Negative Posts and the Real UK Football Fan

[MrHotDice]

I may be crazy but the number of negative posts on this board only hurt UK. Some on here can't wait to report that some kid has decommitted or got into some kind of trouble when in fact, it's normal in college in all sports programs. Now don't get me wrong, their is nothing wrong with complaints about the team when they are playing. That's just part of the season and complaining about a player or a play call is what fans do but it usually ends their.

The football season is really two seasons. The one you actually play and the one you recruit. Some So called fans in an effort to post on here first actually have no idea that being a negative Nellie does no good when in reality, no one has signed anyone yet. If you want to gripe, do it after signing day. Then you have a case but doing it a week before these kids make these life decisions is useless, stupid, and if a true UK fan does nothing to help the program.

I am 67 years young and have been a UK football fan since the days of the Bear so it is time that these negative posts stop. coach Stoops is the best thing to happen to UK since Fran Curcci and anyone who has followed the program through the many bad years and the few good ones knows this.

So support the Cats, praise the kids that have committed and wish the one who don't good luck but do it after we actually know who signs . Remember everyone is watching especially the other coaches in the SEC. Negative post only helps them in recruiting Against UK. If you really support the team it stops til after signing day.

 

[Rhavicc]

Best post of the day. Bless you, one of the few negative nellies around here.
This place needs a culture change.

 

[UKErik]

I agree with a lot of that. Losing quality recruits certainly has the potential to hurt in the long term. The thing is, we don't know if we lost big time guys or not. We'll find out down the road.

As for the fan forum negativity, I think most sites have that. No question though, for a struggling program like ours, it has the potential to be more of an issue than say pissed off fans at an Ohio State or Alabama.

GBB!!!

 

[2bunnies]

"Like" button. Well said. Higher level of recruiting creates more drama with commitments. That is a positive thing. We may be a little down in ranking of recruits this year compared to last, but it is still much much better. I see a lot of positional ranking numbers behind these recruits names on our list, I don't recall too many of those under some prior coaching systems.

 

[UKCatnNC]

Well said MrHotDice!! Go Cats!!

 

[bigbluemist]

"Like"

 

[catben]

I agree wholeheartedly Mr.HotDice!!

Until NSD comes and goes and we finally see who we actually sign, why be negative?

UK Football has too many other things to overcome, we need a united #BBN to change the culture of our program.

This post was edited on 1/30 8:57 PM by catben

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I agree with your post on wait until signing day is over with before being too negative nancy by I disagree with your assessment that if you dog things your way then your not a REAL UK football fan.
Some people are just that way. When they are happy with things you don't see em much but when things are not going well then they will voice their displeasure.
To me it's people who raise the most stink about wanting better out of our administration, coaches, players will get better results. If you just settle in and accept what has been occurring for decades then thats what you will get...more bad product on the field.
After saying that I fully support Stoops as our head man and like the direction our program is headed but I know I'm not going to sit back and let things slid in the ditch either. I was one of those guys who was behind the scenes working to get Tubby gone and Billy G. I was raising some stink about Joker as well. I want our teams to earn that name of KENTUCKY on their chest.
I don't think we will be competitive for at least another 2 seasons though.

 

[LakeBarkleyCat]

Well said MHD ! GBB !

 

[crazyqx83]

Nothing posted here makes any difference whatsoever to the program. Thinking otherwise is just some bizarre form of self importance.

 

[TBCat]

Things must be worse than I thought. We've already started the "not real fan" threads. Before you start these threads keep in mind that very few coaching staffs survive this portion of their career.

 

[Mills_for_Three]

It's gotten worse since another Kentucky fan site has been preaching how we are in line for a Phillipsesque class. Pointing out only two four star commits remain after 12 signed the past two classes. I guess whatever generates the clicks, and nothing sells like controversy--so attempting to link/insinuate controversy to current decommitments and the staff near national signing day generates at minimum a week of good traffic.

Commitments and the importance of the ranking thereof before NSD wasn't a big deal until networks figured out folks will pay to see how they measure up with Weber State, since these rankings prior to a prospect signing, much less stepping on the field is an exact science and rankings would/could never be manipulated to fit certain fan bases in order to advance subscription services.

With everything going on behind closed doors, who knows when a kid isn't encouraged to look around or flat out told sorry....no room at the end. Since this is going on at virtually every other D1 school in the country, who knows who is ending up where when the music a in this game of musical chairs. A guy who decomitted last summer when he picked up a perceived better option, only to have said dream offer pulled and suddenly the prodigal son is back. Until Tuesday kids are going to be doing this over and over....Last year we didn't have much of this drama, but last years class was different, the recruits were banded together by what appeared to be the strong leadership of one player in particular, a quarterback. One thing that hasn't been mentioned with this class is the vocal off field leader.

A recruiting class that doesn't seem as strong as others also has a good bit to do with the schools needs. The past two classes the needs have been playmakers, especially at skill positions. This season has been different, UK has concentrated on the less "sexy" positions, like offensive and defensive lineman, secondarys and safeties. Going back to the recruiting services...Go look at the Rivals 250, 24/7 Top 247, etc...You will quickly see the number of 4 star receivers vs 4 star lineman...Meaning if your class has a higher proportion of commitments that aren't skill players your overall ranking is more likely to be lower.

I will be more than satisfied if UK ends up with the 42nd overall class if we fulfill our needs...4/15 commits are lineman who avg 5.6 RR, a significant (on paper) upgrade at talent there. A quality TE that we haven't had since Tamme left perhaps. So our needs are being met....whatever else is announced is icing on the ranking cake. No matter the biographies of decommits that get published on other sites before Signing Day, or how our commits stack up, our needs are getting met and talent is being upgraded. Losing 6 potential players isn't going to set Stoops and crew back to 4 years ago, and some of these rankings are about as accurate as my poor wifes attempt to solve the 7th grade algebra homework kids bring home.

 

[GridCats]

I'm in your age group MHD and as we both know, a lot of people had rather focus on the negative side. Some are just grumpy old men seeking something to complain about. And there are a few that enjoy just trying to correct what has been said, so to make it them and others feel they are wiser.

 

[miracle7s]

I'm not saying that the people who only post when the sky is falling don't suck, but if you think anything said on this board affects the football program one way or another you're a lunatic. We could post nothing but positivity and we'd still of went 5-7 last year, we'd still have all the decommittments, and would of lost Damien Harris. You can say you don't like it or don't like reading it or whatever but don't say it actually has an effect on the actual team or coaches.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Originally posted by crazyqx83:
Nothing posted here makes any difference whatsoever to the program. Thinking otherwise is just some bizarre form of self importance.

+1

if you guys think opinions of fat old white dudes on a message board plays into the decisions of a high school kid and their family's to choose which college to attend - you're nuts.

learn coaching.

Football success on the field and in recruiting has 1000% to do with the coaching staff. Have weak link there and it will be exposed. This is how Brooks won without so much star talent. He was a great coach who had those kids attention, amidst waves of 'negative posts'.

get over yourselves.

 

[Desperado_1955]

Originally posted by MrHotDice:
I may be crazy but the number of negative posts on this board only hurt UK. Some on here can't wait to report that some kid has decommitted or got into some kind of trouble when in fact, it's normal in college in all sports programs. Now don't get me wrong, their is nothing wrong with complaints about the team when they are playing. That's just part of the season and complaining about a player or a play call is what fans do but it usually ends their.

The football season is really two seasons. The one you actually play and the one you recruit. Some So called fans in an effort to post on here first actually have no idea that being a negative Nellie does no good when in reality, no one has signed anyone yet. If you want to gripe, do it after signing day. Then you have a case but doing it a week before these kids make these life decisions is useless, stupid, and if a true UK fan does nothing to help the program.

I am 67 years young and have been a UK football fan since the days of the Bear so it is time that these negative posts stop. coach Stoops is the best thing to happen to UK since Fran Curcci and anyone who has followed the program through the many bad years and the few good ones knows this.

So support the Cats, praise the kids that have committed and wish the one who don't good luck but do it after we actually know who signs . Remember everyone is watching especially the other coaches in the SEC. Negative post only helps them in recruiting Against UK. If you really support the team it stops til after signing day.

Great post. To be fair to some who are being negative, the UK fanbase is long-suffering, and any glimmer of hope for a turnaround gets magnified. When disappointments come, as they always will to some extent or another, they let their frustrations go haywire. Just hang in there, folks. Things will be better in the long run.

 

[BBBLazing]

Originally posted by crazyqx83:
Nothing posted here makes any difference whatsoever to the program. Thinking otherwise is just some bizarre form of self importance.

I agree with this.

I have been a fan of UK sports since the 50's and have learned that Kentucky fans fall in to one of several categories:

1. Super Fan - They are the biggest UK fan ever and the problem with the program is that all the fans aren't as good as fans as they are. These are the (oft times drunk) people that will scream at an old man at a football game that just walked up to the second level and is sitting because he is tired, and tell him that he should not bother coming to the games if he is going to sit down. Any criticism of UK by a fan will result in all future recruits choosing another school because "there is too much negativity at UK." This group may also cuss out a recruit on social media if they choose another school.

2. Chicken Little - no matter what, everything our team or coaches do is wrong and it is only getting worse. These are the people that complain about the starting qb every week, hate our coaches or coordinators, but say that if we hire coach x or y we are digging our own grave. Everything is the AD's fault because he is terrible, until we get a new AD, then everything is his fault because he is terrible.

3. Stevie Wonder - These people blindly agree with everything that happens and think that UK can do no wrong. These people criticize every rival program for recruiting bad kids/good players, but when a UK kid does something wrong, they defend the kids at all cost (boys will be boys). The officials always cheat to hurt UK in this fans eyes (get it, Stevie Wonder?) These are the people that will say that we didn't really want/need a big recruit after the recruit picks another school.

4. Insider - These people know someone that know someone and have inside scoop about everything about coaching searches or player discipline. These people generally discuss situations vaguely so that their predictions can't help but come true.

Forums such as this are for all categories of fans, so I am not complaining about any of them. Just pointing out that most fans definitely fit into one of them.

 

[Blue Decade]

Originally posted by UKErik:
I agree with a lot of that. Losing quality recruits certainly has the potential to hurt in the long term. The thing is, we don't know if we lost big time guys or not. We'll find out down the road.

As for the fan forum negativity, I think most sites have that. No question though, for a struggling program like ours, it has the potential to be more of an issue than say pissed off fans at an Ohio State or Alabama.

GBB!!!

Every coach loses quality recruits. This is a part of the business, and people need to be realistic about it. On the flip side, Stoops got Westry, Krok, Hatcher, Ware, McWilson to flip to Kentucky from other programs. This past week has been a tough deal, but this can happen when you recruit at this competitive level. It's better than recruiting players no one else wants.

 

[WKY4UK]

Amen brother. I've 69 and have been a fan ever since I can remember. We all should be jumping with joy about the commitment of Tavin Richards instead of being so negative. CMS and staff will come out with another respectable class before the whole thing is done on Feb 4th. There will still be some surprises for those negative Nellie's.

 

[Hard2Bluff]

Not me man, I dread hearing bad news or posts. I did reluctantly give up ship for a minute during the Curry years however. I wore a UT ORANGE shirt in protest!

 

[.S&C.]

I'm a UK football diehard that is 29 yrs old and the one thing I waiting for my whole life was to see us beat UT's cheating asses in football. I grew up in tEnnessee all my friends are ut Fans.

That's a great post.

 

[Hard2Bluff]

Originally posted by .S&C.:
I'm a UK football diehard that is 29 yrs old and the one thing I waiting for my whole life was to see us beat UT's cheating asses in football. I grew up in tEnnessee all my friends are ut Fans.

That's a great post.

I salute you young man!

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I think so far we have an outstanding class as far as rankings go. If I remember correctly in the past we would only have 3-4 players ranked at their respective postions but now most all of ours are ranked. They might not be top 10 but they are good enough to be noticed and have the potential to be outstanding players with development.

 

[C1180]

Originally posted by MrHotDice:
I may be crazy but the number of negative posts on this board only hurt UK. Some on here can't wait to report that some kid has decommitted or got into some kind of trouble when in fact, it's normal in college in all sports programs. Now don't get me wrong, their is nothing wrong with complaints about the team when they are playing. That's just part of the season and complaining about a player or a play call is what fans do but it usually ends their.

The football season is really two seasons. The one you actually play and the one you recruit. Some So called fans in an effort to post on here first actually have no idea that being a negative Nellie does no good when in reality, no one has signed anyone yet. If you want to gripe, do it after signing day. Then you have a case but doing it a week before these kids make these life decisions is useless, stupid, and if a true UK fan does nothing to help the program.

I am 67 years young and have been a UK football fan since t
he days of the Bear so it is time that these negative posts stop. coach Stoops is the best thing to happen to UK since Fran Curcci and anyone who has followed the program through the many bad years and the few good ones knows this.

So support the Cats, praise the kids that have committed and wish the one who don't good luck but do it after we actually know who signs . Remember everyone is watching especially the other coaches in the SEC. Negative post only helps them in recruiting Against UK. If you really support the team it stops til after signing day.

I am 75 years old born in 1939. You are 67 years old born in 1947. I am eight years older than you and my memory of the Bear at UK is a bit fuzzy. He left UK in 1953. That would make you 6 years old when the Bear left UK. I doubt that you were following UK much as a six year old.

 

[BBBLazing]

Originally posted by C1180:

Originally posted by MrHotDice:
I may be crazy but the number of negative posts on this board only hurt UK. Some on here can't wait to report that some kid has decommitted or got into some kind of trouble when in fact, it's normal in college in all sports programs. Now don't get me wrong, their is nothing wrong with complaints about the team when they are playing. That's just part of the season and complaining about a player or a play call is what fans do but it usually ends their.

The football season is really two seasons. The one you actually play and the one you recruit. Some So called fans in an effort to post on here first actually have no idea that being a negative Nellie does no good when in reality, no one has signed anyone yet. If you want to gripe, do it after signing day. Then you have a case but doing it a week before these kids make these life decisions is useless, stupid, and if a true UK fan does nothing to help the program.

I am 67 years young and have been a UK football fan since t
he days of the Bear so it is time that these negative posts stop. coach Stoops is the best thing to happen to UK since Fran Curcci and anyone who has followed the program through the many bad years and the few good ones knows this.

So support the Cats, praise the kids that have committed and wish the one who don't good luck but do it after we actually know who signs . Remember everyone is watching especially the other coaches in the SEC. Negative post only helps them in recruiting Against UK. If you really support the team it stops til after signing day.

I am 75 years old born in 1939. You are 67 years old born in 1947. I am eight years older than you and my memory of the Bear at UK is a bit fuzzy. He left UK in 1953. That would make you 6 years old when the Bear left UK. I doubt that you were following UK much as a six year old.

He would probably be a Stevie Wonder. Maybe just a liar.

 

[GridCats]

Originally posted by WKY4UK:

WKY4UK:
Amen brother. I've 69 and have been a fan ever since I can remember.

Hey man, I think most of us have been.

 

[TheThack]

Originally posted by Kooky Kats:

Originally posted by crazyqx83:
Nothing posted here makes any difference whatsoever to the program. Thinking otherwise is just some bizarre form of self importance.

+1

if you guys think opinions of fat old white dudes on a message board plays into the decisions of a high school kid and their family's to choose which college to attend - you're nuts.

learn coaching.

Football success on the field and in recruiting has 1000% to do with the coaching staff. Have weak link there and it will be exposed. This is how Brooks won without so much star talent. He was a great coach who had those kids attention, amidst waves of 'negative posts'.

get over yourselves.

First off, unless you have a photo by your user name how does the reader know you are a fat old white dude? Second, unless you are an actual recruit or someone with direct influence or interaction with a recruit how can you say with certainty whether or not what fans post on this and other boards impact a potential recruit. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I really do not know. I do know however that it seems a good number of recruits have Twitter accounts and I suspect a good number of them are at least somewhat curious about what is being said about them by the fanbase of teams they are interested in.

Does it have a major impact? I doubt it. But I would not say it has no impact on recruiting. I think to bury our head in the sand and say that it has no impact is not being totally realistic. There are many things that go into the decision making process I would think. In the grand scheme of things message boards probably ranks very very low and in some cases maybe not at all. However, in a few cases it could have a small impact and in a tough decision it could be a small part of what tips the scale one way or the other.

 

[Hjack]

Originally posted by Kooky Kats:

Originally posted by crazyqx83:
Nothing posted here makes any difference whatsoever to the program. Thinking otherwise is just some bizarre form of self importance.

+1

if you guys think opinions of fat old white dudes on a message board plays into the decisions of a high school kid and their family's to choose which college to attend - you're nuts.

Didn't realize that a poster's weight played any role here.

 

[~Keyser Soze~]

Originally posted by MrHotDice:
I may be crazy but the number of negative posts on this board only hurt UK. Some on here can't wait to report that some kid has decommitted or got into some kind of trouble when in fact, it's normal in college in all sports programs. Now don't get me wrong, their is nothing wrong with complaints about the team when they are playing. That's just part of the season and complaining about a player or a play call is what fans do but it usually ends their.

The football season is really two seasons. The one you actually play and the one you recruit. Some So called fans in an effort to post on here first actually have no idea that being a negative Nellie does no good when in reality, no one has signed anyone yet. If you want to gripe, do it after signing day. Then you have a case but doing it a week before these kids make these life decisions is useless, stupid, and if a true UK fan does nothing to help the program.

I am 67 years young and have been a UK football fan since the days of the Bear so it is time that these negative posts stop. coach Stoops is the best thing to happen to UK since Fran Curcci and anyone who has followed the program through the many bad years and the few good ones knows this.

So support the Cats, praise the kids that have committed and wish the one who don't good luck but do it after we actually know who signs . Remember everyone is watching especially the other coaches in the SEC. Negative post only helps them in recruiting Against UK. If you really support the team it stops til after signing day.

Yeah, it's not like the coach had an ice cream truck roll up after practice in the dog days of fall camp or have a slogan. Oh wait, we do have a slogan but still, it not trash the program on a daily basis worthy like the old one. We need to be more selective about the things we want to blow up into an issue.