comparisons, as well as Stanford ones, although with basketball rather than football success.
And I would add that Florida::Arizona as FSU::ASU is a pretty good analogy, in general....(although success in particular sports differs some). Same dynamic though, with Florida as the more elite flagship (but, perhaps, with the same elevated sense of self as Arizona).
And if you have never been to the Emerald Coast (Panama City, Destin, etc.) you are seriously missing out. Sugar white sand beaches with turquoise water. It's there I realized that the best beaches in the United States are NOT in California (although they are very different sorts of beaches).
These beaches really are gorgeous. Panama City and Destin are condo tower towns (Destin to a lesser extent), with the small towns in between more of a mix of beachfront houses, cluster communities, smaller condo developments. Some are highly stylized (Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach) while others such as Santa Rosa Beach and Grayton are more low key. All are worth some days to explore and relax. We all just have to hope though that the hurricanes stay away from the weeks bookending the Cal game weekend (and in general!).
To say that FSU is USC "in every possible way" is such a lazy and reductionist take. FSU is not a private school, and the sleepy, Southern environment of Tallahassee is nothing like the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles.
P.S. And I love the tone he sets with these first two sentences: “In case you’ve blissfully forgotten, the Pac-12 is dead and Cal is now in a conference named after the other side of the country. If you’re reading this, it means that this new reality is not a deal breaker for you.”
West LA is all UCLA town, and USC is South / East LA and Orange Country IMHO. USC just got the glitz & glamour reputation across the country because UCLA hasn't been relevant since Troy Aikman and Pete Carrol did a good job tying USC to all of LA when there was no other football team.
While it sucks to lose all our teams, Cal really needs to see if we can reconnect with the local community in a moment of real opportunity.
As a former 25 yr resident of FL, I can say college football fans there are also u$c-esque. They hang ‘Nole’ flags on everything, have man caves decorated in garnet n gold, closets full of ‘Nole’ gear, and dress their kids in full game regalia. All this by lots of people who never went to college anywhere. (When you get to FL Gators hit “copy.”)
But they are mostly nice folks (Bless your Heart), and know their BBQ.
I’m a die hard Nole- you popped up in my google feed- I love your article- well written, funny, and largely accurate- except the net worth of our alumni is 1/100,000,000 that of U$C. I’m not a Bear but I look forward to your next article.
I need to make two small points to this Pulitzer Prize winning literary master performance. First regards the assertion that FSU wanting to leave the ACC is described as “they are actively conspiring to destroy the conference that Cal is in”. How can one school leaving a 17 school conference destroy it? ONE school. ONE. If a conference is so fragile that a single school leaving it would destroy it then something is tragically wrong with the conference, not the school. And lastly “their too good for the ACC”. In the literate portions of the country it’s “they’re”.
Doak Campbell stadium, not Doak Walker!!!
Terrible mistake.
Thanks, fixed. My brain replaced the FSU administrator with the former Heisman winner, and you're right that associating him with a segregationist is indeed a terrible mistake.
Doh(k)!
SC and FSU are not even close, in comparison. FSU endowment 785.2 million versus SC endowment 7.3 Billion. Lets not even compare, claimed and unclaimed national championships. lol....
As somebody who lived in the greater Tallahassee area for a decade, I can tell you that , beyond football success (and wide commercial appeal), FSU is really nothing like U$C. The best comparison to a Pac University is probably ASU....albeit ASU has not had near the success in football as FSU. Both large former normal schools turned party schools who have been actively trying to improve their academic reputation the last several decades.
Tallahassee itself is not a stellar destination but there are definitely a lot of cool things within reach. I recommend heading to one of the nearby Florida springs...or slip down to the Gulf (Panacea or St. Marks) and rent/charter a boat for a beautiful very Florida day on the water (with good fishing). Panama City Beach is two or hours or so to the west and there is a ton of stuff for families there.
FSU = ASU makes more sense to me than the $C comparison. When we start talking about Duke seems like a more appropriate time to haul out $C comparisons, as well as Stanford ones, although with basketball rather than football success.
And I would add that Florida::Arizona as FSU::ASU is a pretty good analogy, in general....(although success in particular sports differs some). Same dynamic though, with Florida as the more elite flagship (but, perhaps, with the same elevated sense of self as Arizona).
And if you have never been to the Emerald Coast (Panama City, Destin, etc.) you are seriously missing out. Sugar white sand beaches with turquoise water. It's there I realized that the best beaches in the United States are NOT in California (although they are very different sorts of beaches).
These beaches really are gorgeous. Panama City and Destin are condo tower towns (Destin to a lesser extent), with the small towns in between more of a mix of beachfront houses, cluster communities, smaller condo developments. Some are highly stylized (Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach) while others such as Santa Rosa Beach and Grayton are more low key. All are worth some days to explore and relax. We all just have to hope though that the hurricanes stay away from the weeks bookending the Cal game weekend (and in general!).
To say that FSU is USC "in every possible way" is such a lazy and reductionist take. FSU is not a private school, and the sleepy, Southern environment of Tallahassee is nothing like the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles.
In the author’s capable hands, hyperbole is a virtue.
P.S. And I love the tone he sets with these first two sentences: “In case you’ve blissfully forgotten, the Pac-12 is dead and Cal is now in a conference named after the other side of the country. If you’re reading this, it means that this new reality is not a deal breaker for you.”
Cal fans don’t really credit U$C with any glitz and glamour- their other annoying attributes as outlined by Nick cloud all that out.
I connect $C more with the OC than I do Hollywood. At least that's where it seemed like they got the majority of their fratty students.
West LA is all UCLA town, and USC is South / East LA and Orange Country IMHO. USC just got the glitz & glamour reputation across the country because UCLA hasn't been relevant since Troy Aikman and Pete Carrol did a good job tying USC to all of LA when there was no other football team.
While it sucks to lose all our teams, Cal really needs to see if we can reconnect with the local community in a moment of real opportunity.
As a former 25 yr resident of FL, I can say college football fans there are also u$c-esque. They hang ‘Nole’ flags on everything, have man caves decorated in garnet n gold, closets full of ‘Nole’ gear, and dress their kids in full game regalia. All this by lots of people who never went to college anywhere. (When you get to FL Gators hit “copy.”)
But they are mostly nice folks (Bless your Heart), and know their BBQ.