O'Brien doesn't repeat Sendek's mistake

Get over it State fans. UNC's biggest rival is Duke. Always has and always will be. Sure NC State gives UNC somewhat of a bigger challenge on the football field but hasn't UNC won 11 of the 15 games on the grid iron vs NC State? It must suck to have no team claim you as their biggest rival. ECU is trying to give you that and you can't accept it because for some reason you feel to cool for their school. ECU beat you in BBall for Pete's sake last year. Sidney complained about having to play on ECU's home floor. You wolfers will never get it that you are the true red headed step child in the big picture of the local rivalry. Stick to your rivalry with ECU, atleast you can win 50% of the time against them.

No matter how pitiful ALL NC teams seem to be as we speak, excluding Wake Forest of course, one cannot overlook the huge dividends winning translates into reaping recruits sitting on the fence in the state of North Carolina.

Andre Brown selected his colors correctly, otherwise he would have been just like Khalif Mitchell (former UNC lineman) and many others who have suffered greatly due to their poor choices. Two years of beating ECU by an in-state recruit means quite a bit of enjoyment for many years to come, and bragging rights for life for Andre Brown.

Putting all bowl trips and rankings aside, beating an in-state rival is easily more important. All this talk of TOB. I actually think Skip Holtz offers a better story. Just how long will he stay at ECU? A place where fans are as impatient and delusional than anywhere else on the planet- and for what reason I don't know. When did they all wake up and decide Greenville NC was a breeding ground for football?

Nobody ever said Tobacco road was football country- but people still enjoy the game of football. Looking back, ECU's wins over VT and WV are greatly dimenished by how both teams have played recently. Is Colorado that good this year? But the greatest air release of the year came last Saturday when a tiny wolf paw clawed an opening, bringing the Pirate's grand, hot air balloon ride to a sudden and fatal crash landing.

Sure, there were survivors, and ECU will go on to have a decent year, but the scars from that day won't heal for a long, long time.

Reality is sometimes difficult to swallow by folks that don't live in it, and it is much easier for the lonely losers to call names, make excuses, and discount others as it is the only way they deal with their pain.

It actually only shows just how poorly you have invested your time, money, and emotions in a team and a place nobody really even knows or cares little about.

Well atleast a member of the media is sharing in the rare ocassion of opportunity to get all giddy inside for a NCSU fan. Tom O'Brien..oh yes..that former BC coach that could get ya an just-above-medicore season, but slide in a bowl game more often than not. No headlines, no upsets, just expected wins. The "Groundhog Day's" coach they called him. The coach everyone was about to throw out of town. A man, who's intelligent if nothing else, is to be admired. Soon to be a reject and smart enough to know it, left before it happen, diminshing any possibilty of having a blemish on the ol resume. Medicore met medicore, and NCSU's AD was saved from another long, miserable and embarassing coaching search.
Easy to get all giddy over someone when they win. And Tom will win some, probably alot more than that overly vibraint clown with the funny shoes and shades.
Fact be known however, Tom O'Brien could beat ECU 4 more games in a row this season, and the typical fan will still have a doubt of uncertaintly. A really good ECU (by ECU's standards anyhow) was exposed. The 15 secs of fame ECU had beating VT was sure to be short-lived. VT still isnt your typical VT team, even after barely beating a pretty decent Tar Heel team. And ECU isnt the team theyre portayed as right now, especially after their over-rated staus has been exposed by an irrelevant to any major sport program, in NCSU. And although beating any #14 ranked team is nearly a superbowl, for State fans, theres no need to pat ol Tom's back, over that exposed team from Greenville NC. If one judged the time length allowed by State fans for Tom'OBrien making some noise compared of what Herb Sendek got, then you'll have to assume the ol'marine will be there 4 or 5 more seasons before retiring. Consider that the level of sucess those pitiful State fans have endured in the last 20 something years, have to be worse than what Tom O'Brien will suceed there. No big bowl games, no championships, occasional Fla St wins, and if that more vibraint, younger, and yes, sucessful coach from Chapel Hill doest have the Tar Heels taking off as quickly as expected, then ol'Tom may slip another fluke/non-fluke win over those hated with a passion, Heels.
Either way, Tom is getting old and State fans will not have to suffer with so-so sucess as long as BC fans did, nor will the misery last as long as Sendek's tenure.

Seems to me the only folks who didn't/don't like Sendek are State fans and N&O staff. Like the rest of the civilized world, I thought he was a really good coach. I hated to see him go.

...exactly right Ken. Nice writeup.