Toss Flag for 'Piling On'

This post is not in support of DD or Katman.  It's in support of all of us fans who are attacked because we're fed up with what we're seeing. I apologize if it ruffles some feathers, but I've seen about as much fan bashing as I can take.

The Soul of the Program has always been about winning, not making excuses and blaming fans.  What is truly not worthy of our history is a coach who thinks a season like this is "getting the job done" or a coach that thinks "final fours don't matter" or a coach "doesn't have to defend his record" after his 4th and 5th 10 loss seasons in the last 8.  

Are the expectations high, higher then the average program, absolutely as well they should be. And the pay for the head man is comiserate with that.  

It's going to be ugly for as long as Tubby is here, unless he has a miraculous turn around.  These results would unacceptable at UNC, KU, UCLA, Duke and IU as well.  It's not just UK fans.  

But hey, keep attacking the fan base who's passion is what absolutely drives the program, and keep letting Tubby off the hook.  Blame the assistants(that he hired) blame the players(that he recruited) and blame the fans, because it can't be his fault.  Just ask him, he'll tell you.

I'm personally sick of people bashing our fan base in order to support Tubby Smith. Our fan base supported him through his 4 year period of 39 losses, it supported him through the 3 straight upset losses in the tourney from his best teams.  And our fan base still puts butts in the seats at Rupp even with a product that's not only bad it's not even entertaining.  Our fan base should be celebrated, not attacked.

OTS has not defended the tradition of UK basketball nor has he recruited good enough to do his job properly. Everyone that defends him says he has really worked hard THIS year. Isn't he paid to do that every year? Recruiting is a year round job and one that successful coaches work hard at. Charlie Weiss, the Notre Dame football coach, said it best. Successful recruiting was a reaffirmation that you have your program headed in the right direction. Using this description UK basketball has been headed the wrong way for quite some time now. During the early contact period a couple of years ago Tubby was not doing his job. The period runs for only a week and instead of doing that he was taking in the Masters. Today on The Fan Show, 680 Atlanta, OTS was on via phone. They asked him about shortage of talent and he said we have 3 McDonalds All Americans on the squad. HUH? So they followed with the statement that it must be coaching. "Got to Go" was OTS response and he hung up on them.

Too fine for most of our ever-loving, blue-blooded fans to see.  Unfortunately 10-loss seasons and the longest (or soon-to-be) Final Four drought have UK faithful seeing red, not blue.  Red clouds the vision, it's the color of frustration (just ask UL) and the color of anger.

It's also so fine a line that I lose it myself some times.  Is blue4ever piling on with his Limbaugh-esque selection of the facts?  Or is he just so fed up with the situation that he, like myself and so many others, just desperate to win again.  To remember what it's like to crush other teams.  To win like we own the game.  

There is a lot of piling-on.  People jumping at the opportunity to assert their opinions.  It's the same instinct that has people crawling out of the woodwork to remind you that they TOLD YOU we should play zone against so-and-so, or that they KNEW we'd lose that game if Tubby didn't do this-or-that.  It's in all of us.  Some people just can't wait for a chance to be jerks about it.  

Glee.  They do it with glee and that's the part both JL and I cannot stand.

I would agree with Rick Pitino's public comment today on ESPN that it's a small percentage of fans that want to see Tubby go, the same percentage that exists in every program, high school, college or wherever. Every school has its vocal minority, and you can tell who they are because they generally can't spell any word of five letters or better; they can't distinguish between lose and loose (sorry, Truz, that was a low blow. kidding).

The vast majority just want Tubby to get off his arse, recruit smarter and not bank on three mcd's every four years. keep piling 'em on. For every Ed Davender you're gonna have a Master Blaster. For every Tayshaun Prince you're gonna wind up with a Marvin Stone.

I want to win national championships. For some reason, Final Four banners have become this overrated marker of success. As Seth "Duke" Davis once pointed out, when deciding which was the better program in the '90s, Duke or Kentucky, his answer was a TIE, because both won two titles. Because, friends, national championships are the only thing that truly matters.

Final Fours, again, are great for the majority of programs. I want national titles, and folks those have been hard to come by. We've played, what, 100 years. We've got 7, right? UNC has four or five? Yeah? They're tough to win, are they? You don't say.

Why, I believe Kentucky didn't win its first national title until the ninth year of the N.I.T. (which at the time was the more prestigious championship).

So what if it's been eight years since the final four. It's all about the T-I-T-L-E.

Let's turn this ship around, starting today, in the dome, in catlanta. by golly, you better believe i'm gonna hop on marta after lunch and find myself in a georgia dome seat if it kills me.

The focus of your blog entry is primarily Dynasty Defenders and Katman.

I can understand the frustration you have regarding DD, Katman and their tactics.

But I would ask you this....

How did Dynasty Defenders come into being?

IMO, the reason Dynasty Defenders exists now is because sites like TCP refused to give the disgruntled fan a voice.

Had TCP decided to allow them to speak in a moderated and controlled environment, then I can say with confidence that there wouldn't be Katman videos on Youtube, there wouldn't have been an attempted ad in the Kentucky Kernel, there wouldn't be a mass collection of people who are united via email to act on their own and more importantly , react to anything that occuring in the program.

We use TCP now as a tool - its still the best UK board for information, and DD relies on it to help them keep abreast of whats happening in Kentucky Basketball.

TCP made a concentrated effort to ban people who had some association with DD. I, myself had over 5000 posts at TCP and had not posted there in over a week when I was banned. My actions on TCP weren't the reason I was banned - my associations at DD were.

Now it may sound like sour grapes on my part, but I enjoyed the interaction on TCP and I was respectful of the rules - certainly as much as other long time posters, and more than posters such as Pepsiman 99 and Legal Beagle.

The net result is whoever made that decision to ban folks for their associations - which ,btw, you've said in the past made no difference on TCP as long as they followed the rules there, created a tight knit collection of people who are highly motivated.

Yea, you can cringe at what Katman is doing, but its effective. You can be disgusted at the actions of CCFUK - but they are now the voice of the disgruntled fan.

You are right - they HAVE taken that away from you

and its your fault.

at least 70% of the people that regularly post at DD started posting at TCP and would still be there had they not been summarily banned for their views.

Yes, you can say they broke the rules or state that they would be doing what they are doing now regardless of the actions TCP took but the reality is if TCP really wanted to treat these people as fellow UK fans, they could have avoided the creation, or at a minimum, the subsequent popularity of DD.

I began posting at DD because I wanted to hear the voice of the fan who had similar beliefs as me without being attacked for it. I wanted the freedom to say what was on my mind while still observing common decency and respect for fellow members. DD wasn't a perfect fit for me but TCP made it perfectly clear they didn't want me. They made if perfectly clear for alot of people who are intelligent, persuasive and thanks to TCP, focused more on actions that just debating opinions with fellow fans.

Maybe our 15 minutes is about up
or maybe we'll continue to come up with ideas to draw attention to our site and keep people focusing on our beliefs. You can shake your head at our tactics but you can bet people know where we stand on issues.

If you guys are really wondering why DD is willing to put themselves out there for ridicule, scorn or just general attacks
its because people are listening to them.

If only TCP had the foresight to do that to us a few years ago.

We are the Empire. People are suppose to hate us, that's our niche.

They think we are the devil incarnate, we cave their skulls in on the floor in embarassing fashion, people tune in just to root against us. It has long worked for us and the game as a whole.

What would possibly attract someone to this program that the above dynamic disturbs in some way? My guess is Tubby Smith because it couldn't have been any of the previous coaches or the fans.

UK's coach should be generally disliked but highly respected. Anything else screws with the dynamic. You think Rupp or Pitino would have got cover fire from Dookie V and friends? Hell no!

The only people that should support our coach is US and so when he can no longer perform to standard, he will have no calvery. Then victory is his sole solace and bargining chip.

The soul of this program is Rupp overlayed with Pitino whipped by a demon to do more than anyone imagined. A relentless tyrant overdog-a predator among sheep. We are in truth not evil but the mouse in the talons of the hawk, might feel that way.

I'd digest that and see if I really wanted to be a part of that if I were some, because I think some of our fans find Kentucky Basketball apalling in many ways.