Based off some conversations the last couple of weeks here are some things ALL Blazer fans need to understand, internalize, and use as a basis for their decisions. You don't have to like them. You don't have to agree with them. You will likely say it's not the way things should be and you would be right, but it's the way things ARE right now:
1) The football program is NOT going away. There is no plan to do that now or ever. That means there are no contingency plans to eliminate football whether based on McGee succeeding, signing a new lease with Legion Field, solar eclipses, or anything else.
2) When you ask about, suggest, entertain, and/or joke about football going away, you are directly hindering UAB football's efforts at being more successful on the field. Period. There are stories being fed to a mostly eager media directly meant to seed the idea of UAB dropping football. There are people with a stake in the failure or non-success of UAB football (e.g., opposing coaches) feeding and fueling rumors of UAB dropping football. If you are giving the subject half a second's thought you are helping one or both of those efforts. Yes, you can say what you want, but that is the consequence right now.
3) To succeed, UAB football requires donations and support. Now. It needs you to be proactive in seeking ways to lend support. Yes, you. Now. Shouldn't we see some signs that UAB football is committed to succeed (wins, plans for facilities/improvements, press conferences, announced fund-raising drives) so we know our support is not being wasted - good money after bad? Yes. But you won't get that. Not right now. Doesn't change the fact that donations and support are needed now. From you. This is the Braveheart moment. St. Crispin's Day. It's not about saving the program, it's about the opportunity to turn the page and change the narrative. The iron is hot. NOW.
4) More to the point, if you're thinking UAB football cannot expect wins, fans, and support without facilities - up to and including an OCS - you have a very sound, logical point. You should be proud of your reasoning skills. Now shut up. Our reality is what it is regardless of logic. Donations, support, pride...THEN wins, fans, facilities. You know why our situation is bass-ackwards so there's no need to debate the point. Donate and support. NOW.
5) Enjoy having a laugh at the program's expense? Self-deprecating humor? Hilariously self-aware signature with your posts? Sarcastic emoticons? Bag on your head? Stop. Stop now. Who is your audience? Everyone here knows what's going on. Is it aimed at the players and coaches? They hurt more than you ever could. Mackin, Witt, the BOT? They know every crack and crevice in more detail than you. The media and public? Well, there you have an audience. They eat that stuff up because it reinforces what they want to believe and gives them more kindling for the fire they want to stoke. How is that helping UAB? NOW is not the time. Maybe later, not NOW.
NOW is circle the wagons time after the past years' humiliations. DONATE. SUPPORT. PRIDE. NOW.
(12-21-2013 09:56 AM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]Based off some conversations the last couple of weeks here are some things ALL Blazer fans need to understand, internalize, and use as a basis for their decisions. You don't have to like them. You don't have to agree with them. You will likely say it's not the way things should be and you would be right, but it's the way things ARE right now:
1) The football program is NOT going away. There is no plan to do that now or ever. That means there are no contingency plans to eliminate football whether based on McGee succeeding, signing a new lease with Legion Field, solar eclipses, or anything else.
2) When you ask about, suggest, entertain, and/or joke about football going away, you are directly hindering UAB football's efforts at being more successful on the field. Period. There are stories being fed to a mostly eager media directly meant to seed the idea of UAB dropping football. There are people with a stake in the failure or non-success of UAB football (e.g., opposing coaches) feeding and fueling rumors of UAB dropping football. If you are giving the subject half a second's thought you are helping one or both of those efforts. Yes, you can say what you want, but that is the consequence right now.
3) To succeed, UAB football requires donations and support. Now. It needs you to be proactive in seeking ways to lend support. Yes, you. Now. Shouldn't we see some signs that UAB football is committed to succeed (wins, plans for facilities/improvements, press conferences, announced fund-raising drives) so we know our support is not being wasted - good money after bad? Yes. But you won't get that. Not right now. Doesn't change the fact that donations and support are needed now. From you. This is the Braveheart moment. St. Crispin's Day. It's not about saving the program, it's about the opportunity to turn the page and change the narrative. The iron is hot. NOW.
4) More to the point, if you're thinking UAB football cannot expect wins, fans, and support without facilities - up to and including an OCS - you have a very sound, logical point. You should be proud of your reasoning skills. Now shut up. Our reality is what it is regardless of logic. Donations, support, pride...THEN wins, fans, facilities. You know why our situation is bass-ackwards so there's no need to debate the point. Donate and support. NOW.
5) Enjoy having a laugh at the program's expense? Self-deprecating humor? Hilariously self-aware signature with your posts? Sarcastic emoticons? Bag on your head? Stop. Stop now. Who is your audience? Everyone here knows what's going on. Is it aimed at the players and coaches? They hurt more than you ever could. Mackin, Witt, the BOT? They know every crack and crevice in more detail than you. The media and public? Well, there you have an audience. They eat that stuff up because it reinforces what they want to believe and gives them more kindling for the fire they want to stoke. How is that helping UAB? NOW is not the time. Maybe later, not NOW.
NOW is circle the wagons time after the past years' humiliations. DONATE. SUPPORT. PRIDE. NOW.
+1000
(12-21-2013 10:01 AM)82blazer Wrote: [ -> ] (12-21-2013 09:56 AM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]Based off some conversations the last couple of weeks here are some things ALL Blazer fans need to understand, internalize, and use as a basis for their decisions. You don't have to like them. You don't have to agree with them. You will likely say it's not the way things should be and you would be right, but it's the way things ARE right now:
1) The football program is NOT going away. There is no plan to do that now or ever. That means there are no contingency plans to eliminate football whether based on McGee succeeding, signing a new lease with Legion Field, solar eclipses, or anything else.
2) When you ask about, suggest, entertain, and/or joke about football going away, you are directly hindering UAB football's efforts at being more successful on the field. Period. There are stories being fed to a mostly eager media directly meant to seed the idea of UAB dropping football. There are people with a stake in the failure or non-success of UAB football (e.g., opposing coaches) feeding and fueling rumors of UAB dropping football. If you are giving the subject half a second's thought you are helping one or both of those efforts. Yes, you can say what you want, but that is the consequence right now.
3) To succeed, UAB football requires donations and support. Now. It needs you to be proactive in seeking ways to lend support. Yes, you. Now. Shouldn't we see some signs that UAB football is committed to succeed (wins, plans for facilities/improvements, press conferences, announced fund-raising drives) so we know our support is not being wasted - good money after bad? Yes. But you won't get that. Not right now. Doesn't change the fact that donations and support are needed now. From you. This is the Braveheart moment. St. Crispin's Day. It's not about saving the program, it's about the opportunity to turn the page and change the narrative. The iron is hot. NOW.
4) More to the point, if you're thinking UAB football cannot expect wins, fans, and support without facilities - up to and including an OCS - you have a very sound, logical point. You should be proud of your reasoning skills. Now shut up. Our reality is what it is regardless of logic. Donations, support, pride...THEN wins, fans, facilities. You know why our situation is bass-ackwards so there's no need to debate the point. Donate and support. NOW.
5) Enjoy having a laugh at the program's expense? Self-deprecating humor? Hilariously self-aware signature with your posts? Sarcastic emoticons? Bag on your head? Stop. Stop now. Who is your audience? Everyone here knows what's going on. Is it aimed at the players and coaches? They hurt more than you ever could. Mackin, Witt, the BOT? They know every crack and crevice in more detail than you. The media and public? Well, there you have an audience. They eat that stuff up because it reinforces what they want to believe and gives them more kindling for the fire they want to stoke. How is that helping UAB? NOW is not the time. Maybe later, not NOW.
NOW is circle the wagons time after the past years' humiliations. DONATE. SUPPORT. PRIDE. NOW.
+1000
This is a very good post. I'm sure many of us on here do donate, and will continue to donate. However, for there to be a major change, either some corporate sponsors, and UAB friends with net worths of several hundred million need to step up. Mary Harbert is the only listed billionaire in this state, but there are quite a few people with net worths of over 100 million. Mackin needs to identify them, then separate them from some of their money.
I openly wept. Excellent post and I along with many players who read this board agree.
What he said. Sometimes perception becomes reality.
I know how crappy our last few seasons of football have been, have felt. So friggin' what? How many years has Vanderbilt football been the doormat of the SEC? Where are they now? Things *can* get better.
"UAB is a basketball school. You should concentrate on what you do well and quit wasting money and effort on football." Tell it to Kentucky. They're a no-crap basketball school... but if they dropped football would they stay in the SEC and reap the benefits? Nope. Our benefits are lower and less obvious, but very real nonetheless, and that goes without discussing what the perception of UAB would be if we dropped football in this football crazed state. Wanna *really* look like losers, even moreso than after this season? Quit football. "Here's your sign, UAB!"
Or try this one - "Alabama is a football school, they should quit wasting money and effort on basketball." Try peddling that one and see how far you get before outraged bammer pride raises up. Our won-loss record in football sucks... but I am very proud of every kid who puts on a UAB jersey and goes and busts his ass to roll that rock uphill, knowing as well or probably far better than we do the weight of a season like the one just past. You think you're frustrated? How do you think our players and coaches feel? How much effort and sweat do you have invested compared to them? How do you think the players feel when their own "fans" openly discuss shutting it down and walking away? How about the player's parents, who likely were involved in the decision to pick a school and went with UAB? How sick at their stomach do you think they feel when they read talk like that, when they have to wonder if their son will have to transfer, if anyone will want him at a decent school, if they will have to pay out of pocket for his last couple of years of school unexpectedly?
There has been more than a little noise on this board to the effect that the capital funds drive is not about football... and it isn't. That does not mean that some of that money can't/won't do double duty, that buildings can't serve more than one purpose and serve more than one function, especially in terms of how they are budgeted. Bartow Convocation Center ring any bells? Money that is donated to that campaign frees up money that can be used for other purposes, as well.
Get up off some money. Every little bit helps. Lord knows that I'm no big money donor, but I chip in for what I can, and will continue to, and will add to it as I can. I'm willing to bet that there *will* be a chance to donate more directly to support UAB Athletics as well, whether they come right out and start an OCS fund drive or not. Things like the new football offices need support and are desperately needed. The practice field is a friggin' disgrace. We have to load our players on buses and leave campus to practice when it rains, for gosh sake! WTF!?! These may seem like small things compared to an OCS, but they are very real everyday facility issues that need to be addressed, and they'll help both the players and coaches we have now and with recruiting.
I look for announcements regarding upcoming football series in the years going forward to come soon. Mackin is trying to find us both teams we can schedule at home to get more wins and money games on the road that we have a legit chance to win. That's not easy, I don't envy him... but that's his job.
Keep the faith. Go Blazers!
Excellent points, but one.
Do not, and I'll type this again, do NOT lowball the hurt we as fans feel. McGee knows what it is to suck for 2 years. The players, 5 at the most. We're working on year 10, and have dragged ourselves to that miserable pit the entire time, ponied up money that some more than others can afford, the only people in the ******* building in green on "wear your school colors to work day" and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
We listen to that "shut it down" ****, too, and we can't talk football with other people, and it gets damn hard to keep your sense of humor.
(12-21-2013 09:56 AM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]Based off some conversations the last couple of weeks here are some things ALL Blazer fans need to understand, internalize, and use as a basis for their decisions. You don't have to like them. You don't have to agree with them. You will likely say it's not the way things should be and you would be right, but it's the way things ARE right now:
1) The football program is NOT going away. There is no plan to do that now or ever. That means there are no contingency plans to eliminate football whether based on McGee succeeding, signing a new lease with Legion Field, solar eclipses, or anything else.
2) When you ask about, suggest, entertain, and/or joke about football going away, you are directly hindering UAB football's efforts at being more successful on the field. Period. There are stories being fed to a mostly eager media directly meant to seed the idea of UAB dropping football. There are people with a stake in the failure or non-success of UAB football (e.g., opposing coaches) feeding and fueling rumors of UAB dropping football. If you are giving the subject half a second's thought you are helping one or both of those efforts. Yes, you can say what you want, but that is the consequence right now.
3) To succeed, UAB football requires donations and support. Now. It needs you to be proactive in seeking ways to lend support. Yes, you. Now. Shouldn't we see some signs that UAB football is committed to succeed (wins, plans for facilities/improvements, press conferences, announced fund-raising drives) so we know our support is not being wasted - good money after bad? Yes. But you won't get that. Not right now. Doesn't change the fact that donations and support are needed now. From you. This is the Braveheart moment. St. Crispin's Day. It's not about saving the program, it's about the opportunity to turn the page and change the narrative. The iron is hot. NOW.
4) More to the point, if you're thinking UAB football cannot expect wins, fans, and support without facilities - up to and including an OCS - you have a very sound, logical point. You should be proud of your reasoning skills. Now shut up. Our reality is what it is regardless of logic. Donations, support, pride...THEN wins, fans, facilities. You know why our situation is bass-ackwards so there's no need to debate the point. Donate and support. NOW.
5) Enjoy having a laugh at the program's expense? Self-deprecating humor? Hilariously self-aware signature with your posts? Sarcastic emoticons? Bag on your head? Stop. Stop now. Who is your audience? Everyone here knows what's going on. Is it aimed at the players and coaches? They hurt more than you ever could. Mackin, Witt, the BOT? They know every crack and crevice in more detail than you. The media and public? Well, there you have an audience. They eat that stuff up because it reinforces what they want to believe and gives them more kindling for the fire they want to stoke. How is that helping UAB? NOW is not the time. Maybe later, not NOW.
NOW is circle the wagons time after the past years' humiliations. DONATE. SUPPORT. PRIDE. NOW.
Agree 100%
The BOT under JR didnt kill UAB football , he just stop his progression ....
but I can feel progress in the air
(12-21-2013 11:20 AM)Smaug Wrote: [ -> ]Excellent points, but one.
Do not, and I'll type this again, do NOT lowball the hurt we as fans feel. McGee knows what it is to suck for 2 years. The players, 5 at the most. We're working on year 10, and have dragged ourselves to that miserable pit the entire time, ponied up money that some more than others can afford, the only people in the ******* building in green on "wear your school colors to work day" and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Amen! I'm not sure how anybody can really understand the pain UAB Blazer fans have felt over the past 10 years of football, and that includes games on and off the field.
Oh, I'm in no way lowballing the butthurt that dedicated UAB fans feel. "It ain't easy bleeding Green" is quoted for truth.
The thing is that I'm stubborn as hell once my allegiance is given. I could have said "Screw it" and started rooting for some team that's going to win ten games a year a long time back. Football season would be much less painful and frustrating.
I am, God help me, a UAB fan. I'm not going anywhere except Legion Field, to watch my team play. If that rusty hunk of junk closes, I guess I'll go watch our games at the Met... but I will be there, wherever "there" is.
At what point can we expect concrete actions that will change the direction of the program? "Just give us more money, more money more money" without any plan on how to turn around the sinking ship. If there were SOMETHING I could hang my hat on that gave me any hope for a turnaround, I'd be writing the first check. However the story is just "give us more money" and "we're not shutting down" but never "we're going to win, and this is how".
Show me something, SOMETHING to give me hope and I'll get back on the bandwagon, even before the wins come.
You will be getting that plan soon. Just be patient. I know what they are working on and will be asking for that check to go with an outlined plan soon.
+!00 to Smaug and mixduptransistor said it best.
I don't care for the "shut it down" talk either, but you can't expect loyal fans to just sit with a smile on their face while you tell them to "shut up and give more money" without some goal or plan to hang their already diminished dreams on.
But Frenchy and Attalla seem to hold fast to an approaching event. So let's just get ready to show 'em that the program aint going no where but up.
I for one, enjoyed your post immensely, and although my ire has been raised a time or two about how UAB athletics (ergo, football in particular) has suffered and been systematically forced to do so in silence, I have renewed my Blazer Boosters membership, intend on purchasing season tickets for football, baseball men's and women's basketball, & softball next season, & if concrete, specific (when and where, etc.) information from a reliable source close to UAB athletics declares that such a fund for Blazer athletics is indeed, in place and our facilities are finally going to be on par, I'll continue to play my part and contribute what I can there, too, every little bit helps now, but that in no way means I won't at least offer up my opinion if things continue to go sideways on us. Suffering in silence is not my style. I also like what "Mixdup" had to say, give me something to believe in, to show Blazers fans that there is progress, and not just stalling thru soundbytes. I'll be watching even more closely in 2014 for those announcements promised and declared. And "Mixd", may I suggest you please, contact Mr. Paul Kabbes, Assistant Director Of Development, UAB Athletics. (205) 996-5994, email: pkabbes@uab.edu, Twitter: @paulkabbes
Ask him the "hard questions" express your genuine concerns about the direction of the program in terms of facilities and improvement on and off the field, and decide for yourself if you like his answers or not. That's what I did.
One of our posters was right about after what happened with the OCS sabotage proposal, an athletics facilities fund should have been implemented within the year after that bull**** went down.
(12-21-2013 02:07 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote: [ -> ]At what point can we expect concrete actions that will change the direction of the program? "Just give us more money, more money more money" without any plan on how to turn around the sinking ship. If there were SOMETHING I could hang my hat on that gave me any hope for a turnaround, I'd be writing the first check. However the story is just "give us more money" and "we're not shutting down" but never "we're going to win, and this is how".
Show me something, SOMETHING to give me hope and I'll get back on the bandwagon, even before the wins come.
There is a lot of truth in this too. We all know damn well that money is the lifeblood of the athletic program, and that we do not have a money tree in the backyard the way that UAT does. UAB has to go hat in hand to a BoT who simply does not have the best interests of UAB in mind and to a far too small donor base, looking for that transfusion.
The most obvious lack is visible and vocal leadership. It would help if there was a figurehead out there talking it up, leading the charge.
The big problem with this is that leading the charge for UAB athletics is very similar to being the flagbearer in a Civil War regiment. Yes, you get to lead the charge, to show the way forward... but the other side of the coin is that many on the other side target you for that leadership role and send volley fire your way.
The life expectancy of UAB's flagbearers for athletics is rather short. It's easy to say how someone else should get out there and lead the charge when it is not your career that will get the chop.
Still, we need someone with the guts to step up and state some goals both short and long term, and push to achieve them. It is indeed a Braveheart moment.
(12-22-2013 11:13 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote: [ -> ]There is a lot of truth in this too. We all know damn well that money is the lifeblood of the athletic program, and that we do not have a money tree in the backyard the way that UAT does. UAB has to go hat in hand to a BoT who simply does not have the best interests of UAB in mind and to a far too small donor base, looking for that transfusion.
The most obvious lack is visible and vocal leadership. It would help if there was a figurehead out there talking it up, leading the charge.
The big problem with this is that leading the charge for UAB athletics is very similar to being the flagbearer in a Civil War regiment. Yes, you get to lead the charge, to show the way forward... but the other side of the coin is that many on the other side target you for that leadership role and send volley fire your way.
The life expectancy of UAB's flagbearers for athletics is rather short. It's easy to say how someone else should get out there and lead the charge when it is not your career that will get the chop.
Still, we need someone with the guts to step up and state some goals both short and long term, and push to achieve them. It is indeed a Braveheart moment.
I don't even need someone who is willing to fall on a sword, especially since if they fall on it, that probably means their plan has failed. I'm not saying we need another Carol Garrison blaze of glory moment (and the more that I think about it, I'm pretty sure her exit had little to do with the football stadium and her bringing that up was a FU to the powers that be who were trying to move her out anyway)
The restrictions in place by the Board, whatever they are now and whatever they may be in the future, are what they are. It is effectively an unmovable force that we simply must accept. No amount of protesting and tweeting and writing letters to the editor are going to change their minds on something as large as the football stadium. You might get small changes, such as being able to hire the coach we want (look how that turned out) but until you can show up with a compelling business case with attendance figures and winning seasons, there's no way the Board is budging on the really big issues.
All of that said, what I want is someone with a plan, that works within the confines of the situation UAB finds itself, that has real, obtainable goals and real, concrete actions, on how to improve the situation. We need better facilities, and that doesn't have to include a full stadium. I keep hearing there are plans in the works, but until someone from UAB tells me that, and I see a rendering, it might as well be the Easter Bunny. I'm not going to donate money to a program that has failed literally every year except one since I enrolled at UAB as a student 13 years ago. I am not going to base it on "done deals" and "it's happening" from ATTALLA because, no offense, that's what we heard on the stadium and other things. It's time for Mackin to step up, put his plans in public, and let us know where the program is actually going in the next 3-5 years both personnel wise and facility wise. If it's not ready to be revealed yet, fine. However, my bank account is also not ready to be revealed yet, either.
Let me know when the press conference is scheduled and me and my American Express will be there with bells on.
+1
And when they put a real/public, concrete plan in place for football facility improvements, donations towards that cause would likely increase by a substantial amount.
Memories,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? could we?
Memories, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it's the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were...
MONEY may have something to do with "the root of evil", but it is definitely the root of athletic success in collegiate football. It is NOT a coincidence that during the same 5 years (2008 to 2013) that our state has cut per pupil public education funding by the greatest amount (>$1300) in the 50 states of America, the two Alabama BCS school's athletic programs have invested between $1/5 million and $1/4 million PER ATHLETE, PER YEAR over that same 5 year span. Right now it stands to have won (Jan.6th, 2014 pending) 5 consecutive BCS NCs in a row. Don't try to tell me that you can't "throw money at a problem and solve it" when the empirical evidence obviously is to the contrary.
I just wish UAB's programs had more of it. Where can it get the "BIG BAMA BUCKS" it needs to build what it must have?
I think one point of my post was missed. I don't know what's going to happen in 2014 - officially or unofficially. I do know that NOW is the time when $$ has the greatest chance to turn a new page on our future. But I also know this:
TWO SCENARIOS:
Mackin press conference: We are raising money to do 'X'.
BOT to media: "We haven't seen or approved anything. 'X' or otherwise."
Media: "More hopeless dreaming by UAB."
Media: "UAB's attendance/wins is SOOOO bad. It's hopeless."
Public: "Always asking for handouts to keep from being shut down when we all know that's coming."
UAB bank account:
OR
UAB fans/allies take the initiative to flip the script, circle the wagons, etc.
UAB bank acccount:
Mackin to BOT: "We're doing 'X'. Here's the plan. Here's the cash."
Mackin press conference (same day): "UAB is building 'X'. We have the cash."
Public: "Hey, thing's are finally shaking down at UAB."
Yes, it should start with the press conference as in Scenario One, but we are in the reality we are in like it or not. Everyone is entitled to hold on to their "could be" donation. While that press conference and those "could be" donations remain as real as the Easter Bunny, so will wins and better facilities/recruits on the Southside. If nothing changes, nothing can hardly change. And the next coach, the next coach, and the next coach will try to compete with stories/rumors of shutdown, players going down to injuries in practice, and thumbing buses for practice when it rains.
(12-22-2013 02:33 PM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]I think one point of my post was missed. I don't know what's going to happen in 2014 - officially or unofficially.
Well quit talking like you do and attacking others. We can have sound discussion on this board without berating other posters.
(12-22-2013 02:33 PM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]UAB fans/allies take the initiative to flip the script, circle the wagons, etc.
UAB bank acccount:
Mackin to BOT: "We're doing 'X'. Here's the plan. Here's the cash."
Mackin press conference (same day): "UAB is building 'X'. We have the cash."
Public: "Hey, thing's are finally shaking down at UAB."
Once again, people aren't going to increase a cent until they have seen an actual plan or goal. Pretty much in that scenario people are just pooring money into the Athletic Department, not football. And from previous post I have read on here and from reading UAB's site unless it's specificly earmarked for football then it goes to the general athletic fund.
I been going to UAB since 1996 and I don't remember UAB once having a capital campaign for the football program. You can correct me if I'm wrong, for the football program only.
(12-22-2013 02:33 PM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, it should start with the press conference as in Scenario One, but we are in the reality we are in like it or not.
So are you saying because of the situation we are in we aren't gonna get a press conference until the money is raised first? That makes no scene. So people are just gonna contribute to nothing?
The reality is, I have talked to actual fans who can contribute more then I and a few of them have said they stopped coming after the UTSA game. They'll renew their season tickets but they are not gonna keep giving money unless they see an actual plan of attack or someone has the knuts to staredown the 100lb gorilla in the room.