I usually respect what is written on ATVS, but frankly that article is neither insighful nor thoughtful. It was merely a repitition of bromides and amounted to same old tedius lecture admonishing LSU fanatics to stop being so gosh-darn serious about LSU football. It's just a game, a hobby, and so on.

I find it particularly ironic that the admonition comes from someone who regularly writes lengthy disquisitions about LSU football on a blog devoted almost exclusively to that topic.

Worst of all, the post fails to lucidly address the real cause of the fans' unrest: predictability. Miles is what he is. We can debate which modifier to append to that state (mediocre, good, great, or something more nuanced), but the state appears fixed. When Miles had to be restrained from calling a post-turnover timeout in 2005, one might hope that it was the product of a new coach's momentary excitement. But when he continues to botch obvious timeouts eight years later, one can safely assume it's a permament flaw. When LSU came out unprepared for Kentucky in 2007, one could still reasonably argue it was an aberration. When playing down to lesser opponents becomes an almost annual occurence, hope begins to sour into delusion. And so on. Miles is in stasis as a coach. He doesn't appear to be improving. That makes LSU football predictable, which in turn breeds fatigue, indifference, and -- yes -- anger.

As I said long ago, as an LSU fan who wants to win more national championships, one can only hope that Miles somehow improves and allows us to become ascendant in the SEC West. Such a result appears to be in jeopardy. Naturally, people are disappointed and angry. When the outcome of the season appears to be a fait accompli, the entire exercise becomes less interesting and more frustrating.

All of this being said, I'll still follow the team through thick and thin, I'll still faithfully buy my season tickets, and travel to away games, and wear my colors, and tout LSU to all comers, and express my passion. But you'll have to excuse me if I get upset when we throw away a chance at the SEC title by playing piss-poor football against Ole Miss back-up scrubs. If you don't get angry when we lose, you can't claim jubilation when we win.