[sigmo7]

We have enough threads to discuss the JMU game how we can win and how we can lose. I'm on life support for a direct connection to LU football that has the threat of the plug being pulled every Saturday evening from here on out.

I will always be a strong believer in LU but for any parents with kids on the team now or in the past or in the future it's a little different a little more skin in the game. I can take the negative along with the positive and I have been one to cast the first stone on many occasions. My son is supposedly one of the major cogs [not my words] on a defense that supposedly sucked most of the year. did it bother me? yea it did a little. But hey that's part of the game and some of the stuff was spot on. But I must be honest here, had any of those comments been made to me in person about the football TEAM whether it was the O or the D, I would have given you a response that I can guarantee you wouldn't have liked or could have been posted here. you can call me a kool aid drinker or what ever you want but I'm old school if i'm with you i'm with you 100%. did I agree with every call or result on a play heck no, but LU is my team, whether we win by 100 or lose by a 100.

Were there missed blocks,missed tackles,blown coverage,dropped passes,interceptions,fumbles, missed kicks? YES!!!! Were there great catches,great runs,great passes,great kicks,great blocks,great tackles,great coverage,great def. interceptions? YES!!! HERE is a little secret it has always been that way and it will always continue to be that way in the game of football.

I think people have the right to say anything they want, any time and any where they please except on this thread. I don't want anybody to think this is a pity party for me because it isn't. but I sure would appreciate it if THIS thread was left alone for only positive comments. and this is the hard part, respect their post or this will end up just like most of the other ones with 20 comments from a few posters battling about why they are wrong. I want this to be a fun one of memories from on the field or fun things associated with the game or even the travels to a game. for those few that actually know me i'm not a real sentimental person but it sure would be refreshing to know that when you open this up it you may read a funny or heartfelt response.

I'm gonna kick this off. " CHEST WADERS" I had purchased several pairs of chest waders from Kmart couple years back 12 bucks a piece, why I needed them I don't know. After we sat in one of the worst rain storms I have ever been in during the JMU game in '09 because Rocco wanted to talk to Nick after the game{ which turned out to be a 5 minute convo of hey! I hope you are still considering us] I told my wife I will never get soaked again like that if I can help it. fast forward to APP STATE all the forecasts I heard was heavy rain for the day, so I break out the trusty ol CHEST WADERS. After walking a mile or so sweating like a dog and hearing quite a few comments along the way which were coming from my family, I hit what I was trying to avoid a gauntlet with 1000's of appy tailgaters and many comments about Noah and some I can't mention here. all the while I was praying that it would pour down if not for the whole game but maybe just a half so I could justify the CHEST WADERS. Fortunately by the 3rd qtr I was able to meet a nice police officer that loaned me his knife so I could make me a nice pair of boots out of the CHEST WADERS. We would have had great memories from the appy game regardless but the win made it that much sweeter. If you recall at the beginning of the story I mentioned I bought several pairs, so If it's raining real hard at a game and you see and old man in some CHEST WADERS it's probably gonna be me. Ronnie

[LUnpretty11]

+1 Sigmo. Great story about Appy btw

Saturday was one of the top 5 LU moments I have ever experienced, and the most excited I have ever been to watch MY team - LIBERTY - win. I was there when we rushed the field against Elon in '08, I was there when we throttled SB in '11 (thanks Nick!), I was there when Seth Curry (even though it pains me to say it) led our basketball team to an OT win over George Mason... but no win, and no level of excitement matched what I felt on Saturday. There were a lot of "shoulda, coulda, woulda's" during that game on how we could have won going away, but we did it. WE finally did it.

Now we get to play our biggest in-state rival (arguably) in our first ever playoff game with the OPPORTUNITY to beat them on their turf. Gill was focusing in on the "opportunity" last week, and this week rings just as true.

Believe in these players, the coaches, and LIBERTY!

See you Saturday. BEAT JMU.

[Purple Haize]

I'm just glad we have HCTG

[Sly Fox]

I hope the life support continues in your connection to LU long after Nick leaves the mountain. It has been an absolute pleasure having you on here the past few years. I agree with every word in your post, Ronnie. I also understand many of our longsuffering fans have a tendency to look for the anvil to fall on their head at any moment and spend much their time bracing for the impact. That's no way to live a life. I'm seriously jazzed to see us win this Saturday not because of an easy path. I love seeing us do hard things. The fact that Coastal was #1 and on the road is what made this past weekend so special. The Dukes deserve our respect but consider me among those who doesn't just sip the Koolaid but who loves stirring up new pitchers.

[R i]

Ronnie, Where the heck were those chest waders at Richmond ?

Heres one for your sentimental book, you softie.

Everygame I walk in through the track office entrance, say hello to the mother and daughter of the sigmo family who are posted up out back of the stadium waiting on the game. I go down to my seats and turn around to make sure Sigmons are sitting in their normal spot. Then I turn to the person Im sitting with and make a bet with them, I bet you a drink at half time that the guy in the orange skull cap catches a Tshirt. Ive bought so many drinks at half time, and watched you almost die trying to go over the railing for a Tshirt. Thanks for making timeouts entertaining.

[flamesfilmguy]

I for one have fully admitted that I was wrong. I have no problem doing so. I gave my reasons for being negative before the coastal game. I never once singled out players. I will never do that. your son as well as all the other sons go out there and play their guts out every week. As someone who worked very closely with my own players I know what these guys go through, the emotions, the stuff off the field (good and bad) and struggles and triumphs on and off the field.
This past weekend we got over a hump that we've been struggling with for over a decade. And I for one am a VERY PROUD alum. I also think this weekend's matchup is favorable. I think we do in fact have a chance to make more history and get over another hump. Just my .02.

[sigmo7]

I just want to repeat this wasn't started to be about me,Nick or anybody in my crew. and not meant to call people out about saying anything. just got on a roll when I started. didn't intend to hurt anybody's feelings cause that was not the intention. I halfheartedly apologize if I did. Thought people may have a funny story or comment.We have enough threads for the doom and gloom. @ Ri I definitely read the wrong forecast. hahaha @Sly We intend to be around here for sometime to come. I have a DL who is a sophomore in HS that would make an excellent FB for Liberty. also it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see Nick patrolling the sidelines with a headset on next season either.

[Rooster Cogburn]

Well said Sig. Let's come together behind this team. GO FLAMES!

[Purple Haize]

Well said Sig. Let's come together behind this team. GO FLAMES!

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[flameshaw]

Ronnie, Thanks for starting this thread, great idea. I have provided my share of negative comments on this board, since it began, glad to share a very positive one. My LU journey began in 1972. I have seen my share of firsts, ups and downs, etc. I played on the first football team, I made the first tackle in the first game (we kicked off), I was the winning pitcher in the very first baseball game LU ever played. We had very few players in any sport, that could make an LU team today, certainly very, very few true D1 players. I was in N.Charleston in 1984? when we beat the Campbell Camels in MBB to get to the NCAA's for the first time. Students drove from L'burg with their cars all painted up in a huge convoy. Jerry Sr. was there of course. One of the funniest things I remember from that experience is that one of the students had a sign that read "I just drove 7 hours to smoke a Camel". Almost all of the couple of thousand fans there that day were from LU, which was a 3 hour longer drive than from the Campbell campus. Believe me when I say, no one from LU sat down that entire game. Even before the teams came out to warm up, we were cheering and yelling like a bunch of crazy people. I have always said, that was most exciting sporting event I have ever attended and I have been to WSeries, All-Star games, etc. I was also lucky enough to be at the WBB game at Radford a few years later, when they completed their first and only undefeated season. I could go on and on, but I believe everyone gets the idea. I have followed LU earnestly since the very beginning and live and die with the outcome of every game in almost every sport.
LU has seen it's ups and downs with many more downs than ups over the years. However, I can honestly say, that even back in the very beginning, we knew we were the humble foundation stones upon which a huge university and athletic program would build. Those early teams played with inferior equipment, facilities, etc. but we didn't know any better. What we did know is that great men like Al Worthington a former MLB baseball player, left his job as pitching coach of the Minnesota Twins, to come coach a bunch of rag-tag kids in L.burg. He carried the equipment in the back of his station wagon. He would often "drag" the rock pile that we used to practice on with a make-shift rake hitched to the bumper of his car. Rock Royer, LU's first football coach, left his job as coach at the Naval Academy to come coach a team that didn't have a practice field, much less a nice home stadium to play on.
I say all of the above as a preface to say that last Saturday's game at CCU, with a second string RSF QB, beating the #1 ranked team in the country, was the greatest accomplishment to date for LU athletics. The best thing is, that it will continue to get even better as we continue down this journey. I was not able to be there last week, but I know there were many players there from the very first football team. We have a lot of fans that believe so much in what LU stands for and is about. We have so much to be thankful for and that we thank God for. Without His blessing, we would be nothing and nowhere.
LU football took a huge step forward last week. Not only did we win, but we won in a fashion that we are normally on the other end of. Last year we lost 4 games on 4 plays. This year we won the big one on a BIG play. Hopefully this is the genesis of a positive turnaround in our whole program. I don't care if we lose this week by 50. We have knocked the door down and it will be just ANOTHER first of many, that we will run through in years to come. No one can take that away from this team. When these guys get old like myself they will always remember that day as a highlight in their lives. There are only close to 85 men in LU football history that can say, "I was on the first LU football team that made the playoffs" and it will mean a lot to them. Nick will be able to say that.
Sorry for the long road down memory lane and the personal references. I could literally go on for hours. I will be long gone, but I hope 40 years or so from now, one of the members of this year's team will be basking in the glow of a FBS National Championship. They can tell their kids and grand kids, I was on the team that went to the first playoff game in LU history. We played our games in that tiny Williams Stadium, that used to be in the middle of the campus, when we only had 13K resident students. My greatest hope is that the men who win that first FBS Championship, acknowledge that they did it on the shoulders and with the support of this years team, in addition the thousands of men and women who came before them, each one of them, in their own way, who helped to build LU into a national athletic power. Trusting that all this will come to fruition, while being true to the things that makes LU a truly unique Christ-centered University,

[sigmo7]

That was a great read, that's what i was aiming at getting started. probably didn't seem like a big deal back then to them and they never even realized the impact their actions would have. ps. do you have a daughter in the band?

[flameshaw]

No sir. I don't have anyone there right now. I have a couple of nephews that played baseball there in the 90's. I am just a young guy, in an old guys body, who loves LU and especially the sports program. The best to you, have a great Thanksgiving.

[sigmo7]

no problem brotha. I met a gentleman at the last home game who was a baseball player at LU and with the baseball mentions thought it may have been him.

[LUnpretty11]

flameshaw - Thank you for all you have accomplished. Outstanding post

[olldflame]

I believe flameshaw and perhaps 4everfsu are the 2 FF regulars who have been following the flames longer than I have. I arrived in 1974. I was there in the North Charleston Coliseum as well FS (it was 94 btw, we were still NAIA in 84). While I couldn't make the trip to Conway from The DR, I concur that this was our greatest win to date. I will be in the states for 3 weeks in December, and to say finances are tight is an understatement, but if somehow we make it to Frisco, I will beg or borrow (I draw the line at stealing) and do everything possible otherwise to be there.

I agree that there weren't many athletes in those early days who could have played D1 ball, but some who might have:

Basketball
Karl Hess - had D1 offers out of HS
Willard DeShazor - not very skilled, but a spectacular athlete
Ed Vickers - almost as athletic as Willard, but a better player

Football
Chip Smith
Scott Goetz

[DirtyDukes]

I'm grateful for an active opposing fanbase that will bring fans to our stadium and have an electric PLAYOFF atmosphere! Saturday is going to be nuts!

[ballcoach15]

I was at the first LU football game ever played. I recall Dr. Falwell on the sidelines. If I had not known different, I'd have thought he was a coach.

[BJWilliams]

I wrote about it on my blog, but I remember where I was in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 when we came up short. I did not miss a home game from 2003 to November 2013. I listened to every broadcast when I was able . I remember the huge comeback against VMI during homecoming 03. I remember listening to an incensed Jerry Edwards during the W&M loss in 08 and reading the board after that game.

All those memories pale in comparison to what is about to happen on Saturday. would I have liked it If it happened when I was a student...sure. I would have come back a day early to be part of a playoff game. my wife and I were talking about travel plans so I could go to the game and she could see some friends of ours that she has not visited since we moved.

Point is, after all the near misses, when I heard that call by Alan last night, I could feel the weight of all that faiulre being lifted and I look forward to wearing my red on Saturday, even if its under my work shirt at Wal-Mart.

[Sly Fox]

Wow, we have a few nominees for Post of the Year in this thread alone! Thanks for sharing, guys.

[R i]

Im watching Liberty's press conference streamed live on wdbj7 Roanoke right now.

This is insignificant to most, but as a Roanoke resident, I can assure you, that hump we got over is real, and this is one of the Awesome beneifts associated with that. Im not sure WDBJ7 even had our graphics until today. Thanks guys.