An Open Letter to LSU Sunshine-Pumpers (Long)

Preface: I recently called for a ban to open letters , but I had some free time this morning and wanted to let the world know how I felt.

Dear Sunshine-Pumpers,

I must admit, there are days where I too wish I was naive enough to blissfully support Miles, decision after decision, without raising the slightest question about whether the decision is correct. It is a fairy-tale land that you live in when you do not question Miles simply because he "forgot more football than you know." While the latter is certainly true, it does not guarantee that everything Miles does pertaining to football is correct. A person's experience, knowledge, and wisdom contribute to their decisions, and the more you possess of those three things, the more often you decisions will be correct. However, those attributes do not insulate you form occasionally making the wrong decision.

While I agree that Miles loves LSU and would never intentionally harm the program, he is human and he will make mistakes. I do not condone the rampant criticism of Miles, but I am equally aggravated with the supporters who act as though Miles is infallible.

There are supporters who would never criticize Miles for the Dual-Defensive Coordinator disaster until Miles himself admitted the mistake and fixed it. It seemed as long as Miles was behind it, they were behind it. Once Miles jumped ship, they were right behind him and finally agreed with the Nega- and Reali-tigers. The same concept is rearing its head again with our QB situation. Despite qualitative and quantitative proof to the contrary, Sunshine-pumpers continue to agree with Miles that he is doing the right thing with the QB situation. They will tirelessly argue with you that Miles is the head coach so this MUST be the correct choice. Now, do I believe that Miles thinks this is the correct gameplan? Yes. Does he know much more about football than me? Yes. Is he almost 99% wrong on this decision? Yes. Will it be the first time a head coach made the wrong decision? Nope, and it will not be the last. Coaches often make the wrong call on offensive/defensive plays, so why are they immune to making the wrong personnel choices?

Once again, the main point of this letter is not to criticize all of Miles' decisions. Hell, it is really only to criticize one decision and those that defend it simply because Miles says so. Of course we are 7-0 but it is very easy to discern that our record would be the same if Lee was taking all the snaps. Even in his worst performances, he was never as consistently bad as Jefferson has been. Most of the fans see the writing on the wall that Jefferson's play will eventually cost us a game. In 2010, Lee has statistically proven that he is more accurate, takes better care of the football, and has consistently moved the offense. He is, without a doubt, a better fit in Crowton's offense as well. The fans want to see Miles swallow his pride, admit that he hitched his wagon to the wrong horse this year, and make the change. However, as a Reali-tiger, I have no faith in Miles to suddenly change because his history has proven otherwise. While Miles' pride is probably to blame at this point, the small percentage of the fan base that constantly praises him certainly does not help. They are no more constructive than those that can only see wrong in Miles. Things are not just black or white, and most Tiger fans fall in that gray area where we can support LSU and its coach while keeping in touch with reality and occasionally questioning his decisions. This QB situation is one of those times when a majority of the fan base can and should raise questions.

Now, before the vocal minority of Miles Sunshine-Pumpers on TD.com that perpetually make their way onto the Hawthorne/Miles comedy hour come raising hell in this thread with the very predictable argument that Miles knows much more than me about football so I should blindly follow him, I present to you Exhibit A of very intelligent leaders making insanely dumb decisions.

LINK

Some highlights from the list:

quote:

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“$15 million – take it or leave it!” Texas businessman and two-time US presidential runner Ross Perot offered to buy Microsoft (MSFT: 25.225 +0.125 +0.50%) in 1979 for US$15 million. Gates wanted US$60 million. Perot walked away empty-handed and Microsoft today has a market value of US$265 billion.

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quote:

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Not excited about Google In 1999, former Excite CEO George Bell had the opportunity to buy Google (GOOG: 614.86 +7.03 +1.16%) for US$1 million – but passed on the opportunity. Google now has a market value of US$163 billion.

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Some personal favorites:

Prohibition
Slavery
AOL - Time Warner merger
1985's "New Coke" and the backlash
Sam Bowie ahead of Jordan
Hitler declares war on the United States
Hitler declares war on the Soviets
Napoleon invades Russia
Cavaliers fail to trade LeBron in 2010 and promptly fail to sign him
And, on a much smaller stage, with significantly smaller consequences, Jordan Jefferson playing more than 7% of the snaps in a 2010 LSU football game against any remaining opponent

So, Sunshine-pumpers, before you resort to the tired, illogical argument that anyone that knows more than you must also make better decisions than you, please see the above proof that irrefutably contradicts your position.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Slackster - An adamant LSU supporter who wants to make the tough short-term decisions in order to reap the long-term benefits!