ASU to fans: ‘Will you board the bandwagon?’

Everything is in front of them and there’s no reason to look to the past anymore.

Devil fans love to talk about past failures. Phoenix loves to wait until a team proves some mythical point before they decide they’ll hitch their wagon to the fast moving truck. What still needs to be proven?

Listen, ASU is not Oregon. ASU is not Stanford. They’ve got a long way to go to be good enough to win a trip to the Rose Bowl. They shouldn’t have to go anywhere to have earned your respect.

It’s not about the first half against Stanford. It’s not about the turnovers against Notre Dame. Of all things, it’s about Colorado and Washington State.

There have been other ASU teams that may have had more talent but they weren’t winners. Colorado’s football team is simply unworthy of BCS conference status. The key is ASU dropped their previous attitude of winning before kick-off. So many times I’ve watched former Sun Devil teams act like they’ve accomplished something by putting a jersey over their head. ASU now comes to play against Colorado and gets it done. They come out fast and attack a Washington State team on a cold night. The excuses are gone.

Too bad the excuses are still hanging over their fans.

I sat next to Todd Graham Tuesday night at his coach’s show. He looked up and then looked at me with a puzzled look, “Not a lot of people on the bandwagon, huh?”

What should I have said?

I ask you, Sun Devil fan who claims it’s too hot. I ask you, Sun Devil fan who claims there’s too much to do in Phoenix. I ask you, Sun Devil fan who claims there’s too many people from somewhere else. I ask you, Sun Devil fan that would rip the team for losing in the cold weather but makes excuses for their own lack of support. I ask you what should I have said when your coach basically asked me where all the fans had gone?

Sun Devil nation: Let me be the first to stick my neck out. I’m the talk show host who will get torched by Arizona fans if I’m wrong. I’m the one who will be tweeted for months from people that don’t have the onions to say a thing to me if I’m proven right. These words will hang me out to dry yet I have no problem writing them because I believe. I’ll write it in all caps so every King George in Tucson and Los Angeles can read them without their bifocals:

ARIZONA STATE IS GOING TO EUGENE, OREGON.

Now, on Thursday at Majerle’s in Scottsdale, I ask you: What do want me to say to Coach Graham if he asks me again?

Coming up after Utah is Oregon State at home, a borderline top-25 team. Are you coming to the game or will 20,000 empty seats greet the Sun Devil kids after their two-game road winning streak (yes, Utah fan, that’s what I wrote). If you’re not buying a ticket because of the past failures, you’re part of the past.

As soon as you finish reading this, tweet out the link and declare your answer to Todd Graham’s statement to me.

I can get you a seat on the bandwagon if you want it. And no one has to know you just got on. If not, make your excuses and watch the bandwagon run you over.

With your tweet write one of two phrases:

#savemeaseat

or

#runmeover

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