There's a big difference b/w USC's claim and Southern's. For starters, Southern calls it the "Black National Championship," rather than just a "National Championship." There's no qualifying adjective when USC fans discuss the issue. Secondly, I don't know the history of it, but I'm pretty sure that at the beginning of 2003, whoever topped the Sheridan poll would be called the Black National Champion. Contrast USC's situation, which involved an ex post facto change of the rules to get the result they were looking for.
gorilla is right on. a couple things: 1. its silly to call it the black national championship, because who gave those schools the right to call their winner the champion of blacks? their champion represents the winner of a group of football teams, not an entire race. their championship is no more "the black championship" any more than it is "the christian championship" . it is a football title, not a title over all the other blacks. 2. unlike USC, at least southern can claim legitimate rights to their championship, as decided by their pre-agreed rules. USC has zero right to call themselves national champions. and i mean literally zero. they are a part of a system they agreed to with a specific method of determining a champion. they are not champions at all, not one bit. there is no such thing as 2 champions. the very idea that there can be two champions is ludicrous. champion means you are the winner above all in the group, as defined by the rules of that group. not some stupid outdated rules that dont mean crap. southern on the other hand has a group of colleges that define exactly how a champion will be crowned, and southern followed those rules and won amongst their group. southern is only guilty of having a stupidly named championship. USC is guilty of outright lies. they are not national champions in any sense.
Martin nailed it... Like I said before, you may not like the title "Black National Champions," but under the system in place, Southern has every right to claim it. Also, I would like to clarify that I was not calling anyone a bigot. I clearly was warning the guy who started this thread that his post could easily be interpreted as being anti-black. The line of reasoning would be that someone with ample respect for the black community would not see fit to blast the validity of a degree from the local historically black university unless that individual has contempt for the black community as a whole. Otherwise, why would one waste his time typing such gibberish for the world to see? Can you see where I'm going with this? Other posters have admirably pointed out the absurdity of the comparison of USC and Southern. We all recognize that Southern has had some major internal problems become quite public lately, with grades being changed in exchange for money. Let us find out exactly who is responsible for these problems, and the extent of the problems, before we disparage every Southern degree holder and every supporter of Southern University. There just is nothing to be accomplished in doing so. If you would like to insult degree holders from other less academically sound universities in Louisiana, that is fine with me. However, when you combine that insult with obvious racial overtones, you come very close to a line that need not be crossed.
The Sheridan poll has been around for years. Years ago, Grambling and Southern and other historically black schools were not members of the NCAA. They were in the NAIA and were distinctly separated from the predominantly white schools. The Sheridan poll named the Black NC from among those schools. It wasn't until the mid to late '60's that the southern schools began integrating their teams and basic school population. At some point in time after that the NAIA was dissolved and the schools belonging to that were absorbed into the NCAA D-1-AA. But the tradition of the Sheridan poll has remained and these colleges are still predominantly black. It has nothing to do with racism and I am really disappointed but not surprised to see the narrow mindedness of some folks on here. Congrats to our Southern brethren on their NC!!!
But the fact remains that now Southern is a member of the NCAA Division 1-AA and as a member there is a clear cut way for them to be National Champions.They shouldn't be calling themselves National Champion because they didn't earn it. If they want to call themselves National Champions, they need to get on the field with the best teams in the country and earn it.
Southen, Grambling, and other HBCU's cannot compete with the intergated schools at even the AA level. I remember many years when an undefeated Southern team would play a winless team from Nicholls State and Nicholls always won, and won big.
It depends, are you alone or do you have company???? :shock: :grin: :shock: :grin: :shock: :grin: :dis: :dis: :dis:
