BUSTED MEMORABILIA: MAKE URBAN A MYTH!

yeah, I still have my dad’s “Pennsylvania State University 1978 National Champions” T-shirt. It’s all retro now- the kids think I got it at Old Navy.

Oh, and they made Florida an “Urban Legend”

bucknuts.

Urban Myth? That doesn’t even make any sense. “Urban Legend” anyone? THE Ohio State University could do better…

Shouldn’t the back say “Fuck Michigan” just for consistency’s sake?

Thank the fucking Lord that wasn’t a Georgia shirt. I saw the bright-red color and got really worried for a second.

DG, I believe “Much Fichigan” is more appropriate. Then again, we are talking about tOSU fans, so perhaps you are right.

..and I can’t spell. “Muck Fichigan”. There.

Except USC succeeded in becoming back to back champions. Just not back to back to back champions.

No angry LSU denunciations of Matt’s comment? I guess Saban really doesn’t have time for this shit.

No…LSU was the BCS national champion in 2003.

I miss the subcomandante.

And USC was the AP national champion in 2003… duh…

every time i end up in the backwoods of south america i keep an eye out for those World Champion Philadelphia Eagles! – or something similar – t-shirts. sooner or later i’m going to find the motherload and eBay will stagger under the weight of my onslaught.

“No…LSU was the BCS national champion in 2003.”

And that has to do with USC winning the AP vote in 2003 how? Hell, even the BCS website admitted as much, unlike a certain school still bitter in Loisuiana.

Only slightly related: When I was stationed in Korea I worked as a construction inspector. One crew (of Korean nationals) had a guy who, instead of a hard-hat, wore a Miami Dolphins football helmet, sans facemask. Ahhh, fucking Korea.

Bitter? Hardly. Crystal football is in our case, not on the left coast. Contrats on having more AP writers that live on the West Coast than in the South. Great One-Pete in 2003. Enjoy your “title”.

Jokers Dept:

LSU has stopped whining about USC being the mythical 2003 College Football National Champs? They finally got into the 21st century.

Everyone knows that in 2003 the AP vesion of the Mythical Title trumped the bs-BCS title version, because of major computer calculation issues that were “cured” a year later.

The Third World is a treasure trove of American pop culture in the form of cast off—donated—t-shirts. Years ago, in Haiti, it was almost a sport looking for the most unintentionally humorous apparel.

A friend of mine—a punk rock enthusiast—once bought a “Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols” t-shirt from a guy for $10. That’s a lot of love for Johnny Rotten to take a shirt right off a Haitian’s back.

My top two favorites: one guy wearing a t-shirt—no doubt circa 1974—featuring different sexual positions for each sign of the zodiac and another with a hat that read “It’s Just One Fucking Thing After Another” which pretty much summed up Haiti.

Enjoy your "title".

Thanks, it goes nicely with the 6 consensus MNCs and 4 other split MNCs.

I imagine it’s easy to keep the 2003 crystal football clean when you’re not having to dust around too many trophies.

why are you two even arguing about it? Saban is at THE University of Alabama (at Tuscaloosa) and therefore we will now claim his 1/2 title for our own!

My bitterness is long since gone, but this isn’t as great a find as a Jim Kelly Super Bowl MVP hat. It’s basically a “Beat Florida” shirt. When the Bucks lost, everything MNC related went on a fire sale. I could have sent you cases of the stuff in the weeks after the game from all the Columbus stores’ overstocks.

I do agree with DG: it’s not authentic unless there’s a “Screw M” logo somewhere on it.

Got mine right along with my Florida Crocodiles Media Guide.

One of my favorite pasttimes while living in Southeastern Europe (more similar to Southeastern USA than you’d guess), was playing “80’s Metal T-Shirt Bingo” when seeing the local youth walk around. I would say it was ironic if the micro-population of the country I lived in (@2 million) had ever discovered the concept of “irony”. Motley Crue and Iron Maiden t-shirts were fairly common, but spotting the rare Krokus or Dokken shirt was a sure winner…

Ah, lovely, USC and LSU fans rehashing 2003 for the gazillionth time. Just what we all need here in two-thousand-aught-seven…

Yay! Here’s to fighting over two one-loss teams that won numbingly boring bowl games, but only in front of friendly, partisan crowds close to their own campuses.

Here’s to fighting over teams who, appropriately, were given a half-title (yes, a half-title is how the world sees it… learn to deal…) and a pat on the head in a year that featured numerous flawed teams in the upper reaches of the polls.

This has gotten to be like Michigan State and Louisville fans arguing which version of John L. Smith was face-slappin’ crazier.

I hate LSU, and have nothing against USC. But they did not get back to back NC’s no more than Auburn was the NC for 2004 because they got the East Popcorn Gazette to vote them as the NC over USC.

If you weren’t in the BCS championship game as No. 1 or No. 2, then you don’t get to claim yourself as champion as a No. 3 playing an also ran.

Boise St. went undefeated this year, does that mean that Florida wasn’t the National Champion?

Papa Lou BSU, most SC folks understand the half-title math – but when the Bama / Auburn people fall down on the threadjacking job, someone has to step into the gap… and the LSU folks rise to the bait without fail.

As for elapsed time since 2003, that is but a gnat’s fart of duration for holding a grudge. Anytime you see Scotland play a soccer game esp. versus England, there’s always at least one flag with “Bannockburn 1314” on it – and it’s not just because that was the last decent win against the Sassenachs.

1. Steve: YES!!

‘there’s always at least one flag with "Bannockburn 1314″ on it – and it’s not just because that was the last decent win against the Sassenachs.’

Well, maybe it is because that was their last descent, oh I mean decent, win.

maybe it is because that was their last descent, oh I mean decent, win.

 Geographically or politically, both “descent” and “decent” hold true. Whether it’s your Norman aristocracy selling you out, or Thatcher selling off the playing fields after you tear down the goalposts at Wembley, or you end up supporting Trinidad and Tobago, because Rupert Murdoch sold Sky to the working class (thereby rendering somnolent the usual source of soccer talent)… it’s a sad state of affairs.

Rebuild Hadrian’s wall!

Somewhere in this building there is one of those half-white (for signing) footballs with a logo done up for the 2003 Sugar Bowl as LSU vs. USC. It was a sample for the period leading up to the game.

I wonder how much I could get for it at auction.

1. Steve -

Not sure why we’re still beating this horse. I’ll defer to DC Trojan in #19 since I can’t say it much better.

As for Auburn, not sure why they are even mentioned since they played for neither the BCS or AP title. They did earn the “peoples” MNC though. And they even have rings to prove it.

Is that like a People’s Choice Award, or a Golden Globe?

Is that like a People’s Choice Award, or a Golden Globe?

It’s like one of those “student of the month” awards at your local middle school which is award to anyone who can stand up when called upon.

For 2004 the trophy took the form of a bronzed half-roll of toilet paper from Toomer’s Corner.

awarded, dammit.

Now I have to go and get my student of the month award.

DC Trojan:

For or against Scotland seceding from the UK?

Old English Joke:

I used to work with an Englishman who said that if you ever went to an England-Scotland soccer match you would notice that the United Kingdom is not very “united”. (apologies for the screwing up of the past, present and future tenses…all in one sentence!)

given Ohio’s union-burden, rust-belt economy they probably need to keep these ugly fucking shirts

At or around this time, Spud, Sick Boy, and I made a healthy, informed, democratic decision to get back on heroin as soon as possible.

A shirt like that would never need to be marked down at Alabama. One way or the other they would claim another MNC.

Ah, Trainspotting. I watched that film for class one day and decided that hard drugs were definitely bad news. Then I walked out of the building, turned right, and saw three 4x life size posters of Kate Moss in the Burberry store. Mmmmmm, delicious irony.

There’s a warehouse in Georgia with a shit-load of tees boasting Dawgs Beat Gators; all they need is a date. Not much of a money maker since they only get printed once every decade or so.

Re #26: Indeed, DCTrojan, on all counts. Perhaps the Internet wailing from some quarters has only made it seem like eight centuries, instead of three and a half years…

socal irish…might make interesting reading for you, exposes one of your teams bull-shits nc’s ( I’m not denying that Alabama doesn’t have theirs as well)

http://www.amazon.com/Missing-Ring-Alabama-Crimson-Footballs/dp/0312336837

As far as t-shirts go, I can say that Auburn has it done right with their “Auburn Rags Ltd.” stuff. Obnoxious, but in good taste, generally.
Bama’s t-shirts are also made by that same “Smack talkin’ T’s” who made the one featured above and they are all beyond embarassing. The worst I can remember is “Got Shula?…..we do” and “Got twelve?…we do” shits that came out solid decade after the “Got Milk?” campaign had run its course. The damn things sold like hotcakes, or cooked crack.

On the topic of the 2003 NC, even prior to aAbans hiring I felt that LSU was the rightful champion. And I can barely stand LSU fans.
Just because the AP changed their mind and reneged on a deal with the BCS does not, in my mind legitimize them to name their own champion.
The BCS was in place to split hairs and decide who would play for the NC. USC got left out because they played a weaker schedule than the other two and lost to the worst team of the three. tough shit. Auburn in my mind has every bit as much of a claim to half the title in 2004 as USC in 2003.
Buth thats just, like, my opinion, man.

Ah, yes. Perhaps one day we’ll finally be able to meet on the field, and throw in the half-titles from 2003 for good measure so the SC crowd will finally give up their whiny noises about being the 2003 NC.

As far as the English-Scottish lovefests; from my visits, when England plays Scotland it’s about as intense as SEC games, where the Scottish fans’ favorite teams are Scotland and whoever is playing England. Kind of like some folks favorites are LSU and whoever is playing Alabama.

SKLM: Sentimentally for Scottish secession, but in reality the Scottish Nationalist’s dreams of being the next Ireland or Denmark are more likely to turn into being the next Macedonia… and it’s all predicated on the EU’s money, which seems like a exchanging one tax-teat for another.

Southern Papa: I’d be whining if I felt like I’d been deprived of something, but nonetheless I like your pink slip approach to resolving the bitch-fest. Settling a MNC on the field, what a curious idea.

The AP has been naming CFB champions since the 1930’s and there was never any deal for them to stop doing so. That USC won the AP title in 2003 in a fact. Split titles have been common in the history of college football. I only ever hear LSU fans whine about having to share a title.

Auburn didn’t win a legitimate national title in 2004, that’s also a fact. Deal with it crybabies.

re: #44 (or is it #45?)

http://www.amazon.com/Missing-Ring-Alabama-Crimson-Footballs/dp/0312336837

Jeez-oh-pete! Its bad enough that the ignorant rednecks of alabama already claim about twice as many MNC’s as they rightfully should.

Now some moron at the NYT, wants to write about how they were robbed of another one?

USC’s Back to Back is tenuous, especially considering that the Whole Reggie Bush got Paid scenario hasn’t played out.

Oh, and the fact that the AP poll has no credibility after telling the BCS to stop using their poll “illegally” a mere 7 years after the fact.

The Reggie Bush scenario might play out sometime after the scandal caused by the FSU players getting money from agents (and resulting SI cover) or the Charles Woodson “money from his agent” scandals play out.

Saying the AP poll has no credibility is just dumb. The coaches poll and the writers poll’s have been the only rankings that have ever had credibility over the years.

Auburn fans should count their blessings that they didn’t play USC in 2003. They seem to conveniently forget what happened when the teams did play in 2001 and 2002.

Every SEC team, with perhaps the Gators as an exception, would get killed by the USC Trojans. Offense is too fast, advanced…and the D is tough.

At $3.99, that shirt is still waaaay overpriced.

That’s all I’m sayin’.

#49
It’s the 21st century, The BCS decides the NC. That USC argues the point is just lame.

Cruzer, the only argument is from people trying to say that USC didn’t win any national championship in 2003. LSU won the BCS NC, and USC was named (not claimed) the AP NC. Them’s the facts, whether or not you like it is your business.

Despite all the oh-so-principled objections on this thread, I guarantee that had any other university been named AP NC in 2003, they wouldn’t have said “oh no thanks, it’s not the one with the crystal football, and we won’t sell any t-shirts or anything.” Likewise, the fans would not have said, “No, thanks, we won’t get excited about this national championship, because it was not the one true national championship.”

“I only ever hear LSU fans whine about having to share a title.”

1. - You are incorrect sir! We have to listen to the Nerds from the North Ave. Trade School whine about it all the time. It’s great comedy, as you are almost assuredly aware.

Harvey Wireman is funny.

Yawn

you guys are arguing over championships? Wake me up when someone has more than us Domers.

And If y’all are really ready to go hunting for titles like bama does, you’re all going to be in line behind yale, penn, and harvard for the next half century.

(pssst, bama fans: you can’t claim an NC when we whooped you in the bowl game to vault you, a la ’73)

Wooderson, yes we can claim ’73. The National Championship used to be given out prior to bowls.
I believe I quote one Mr. DC Trojan when I say, “Them’s the facts, whether or not you like it is your business.”

Re: LSU/USC, I fully recognize that USC has a national championship. I was mainly trying to state that I feel that the legitimacy of the AP’s actions when they retroactively decided they didn’t like the BCS’s magic formula answer and would not cooperate, are questionable at best.
Sure the AP named their own national champion, but if they have problems with the BCS’s system, why wouldn’t they say something to begin with? Why did they wait until the major market LA team got “snubbed” instead of a team from Baton Rouge or Norman if there was no ulterior motive?
I stand by what happenned on the field, not in the board room. Sure a bunch of journalists said that USC could have a national title, but by the system to determine one used at the beginning of and throughout the season, they were not. They played an easier schedule and lost to a worse team than LSU and Oklahoma, therefore they got the short end of the stick everywhere but in the collective mind of the AP.

Say what you will about the brokedick BCS, but at least it is a system. I prefer that to the former days of every news outlet picking their own.

#57. I stand corrected sir. It just seems like the LSU and Auburn fans whine more, but they are not the only offenders.

#59. It should happen before Pete Carroll is done, but you have a couple of more years to go at least.

#60. You are spinning some gibberish there. The AP never changed anything or broke any agreements. They ranked teams the way they always had and gave the championship they way they always have. The BCS screwed up that year and did something that nobody had dreamed the formula would ever do. They matched the #2 team in both polls against the #3 team in both polls. The AP never agreed to boost up the #2 or #3 team over the #1 team so they didn’t have to. I’m sure the coaches would have voted USC #1 had they been able to vote as they wished. The “everywhere but the collective mind of the AP” satement is total BS since the coaches poll also had USC #1 at the end of the regular season. LSU are the lucky ones in that the BCS wanted to make sure they could hand out the trophy on TV at the end of the game and thus got the coaches to agree to automatically predetermine their “vote”.

#53

Speed faster than SEC speed? I don’t think that’s possible. Everyone knows that not even Michael Johnson has a chance in a foot race with an overweight offensive lineman from one of the schools blessed enough to be geographically below the Mason-Dixon and to the right of the Mississippi.

DC Trojan #48: It adds up a lot better if we don’t have to pay for arsehat projects in London like the Millenium Dome or Wembley. All funded centrally so Scotland gets to pay 9%.

The SNP would also pull out of Trident.

None of the small northeuro countries like Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden (I’m ignoring Norway because of oil revenue) or Finland have any advantages we don’t; and our economy is stronger than most.

I’m all for it so that if we fuck it up we can’t blame anyone else.

And now a return to your scheduled programme . . .

Talking of local rivalry, anyone see the Old Firm game at the weekend?

#61, I stand corrected. Was not aware they were #1 in both polls. However I still think that choosing OUvsLSU for the title was justified.

USC played nobodies that year. They only played one team that had fewer than 5 losses that year in the regular season. Their mighty bowl matchup was a 2 loss (3 after the game) Michigan team.

If the AP named Duke the national champions last year, would you be singing their high praises from the rooftops?

Remember all the complete and utter bullshit when USC and Texas were gonna be playing, and they were talking about this USC team being the greatest team ever? Yet they couldn’t even win the NC game. You have to do that to even be on that list.

You have to play in, and win, the National Championship game, to be considered the NC under the BCS system. As I said before, it is no different than the ’Barn in 2004.

Guys the real joke in 2003 was the selection of Oklahoma. Lordy, they had just lost their Big Eight Championship game by 4 touchdowns. USC legitimately should have been playing LSU for the title.

I also see no issue with having split national champions…it happened many times before and probably will happen again. No big deal. Two great teams. LSU was better defensively and USC was better offensively.

Until there is a playoff, it is all going to be speculative anyway. What if Michigan had gotten the rematch with the Buckeyes and won and what if USC had not lost to UCLA. We could have had OSU, Michigan, Florida, LSU and USC with one loss a piece and Boisie unbeaten. Michigan would probably have won the BCS title, but after watching the games over the holidays it was obvious that Florida, LSU and USC were much better teams.

Sorry about that. Big XII Championship game.

Not a Fifer #63: Sold! I hadn’t thought about under-writing vanity projects; add the 2012 Olympics in and you’re really talking.

Although, wasn’t the Wembley decision taken under Adam Crozier? Was he in fact trying to destroy the English FA from within?

I hadn’t thought about trident but surely the right group of neds with some buckfast empties ought to do the trick as a replacement.

I didn’t see the Old Firm game but I did have a chuckle about the result.

Bob # 66 : stop trying assign the blame where it properly lies, you’ll distract Steve from his agenda of appearing to go after USC while really going after Auburn.

Sundawg,

Good one. As a Dawg fan its hard to argue with the Gator’s success the past 17 years. On the other hand it must feel like paddling upstream to have won 15 of 17 and still trail the series by 9. Knowing how these things run in cycles, better enjoy it now.

#65. Yeah USC plays nobodies. That’s a risk you take when you schedule cupcakes like Auburn and beat them 23-0. But you seem to have forgotten about Washington State who finished 10-3 with a win over Texas that year.

Michigan was #4 that year going into the Rose Bowl and though they had two losses compared to one for LSU and Oklahoma, they were the hot team. I thought at the time that USC would have had a better chance against one of the other one loss teams. Often the hot dangerous team at the end of the year (like LSU 2006 or USC 2001) is already out of the title picture.

USC vs Texas has nothing to do with this. Texas were a great team who put it together, got a few lucky breaks (as every winning team does) and won a close game. Bringing that up just makes it sound like you have general jealousy issues with USC.

The national championship game has to have the #1 team in it. So the championship game was the Rose Bowl that year. Simple.

After the USC-Texas Rose Bowl of 2006, I was able to snag a “USC Trojans 3-Pete” shirt for 5 bucks.

Oc-Phildo,
As I said before, you only played 1 team in the regular season with less than five losses. Washington St.

When Washington St. is your toughest game on the way to the Rose Bowl, you have a slack schedule.

Tough Auburn team that year. Really was. 5 losses. That’s the worst they’ve done in ten years (and I fucking HATE Aubarn).

Keep celebrating your One-peat like it was the second coming of Christ.

USC 2003 AP National Championship = Alabama 1900 -Current Billy Bob’s Alabama Truck Trader Magazine National Championship

1. Steve: It is very nice to have your team win back to back national championships and come within inches of a third. Going to 5 BCS bowls in a row is something to be happy about as well. So you consider one of the year’s schedule as soft? That counts for exactly nothing, since we have the championship.

So I’ll enjoy my alma matter’s continuing success and you can just go on being a jealous bitch.

That shirt wouldn’t sell even if they won the game. OSU is single handedly keeping the replica jersey industry afloat.

You haven’t seen style until you see a 300 lbs. pasty white 45 year old man wear a Ted Ginn Jr. jersey.