Monday, March 20, 2006

Sports Information and TOB show some balls

This past football season saw a civil war between BC fans on the main BC message board (Eagle Action, a Rivals.com site). A core group of the half-empty set were banned reportedly because the Rivals administrators received a “shut them up” edict from the Sports Information Department and the Football staff. (The half-empty group migrated successfully to the BC Scout board, Eagle Insider.)


I didn’t totally buy the fact the Sports Information department cared or went so far as to threaten access to Eagle Action. Every message board has a similar dynamic, so why would BC care and waste their time trying to police it? I also didn’t want to believe because that meant BC, TOB and his staff were clearly focusing on the wrong things and missing the big picture -- winning football games.


It has been a while since the supposed edict, but it now looks like BC is not as scared of criticism as some believed. Check out this surprisingly candid chat transcript from bceagles.com.


Now there were plenty of softballs, but some of the topics that TOB fielded included many of the fans’ constant gripes like:


1. Explaining Quinton Porter’s lack of progress
2. Lack of use of the fullback
3. Are we [BC] ever going to win a championship?
4. Criticizing TOB for his “cupboards were bare” comment
5. Late season fizzles in recruiting
6. Deferring to the second half of every game


Now TOB didn’t answer each with a Parcells-like bluntness, but to even read him addressing these questions on the official BC Sports site is a quantum leap as far as open criticism of BC is concerned. After a decade at the Heights, there is a still a large portion of the BC fans (including this one) who are torn on TOB. We appreciate his accomplishments, but are frustrated by the annual near misses of the big time and his subtle lowering of expectations. Two things will win over this group -- winning a real bowl game and starting to speak more candidly…so this is a start.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Honestly, I don't know why anyone wouldn't defer barring bad weather.

It's a great motivational tool pre-half and during half-time.

"Fellas, if we make one more stop, we get the ball back to start the half."

"Fellas, if we get just a few more points here before half, we get the ball to start the half. We can start to pull away."

"Fellas, it looked bad out there in the first half, but we get the ball back to start the half. We get a fresh start."

Besides - most teams don't fly out of the gate and score on that first possession to start the game. You've got a chance a decent field position with your first offensive possession if you've got a solid Defense.

At UGA, Richt has deferred every game he could unless the decision involved weather.

pwd