This is the letter I plan to email to every email address listed here:  http://seminole-boosters.fsu.edu/community/Page.aspx?pid=599

These are my feelings.  Feelings are neither right or wrong, they are just feelings.  I am just letting the Boosters know how I feel.  You can agree or disagree with me, but I hope you would respect my feelings and opinion on this matter.  I don't know, I guess my reason for posting this is maybe to inspire enough people to write in with their own feelings, either way.  I guess my hope personally is, If the University is indeed financially motivated, maybe if they hear from enough people stating they will no longer contribute money, they will feel more pressure to take action.

To Whom It May Concern:

I write this letter to you today with an equal mix of pride, anger, embarrassment, and shame. I was fortunate enough and honored to attend our great University from August 1995 - June 1999, during the height of our football Dynasty. I have been a proud Booster and season ticket holder since graduation. From 1999 to 2004, I attended nearly every home game despite the 4+ hour drive. I attended many significant road games, including the inaugural "Bowden Bowl" versus Clemson in November 1999, the national championship win in New Orleans vs. Virginia Tech in January of 2000, and the win versus Notre Dame in South Bend in November 2003. In short, I am a true Seminole fan who lives and breathes Seminole football. I show this through my commitments to the team and University, both financially and emotionally. 

I have been very angry to witness the results of the football team in 2009, and in years past, both on and off the field. Many times throughout this year and prior, the team and staff has looked lost and inept. This is both maddening and unacceptable. It is clear the talent is there, but it is not being utilized in the right way. The anger intensifies when I witness the complacency of the coaching staff and the flat-out refusal to make the necessary changes for the betterment of the football program. 

When I watch Coach Bowden in post-game press conferences or virtually any public appearance by him in 2009 (and since 2001, for that matter), that is when the embarrassment creeps in. How a man, a leader of men, can just laugh off embarrassing losses AT HOME to USF and Georgia Tech (and many, many others) is beyond me. I never witnessed a loss at Doak during my entire time as a student, yet he acts as if they don't bother him at all. Wasn't he the same man who said a few years ago, that if the losses began to mount, that is when he would finally decide to step down? Have the losses mounted so much and become so commonplace that he is immune to them? Pardon my language, but it still pisses me off when we lose a football game. I don't see that same type of emotion in Coach Bowden, and that has to rub off on the players, I don't care what anyone says. If players see their head coach laughing off losses, they aren't going to treat the losses as a big deal either. Additionally, his refusal to acknowledge what the problems are, mainly that he indeed is part of the problem, adds even further embarrassment as he rambles on to reporters about God knows what, and makes sexist comments to female reporters that he thinks are funny but are just another black eye upon this University. 

Finally, we come to shame, which is defined as "the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, and ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another". Given that definition, there is so much shame surrounding this program because of certain dishonorable, improper and ridiculous things done by others. I am ashamed that Coach Bowden is our head coach. True, he built this program into a dynasty, and without Coach Bowden, FSU football would not have been able to achieve this. But yet now he is tearing it down, piece by piece, with his arrogance, foolish pride, and selfishness. Just because you are responsible for creating something does not mean you also have the right to destroy it. Are parents allowed to beat, starve, neglect, and, dare I say, kill their own children? Of course not. I am ashamed that T.K. Wetherell is our President. He is an enabler who allows Coach Bowden to continue to destroy this once proud program. I am ashamed at the fans that turn a blind eye to the problem, and show more loyalty to one person, rather than an entire program. In general, I am ashamed to be associated with the Florida State University and the Florida State University Seminoles football team right now. 

The point of this letter is to let you know that I am ceasing any Booster contributions and season ticket purchases until Coach Bowden announces a definitive retirement date, hopefully effective November 28, 2009, immediately following the UF game. I don't believe that we will be able to move forward as a program until Coach Bowden has stepped aside and given full control of the program to Coach Fisher. I feel so strongly about this, that I am willing to give up the seats I've held for 10+ years, as well as stop supporting the school financially. I don't think it would be enough to still buy tickets and protest by not going to the games. That accomplishes nothing, as the University still would get revenues. Under my plan, the University gets no revenues AND there will be 2 empty seats in the stadium for every game in 2010 and beyond, as I am virtually certain there is not a "waiting list" for Seminole football season tickets. 

This is a tough decision for me, and one that I did not take lightly. But I cannot give financial support any longer to a program so unwilling to move forward. Once a definitive announcement regarding Coach Bowden is made, I will be first in line to re-establish season tickets and Booster contributions. But until that time, I will not spend one more dollar supporting the football program. I understand that my contributions are not significant from a monetary standpoint, but for me, it is the principle of the matter.  I cannot continue to support something I no longer have faith in to fix itself.  Someone once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  Each year I contribute money, believing that this will be the year that changes are made and the program will turn the corner and rid itself of the mediocrity of the past decade.  That blind faith on my part ends now. If you wish to discuss any of these matters further, I can be reached at any of the numbers below. Thank you for your time and attention to this most important matter.

Sincerely,

Pinto