02-07-2008, 10:30 PM
02-08-2008, 12:13 AM
Boy, for a guy who identifies himself as the world's greatest objective journalist, he certainly led Sheridan on with this question-
"Q: Constant revenue loss and ETSU fans being forced to watch football inside the Mini-Dome – an outdated multi-purpose indoor facility – are two of the biggest issues that contributed to the demise of Buccaneer football. What is your take on the Mini-Dome?"
HEY, BRIAN T. SMITH, WAY TO LEAD THE QUESTION!
After that intro, how could anyone come up with an answer other than "That place is a dump?"
Heck, ETSU beat a nationally ranked Furman team in '86 in Memorial Center, which was huge after coming off a winless season.
So the answer "It wasn't very fan friendly, but when it was first built it allowed ETSU to outrecruit us and come up with a better record than we had at Furman in 1979," though the truthful and accurate answer, wasn't going to come out of Sheridan's mouth.
"Q: Constant revenue loss and ETSU fans being forced to watch football inside the Mini-Dome – an outdated multi-purpose indoor facility – are two of the biggest issues that contributed to the demise of Buccaneer football. What is your take on the Mini-Dome?"
HEY, BRIAN T. SMITH, WAY TO LEAD THE QUESTION!
After that intro, how could anyone come up with an answer other than "That place is a dump?"
Heck, ETSU beat a nationally ranked Furman team in '86 in Memorial Center, which was huge after coming off a winless season.
So the answer "It wasn't very fan friendly, but when it was first built it allowed ETSU to outrecruit us and come up with a better record than we had at Furman in 1979," though the truthful and accurate answer, wasn't going to come out of Sheridan's mouth.
02-08-2008, 08:33 AM
In hindsight, I also believe the dome was a mistake for football. I am not sure how anyone can disagree with that.
Yes, it probably was a recruiting advantage to a certain extent because of the uniqueness of the facility but that advantage must of been offset by other disadvantages because ETSU didn't match or exceed 1979's 7-4 record until 1996.
If you are looking for a truthful and accurate answer from Sheridan maybe he should have added..."but that recruiting advantage didn't last long because 1979 was the first and only time ETSU beat us while I was the coach and we outrecruited them so bad with an outdoor stadium that we won 6 Southern Conference Championships in my 8 year tenure."
Finally, I don't care if the article was slanted or not. I am just glad someone currently at a newspaper is willing to print something other than a "ETSU is great" piece. Clearly, ETSU is not getting better.
Yes, it probably was a recruiting advantage to a certain extent because of the uniqueness of the facility but that advantage must of been offset by other disadvantages because ETSU didn't match or exceed 1979's 7-4 record until 1996.
If you are looking for a truthful and accurate answer from Sheridan maybe he should have added..."but that recruiting advantage didn't last long because 1979 was the first and only time ETSU beat us while I was the coach and we outrecruited them so bad with an outdoor stadium that we won 6 Southern Conference Championships in my 8 year tenure."
Finally, I don't care if the article was slanted or not. I am just glad someone currently at a newspaper is willing to print something other than a "ETSU is great" piece. Clearly, ETSU is not getting better.
02-08-2008, 10:22 AM
Buc- Who started the idea that you COULD write something other than "ETSU is right?"
And could do it objectively, and not with an agenda?
And could do it objectively, and not with an agenda?
02-08-2008, 11:13 AM
You dont have an agenda?!
02-08-2008, 01:20 PM
No, I don't.
But what bothers me is that in this whole football thing- it proves my point about not being a good sports area.
When the Browns left Cleveland, we didn't have people asking "WHAT DOES FOOTBALL BRING TO A COMMUNITY?"
You didn't have to condescend the population of Northeast Ohio with questions that seem to on a first grade level.
What does a movie theatre bring to a community? What does a resturaunt give to a community? What does a church bring to a community?
Only in Johnson City would we have to put up with this sort of questioning.
In other communities, they try to connect their sports franchises to downtown revitalization. They see it as a key to being cosmopolitan.
Or, colleges see it as a way to improve their image.
Las Vegas, which less than 20 years ago was the same market size as Johnson City, incidentily, would do just about anything for a sports franchise.
If there is any city in America that DIDN'T need a sports franchise, it would seem to be Vegas, but they know that until they have some team called the "Las Vegas Blue Chips" or whatever the people of Salt Lake City have a community rallying point that Vegas does not.
But people do not go around Las Vegas asking "Why do we need Caesar's Palace to hold Title Fights? Why does UNLV need to play football on a Division I-A level? Why do we want the Marlins/Penguins/Expos/Sacramento Kings?"
They ask "Why, when the NFL-Owned Arena Football League will put franchises here and play the Arena Bowl here, will they not consider an NFL team here?"
But in Johnson City, we're at this level.
And ultimately, what questions like that do are give the sports movement enough rope to hang itself.
Example- Sheridan speaking of how football is the reason why a baseball player is considering South Carolina or Clemson.
Now, YOU KNOW THAT'S DEBATABLE! A baseball player is not going to go to Penn State ahead of Cal-St. Fullerton because the Nittany Lions have a football team and the Titans do not, and he's not going to choose South Carolina or Clemson because they have competitive football teams.
He's going to go to South Carolina or Clemson because they have some of the best baseball programs in the country.
Same thing with Sheridan's saying "there is no event, there is no gathering that attracts more students, fans, supporters than football," or his point that a basketball player will more likely sign with a college that has a winning football program.
Why, then, has Miami historically struggled in hoops? Why is Ed DeChellis having a tough time getting good recruits at Penn State?
And he said a WINNING football program. ETSU football historically stunk. Does this mean that if ETSU football comes back the rest of the sports will stink, too?
On football being the most popular rallying point on campus- Six thousand people went to the ETSU at Jacksonville basketball game. The Dolphins' football field doesn't hold 6,000 people.
Do more people go to Georgetown Hoyas football games than basketball games?
Mind you, I think Sheridan's comments have a lot of truth to them- but he speaks in ultimatums that aren't necessarily universal.
Because of that, a Wayne Andrews or whoever can simply pick his points apart.
So you don't ask "Why is football important?" Nobody ever became a football fan because the visiting team helps a city's hotel occupancy rates.
You point out the loss of football has crippled ETSU athletics, perhaps permanently.
And we all know it has.
In order to do that, though, you have to call Dave Mullins a liar when he says "last year was the greatest year in the history of ETSU sports."
You have to say "So what?" to tennis and golf triumphs, let alone basketball victories in a lesser league. You have to show outrage when the Bucs lose by 27 at home for the right to go to the NCAAs instead of saying "Belmont would have beaten Ohio State that day!"
You have to criticize a team for losing by 50 to Syracuse. You have to recognize the Georgia game as a gift. You have to recognize they are putting lipstick on a pig. You have to criticize a President instead of saying "HE GAVE US A PHARMACY SCHOOL!"
Until you do that, and quit asking stupid questions like "Why do we need football?" then the East Tennessee State Buccaneers are doomed to mediocrity.
At best.
But what bothers me is that in this whole football thing- it proves my point about not being a good sports area.
When the Browns left Cleveland, we didn't have people asking "WHAT DOES FOOTBALL BRING TO A COMMUNITY?"
You didn't have to condescend the population of Northeast Ohio with questions that seem to on a first grade level.
What does a movie theatre bring to a community? What does a resturaunt give to a community? What does a church bring to a community?
Only in Johnson City would we have to put up with this sort of questioning.
In other communities, they try to connect their sports franchises to downtown revitalization. They see it as a key to being cosmopolitan.
Or, colleges see it as a way to improve their image.
Las Vegas, which less than 20 years ago was the same market size as Johnson City, incidentily, would do just about anything for a sports franchise.
If there is any city in America that DIDN'T need a sports franchise, it would seem to be Vegas, but they know that until they have some team called the "Las Vegas Blue Chips" or whatever the people of Salt Lake City have a community rallying point that Vegas does not.
But people do not go around Las Vegas asking "Why do we need Caesar's Palace to hold Title Fights? Why does UNLV need to play football on a Division I-A level? Why do we want the Marlins/Penguins/Expos/Sacramento Kings?"
They ask "Why, when the NFL-Owned Arena Football League will put franchises here and play the Arena Bowl here, will they not consider an NFL team here?"
But in Johnson City, we're at this level.
And ultimately, what questions like that do are give the sports movement enough rope to hang itself.
Example- Sheridan speaking of how football is the reason why a baseball player is considering South Carolina or Clemson.
Now, YOU KNOW THAT'S DEBATABLE! A baseball player is not going to go to Penn State ahead of Cal-St. Fullerton because the Nittany Lions have a football team and the Titans do not, and he's not going to choose South Carolina or Clemson because they have competitive football teams.
He's going to go to South Carolina or Clemson because they have some of the best baseball programs in the country.
Same thing with Sheridan's saying "there is no event, there is no gathering that attracts more students, fans, supporters than football," or his point that a basketball player will more likely sign with a college that has a winning football program.
Why, then, has Miami historically struggled in hoops? Why is Ed DeChellis having a tough time getting good recruits at Penn State?
And he said a WINNING football program. ETSU football historically stunk. Does this mean that if ETSU football comes back the rest of the sports will stink, too?
On football being the most popular rallying point on campus- Six thousand people went to the ETSU at Jacksonville basketball game. The Dolphins' football field doesn't hold 6,000 people.
Do more people go to Georgetown Hoyas football games than basketball games?
Mind you, I think Sheridan's comments have a lot of truth to them- but he speaks in ultimatums that aren't necessarily universal.
Because of that, a Wayne Andrews or whoever can simply pick his points apart.
So you don't ask "Why is football important?" Nobody ever became a football fan because the visiting team helps a city's hotel occupancy rates.
You point out the loss of football has crippled ETSU athletics, perhaps permanently.
And we all know it has.
In order to do that, though, you have to call Dave Mullins a liar when he says "last year was the greatest year in the history of ETSU sports."
You have to say "So what?" to tennis and golf triumphs, let alone basketball victories in a lesser league. You have to show outrage when the Bucs lose by 27 at home for the right to go to the NCAAs instead of saying "Belmont would have beaten Ohio State that day!"
You have to criticize a team for losing by 50 to Syracuse. You have to recognize the Georgia game as a gift. You have to recognize they are putting lipstick on a pig. You have to criticize a President instead of saying "HE GAVE US A PHARMACY SCHOOL!"
Until you do that, and quit asking stupid questions like "Why do we need football?" then the East Tennessee State Buccaneers are doomed to mediocrity.
At best.
02-08-2008, 01:29 PM
Wait wait wait. So you wouldnt want to expose the real truth about football to get Stanton and Mullins fired? You would just do it out of the goodness of your heart?
02-08-2008, 02:45 PM
What IS the truth about football? It has already been stated. A million times.
Here's the truth.
A- The majority of people just don't care. This is the majority. Non-fans or fans who just don't pay any attention to ETSU athletics- they are more inclined to follow NASCAR, the Vols, or whatever.
B- The ETSU fans who do care, but are wimps. These are the people we see on here every day. You know who you are.
These are the fans who would call me "Debbie Downer," or who would subscribe to the Bill Meade philosophy that "If you don't root for Phil Fulmer- you're not a real Vols fan and you don't need to be in Neyland Stadium!"
Change that to "Don't back the administration and go with them- you're not a real Bucs fan and you don't need to be in Memorial Center!" It's the same mentality most of the fans around here have.
It's the same mentality that had Tim Smith as an NBA prospect when he was making fundamental mistakes that you'd have to be blind to ignore.
It's the same mentality that when I said "You hire a David Mullins to be the AD so you can drop football" had people tell me I was crazy.
It's the same mentality that when I offer legitimate concerns on this team- no big man, a weak schedule- labels me as an assassin.
These people are willing to accept anything the administration says about football- "We didn't have enough money, Title IX concerns, not enough people cared, college is supposed to be about academics and not overpaid coaches and dumb jocks, etc."
They are blind- they feel that if their team loses they must make excuses about it. Good example- because many UT fans have the same mindset- was that Peyton Manning was the victim of an ESPN conspiracy when he didn't win the Heisman.
It is the mentality that when ETSU lost to Oklahoma, rather than criticize their own team for not scoring in the last six minutes or whatever it was, they bragged on the loss.
Sad to say, that's the majority of fans around here. And many of them are businessmen and will buy season tickets or advertising and fear no reprisal.
C- The group of ETSU fans who really care and are willing to do something about it.
Unfortunately, these guys have had their voices silenced. The media is in the laps of ETSU- I've been a victim of that.
But the other thing about these people are that they really don't know what to do. ETSU does not care about athletics and the scary thing is that there is no evidence the TBR and/or Faculty Senate will want a new president who does.
And how many people are there who are like this? One sportswriter once theorized to me there are 400.
I think that total might be a bit low, but even if it's 10 times more than that, is that enough?
That's the truth about ETSU football.
Here's the truth.
A- The majority of people just don't care. This is the majority. Non-fans or fans who just don't pay any attention to ETSU athletics- they are more inclined to follow NASCAR, the Vols, or whatever.
B- The ETSU fans who do care, but are wimps. These are the people we see on here every day. You know who you are.
These are the fans who would call me "Debbie Downer," or who would subscribe to the Bill Meade philosophy that "If you don't root for Phil Fulmer- you're not a real Vols fan and you don't need to be in Neyland Stadium!"
Change that to "Don't back the administration and go with them- you're not a real Bucs fan and you don't need to be in Memorial Center!" It's the same mentality most of the fans around here have.
It's the same mentality that had Tim Smith as an NBA prospect when he was making fundamental mistakes that you'd have to be blind to ignore.
It's the same mentality that when I said "You hire a David Mullins to be the AD so you can drop football" had people tell me I was crazy.
It's the same mentality that when I offer legitimate concerns on this team- no big man, a weak schedule- labels me as an assassin.
These people are willing to accept anything the administration says about football- "We didn't have enough money, Title IX concerns, not enough people cared, college is supposed to be about academics and not overpaid coaches and dumb jocks, etc."
They are blind- they feel that if their team loses they must make excuses about it. Good example- because many UT fans have the same mindset- was that Peyton Manning was the victim of an ESPN conspiracy when he didn't win the Heisman.
It is the mentality that when ETSU lost to Oklahoma, rather than criticize their own team for not scoring in the last six minutes or whatever it was, they bragged on the loss.
Sad to say, that's the majority of fans around here. And many of them are businessmen and will buy season tickets or advertising and fear no reprisal.
C- The group of ETSU fans who really care and are willing to do something about it.
Unfortunately, these guys have had their voices silenced. The media is in the laps of ETSU- I've been a victim of that.
But the other thing about these people are that they really don't know what to do. ETSU does not care about athletics and the scary thing is that there is no evidence the TBR and/or Faculty Senate will want a new president who does.
And how many people are there who are like this? One sportswriter once theorized to me there are 400.
I think that total might be a bit low, but even if it's 10 times more than that, is that enough?
That's the truth about ETSU football.
02-08-2008, 03:29 PM
Oh lord, here we go. Blah blah Brian Smith stole my work, blah blah I can't get a job, blah blah it's a conspiracy involving Mike White's shiny bald head and the hot girls that work in the media relations office...
Here's an idea, shut your damn mouth, he's doing what you would give atleast one testicle to get to do right now, and it's killing you. It's a great Q and A, and even though it's just one, that one person has people talking, and now someone like Coach Sheridan getting it ON PAPER where people will read it will make people think.
Just keep posting on here Pitt, it gives me entertainment when I'm hungover.
Here's an idea, shut your damn mouth, he's doing what you would give atleast one testicle to get to do right now, and it's killing you. It's a great Q and A, and even though it's just one, that one person has people talking, and now someone like Coach Sheridan getting it ON PAPER where people will read it will make people think.
Just keep posting on here Pitt, it gives me entertainment when I'm hungover.
02-08-2008, 04:43 PM
We've been getting it on paper for five years.
We'll list you as a "B."
We'll list you as a "B."
02-08-2008, 08:19 PM
If we bring back football, we need to do it right. I'm not talking about going D1, I'm talking about putting a WINNER on the field. Win games and you will draw some fans.
Mid-90's were not bad.
I remember too many 0-fer years. I enjoyed some of those years, we seemed to have entertaining defenses, but some years we were just horrible.
And our miserable record at homecoming was legendary. If I'm not mistaken, in '69, when we went undefeated, we TIED HOMECOMING!
Mid-90's were not bad.
I remember too many 0-fer years. I enjoyed some of those years, we seemed to have entertaining defenses, but some years we were just horrible.
And our miserable record at homecoming was legendary. If I'm not mistaken, in '69, when we went undefeated, we TIED HOMECOMING!