The reaction of somebody who can't back what he says.

Oh fizzle you.

I'm just tired of this.

I can totally back what I say.

Read above. Several times I state that there definitely are SOME racists in our fanbase.

I also admitted that the 15-20 % percentages I quote are anecdotal and totally pulled out of my arse.


So let me ask, are there any racists AT ALL in our fanbase?  Limit yourself to yes or no please.  Otherwise don't bother answering. 

Ah Kuck Fentucy anwyay! 

I'm still laughing....

A bit more

http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2014/12/traffic_stop_and_unsolved_murd.html

...has been the lack of parity.  And while it's still true that only a small handful of teams have even a chance to win it all in the womens' game, it looks like the men are backsliding back to that point as well.  Just look at the respective Final Fours.  All four of the womens' #1 seeds made it.  For the men, you have three #1's, and #7 Michigan State.  But an underdog MSU making a run in March is about as surprising as the sun rising in the East.  Not to mention that UConn and UK are so far above the rest that their winning it all is pretty much a foregone conclusion. 

The women still lack parity.  But from where I sit, the mens' game has the least parity since Wooden's heyday.

True this season

I don't know if I would go that far. But I do think it's safe to say that Hart pressed the NCAA to deliver its verdict on Tyndall to Tennessee, the NCAA did that, and Tennessee was able to move forward. Hart deserves a lot more credit for the way he orchestrated all of this than he'll get.

I'm probably one of the most skeptical UT fans there are re: Barnes (except the nutwing segment of the fan base who is only skeptical of Barnes because he isn't Bruce Pearl), but from where I'm sitting, Hart came out of all of this smelling like roses.

agree

Given where our program is, it's a fantastic hire.  I don't expect us to be any good for a season or two, but if he even gets us to the NCAA in 3 years I am happy that we are back on the right path.  If things don't look up much after that, another change can be made.

I am confident he can lead us to the NCAA tournament. 

Given how beaten down our program is, expectations of anything else are overblown, to make a major understatement.

He ain't done diddly for the Vols. He is 0-0 in the SEC if you ask me.

Yes.  That is literally true.  Pat yourself on the back.   

The problem is you put a lot of other irrelevant stuff in your post that is distracting from the above point, which is a good one. The NBA needs the MLB rule, which says a player can jump straight from high school if he wants but if he goes to college he has to stay three years.

The NBA rule created one-and-done players, which is bad no matter which sport it's in. That assessment doesn't apply to players who leave as juniors.

yes

Speaking of corrupt cops, don't dare get in a fight with an off-duty sheriff's deputy in Madison County bammer:

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/08/fbi_investigating_madison_coun.html

Bryant alleges he awoke in handcuffs to being kicked and pummeled by a number of deputies.

 

And God forbid you actually help the guy who got the shizzle beat out of him sue:

Klonowski, who had long ago started a courier company, secured lawyers for Bryant, printed up "Support Robert Bryant" t-shirts and yard signs, built a stage on his property, held a rally and publicly promised to see deputies placed in prison. Klonowski was found shot in the head in his front yard in early November 2013, one month after the rally.

 

Sounds like some cops are about to lose their jobs.

lol

Are they like the corrupt state trooper that Raylon stared down in this week's Justified?  Wait.  No, if they were they would still have a job.   

No, I am identifying you as one who throws out shizzle, but won't back it up with rational and reasonable thoughts, much less some facts to go with it. 

[yawn]

Why should he go to a place where he will always be a distant second to football?  He can do better than that.  There are some things more important than money.

So is that a random pic, or one that is actually from when Lane left? 

Dave Hart's response one year ago when asked about Tyndall's Morehead State team that was found guilty of major infractions... “We looked into that, as you would expect we would,” Hart said. “We looked into that very thoroughly and were absolutely satisfied at the end of that examination, that we had no concerns moving forward.”

I'm over this blowhard 

Yeah and thank goodness another we have another example of a coach that had been in trouble twice and the school decided to do the right thing.  This coach left messes at both U Mass and Memphis and...oh wait, what?  Nevermind.   

Honestly I don't get all the screaming to fire Dave Hart. That would be extremely premature, IMO.

Wow we actually agree.   

[And CO, and everyone else, while I am at it, let me just go ahead and state openly that what just occurred at OU still exists everywhere.That this was NOT a factor in the dislike of Cuonzo is HIGHLY UNLIKELY for a certain segment of our fan base.My personal guesstimate (admittedly anecdotal) based on 33 years of living in the South is that it's roughly 15 to 20%. FWIW.]

You've go to be kidding me, Bandit.  Here are your words from earlier in this thread:

And CO, and everyone else, while I am at it, let me just go ahead and state openly that what just occurred at OU still exists everywhere.

That this was NOT a factor in the dislike of Cuonzo is HIGHLY UNLIKELY for a certain segment of our fan base.

My personal guesstimate (admittedly anecdotal) based on 33 years of living in the South is that it's roughly 15 to 20%.  FWIW.  

While you didn't name any particular person, you inferred that 15% to 20% of UT fans had a racial bias against Martin.  

So, out of the 20 or so "regular" UT fans on this forum, which 3-4 do you believe disliked Martin because of his skin color?  

Be specific.  If you are going to throw out those accusations at least have the balls to back up them up with specifics.  

So are you self-identifying yourself as being in the 15 to 20%?

Hahaha, no need to answer.  Relax, I am just joking.  

All this optimism for the UT FB team is certainly better than what we've heard the last few several years.

Well played sir.   

It has been in fact, way too long, and it's easy to forget just how long.

I liked the Rob Lowe ads at first, but then they got old. When a new one comes out, I enjoy it the first time and then really don't want to see it again.

The thing is, the background music they play on those ads was oddly familiar, and then I happened to watch St. Elmo's Fire a couple weeks ago for literally the first time in like over 20 years.

Yep, it's the theme to St. Elmo's fire.  I wonder if that's a subliminal play on people of my age, because Holy 80s Flashback, I had completely forgotten that film but it really was one of the bellweather films of the 80s.  It was basically about the 80s. 

The thing I mostly hate about those ads is I can't get that dam song out of my head now.

If UT hadn't been in the play-in game last year the run to the Sweet 16 would have never happened. It was the most favorable draw in the entire field.

Exactly what I am speaking of.  If "all that matters is wins", then how and why UT got in the tourney is inconsequential.  And for the record, we did beat the no. 6 seed in the first round, which is hardly luck IYAM.

You know, Bandit, if you don't like the UT fan base, there's a red team just down the road that you might find more to your liking. 

My comment was actually more about sports fans in general.  These days everyone wants instant success and do not have patience for what it sometimes takes to build a program.  Such impatience has IMO contributed to the lack of success at places like Michigan, Tennesee and Nebraska.  I think that on the contrary FSU did show patience and it paid off.

Let me also say that  while I was including Vol fans in the comment, it was actually only the most impatient portion of our fanbase, not all of them.

[and]

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12537466/input-nike-preceded-tennessee-lady-vols-decision

I think this was a bad business decision. It's true that Lady Vols merchandise revenue is only a small fraction of overall Vols merchandise revenue. But it's still additional revenue. And with money, more is always better.

There are Lady Vol fans that buy only Lady Vols merchandise. And there are Vol fans that buy Vols merchandise and Lady Vols merchandise. Eliminating one stream of revenue, no matter how small, is still eliminating a stream of revenue. And if Nike was responsible for this, it just confirms the belief of many that Nike is the devil.

It was time to do away with the two athletic departments. But to do away with a separate line of goods that brings in additional money was, in my opinion, a mistake.

agree

Time and time again people have pointed out that last's years team should not have been the last team in the field with the talent we had. The only thing you have said is that last year wasn't as bad as it seemed! Really? Based on what? Your thoughts? If last year wasn't as bad as it seemed, why was ut the last team in the field with that amount of talent and the league as down as it was?  If last year wasn't as bad as it seemed, why did the committee make us play in a play in game? You refuse to acknowledge any of that.

Actually only Pirate pointed it out.  It's a good point, and one I was going to agree with when I got around to it.

It's very fair to say that we should not have been the last team in.  Neverhtheless, most everyone had given up on the team at midseason.  But then they did make it in and had a great run.  Which goes to show...don't ever give up on a team until it's actually over.

I defintely have a gripe that fans today are too impatient and this was my position last year with Martin and it has not changed.

But  you mention the committee...my opinion is that the SEC has been underrepresented in the NCAA for years and that last year was just a part of it.

My opinion is  that we should not have been relegated to a play-in and also that we should have snuck in the previous year.  Unfortunately my opinion doesn't count much with the committe.

Another thing I find objectionable is that during the season, people were griping that "it's all about wins" and that Martin was not providing them. Those of us who WERE patient were then rewarded with a nice late season run in which (drum roll)...we won.

But the same people who said "all I care about is winning" just dismissed it as a fluke. Hypocritical and inconsistent, but what I increasingly expect from fans that seem to lack the intestinal fortitude or mental toughness to ride out some tough patches.   

Okay.We didn't like Martin because he's black. What's your point? The fact that we are not impressed with his coaching skills has no bearing on you. He was not let go or fired. He left on his own accord. That means we are racists. He was offered a good deal but declined it. Let it go.

Again, never accused anyone on here of that. 

Nothing I said needed editing. It was factually accurate, whether you choose to believe it or not.

Do you ever read a reply to one of your posts and actually try to answer it with reason and rational thought?  I gave you specific examples of why you are full of shizzle when you point the racist finger at those of us who weren't particularly happy with Cuonzo Martin as a basketball coach.  You just seemed to gloss over them because the answers don't fit your agenda.

.

Where anywher in all of this did I personally accuse you or anyone on this particular site of racism?  If you can find such a statement, please let me know. 


One does wonder why you would think that though. 

The problem I have with the race issue in this context is concluding that 15-20 percent of UT fans are racists using only personal experience with a very small sampling of UT fans.  

Very well thought out post TBV, and also quite logical.  It's fair to critizise my assessment as anectdotal.  So disagree with the "15 to 20%" if you must, but in all the responses above, I fail to see one instance of anyone saying that we have NO racists.

As I read message boards like Volnation, where there is a large volume of traffic, it's pretty easy to read between the lines and identfiy racists.

Damnit Bandit, the petition never called for the firing of Cuonzo Martin.  Get your head out of the national media's ass and read the damned thing.

But even if it had, your assertion that is was racial is just plain bullshizzle and is countered by the fact that the guy the petition backed was a JEWISH man.  You seem to be glossing right over that fact.  If it is racial, then why would the petition signers be supporting a JEWISH man?  That just doesn't line up with your argument.

And as I have said a blue million times, I didn't sign the petition, and there are no checks and balances on how many people actually signed it.  It was an open petition. One didn't have to register with an email addy or in any way confirm who they were, or even that they were a real person.  It could have been 10K people signing it 3 times, or it could have been 3K people signing it 10 times each.  It was a meaningless non-checked Internet thing. 

Keep pointing that racial finger if you want, but remember that there are 3 fingers pointing back at you when you do.  Seems odd that you keep trying to bring that up. 

Bottom line:  Martin was so "mistreated" that he was offered a half million dollar per year raise and his contract was going to be extended to 5 years.  We should all be mistreated.  He made the decision to leave all on his own.  The powers that be did not force him out.
 

I never said the petition was racist.  I said that SOME of the folks signing it very likely were or are.  My my point is that there are DEFINITELY racists in our fanbase (I personally know some of them!) and that this was ONE FACTOR in the dislike of Martin. I never painted the University or majority of the fanbase as racist.

Hope that helps.