$2,000,000 worth of scrutiny

[VFL-82-JP]

Balled Up Fists (seems by your screen name that you intend to make rants a big part of your routine on vn.com?), you can be angry if you want. You can choose to allow your feelings to be hurt by what the man said. And that may allow you to blow off some steam, release some tension built up in your life. If that works for you, carry on.

Just don't expect a response. You're not at a steakhouse. You're at a rock concert. You're one of 100,000 screaming fans, backed by millions behind the TV screen. You're not going to get personalized service.

So if you really want to effect change, you'll have to drop the anger schtick and instead go for persuasiveness. Talk enough fellow fans into joining you in a cause, and you might be able to get your voice heard. Do it in a reasonable way, and the people hearing you might even be inclined to listen to the message and consider it.

It's all what you're hoping to get out of it.

 

[Smokey X]

.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

The stuff he's talking about is why UT has been a disaster for the last 10 years, he's right the negativity and rumor mill have doomed this place. We have the best fans in the world but we also have a group that takes to twitter and attacks families, reporters, recruits, players and coaches. It's dumb, it really is so I would say to that group grow the f up.

I think this is absolutely right.

Folks here on vn.com like to say that the people we're insulting and belittling, they have no idea vn.com exists. They don't hear us. We don't matter. We can do whatever we want, guilt-free.

If you look at the world through a soda straw, that seems true.

But some folks here are also in the Vols twitter community. Some folks here are also on facebook. Some folks here are in discord channels, and on twitch, and tiktok, and ___(insert name of social media site you prefer here)__.

Attitudes and mind sets formed and nurtured here do spread. They get to those other places. And like a big echo chamber, it all reverberates and reinforces until people feel empowered and vindicated in whatever viewpoint they adopt. So if it's a hateful, negative, disheartening message that is echoing around this multi-venue e-world of Volunteer fandom, that IS going to be heard. By players. By recruits. By recruits' parents. By their friends and teachers and girlfriends and neighbors and communities. As well as by the coaches and their families. The administration and their families.

So whatever you're saying, no, you personally will probably never be heard by any specific target of your ire. The chances are microscopically low. Soda straw view of the world, confirmed.

Nonetheless, say it as if you were speaking directly to the innocent, wide-eyed 11-year-old daughter of one of our coaches or the little brother of one of our players. If you wouldn't be proud saying it to them, maybe dial back the venom a bit. Because you're at a MINIMUM egging on someone that they will hear.

If you think we don't together help create a climate for this program, contribute to the environment around our team, well, that's naïve.

 

[EODVOL]

So, if I’m paying $170+ for my wife and I to have dinner at Ruth’s Chris, I expect my 10oz filet to be prepared the way I order it. I have NO problem having it sent back if it’s not to my liking. I don’t hold Outback to the same standard.

Why? Because you get what you pay for!!!
Therefore, I expect our new silver spoon fed AD to stop whining about leaks and skepticism from fans. GROW UP man! You are going to get eaten alive if you don’t! You will be held to a high standard.....around $2,000,000 worth every year.

You sound like the fan he has been speaking about. You forget, it's his ship and his personnel. He isn't wrong, team should hear from leadership before the media. If anything, you sound as though you are "whining" just as much, jmo. Leaks cause rumors, rumors can cause turmoil amongst personnel.

 

[BalledUPfists]

Not too sure you paid the entire $2,000,000.....so not too sure he has to do exactly what you want.

I mean we all pay something......that should give us reason to complain. However not sure it means you or I get “our” way.

Some folks want this steak medium, some want it well done, I’d like mine medium rare...........it’s only 1 steak.......it ain’t Burger King.......you don’t necessarily get to have it “your way.”

However feel free to complain.

“My way” is not what I’m talking about. It’s about higher standards that come with higher pay. Our new AD is already attacking and insulting fans and internal people. Not the best strategy given the little equity he has built.

 

[dustyrhodes]

OP is triggered.

 

[BalledUPfists]

The outback special and a the ribeye at a small steak house called Pete’s place in mayanardville Tn are my two favorite steaks ever. So if Ruth’s Chris is much better I gotta try it lol. I know you were just using it as an analogy but if you can’t tell I’m hungry and I latched onto the food portion of your post.

It’s not the best steak I’ve ever had (top 10 for SURE though) but I expect it to be prepared correctly since the steak alone costs $60+. It’s all about expectations being higher when you’re paying more. That was my original point. We are paying a very high price tag for someone, so I expect more.

 

[BalledUPfists]

OP is triggered.

You are cool with a brand new AD (who got more than double our last AD’s pay) immediately coming in and saying the fans failed?

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Our new AD is already attacking and insulting....

...AD...saying the fans failed....

Okay, so look at those two statements you just made, BUF. Then go back and review White's actual plea:

-- "If you're upset or you're negative, text your buddy. Don't put it on social media.”

Where in those 15 words do you see an attack? Where do you see an insult? Where do you see him calling anyone a failure?

You're tilting at windmills. You're making up things to be angry about.

Stay with us here in the real world.

 

[BalledUPfists]

Balled Up Fists (seems by your screen name that you intend to make rants a big part of your routine on vn.com?), you can be angry if you want. You can choose to allow your feelings to be hurt by what the man said. And that may allow you to blow off some steam, release some tension built up in your life. If that works for you, carry on.

Just don't expect a response. You're not at a steakhouse. You're at a rock concert. You're one of 100,000 screaming fans, backed by millions behind the TV screen. You're not going to get personalized service.

So if you really want to effect change, you'll have to drop the anger schtick and instead go for persuasiveness. Talk enough fellow fans into joining you in a cause, and you might be able to get your voice heard. Do it in a reasonable way, and the people hearing you might even be inclined to listen to the message and consider it.

It's all what you're hoping to get out of it.

I hate that you don’t “get” my screen name man. It is a reference to Penny Hardaway (The basketball coach at Memphis) Saying that our basketball team had “balled up fists”, after our last game with them. He was talking about Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield, and that team. So, it’s actually quite funny, and a shame that you don’t get it.
The irony is that my screen name represents my attitude, angle, role, and general “contribution” to this website. My posts may come across as a negative to you, but it’s really just a matter of perspective. I’m trying to get people to see things a different way. I don’t have social media, I’m not an angry or frustrated person. But, I do see things a different way.
I have a higher standard because we are paying at a high-level. I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect competency based on compensation. Based on the investment of the school, the long-suffering fans, and the winning tradition, I feel that we should beginning more than we are.

Fast forward to this current conversation where I’m calling out our brand new athletic director for coming in and immediately throwing stones at people that he has no idea what they have been through. Our fans I’ve been through more than any other fan base in the last 20 years and have every right to be skeptical, negative, and exhausted from what this school has put us through. For him to come in and immediately attack fans is just tone deaf.
It’s not about me, it’s about the millions of fans are across this country that continue to spend a large portion of their paycheck just to drive down and watch one game of year. It’s about people that the only reason they still pay for cable so they can watch their team play on Saturdays. It’s about us having one thing that we actually enjoy that gets us away for a little while from the regular struggles of life. That’s why I want it to be excellent. Because for some people, it’s a big deal. And those people matter.
Every. Single. One. Of. Them!

 

[BalledUPfists]

Okay, so look at those two statements you just made, BUF. Then go back and review White's actual plea:

-- "If you're upset or you're negative, text your buddy. Don't put it on social media.”

Where in those 15 words do you see an attack? Where do you see an insult? Where do you see him calling anyone a failure?

You're tilting at windmills. You're making up things to be angry about.

Stay with us here in the real world.

It’s his tone deaf attitude, ignoring all that we have been through over the past 20 years. People have every right to call out a negative situation for what it is, negative. It’s not being negative in your mindset, it’s speaking rationally about a very real situation, that just happens to be negative.

 

[BalledUPfists]

Do fans watch because of wins or how their ad makes them feel.

You guys are hung up on the fact he makes 2 million and because of that he owes you something.

The only thing he owes the university is putting a quality product on the field.

I am also more of a kanye prime kinda guy so your ruth Chris analogy lost me. They are basically outback to me.

If you think outback and Ruth Chris are equal then it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t understand where I’m coming from.

Our fans don’t watch because of the athletic director, wins or losses. They watch because they are volunteers. Because this is something that we rally around and something that matters to us. That’s why we have the best Fanbase in America. And the best Fanbase in America deserves competency. We are paying for excellence, but we would settle for competency. Unfortunately, we’ve had neither for a very long time.

 

[RadioChild421]

Danny White comes off as an arrogant assh*le. I hope Heupel is successful, but White failed at the search.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I hate that you don’t “get” my screen name man. It is a reference to Penny Hardaway (The basketball coach at Memphis) Saying that our basketball team had “balled up fists”, after our last game with them. He was talking about Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield, and that team. So, it’s actually quite funny, and a shame that you don’t get it.
The irony is that my screen name represents my attitude, angle, role, and general “contribution” to this website. My posts may come across as a negative to you, but it’s really just a matter of perspective. I’m trying to get people to see things a different way. I don’t have social media, I’m not an angry or frustrated person. But, I do see things a different way.
I have a higher standard because we are paying at a high-level. I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect competency based on compensation. Based on the investment of the school, the long-suffering fans, and the winning tradition, I feel that we should beginning more than we are.

Fast forward to this current conversation where I’m calling out our brand new athletic director for coming in and immediately throwing stones at people that he has no idea what they have been through. Our fans I’ve been through more than any other fan base in the last 20 years and have every right to be skeptical, negative, and exhausted from what this school has put us through. For him to come in and immediately attack fans is just tone deaf.
It’s not about me, it’s about the millions of fans are across this country that continue to spend a large portion of their paycheck just to drive down and watch one game of year. It’s about people that the only reason they still pay for cable so they can watch their team play on Saturdays. It’s about us having one thing that we actually enjoy that gets us away for a little while from the regular struggles of life. That’s why I want it to be excellent. Because for some people, it’s a big deal. And those people matter.
Every. Single. One. Of. Them!

Sorry I missed the reference in your name. It's a good one. Never heard that quote from Hardaway, I'm not much of a basketball follower.

But the OTHER interpretation of your name seems to fit too well here. You seem very upset at our AD for doing something above and beyond the norm: he's actually trying to set conditions for success around the team. He's not spending huge amounts of time and effort on it (15 words), but he's trying to make a difference in what the players and recruits and coaches see when they go out on social media. That's not something you get mad about...you celebrate that.

At least, I do. Because Danny White clearly wants it to be excellent, too.

Go find my other post where I quoted you twice, and Danny White once. His words, and your responses. The two don't go together, at all. Your response is way out of whack from his words. I think you're getting riled up when there's no cause. Maybe reconsider?

 

[BalledUPfists]

I think this is absolutely right.

Folks here on vn.com like to say that the people we're insulting and belittling, they have no idea vn.com exists. They don't hear us. We don't matter. We can do whatever we want, guilt-free.

If you look at the world through a soda straw, that seems true.

But some folks here are also in the Vols twitter community. Some folks here are also on facebook. Some folks here are in discord channels, and on twitch, and tiktok, and ___(insert name of social media site you prefer here)__.

Attitudes and mind sets formed and nurtured here do spread. They get to those other places. And like a big echo chamber, it all reverberates and reinforces until people feel empowered and vindicated in whatever viewpoint they adopt. So if it's a hateful, negative, disheartening message that is echoing around this multi-venue e-world of Volunteer fandom, that IS going to be heard. By players. By recruits. By recruits' parents. By their friends and teachers and girlfriends and neighbors and communities. As well as by the coaches and their families. The administration and their families.

So whatever you're saying, no, you personally will probably never be heard by any specific target of your ire. The chances are microscopically low. Soda straw view of the world, confirmed.

Nonetheless, say it as if you were speaking directly to the innocent, wide-eyed 11-year-old daughter of one of our coaches or the little brother of one of our players. If you wouldn't be proud saying it to them, maybe dial back the venom a bit. Because you're at a MINIMUM egging on someone that they will hear.

If you think we don't together help create a climate for this program, contribute to the environment around our team, well, that's naïve.

I don’t have any kind of social media at all, but I do realize that there are extremists that take things too far in every aspect of every element of life. Unfortunately, you’re never gonna be able to control that..

What I am specifically referring to is a brand new athletic director, who is compensated at the level that we should expect him to be excellent. The bar literally is twice as high now as it was two weeks ago.

 

[BalledUPfists]

Sorry I missed the reference in your name. It's a good one. Never heard that quote from Hardaway, I'm not much of a basketball follower.

But the OTHER interpretation of your name seems to fit too well here. You seem very upset at our AD for doing something above and beyond the norm: he's actually trying to set conditions for success around the team. He's not spending huge amounts of time and effort on it (15 words), but he's trying to make a difference in what the players and recruits and coaches see when they go out on social media. That's not something you get mad about...you celebrate that.

At least, I do. Because Danny White clearly wants it to be excellent, too.

Go find my other post where I quoted you twice, and Danny White once. His words, and your responses. The two don't go together, at all. Your response is way out of whack from his words. I think you're getting riled up when there's no cause. Maybe reconsider?

Let me try it from a different angle. So you said that he only used 15 words, so let me give you 15 words that he could’ve used instead That would have had the same meaning but come across completely different to our battered, yet loyal, fan base.

Volnation, You should be upset about the current situation! I Promise to fix this mess!

Instead, he comes on here asking millions of fans to not be negative, knowing that there’s always going to be a fraction that’s going to be boisterous, irrational, and make the entire Fanbase look ridiculous. Welcome to life. That happens in every aspect of every single part of life! Asking the 1% of the irrational people to be under control And then telling the general Fanbase that they have failed...it’s just not OK. Especially from someone who is compensated in the top five of his profession. I just expect more.

 

[landscapingvol]

Because our world does not hold people accountable. To whom much is given, much as required. For a brand new athletic director to stand up at his second press conference and belittle the fans, tell fans they have failed, and act like a spoiled brat is just overall tone deaf. I expect more from one of the top five highest paid athletic directors in the entire country.

You have now brought the Bible into it. Overreaction, much? Settle down Nancy

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Let me try it from a different angle. So you said that he only used 15 words, so let me give you 15 words that he could’ve used instead That would have had the same meaning but come across completely different to our battered, yet loyal, fan base.

Volnation, You should be upset about the current situation! I Promise to fix this mess!

Instead, he comes on here asking millions of fans to not be negative, knowing that there’s always going to be a fraction that’s going to be boisterous, irrational, and make the entire Fanbase look ridiculous. Welcome to life. That happens in every aspect of every single part of life! Asking the 1% of the irrational people to be under control And then telling the general Fanbase that they have failed...it’s just not OK. Especially from someone who is compensated in the top five of his profession. I just expect more.

The 15 words you propose as an alternative do nothing to encourage civility on social media. They do nothing to improve the environment for our team. They don't even touch his message.

Sure, they let fans know that he "feels our pain," that he understands the horrors we've been through. Is that what you need? Someone to welcome you in from the war, put a blanket around your shoulders, get you a seat on a cot, hand you a nice warm cup of coffee, then listen to your choked, sobbing description of the hell you just went through?

I don't think that's ever going to be Danny White. He's more a "suck it up, past is the past, let's look to the future, we can make things better" kind of guy, I think.

And I'm glad for that.

 

[BalledUPfists]

You have now brought the Bible into it. Overreaction, much? Settle down Nancy

I’m not bringing the Bible into it, I’m just quoting some scriptural concepts that definitely apply to the situation.

Not talking about any kind of morality or faith based ways of thinking. All I am saying is that we just made an Danny White one of the top five compensated people at his profession. His attitude has been very tone deaf for what the fans have gone through and he has already driven a small wedge between some of the fans. It was a misstep and I’m calling him out for it. And I’m not alone.

 

[tim]

So, can you name me one SEC football hire that has ever been 100 percent surprise all the way up until the press conference? Just one. All I need is one example. I’m not asking for much. There have been hundreds of hires in your lifetime, so just give me one example that backs up what you’re trying to say.

No and there will probably never be one. But there is nothing wrong with him trying imo. Like I said, he was indirectly talking to the leakers and let them know it may not be tolerated if found out.

 

[BalledUPfists]

The 15 words you propose as an alternative do nothing to encourage civility on social media. They do nothing to improve the environment for our team. They don't even touch his message.

Sure, they let fans know that he "feels our pain," that he understands the horrors we've been through. Is that what you need? Someone to welcome you in from the war, put a blanket around your shoulders, get you a seat on a cot, hand you a nice warm cup of coffee, then listen to your choked, sobbing description of the hell you just went through?

I don't think that's ever going to be Danny White. He's more a "suck it up, past is the past, let's look to the future, we can make things better" kind of guy, I think.

And I'm glad for that.

We don’t need to be coddled. But we don’t need to be talked down to. Do you not understand that it comes across as very condescending? You really don’t hear that?

People see right through his spin about the new coaching hire being some incredible thing. We all know that he was his fifth or sixth choice. We all know the situation is bad. We all know that there’s a lot of negative things that have happened. The first step is admitting that the situation is really bad, be realistic about where you’re at, be relatable to the fans. Be empathetic. Tell them that you understand why they would be skeptical, negative, and let them know that they matter. And then, you can go on the offensive.

We’ve been dealing with positive spin for the last 20 years and everybody is just sick of it and sees right through it.

 

[BalledUPfists]

No and there will probably never be one. But there is nothing wrong with him trying imo. Like I said, he was indirectly talking to the leakers and let them know it may not be tolerated if found out.

Well I appreciate you at least admitting the truth. The bottom line is he’s expecting something that has never happened, nor will it ever happen. And when things don’t go the way he wants he starts throwing stones around. I just don’t think there’s any wisdom in it and I expect more from someone at the top of his profession.

 

[ClearwaterVol]

So, if I’m paying $170+ for my wife and I to have dinner at Ruth’s Chris, I expect my 10oz filet to be prepared the way I order it. I have NO problem having it sent back if it’s not to my liking. I don’t hold Outback to the same standard.

Why? Because you get what you pay for!!!
Therefore, I expect our new silver spoon fed AD to stop whining about leaks and skepticism from fans. GROW UP man! You are going to get eaten alive if you don’t! You will be held to a high standard.....around $2,000,000 worth every year.

No matter where I am, I expect my steak to be cooked correctly.

 

[BalledUPfists]

No matter where I am, I expect my steak to be cooked correctly.

I bet you are disappointed quite frequently my friend.

 

[jp1]

The fans that are PAYING!? Your concept only works if the fans are getting paid OR compensated by a good quality product. (Which, clearly, we are not)

Are you suggesting that only the ones that are paying are bitching and moaning? Or those are the only ones that should be allowed to bitch and moan?