A Sad Tale of the Tape

#26
#26
I did this to point out just how deep a hole Tennessee football now occupies.

1st job: Stop digging. Personally, I don't see this happening in '21. Too much bleeding, too many defections of key personnel, a defense that surrendered 73 points IN THE SPRING GAME (bangs head), new offensive scheme, etc. If (and it's a big IF) the Vols can eke out 4-5 wins, I'll consider '21 a success. Something akin to US II Corps managing to not get chased out of North Africa after Kasserine Pass.

2nd: Player development. Let's face it, 4- and 5-star recruits aren't just going to start falling out of the sky just to play for Josh Heupel, not until the Vols start making real progress in resolving their deficits against those 5 schools. Ergo, Tennessee is going to have to take two-and three star recruits and mold them into 4- and 5-star PLAYERS. Given the Vols abject failures in this field over the last 15 years or so reversing this institutional failure is not only critical but may be Heupel's biggest challenge.

3rd: Discipline. UT simply cannot afford more "off the field" incidents. Period. Heupel needs to sit every one of them down and point out that other than getting issued jocks and t-shirts, they haven't done anything yet. Cameras are everywhere. Discipline off the field yields discipline ON the field and to succeed in the near term Tennesse is going to have to play disciplined football. The days of a John Majors or a Philip Fulmer simply rolling the ball out on the field against a second or third-tier opponent and saying, "My 22 are better than your 22" are long gone.

4th: Tone down the hype. Hype videos are great if you are coming off a 9-4 or 10-3 season. They ring hollow after a 3-7 disaster. I don't want to see a bunch of guys in gangsta poses telling us they "bad." I want to see them sweating in the sun, running the steps at Neyland, doing up-downs 'til they puke and watching game films late at night with a voice over of, "we're gonna get back up there." Vol fans are consumers just as devotees of this or that coffee or car maker. Last year's hype video, in retrospect, looked like one of those commercials for "X" new drug that claims to raise the dead and cause fish to bite, only to be followed 2-3 years later by spots from the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham and Howe advising people who took "X" to contact them for "significant compensation."

5th: Patience. As I said, Coach Heupel has his work cut out. It took John Majors eight years to back into an SEC Championship (Florida was ineligible in '85 because, well, Florida) and that was starting with a considerably better talent base in '77* and with virtually no restrictions on scholarships.

I still stand with Ol' Habbakuk:
For the vision still has its time,
presses on to fulfillment and will not disappoint;
if it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late


*Starters in '77 included Reggie Harper, Charlton Webb, Jimmy Streater, David Barron, John Chavis, Jimmy Noonan and Roland James.

torchbearer 2020.jpg
 
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#30
#30
I did this to point out just how deep a hole Tennessee football now occupies.

1st job: Stop digging. Personally, I don't see this happening in '21. Too much bleeding, too many defections of key personnel, a defense that surrendered 73 points IN THE SPRING GAME (bangs head), new offensive scheme, etc. If (and it's a big IF) the Vols can eke out 4-5 wins, I'll consider '21 a success. Something akin to US II Corps managing to not get chased out of North Africa after Kasserine Pass.

2nd: Player development. Let's face it, 4- and 5-star recruits aren't just going to start falling out of the sky just to play for Josh Heupel, not until the Vols start making real progress in resolving their deficits against those 5 schools. Ergo, Tennessee is going to have to take two-and three star recruits and mold them into 4- and 5-star PLAYERS. Given the Vols abject failures in this field over the last 15 years or so reversing this institutional failure is not only critical but may be Heupel's biggest challenge.

3rd: Discipline. UT simply cannot afford more "off the field" incidents. Period. Heupel needs to sit every one of them down and point out that other than getting issued jocks and t-shirts, they haven't done anything yet. Cameras are everywhere. Discipline off the field yields discipline ON the field and to succeed in the near term Tennesse is going to have to play disciplined football. The days of a John Majors or a Philip Fulmer simply rolling the ball out on the field against a second or third-tier opponent and saying, "My 22 are better than your 22" are long gone.

4th: Tone down the hype. Hype videos are great if you are coming off a 9-4 or 10-3 season. They ring hollow after a 3-7 disaster. I don't want to see a bunch of guys in gangsta poses telling us they "bad." I want to see them sweating in the sun, running the steps at Neyland, doing up-downs 'til they puke and watching game films late at night with a voice over of, "we're gonna get back up there." Vol fans are consumers just as devotees of this or that coffee or car maker. Last year's hype video, in retrospect, looked like one of those commercials for "X" new drug that claims to raise the dead and cause fish to bite, only to be followed 2-3 years later by spots from the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham and Howe advising people who took "X" to contact them for "significant compensation."

5th: Patience. As I said, Coach Heupel has his work cut out. It took John Majors eight years to back into an SEC Championship (Florida was ineligible in '85 because, well, Florida) and that was starting with a considerably better talent base in '77* and with virtually no restrictions on scholarships.

I still stand with Ol' Habbakuk:
For the vision still has its time,
presses on to fulfillment and will not disappoint;
if it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late


*Starters in '77 included Reggie Harper, Charlton Webb, Jimmy Streater, John Chavis, Jimmy Noonan and Roland James.
I think 99'9% of Tennessee fans know where the program is without your detailed description. By the way, where were you in the year 2,000 before Tennessee's Administration decided that athletics were not important to the University? The conditions changed back then and they will be changing back again with the current Administration. It will take a few years to rebuild what has been destroyed, but it will happen.
 
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#31
#31
I can't stand the sight of that slack jawed Gump. I actually hate him.

I dont hate Pruitt.I don't even dislike him as a person. He was a guy way in over his head combined with walking into a situation where he was set up for failure.

He took the money to come here, bent some rules to overcompensate for his deficiencies, and failed. No reason to hate him for that.
 
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#36
#36
I think 99'9% of Tennessee fans know where the program is without your detailed description. By the way, where were you in the year 2,000 before Tennessee's Administration decided that athletics were not important to the University? The conditions changed back then and they will be changing back again with the current Administration. It will take a few years to rebuild what has been destroyed, but it will happen.
Not sure if OMG will respond but i can tell you where i first saw his war story analogies...in the early 2000s.

A now defunct (as far as i know) board called Sports Parlor South. That group of posters were fun and cantankerous and OMGs stories were a thing of beauty.

I think youre reading him wrong...
 
#37
#37
Not sure if OMG will respond but i can tell you where i first saw his war story analogies...in the early 2000s.

A now defunct (as far as i know) board called Sports Parlor South. That group of posters were fun and cantankerous and OMGs stories were a thing of beauty.

I think youre reading him wrong...
I could be, but I still see nothing which even leans a little bit toward anything near positive. Our current situation did not happen over night and it ill not be corrected over night. When we find ourselves in difficult situations, any positive comment can give a ray of hope and the attitude to work harder to obtain something positive. Have you fed an old nag an apple and see the positive results?
 
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#38
#38
Anyone else have the same reaction as me when they read the title? (I didn't notice it was in the football thread)

I'm old enough that I grew up watching the Braves on TBS every night as a teenager. I remember when the "IBM Tale of the Tape" was invented. For the noobs out there, it was the first usage of computers to calculate flight trajectory of homerun balls and definitively (estimate) determine how far the ball would have flown if it didn't hit the stands, scoreboard, Green Monster, etc.

I read the title and immediately thought, "Oh no no, do not even tell me there's some media hack (Notre Dame fan) claiming Gilbert's Granny actually only flew 409 or some such ignorance!"

So, I entered the thread expecting to read some lie that was gonna make me really mad. Instead.....I found the truth that made me really, really, really mad.


Gee, thanks, OMG.
Lol

AV
That is interesting. I always thought „tale of the tape“ came from boxing where they measured the fighters‘ reach. Learn something new everyday!
I grew up watching Braces on WTBS back in the Murphy and Horner heyday (and good ole Phil Neckrco (did I spell that right))?
 
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#39
#39
That is interesting. I always thought „tale of the tape“ came from boxing where they measured the fighters‘ reach. Learn something new everyday!
I grew up watching Braces on WTBS back in the Murphy and Horner heyday (and good ole Phil Neckrco (did I spell that right))?
Oh man, now I am sad. Just looked up Phil Neikro. He passed last December 😢. Another childhood hero gone. Curse you 2020
 
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#40
#40
As far as records are concerned, I personally don’t even care about historical sports records. Great when they happen but are made to be broken, or become irrelevant due to changing times and rule changes. Tenn does not automatically deserve more wins than x y or z team just because they are Tenn. If the adm stays behind athletics the teams will be good again because there is something magical about that Power T and that Orange color. It draws attention. With a quality coach kids will begin coming back. Until then hard work and letting the 3* and 4* kids mature till they are jr and sr’s and they will be very competitive. Coaching matters more than athletes. Think Tenn baseball, bama football. Why does every team try to hire the best and pay them millions, be it college or pro!
 
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#41
#41
I think 99'9% of Tennessee fans know where the program is without your detailed description. By the way, where were you in the year 2,000 before Tennessee's Administration decided that athletics were not important to the University? The conditions changed back then and they will be changing back again with the current Administration. It will take a few years to rebuild what has been destroyed, but it will happen.

Was that Shumaker's Harvard of the south plan?

Edit: I vaguely remember thinking that athletics was going to take a hit. Just didn't realize it was going to be this much of a hit!
 
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#42
#42
That is interesting. I always thought „tale of the tape“ came from boxing where they measured the fighters‘ reach. Learn something new everyday!
I grew up watching Braces on WTBS back in the Murphy and Horner heyday (and good ole Phil Neckrco (did I spell that right))?
I have no idea the origin of "tale of the tape" though your idea is perfectly plausible and likely. I just remember IBM rolling with the phrase and it was so super cool and "technical" back in the 80s.

I got a baseball signed at an event in Northgate Mall in Chattanooga. Bob Horner, Chris Chambliss, Glenn Hubbard, (? RF) Washington, and the Murph were all there. I was a happy kid.
 
#43
#43
I have no idea the origin of "tale of the tape" though your idea is perfectly plausible and likely. I just remember IBM rolling with the phrase and it was so super cool and "technical" back in the 80s.

I got a baseball signed at an event in Northgate Mall in Chattanooga. Bob Horner, Chris Chambliss, Glenn Hubbard, (? RF) Washington, and the Murph were all there. I was a happy kid.
Northgate Mall! That brings back some memories. The first shopping mall I ever visited. Glenn Hubbard was a great one too! Hope you still have that ball!
 
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#47
#47
OP, for the next two seasons, I'll settle for getting the most out of players, regardless of star rating.

How long has it been since we've had a staff that actually seemed capable of having the teame ready to play, at least up to their potential, on a consistent basis?
 
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#48
#48
Not sure if OMG will respond but i can tell you where i first saw his war story analogies...in the early 2000s.

A now defunct (as far as i know) board called Sports Parlor South. That group of posters were fun and cantankerous and OMGs stories were a thing of beauty.

I think youre reading him wrong...

Loved SPS! Remember OrangeSkyVolFan....aka SkySheep!
 
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#50
#50
That is interesting. I always thought „tale of the tape“ came from boxing where they measured the fighters‘ reach. Learn something new everyday!
I grew up watching Braces on WTBS back in the Murphy and Horner heyday (and good ole Phil Neckrco (did I spell that right))?
I have no idea the origin of "tale of the tape" though your idea is perfectly plausible and likely. I just remember IBM rolling with the phrase and it was so super cool and "technical" back in the 80s.

I got a baseball signed at an event in Northgate Mall in Chattanooga. Bob Horner, Chris Chambliss, Glenn Hubbard, (? RF) Washington, and the Murph were all there. I was a happy kid.

I think ‘tale of the tape’ was common for boxers’ measurements before a fight well before the 80’s, but might have originated with the stock market as transactions were printed on a long narrow roll of paper referred to as ‘the tape’.

Anyway, I got Murph’s autograph in Rome, GA in the late 80’s and then crashed Leo Mazzone’s kid’s birthday party and got Tom Glavine’s autograph in the early-mid 90’s. I loved those Braves from the 80’s and 90’s.
 
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