John Adams article on settlement

#52
#52
GAVol said:
It's all good. I've just seen this guy's act for 20 years. He's a journalistic troll in a dying medium. I hate it when we help him.
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For once, you said something I agree with completely. I just looked outside. The sky is not falling.....yet. I will go further to say that writers of his ilk are the reason that medium is dying.
 
#53
#53
This is the norm for JA, and obviously I'm used to that. Personally though, I feel the KNS should do its best to continually defend the University, where applicable. No other media outlet anywhere will give us a free pass, so the hometown media should at least be on the school's side as often as possible. Home field advantage.
 
#54
#54
80 percent of journalists are idiots. Nothing to see here. To be fair, I am a salesman and 80 percent of our profession are idiots too...lol.
 
#55
#55
vol-un-tear said:
Time to move on and change for the better. That's what the troll Adams should have written. There is positive news.
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Did he close the article by announcing his retirement? That is as positive as it gets.

I used to use John Adams picture to cover the bottom of the bird cage. The vet advised me to stop doing that, it was giving the birds diarrhea.
 
#56
#56
Probably_in_Class said:
This is the norm for JA, and obviously I'm used to that. Personally though, I feel the KNS should do its best to continually defend the University, where applicable. No other media outlet anywhere will give us a free pass, so the hometown media should at least be on the school's side as often as possible. Home field advantage.
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If you stood before a judge and agreed to pay the fine, you were conceding guilt.

Adams singular point is the same for the university. And he didn't agree with that position of guilt.
 
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#57
#57
TUSKtimes said:
If you stood before a judge and agreed to pay the fine, you were conceding guilt.

Adams singular point is the same for the university. And he didn't agree with that position of guilt.
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The point is that the University made the right decision. The KNS as a whole should focus on that instead of just trying to sling some mud or suddenly become the flag-bearer for justice in the world. It made financial and logistical sense to settle and move along. "Guilt" was not a part of this settlement.
 
#58
#58
NYCVol said:
You make a lot of good points here. The ad hominem attacks on Adams are intellectually lazy and the volume of them is pretty comical.

JA ticks folks off because he's often willing to take a contra/non-homer view and a lot of people take it personally or just don't like reading positions with which they disagree. As noted in another post, it cuts both ways. He strongly defended Manning when it seemed virtually everyone else in the media was ready to burn down his legacy. And he did so by simply telling the truth about Whited/Naughright with his customary biting style--again, something some just don't like. That said, if he'd fabricated any of what he wrote about her repeated phone calls/etc., I'm sure she would have been happy to add the KNS to her list of defendants. Haven't heard anything about that yet.

His attacks on the Fulmer regime in its later years were warranted--things were slipping. The efforts by UT/AD to spin failure earned JA's sharpest barbs. As they should have. His shots at the lunacy of how UT makes decisions have generally been rooted in truth and designed to provoke debate, and of course clicks (which is what he's paid to do).

Anyway, I'd take Adams over those weak-willed homers that cover UGA or Bama any day of the week. Or the UK media that only barely understands the game of American football. Or God forbid the Baylor media which was essentially complicit in systematically enabling multiple sexual assaults to be covered up. The ultimate in homer media...sweeping felonies under the rug. Not in Knoxville--our dirty laundry is in the street and we'll be better/stronger for facing it now than pulling a Waco and trying to pretend we're all squeaky.

Vigorous debate and differing ideas make for a more interesting experience and fan base--and a wiser one. One of which I'm proud to be a part.

Adams as provocateur is an important square in our quilt. I'll miss him when he's gone, especially the times when he pisses me off.

my $0.02

GBO
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John Adams is a rabble rousing hypocrite, and his writings are boorish and his opinions are judgmental arrogance. A pity, because many of the other members of the KNS staff write well thought out columns.

He is not an "important square" in our quilt. He is the bedbugs that infest it, forcing us to burn it. The sooner he retires, the better. Or gets seriously ill. Or falls off his self-righteous pedestal, and suffers horrific injury.

I just know I will not be reading his trash.
 
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#59
#59
junder13 said:
The reaction of people on this site never ceases to amaze me. So Adams article is rubbish because of what exactly? Because it's poorly written (it's not), he has a lifelong agenda against UT as a Knoxville sports columnist (fallacious urban legend among UT fans that view any stated negativity towards UT as a sure sign of hatred against the vols), or because he is using his characteristic sarcasm to express dissatisfaction with the university taking the easy road and settling?

Adams did us all a great favor when he wrote his cutting article on Jamie Naughright back in February. It helped turn the tide of seemingly endless negativity towards the university in the early stages of the lawsuit generated media frenzy (which was the main battle tactic by the plaintiffs' lawyer team.

If you read through his sarcasm, you will see why he writes a scathing opinion piece quickly after the announced settlement: he recognizes (correctly) that the lawsuit was paper thin and there was a strong case to fight it to the bitter end.

I, for one, am in agreement with Adams 100% here. The University of Tennessee is a state institution and the state has a sales tax. Therefore, it is an institution partly funded by TN taxpayers. It also happens to be one of the most important representations of the state as a whole. Seeing as how I'm both a graduate of UT and a Tennessean, born and raised, I don't give a d@mn what the cost would be to fight this unsubstantiated lawsuit, if it truly does consist of nothing but "false accusations, as Jimmy Cheek stated, I would never want it settled.

But that's the problem with society. It's no longer about right or wrong, fact or fiction, justice or injustice. All that seems to matter in this litigious society today is perception and the size of the threat.

Now the state of Tennessee has enriched 8 contemptible, degenerate, reprehensible cleat chasing women and your run-of-the-mill pernicious team of personal injury lawyers to the tune of $2.5mil. That's likely to be around $250k for each plaintiff and half a million or more for the blood sucking lawyers. Personal injury settlements are also non-taxed, so if you think of it in terms in terms of income it's more like $325k to each plaintiff.

Based on my earned income out of college it would have taken me roughly 6 years of work to have earned that amount, maybe longer.

If this lawsuit was as frivolous as we all believed, the university just made a short-sighted and unacceptable decision to settle. Keep in mind that the buyout for both Fulmer and Dooley was likely more than the worse case estimate on legal costs had they not settled. Also, had the court ruled in the university's favor, they could have countersued for a frivolous suit (and would have had a strong case IMO) in an attempt to regain some of the legal costs.
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Well said, except two points: (1) Fulmer and Dooley both had us on contracts, write those expenses down to incompetent AD and BOT. (2) As to regaining legal costs, I doubt it. Those 8 will probably never have anywhere near enough to make a dent in them...unless they managed to file against another entity and collect. Like you said 6 years....

Good points. One question, was it personal injury and untaxed for sure? Shame, at least the government could have gotten a little something out of it. I'd as soon it waste as UT's money as a bunch of blood suckers.
 
#60
#60
Probably_in_Class said:
The point is that the University made the right decision. The KNS as a whole should focus on that instead of just trying to sling some mud or suddenly become the flag-bearer for justice in the world. It made financial and logistical sense to settle and move along. "Guilt" was not a part of this settlement.
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Why was that the right decision? Your university recently, in an all out presser, dug in deeper than Custer at Little Big Horn. They took the moral high ground in these rape allegations.

Adam's was suggesting that you don't get bought off that moral high ground.
 
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#61
#61
In being right, one does not have to give up the chance to be smart, as well.

In being innocent, one is not forced to give up opportunities to be insightful.

Paying $2.45M today to avoid paying $5.5M over the next two years, esp. given no certainty that is the total extent of the cost...well, it's just smart. Financially prudent.

See? You can be right and smart, innocent and insightful, all at the same time.

Go Vols!
 
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#62
#62
VFL-82-JP said:
In being right, one does not have to give up the chance to be smart, as well.

In being innocent, one is not forced to give up opportunities to be insightful.

Paying $2.45M today to avoid paying $5.5M over the next two years, esp. given no certainty that is the total extent of the cost...well, it's just smart. Financially prudent.

See? You can be right and smart, innocent and insightful, all at the same time.

Go Vols!
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Good point. How much are you willing to pay to be "right"? And even if you are 100% in the clear with a jury there is no guarantee!
 
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#64
#64
TUSKtimes said:
Why was that the right decision? Your university recently, in an all out presser, dug in deeper than Custer at Little Big Horn. They took the moral high ground in these rape allegations.

Adam's was suggesting that you don't get bought off that moral high ground.
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It was the right decision because it was the best business and PR decision at UT's disposal. When you're handed a smart, swift, painless resolution, you take it and move forward.
 
#65
#65
TUSKtimes said:
Why don't you ask all the military veterans we have in volnation?
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I think we can all agree that a civil suit regarding the culture at a university is completely incongruent with death and warfare. You're making a massive stretch and just look silly at best, ignorant at worst.
 
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#66
#66
Probably_in_Class said:
I think we can all agree that a civil suit regarding the culture at a university is completely incongruent with death and warfare. You're making a massive stretch and just look silly at best, ignorant at worst.
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Those were some heavy rape allegations that were tied up in the Title IX suit. You can cut and slice your morality anyway you want. That presser was your head coach of every sport trying to reassure parents it is safe to bring your daughters to Tennessee. Butch Jones even saying he was "proud of the culture."

Adam's didn't think that paying the victims this settlement sent that message.
 
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#68
#68
utvolpj said:
Adams had an article either way. He likely enjoyed this one a bit more but he could crap on UT no matter the course they chose
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Exactly right. Both outcomes come with a trolling narrative that writes itself.
 
#70
#70
TNnative said:
For once, you said something I agree with completely. I just looked outside. The sky is not falling.....yet. I will go further to say that writers of his ilk are the reason that medium is dying.
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I can't help it if you're wrong a lot. :)
 
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#72
#72
TUSKtimes said:
Those were some heavy rape allegations that were tied up in the Title IX suit. You can cut and slice your morality anyway you want. That presser was your head coach of every sport trying to reassure parents it is safe to bring your daughters to Tennessee. Butch Jones even saying he was "proud of the culture."

Adam's didn't think that paying the victims this settlement sent that message.
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You have absolutely no idea how the civil legal system works do you? And neither does John Adams apparently.

There are various reasons other than "guilt" or "innocence" that factor into settling a case that was sure to settle at some point regardless. This was never going to trial just as the Title IX suit Alabama will eventually face will not go to trial either.

As for asking the military veterans about what price. I am a USMC veteran and I have no idea what you were getting at...
 
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#73
#73
VFL-82-JP said:
I am a military veteran. And fail to see any link between military operations and this court case.

So...what were you trying to say?
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so am I. And the question was," how much are you willing to pay to be right?" Fair enough question, if being right is always right.

Obviously, the answer would vary.
 
#74
#74
NashLawVol said:
You have absolutely no idea how the civil legal system works do you? And neither does John Adams apparently.

There are various reasons other than "guilt" or "innocence" that factor into settling a case that was sure to settle at some point regardless. This was never going to trial just as the Title IX suit Alabama will eventually face will not go to trial either.

As for asking the military veterans about what price. I am a USMC veteran and I have no idea what you were getting at...
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That's because you want to separate Tennessee's payment to the victims from the implied duplicity in the guilt.

The article Adam's wrote doesn't seem to think that is possible.
 
#75
#75
TUSKtimes said:
so am I. And the question was," how much are you willing to pay to be right?" Fair enough question, if being right is always right.

Obviously, the answer would vary.
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You must've been in the Air Force. :)

In the US Army, and I can speak for the USMC and Navy as well, having worked closely with both and having family members there, we didn't fight to be "right." We fought to be victorious.

"Right" is for Bob Barker and contestants on game shows. Or maybe the Air Force.


[hehe, sorry Air Force dudes and dudettes, just having a little fun, I honestly do think highly of you as one of the most professional civilian institutions in America :) ]
 
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