SpaceCoastVol
Jacked up on moonshine and testosterone
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They also said rommel was in africa at the time of the normandy invasion -- which is not correct. He said Dooley has never been to normandy, never seen the craters, and doesn't understand what happened there. One of them went on to say he should apologize or be fired.
This is ridiculous
As a former Naval officer (and gentleman) I think his analogy was just fine.....
Maybe that's why he can't coach.
Have you seen the clip on the KNS?
Videos: Vols like the Germans at Normandy during WWII? - Knoxville, TN | GoVolsXtra
I loved it. It was hilarious and it was also the truth in what is happening to our team right now. More or less he is saying when that leadership we are so desperately lacking does come, we will be fine.
One of the many reasons I hate ESPN. They do hate Tennessee and use any and every chance they have to do so. Ridiculous.
I'd be going for a Phil Jackson apology here. Something along the lines of...
"I would like to take a moment to apologize to anyone who was offended by what I said,namely, the historically ignorant, the illiterate, and the mamby-pamby crowd that gets their thongs in a wad over anything real or perceived. Since I have heard not a word from any veterans' groups, the Anti-Defamation League, or anyone else outside of a few shrieking harpies who get offended on behalf of others, it's safe to say that exactly 11 people who do not collect their paychecks from a media group can now go back to writing irate letters to the editors of Parade magazine. Thank you, and bite me."
Or dumb enough to think that in this age of GOTCHA! Journalism, he wouldn't open himself up for this.
It's stupid on both Dooley's part for saying it and stupid for the media to be feasting on it.
I wholeheartedly agree with you but had to laugh when I saw your avatar as it's likely to start an entirely new firestorm. (Wait, I can't say "firestorm" as it is a reference to Dresden and Tokyo). How about "a whole new thread?"
Coach Dooley,
Contrary to what you may be hearing in the press, and possibly from within the University administration, I want to let you know that I completely agree with the analogy you made yesterday likening our current Tennessee football team to the German grunts staring out over the English Channel on 6 June, 1944. Seizing and maintaining the initiative in battle is critical .the side that does it wins, and the side that fails to do it loses. Football is no different.
Unfortunately, many will fault you for daring to compare combat and football. As you are aware, many of our nations greatest warriors have honed their skills on the football field. Generals MacArthur, Patton, Eisenhower, and Neyland all understood that the fundamental characteristics and attributes that make a football player and team successful are also critical on the battlefield. It was precisely for this reason that General MacArthur, while Superintendant of the United States Military Academy, instituted a requirement for intramural athletics that remains to this day at West Point and has been followed in Annapolis and Colorado Springs. MacArthurs belief that Upon the friendly fields of strife are sown the seeds, that upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory is, and will remain, true.
Generals MacArthur, Patton, Eisenhower, and Neyland would have been rightfully frightened to take untrained, unprepared men, who lack the ability to exercise initiative to accomplish the mission, into battle. However, I am certain that these same men would have been loath to field a football team with those same characteristics, because they would lose on the field like they would in battle. That doesnt mean that football is as important as combat, or that football players are performing as noble a duty as soldiers and Marines, it just means that the requisite characteristics and skills in both arenas are complimentary.
I love Tennessee football and I love the Marines I have had the good fortune to lead. I want both to fight and I want both to win. Sir, keep teaching these young men to seize the initiative and to never give up, drawing upon whatever historical lessons that may be necessary to do so, and worry not about what others might say. The victorious results we all want will follow.
Sincerely,
MoVolFan0203
USMC
USNA 97
Why, this is preposterous. You're trying to tell me that a serviceman is not completely offended by the analogy that Coach Dooley used to describe his team. I never would have guessed that, what with all these non servicemen telling me how offended servicemen would be.
The analogy was good and expresses what it is like to have young teams and young soldiers. Both the Americans and Germans faced unexpected adversity on D-Day. The Germans were so unprepared that Rommel was in Germany celebrating his wife's birthday. The American gliders and pilots experienced heavy flak and were unable to drop the airborne attacks on the right location. The assault troops also encountered heavy resistance on the beaches they expected would be eliminated by naval bombardment.
The point Dooley was making is that when confronted with these problems, the Americans knew the plan sufficiently that they improvised and succeeded. The Germans were so locked into specific instructions that they froze, left massive reserve in Calais, and failed to stop the breakout. Dooley wants the players to understand the system sufficiently that they act on instinct rather than waiting for "proper instructions."
This is nothing like Kellen Winslow comparing himself to a soldier after the Miami loss to Tennessee. It is a simple comparison of two groups of people encountering hardship and how they reacted.