That chip on the shoulder is slowly returning...

Five weeks until the season opener and the juices are already flowing, aren't they?

A few weeks ago, Labor Day felt like a lifetime away. In the past few days it's started to feel like Miami/Florida State is going down next week.

Even the average fan can sense the college football season is only weeks away. Turn on the radio. Flip on ESPN. Surf the Internet. The critics are surfacing and the haters are making their presence felt.

The Miami-related smack talking is again in full force. Not even a preseason top five and the Canes still dominate the headlines? Some people have too much time on their hands.

We all caught wind of the Willie Williams saga a few weeks back.

If a troubled linebacker attempts to transfer out of any other program, it hardly mentioned. Back page news. That same player talks of transferring from The U - the critics surface. Forget hearing anything about how Williams remained trouble-free at Miami the past two seasons. Don't even dream of a positive comment about the coaching staff, administration or teammates being there for the kid and helping him turn things around.

Nah. Why go there? It's much more fun to comment on the juvenile arrest record and to say that Miami is 'getting what it deserves' for even admitting Williams in the first place. As if a dozen other major programs weren't lined up to do the exact same thing and wouldn't take half the criticism if the relationship soured.

Willie's head is off the collective chopping block... for now.

Still, you can guarantee that when something new breaks, it'll be right back in your face.

Maybe Miami can get the front page on ESPN.com, like the did a few months back when that tool Pat Forde 'broke' the rap tape story and spent the next three weeks commenting on the 7th Floor Crew and two year old recording.

WW was yesterday's news as soon as the media caught wind of an altercation at the home of some Hurricane players' home recently.

Toss "Miami Football" and "gun" in the same sentence; the media will party like it's 1989.

For those who've been on another planet, Hurricanes' safety Willie Cooper was shot in the can while his roommate and teammate Brandon Meriweather returned fire at the assailants.

Instead of the college football community breathing a sigh of relief that it was minor and one teammate might've saved the life of another - the media couldn't get past "Miami Football" and "gun."

This situation got more pub than former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett brandishing a gun earlier this year and robbing two people in Ohio. As has the fact that current Miami safety Lovon Ponder got smacked up by his aunt at CanesFest this past weekend.

More venom was spewed today on ESPN radio. I tuned in a little late, but heard Colin Cowherd talking about troubled programs in college football - specifically Ohio State and their 14 criminal incidents in less than five years. His comment stirred the pot and the defensive calls started pouring in.

You could easily take all their biased comments and combine roll into one;

"At least we're not thugs or as bad as Miami."

Which Miami? The U pre-1995 or the post-probation Hurricanes? Let's bust out the recent rap sheets since Miami paid it's price and came off probation. Come one, come all. Florida State. Florida. Ohio State. Tennessee. Southern Cal. Bring it on.

This is just another case of one's past reputation continuing to haunt them.

Ask the average college football fan to rattle off the 'usual suspects' and the Canes are a gimmie in everyone's top three. If those same folks did an ounce of research, they'd see Miami has been one of the cleanest programs in the NCAA for over a decade now. So much easier to just stereotype, though.

Even this recent Willie Williams saga. You want a REAL story about hoodlum linebackers in the state of Florida, look no further than Tallahassee.

In the last year alone they've had arrests for domestic dispute (Ernie Sims), DUI/resisting arrest (A.J. Nicholson), a rape accusation (Nicholson) and a robbery charge - in this case, when Nicholson and former Seminoles hoodlum Fred Rouse robbed the apartment of former teammate, Lorenzo Booker.

Not only did those Nole-related stories fly under the radar and quickly disappear, so did the fact that Sims' domestic dispute and Nicholson's DUI were both months before the season opener against Miami. Both players started and the media turned a blind eye to St. Bobby and his holy bunch.

You think the media wouldn't swallow that story whole if it happened at The U?

Five weeks until the opener and the critics are taking their pot shots. I know it frustrates Hurricane faithful. All I can say is, deal with it. It's not changing anytime soon. Anything and everything even mildly negative which happens to someone associated with the Hurricanes? Front page news. Get ready for the heat of that spotlight.

It's your lead story on talk radio. It's a top headline on sport-related Internet sites.

No matter how clean the program is today, the reputation of yesteryear is still will always haunt Miami. The folklore grows annually. Stories of Miami in the 80s have been so blown out of proportion... it's laughable.

Talk to any college-aged kid who grew up anti-Miami. Listen to them foolishly rant about those "thugs at Miami." 18-21 year old kids who weren't even alive when Miami won it's first championship in 1983. Punks who were in grade school when the Canes won their last pre-probation title in 1991. Nothing like basing fact and having your version of the story based on some completely exaggerataed second-hand news.

Ignore the critics, Miami fans – and for the players, let it fuel your fire. I'm finally at a point where I laugh it off. If they're not trashing us, I start to think something's wrong.

The talking heads? I stopped listening around the time Jim Rome got bodyslammed for calling Jim Everett, "Chris."

Idiots like Pat Forde, Stewart Mandel, Ivan Maisel, Dennis Dodd; they’re clueless. Take a story, never dig beneath the surface, stereotype and attempt to run with it. Drop those worn-out clichés and regurgitate all the nonsense you're predecessors were writing about us in the 80s.

In a four day span last year, Dodd wrote two articles on CBSSportsline.com -– one trashing Miami and the latter, backpedaling at its worst. Two days before the Canes rolled into Blacksburg and stomped the Hokies – Dodd wrote a 'piece' titled, “Canes Just Can’t Hang with Hokies Anymore.”

He boldly stated that Virginia Tech had blown past Miami as a program. He mentioned better players, more talent, a better program and better facilities. The changing of the guard would be ‘inevitable’ and it was time to stick a fork in The U.

The morning after the 27-7 thorough beatdown, we get “Underdog Canes Take a Bite Out of the Hokies’ Season” and Dodd attempting to make light of his horrendous prediction. No apology. No admitting he was completely off base. No eating of crow.

Not only did this yahoo predict the Canes to lose – but he had their pride, tradition and manhood going right out the window as well. If you haven't read those two worthless articles, I recommend doing so. Back to back. You've never seen a sports media flip-flop like this one. Further proof that these guys just collect a check and are never held accountable.

If they were actually held accountable, there'd have been a follow up to the Sports Illustrated hack-job eleven summers ago. You remember the headline; "Why The University of Miami Should Drop Football" by long-time SI columnist Alexander Wolff. His cover story trashed the university, stated that Miami Football was beyond repair, claimed Butch Davis was coming aboard too little/too late and begged then-president Tad Foote to pull the plug on the program.

About to enter the probation era after four National Championships in the past twelve seasons, it was easy to pile on the Canes. It might have been tough to defend Miami's actions, but it was sheer ego and ignorance to declare that The U would never bounce back. If any program could rise like a phoenix from the ashes, it was Miami.

Lee Corso's mid-90s prediction that Miami would slip to #4 in the state (behind Florida, Florida State and UCF) might've been the most rediculous comment to ever come out of his mouth... which is saying a lot.

Five weeks until kickoff. Expect the critics to pop off at the mouth even more. Ignore the preseason rankings. Don’t get your panties in a bunch when we’re shown no love on the ESPN College GameDay preview show in a few weeks. Get ready to hear about how Florida is primed to win the SEC and how Florida State will be the team to beat as the road in the ACC "runs through Tallahassee."

We know the truth. They're jealous. Every last one of them. They hate the way we stormed onto the scene in the early 80s and never looked back. Ohio State, Notre Dame and the other old schoolers will quote stats from the leather helmet era - complaining that we have no tradition.

I guarantee you every last one of them would trade in some black-and-white-era footage for five titles, the talent we put in the NFL and our level of dominance these past 25 seasons.

They wrote us off in the late 90s - and a few years later we rattled off a 34-game win streak, won a title, lost another on a b.s. call and played in four straight BCS games.

We've sent 54 players to the NFL this decade -- 22 of them in the first round. The haters hear the phrase "The U" and they cringe. They wonder, with so many universities out there - how was Miami nicknamed THE university? You better have a set of brass ones on you to get away with a moniker like that and never get called out.

Funny how most don't even remember that Miami is a small, private school in Coral Gables (not exactly South Beach) and that our NCAA graduation rate was 87% in 2005 and 84.2% in 2004. The Canes also lead the nation in first round draft picks with diplomas. Hardly a "football factory" - but still ready to reload annually while other schools rebuild.

Miami was seven points away from an undefeated regular season in 2005. They packed it in and got rolled in a meaningless bowl game, fired the majority of the coaching staff and are taking steps towards fulfilling the high expectations placed on the program.

Instead of talking about the Canes being proactive and not accepting back to back 9-3 seasons – it’s easier for the media to rip on Willie, embarass Lovon, make a butt joke about Cooper and call Meriweather a gun-toting thug. That’s what the majority of the audience wants, so that’s the dish the media loves to serve up.

Come September, it won't matter what the majority wants. The Canes will make their statement on Labor Day. Until then, everyone needs to just fly under the radar and make a point of ignoring the idiots.

The first step in the right direction comes in five weeks. Get ready.


.:Canes305:.