Break Up The Eagles

I don’t say too much about Southeastern Michigan’s “other” football team, Eastern Michigan. It’s the simple fact that if you’re losing for two years there’s not much to say besides you suck. Well they finally got a win under their belts in the Ron English era. A 41-38 overtime win over Ball State ending an 18 game losing streak. Congratulations, it was a long time coming. But a Ball State blogger took the loss pretty hard.

     
Alan of Ball State fan blog Over the Pylon :

After each and every loss since this blog was started back in 2008 we’ve implored people to stay positive. We’ve begged people to not give up. We’ve assured folks that better days were coming. Today, all that positivity, all that fear calming, all that hope and optimism for this program in the near future appears for naught. I’m not sure what rock bottom is, but I fear that the Ball State football program is venturing dangerously close to it …

The box score and recap for this particular contest is equal parts confusing and humiliating. EMU outplayed the Cardinals in nearly every facet, from time of possession to total yards … To have a winless team mired in a significant losing streak rack up a 490-243 yard advantage is absolutely ridiculous …

I never thought I would be saying this again after 2008 and the magical undefeated season we witnessed, but there is nothing positive to take away from this game and nothing that I can point to as a life vest in this abysmal era of failure and disappointment.
 
 

Ron English Needs To Think Before He Speaks

Normally anything to do with Eastern Michigan football is relevant. I’m from the area so I should know. They’ve been lousy for quite a while and have ran through a bevy of coaches. Current head Eagle in charge Ron English has a monumental task for a program whose greatest acheivement is their win in the1987 California Bowl. Yes, that game doesn’t exist anymore and they were also the Hurons back then. CBSSports.com has them rated 119th out of 120 FBS schools. And now the aformentioned English decided what kind of family potential recruits should come out of.

In a July 31 story in the Detroit News, English said: “We wanted guys that had a father in their background. A guy that’s raised by his mom all the time, and please don’t take me wrong, but the reality is that you’ve got to teach that guy how to be taught by a man.” Ok Ron, go insulting single mothers,meanwhile killing your recruiting.

I hate to say it, but a lot of these kids do come from broken homes and use football as a means to improve themselves. Their high school coaches become more of the father figure to them. In some cases their mothers are doing their best to hold things together, in the meantime instilling their kids with morals and pride and hoping they don’t fall prey to the dangers of the streeets.

Some of the area high school coaches also took offense to English’s comment, since they know that some of the kids they coach wouldn’t meet his standards.

“I didn’t have a father,” said Southwestern coach Andre Harlan, who played for Earl Moore at Murray-Wright. “I was raised by my mother, and I didn’t do anything dumb. I didn’t cause Coach Moore any problems. My mother raised me and my two brothers in the Brewster Projects — that’s a drug haven — and we never sold drugs or did drugs and we all have master’s degrees.”

Renaissance coach Antonio Watts played at Cody and found football to be something that reinforced his mother’s teachings.

“I was raised by my mother,” he said. “She instilled values in me, and football enhanced her values.”

Not that Eastern gets the pick of the litter when it comes to recruits to begin with, but this could be a program killer unless he mends the fences and quickly. In today’s world you have to relate to thyour players, no matter what they’re background is. English needs to think before he speaks about certain topics.