MikeHamiltonFan
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I keep reading comments from other fans and talking to friends who only vaguely follow football and I wanted to address the perception of some people versus the reality of where we are.
Perception: Lane Kiffin does not know what he is doing so he is running his mouth.
Reality: In trying to bring life to a moribund and ignored program, Lane Kiffin did whatever he could to bring publicity to our school and it is working. Our recruiting is at the level it needs to be for us to be competitive with Alabama and Florida and Georgia. None of those teams are going to go harder on us because of some quotes from our coach. When Spurrier was gigging UT, Fulmer, Manning etc. it never helped us win, and in fact over time it certainly worked to his advantage as our players came out hot and too fired up (emotion over execution) and then withered when it appeared the evil genius was going to win again.
Perception: UT has a kidnapper and rapist on the team.
Reality: This is not going away so Vol fans should care enough to be able to point people to the court docs. If you do not want to read them yourself, bottom line is that Hoods cousin got really mad after her boyfriend did a disgusting and rude prank to her. If you read it and are looking for the "kidnapping" part it is when they pick her up and carry her to 12 feet away while she is in the computer chair and the "rape" part has nothing to do with Daniel and in fact was gross to him and it is when the guy who she had been having lots of consensual sex with puts a plunger end with saran wrap in a place it should not go. Humiliating? Yes! Wrong and evil? Yes! It was mainly the fault in my eyes of the parents, but the 17 year old who the 14 year old was sleeping with certainly had a lot more say in the matter than the 13 year old boy.
To call an act that resulted in no physical injury, that involved no sex on the part of either aggressor "kidnapping and rape" does violence to those terms as they are traditionally understood. It reminds me of when in college someone who was drunk said they had been molested by a priest and when I said that was terrible they said "yeah the priest had me sit in his lap and a few times he slapped my butt." Wow...not cool and creepy, but not what I think of when I hear molestation.
From all accounts this young man is doing everything right today and has overcome quite a lot. The cousin has reconciled with him and wrote a letter urging UT to let him in. We do him a service every time we clear up the perception of this.
Perception: UT is a place for thugs.
Reality: There have been no arrests since Kiffin took over and he has run off lots of questionable character players and made the rest too busy to get into trouble. Jamal Mosley is coming here and lots of other fans are having fun saying he is a woman beating thug from Memphis who their program would never take. The other side of the story is that he started sleeping with the white daughter of a powerful booster who did not approve, and the dad brought lawyers in and sent the kid out of town. There is no documented abuse at all. Gundy helped him get over to UT on a scholarship which should show how he felt about the situation.
UT had thugs on the basketball team during Mr. Nice Christian Buzz Peterson era, and even thugs on basketball staff at the time (selling crack to the kids...cause thats the way it is...) but they are gone. One of the biggest criticism's of Pearl's team is a direct result of our thugs being at PG and getting booted leaving us unable to press.
A place with a coaching staff this involved in every area of the players lives is no place for the lazy, or the thugs. It is a place for those dedicated to showing courage and discipline and doing everything they can. We are turning into the Marine Corps of college football (and not to compare them like Kellen Winslow) in that we are just a bit tougher, harder working and more disciplined in training than our competition.
The final perception is that UT is soft and weak and should be easy to beat this year.
The reality is that Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia and even Florida had better prepare for hits and fire from a defense with lots of talent and amazing runs and catches from an offense that will look nothing like last years. We will surprise lots of people, and Kiffin will turn the perception of UT into a team that people dread playing because of the toll it will take on their body and their mind and their spirit.
Perception: Lane Kiffin does not know what he is doing so he is running his mouth.
Reality: In trying to bring life to a moribund and ignored program, Lane Kiffin did whatever he could to bring publicity to our school and it is working. Our recruiting is at the level it needs to be for us to be competitive with Alabama and Florida and Georgia. None of those teams are going to go harder on us because of some quotes from our coach. When Spurrier was gigging UT, Fulmer, Manning etc. it never helped us win, and in fact over time it certainly worked to his advantage as our players came out hot and too fired up (emotion over execution) and then withered when it appeared the evil genius was going to win again.
Perception: UT has a kidnapper and rapist on the team.
Reality: This is not going away so Vol fans should care enough to be able to point people to the court docs. If you do not want to read them yourself, bottom line is that Hoods cousin got really mad after her boyfriend did a disgusting and rude prank to her. If you read it and are looking for the "kidnapping" part it is when they pick her up and carry her to 12 feet away while she is in the computer chair and the "rape" part has nothing to do with Daniel and in fact was gross to him and it is when the guy who she had been having lots of consensual sex with puts a plunger end with saran wrap in a place it should not go. Humiliating? Yes! Wrong and evil? Yes! It was mainly the fault in my eyes of the parents, but the 17 year old who the 14 year old was sleeping with certainly had a lot more say in the matter than the 13 year old boy.
To call an act that resulted in no physical injury, that involved no sex on the part of either aggressor "kidnapping and rape" does violence to those terms as they are traditionally understood. It reminds me of when in college someone who was drunk said they had been molested by a priest and when I said that was terrible they said "yeah the priest had me sit in his lap and a few times he slapped my butt." Wow...not cool and creepy, but not what I think of when I hear molestation.
From all accounts this young man is doing everything right today and has overcome quite a lot. The cousin has reconciled with him and wrote a letter urging UT to let him in. We do him a service every time we clear up the perception of this.
Perception: UT is a place for thugs.
Reality: There have been no arrests since Kiffin took over and he has run off lots of questionable character players and made the rest too busy to get into trouble. Jamal Mosley is coming here and lots of other fans are having fun saying he is a woman beating thug from Memphis who their program would never take. The other side of the story is that he started sleeping with the white daughter of a powerful booster who did not approve, and the dad brought lawyers in and sent the kid out of town. There is no documented abuse at all. Gundy helped him get over to UT on a scholarship which should show how he felt about the situation.
UT had thugs on the basketball team during Mr. Nice Christian Buzz Peterson era, and even thugs on basketball staff at the time (selling crack to the kids...cause thats the way it is...) but they are gone. One of the biggest criticism's of Pearl's team is a direct result of our thugs being at PG and getting booted leaving us unable to press.
A place with a coaching staff this involved in every area of the players lives is no place for the lazy, or the thugs. It is a place for those dedicated to showing courage and discipline and doing everything they can. We are turning into the Marine Corps of college football (and not to compare them like Kellen Winslow) in that we are just a bit tougher, harder working and more disciplined in training than our competition.
The final perception is that UT is soft and weak and should be easy to beat this year.
The reality is that Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia and even Florida had better prepare for hits and fire from a defense with lots of talent and amazing runs and catches from an offense that will look nothing like last years. We will surprise lots of people, and Kiffin will turn the perception of UT into a team that people dread playing because of the toll it will take on their body and their mind and their spirit.
opcorn:
