The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(01-27-2010 10:30 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Heh, listening to the OD this morning (for the first time in months), they were talking about what it would take to get people behind this team.

The idea that their listening audience just now discovered it's basketball season apparently hadn't occurred to them.

The frustrating thing is...how are people not behind this team? We had 7,500 for a weeknight game against a team most folks in this town have never heard about and had no idea was actually good. We might as well have been playing Middle Tennessee for all the drawing power of Tulsa. That's the one thing the media in this town always focus on, when they ought to just be talking about what a special team this is.

(01-27-2010 10:50 AM)uabalabama Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:30 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Heh, listening to the OD this morning (for the first time in months), they were talking about what it would take to get people behind this team.

The idea that their listening audience just now discovered it's basketball season apparently hadn't occurred to them.

Did anyone catch the caller who called them out for absolutely zero coverage of the game yesterday while even a Tulsa radio show had both Coach Davis and Brian Mackin on the air?

Dammit, I didn't.

I bet that was quality entertainment.

(01-27-2010 10:50 AM)uabalabama Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:30 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Heh, listening to the OD this morning (for the first time in months), they were talking about what it would take to get people behind this team.

The idea that their listening audience just now discovered it's basketball season apparently hadn't occurred to them.

Did anyone catch the caller who called them out for absolutely zero coverage of the game yesterday while even a Tulsa radio show had both Coach Davis and Brian Mackin on the air?

That caller was me.

(01-27-2010 10:57 AM)freeblazer Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:30 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Heh, listening to the OD this morning (for the first time in months), they were talking about what it would take to get people behind this team.

The idea that their listening audience just now discovered it's basketball season apparently hadn't occurred to them.

The frustrating thing is...how are people not behind this team? We had 7,500 for a weeknight game against a team most folks in this town have never heard about and had no idea was actually good. We might as well have been playing Middle Tennessee for all the drawing power of Tulsa. That's the one thing the media in this town always focus on, when they ought to just be talking about what a special team this is.

See post #28... (It applies to the media also.)

(01-27-2010 11:02 AM)BlazerRod Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:50 AM)uabalabama Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:30 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Heh, listening to the OD this morning (for the first time in months), they were talking about what it would take to get people behind this team.

The idea that their listening audience just now discovered it's basketball season apparently hadn't occurred to them.

Did anyone catch the caller who called them out for absolutely zero coverage of the game yesterday while even a Tulsa radio show had both Coach Davis and Brian Mackin on the air?

That caller was me.

HAHAHA!!! Good on ya BlazerRod!!!

[/i]

(01-27-2010 11:03 AM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:57 AM)freeblazer Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:30 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Heh, listening to the OD this morning (for the first time in months), they were talking about what it would take to get people behind this team.

The idea that their listening audience just now discovered it's basketball season apparently hadn't occurred to them.

The frustrating thing is...how are people not behind this team? We had 7,500 for a weeknight game against a team most folks in this town have never heard about and had no idea was actually good. We might as well have been playing Middle Tennessee for all the drawing power of Tulsa. That's the one thing the media in this town always focus on, when they ought to just be talking about what a special team this is.

See post #28... (It applies to the media also.)

I think you're probably right, but that's actually not what I meant by my question. It was more rhetorical. A better way to have phrased it would have been...how can those jackasses say people are not behind this team? In my view, people are behind this team. If Bartow Arena held 7,500 instead of 8,500, it would have been a sellout and the dumb*** media types who always want to bang on attendance numbers wouldn't have even raised the issue.

And I read on a thread somewhere the other day somebody making the point that there's really only about 3,500 hard-core UAB fans who plan to go to every single game and passionately support the Blazers. I think that's about right. So when we get 4,000 over baseline for Tulsa, for God's sake, people are supporting this team. So they need to quit trying to make the issue something it's not and focus on the fact that our basketball team is the best in this state and it's not even close. So do we, for that matter.

(01-27-2010 11:14 AM)freeblazer Wrote:  [/i]

(01-27-2010 11:03 AM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:57 AM)freeblazer Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:30 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Heh, listening to the OD this morning (for the first time in months), they were talking about what it would take to get people behind this team.

The idea that their listening audience just now discovered it's basketball season apparently hadn't occurred to them.

The frustrating thing is...how are people not behind this team? We had 7,500 for a weeknight game against a team most folks in this town have never heard about and had no idea was actually good. We might as well have been playing Middle Tennessee for all the drawing power of Tulsa. That's the one thing the media in this town always focus on, when they ought to just be talking about what a special team this is.

See post #28... (It applies to the media also.)

I think you're probably right, but that's actually not what I meant by my question. It was more rhetorical. A better way to have phrased it would have been...how can those jackasses say people are not behind this team? In my view, people are behind this team. If Bartow Arena held 7,500 instead of 8,500, it would have been a sellout and the dumb*** media types who always want to bang on attendance numbers wouldn't have even raised the issue.

And I read on a thread somewhere the other day somebody making the point that there's really only about 3,500 hard-core UAB fans who plan to go to every single game and passionately support the Blazers. I think that's about right. So when we get 4,000 over baseline for Tulsa, for God's sake, people are supporting this team. So they need to quit trying to make the issue something it's not and focus on the fact that our basketball team is the best in this state and it's not even close. So do we, for that matter.

I get you, and actually I got you. I should have qualified my response as of the proverbial tongue-in-cheek variety. However, it doesn't diminish the truth.

I think by "get behind this team" they mean, "call our show and validate our existence" and a lot of UAB fans just don't listen because they have chased us away. I can honestly say that this morning was the first time I've listened to those clowns in months.

(01-27-2010 11:18 AM)Smaug Wrote:  I think by "get behind this team" they mean, "call our show and validate our existence" and a lot of UAB fans just don't listen because they have chased us away.

Well, if that's what they mean, I won't be "getting behind this team." I quit listening to the God-awful talk radio in this town as soon as I discovered the magic of XM radio. And now that I can get ESPN radio on my iPhone and play it through the speakers in my car...well, let's just say technology has reached its apex as far as I'm concerned.

(01-27-2010 11:18 AM)Smaug Wrote:  I think by "get behind this team" they mean, "call our show and validate our existence" and a lot of UAB fans just don't listen because they have chased us away. I can honestly say that this morning was the first time I've listened to those clowns in months.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

They talk nonstop Bamuh football and then state that fans don't care about UAB because they don't get any callers who want to talk about UAB. I'm not going to talk to someone about UAB sports if they are truly not interested.

(01-27-2010 11:24 AM)GreenGiant67 Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 11:18 AM)Smaug Wrote:  I think by "get behind this team" they mean, "call our show and validate our existence" and a lot of UAB fans just don't listen because they have chased us away. I can honestly say that this morning was the first time I've listened to those clowns in months.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

They talk nonstop Bamuh football and then state that fans don't care about UAB because they don't get any callers who want to talk about UAB. I'm not going to talk to someone about UAB sports if they are truly not interested.

Or actively hostile.

(Begin sarcasm)

I'm on the bandwagon! But why do we schedule crappy teams like Tulsa? When are we going to play a real team, like Alabama? I'd go see that game...

And which one is Squeaky? I can't tell since he cut his hair and they took names off the jerseys.

(End sarcasm)

(01-27-2010 11:02 AM)BlazerRod Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:50 AM)uabalabama Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 10:30 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Heh, listening to the OD this morning (for the first time in months), they were talking about what it would take to get people behind this team.

The idea that their listening audience just now discovered it's basketball season apparently hadn't occurred to them.

Did anyone catch the caller who called them out for absolutely zero coverage of the game yesterday while even a Tulsa radio show had both Coach Davis and Brian Mackin on the air?

That caller was me.

I caught that, great call Rod. That is how you do it, respectful, factual and brief. He just asked if they had any UAB or Tulsa people on and they said no, so he pointed out all the folks that Tulsa radio had on. Really made them look bad while they were discussing how to increase basketball interest and keeping top recruits in state.....

(01-27-2010 11:24 AM)GreenGiant67 Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 11:18 AM)Smaug Wrote:  I think by "get behind this team" they mean, "call our show and validate our existence" and a lot of UAB fans just don't listen because they have chased us away. I can honestly say that this morning was the first time I've listened to those clowns in months.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

They talk nonstop Bamuh football and then state that fans don't care about UAB because they don't get any callers who want to talk about UAB. I'm not going to talk to someone about UAB sports if they are truly not interested.

Yep, and unless you can call Mike Raita, there's really no one else to call.

(01-27-2010 11:25 AM)Smaug Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 11:24 AM)GreenGiant67 Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 11:18 AM)Smaug Wrote:  I think by "get behind this team" they mean, "call our show and validate our existence" and a lot of UAB fans just don't listen because they have chased us away. I can honestly say that this morning was the first time I've listened to those clowns in months.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

They talk nonstop Bamuh football and then state that fans don't care about UAB because they don't get any callers who want to talk about UAB. I'm not going to talk to someone about UAB sports if they are truly not interested.

Or actively hostile.

It's even worse than that. While it's bad enough that it's non-stop UAT football and that they often seem openly hostile and condescending towards UAB, the bigger issue is that they absolutely suck at their jobs. We have no talent in this town. None. Zero.

Finebaum is good at drumming up controversy and pandering to the UAT fans to generate interest, but if he had any real talent at hosting a talk show, he'd have left Birmingham years ago, because he has tremendous skills as an opinion-maker. Look at how many local writers and talk show hosts end up as guests on national programs. Where's Finebaum? Where's anybody from this town? And this is the biggest media market in a state with a traditional football power that just won the freaking national championship. And they can't get a sniff at anything bigger. Why? Because they suck.

+1. Finebaum is a smart cookie. He knows exactly what to do, what buttons to push, and the idiot bamars/barners play right into his strategy. He's successful due to their idiocy.

"He's successful due to their idiocy"

Our brother is saying that he is also an idiot. Finebaum has tried many times to get other jobs, even hiring a PR firm to promote his cause. Yet here he stays.

I do think that's a large part of the perceived anti-UAB bias in the local media. They are resentful of Birmingham, Alabama. It's a constant reminder of their failure. Their bitterness over their never-was, not even has-been, status is transferred onto the very symbol of success in this twn, the green and gold of UAB.

Kevin, I know you read this board. Widespread e-publishing is now 20 years old. Yet no one wants to pick up your column. Wonder why, banana-pancake boy?

Ray, you do too. You've been here for 30 years and you are never, ever going to leave. Your readers are slobbering inbred fools and you are well aware of this. They pound out e-mails to you with their fists, and they call the Finebaum show and wheeze out their "yeeeehaw fer bammer" and you know, you get reminded every day, that This Is As Good As It Gets.

Just go look at today's Scarbinsky column. There have been at least 50 more insightful, better written, better researched and more developed posts on BlazerTalk since last night. And no one's paying us for them.

Freeblazer is right. They suck at their jobs like a pack of CUSA referees or Herman Fraziers (take your pick).

(01-26-2010 11:54 PM)Grammar-Nazi Wrote:  

(01-26-2010 11:01 PM)uabhack Wrote:  I am extremely disappointed in the attendance at the game tonight. It was an insult to the team in my opinion. Those that were at the game: Great job pumping the team back up tonight. Student Section: Awesome job tonight.

Let's not repeat this for Saturday's game!

18-2 deserves much better than they got from the UAB faithful tonight.

Just for the record, the UAB faithful is probably only about 3,500 strong. Those are the 3,500 who are ALWAYS there, come hell or high water. About the number that saw UAB beat MTSU.

Everyone else is a bandwagon jumper. And we'll take them.

I remember back when i was in high school that on several occasions teachers would hand out free general admission tickets to UAB games and when I would go to the games the arena would be filled to capacity. Maybe they should try this again. High school kids really don't have anything to do here in Birmingham and this could be thought of as a recruiting tool for high school student athletes.

(01-27-2010 11:25 AM)Smaug Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 11:24 AM)GreenGiant67 Wrote:  

(01-27-2010 11:18 AM)Smaug Wrote:  I think by "get behind this team" they mean, "call our show and validate our existence" and a lot of UAB fans just don't listen because they have chased us away. I can honestly say that this morning was the first time I've listened to those clowns in months.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

They talk nonstop Bamuh football and then state that fans don't care about UAB because they don't get any callers who want to talk about UAB. I'm not going to talk to someone about UAB sports if they are truly not interested.

Or actively hostile.

You have the perfect description of local sports radio talk turds attitude towards UAB, 'actively hostile', absolutely...I got that very vibe from "Lipbaum" when he lambasted and went out of his way to try and embarrass Neil Callaway during their first interview on his so-called "show", he and most of the rest are just plain full of it, they make me sick, and I'm having too much fun and enjoying the team and their run of success a great deal to allow these morons to have any space in my world, all they're going to cater to is alabama football and re-CROOT-ing, day after day, month after month, year after year, which only serves to show me just how pathetically impotent they are as sports journalists, they could do so much more to attempt to enhance the allure of other sports and the respective interest that exists here, but they choose to run with the pack instead, I will never ever call any of them with anymore inquiries about sports after being blown off by Dunnaway and Brown sometime back when asking a legitimate question about an NBA and NHL team, these people act as though you're an imposition or not worthy of their time if you're not cackling about how big an alabama or auburn football fan you are - it's & for the more well-rounded, diverse sports fan in this town - & what's even worse, is that I heard that they're spreading their BS to Memphis...What Memphian in his or her right mind would want to subject themselves to what we have to endure in this town with its' absolutely horrible array of sports talk radio shows?

They can't be that up there.

Oh, yeah, although I was disappointed that the Tulsa game wasn't a sellout, 7,700 in an 8,500 seat arena is nothing to dismiss lightly, that crowd was loud and proud last night, and I'm honored to have been among them. I had a terrific time, and this kind of atmosphere hasn't been in this town in a long, long time, and heaven knows, if any place needs something to rally around and cheer for in the worst way, it's Birmingham.

If there is even a rumor that there is going to be a game at Bartow, 8500 should show up. No more excuses. A city the size of Bham should be able to support 8500 on a whim. Screw winning, screw church, there is no excuse. The Gene Dome should have been full last night.