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

There is no proof he has hired a PR firm. Actually someone posted that someone in the PR industry does not believe he has hired anyone, but that doesn't fit the blazertalk narrative. Why repair the PR of someone who will ultimately be a scapegoat to the BOT's wishes.

The rest is just minor setbacks that he and his masters will wait out until it dies down. In the meantime, the final goal is being accomplished.

(12-12-2014 10:55 AM)biglizard Wrote:  

(12-12-2014 10:42 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  This is exactly what Watts wants. He is not upset about this at all. It is a part of the plan to kill all athletics. We are playing right into his hands.

The way I see it we have 3 choices:

1) Do nothing and accept it which reinforces the apathy argument

2) Pour money into the remaining sports which just makes his assertion that football was a horrible mistake in the first place

3) Hurt him in the wallet at every turn. Not only in athletics but at every facet of the university.

I get it, you don't want anything to happen to basketball. Well neither do the rest of us. But at some point you have to be realistic about what you can do. It's a calculated risk but dang man at some point you've got to quit grabbing your ankles and do something.

Be careful, or he'll get mad and give you negative rep points!
On a more serious note, if nothing is said or done you play right into number 2 and 3 above. This goes against assumption that this whole thing will blow over in a week.

What needs to happen is getting him to reinstate football or agreeing to have some dialogue about returning football and forcing the bot's hand.

(12-12-2014 11:13 AM)rook360 Wrote:  

(12-12-2014 10:55 AM)biglizard Wrote:  

(12-12-2014 10:42 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  This is exactly what Watts wants. He is not upset about this at all. It is a part of the plan to kill all athletics. We are playing right into his hands.

The way I see it we have 3 choices:

1) Do nothing and accept it which reinforces the apathy argument

2) Pour money into the remaining sports which just makes his assertion that football was a horrible mistake in the first place

3) Hurt him in the wallet at every turn. Not only in athletics but at every facet of the university.

I get it, you don't want anything to happen to basketball. Well neither do the rest of us. But at some point you have to be realistic about what you can do. It's a calculated risk but dang man at some point you've got to quit grabbing your ankles and do something.

Be careful, or he'll get mad and give you negative rep points!
On a more serious note, if nothing is said or done you play right into number 2 and 3 above. This goes against assumption that this whole thing will blow over in a week.

What needs to happen is getting him to reinstate football or agreeing to have some dialogue about returning football and forcing the bot's hand.

I don't give negative rep points to people who aren't constantly stalking me and making personal attacks. And for someone who wasn't bothered by that, you sure bring it up frequently.

(12-12-2014 11:11 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  There is no proof he has hired a PR firm.

If he did, he should demand a refund.

(12-12-2014 11:22 AM)Smaug Wrote:  

(12-12-2014 11:11 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  There is no proof he has hired a PR firm.

If he did, he should demand a refund.

He probably hasn't hired a PR firm, but he (or Bryant) has definitely engaged an online comment service, probably the same one Espy engaged during the bingo/lottery/casino wars. All the signs are there: solid blocks of text with no use of the return key (because it was cut and pasted whole from the talking points), repeated use of the same phraseology, same responses used whether the initial comment really fits them or not.

Watts was foolish to think that there would not be some blowback; he did not study what happened at ETSU after they dropped football. I'll add a reminder for the PR robots:

HEY R2D2, C3PO, OU812, and all of you other PR robots, look up ETSU Football on Wikipedia. Return to Watts and tell him what you found. That story did not end well for the ETSU president that dumped football, did it?

Don't hate, I'm just dropping some "Knowledge that will change your world". - yes, you can quote me on that.

(12-12-2014 11:22 AM)Smaug Wrote:  

(12-12-2014 11:11 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  There is no proof he has hired a PR firm.

If he did, he should demand a refund.

He may not have publicly hired a PR firm, but some if those al.com comment posters just popped up out of nowhere. If you click on their name the comments are all centered around UAB or Birmingham.

(12-12-2014 10:42 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  This is exactly what Watts wants. He is not upset about this at all. It is a part of the plan to kill all athletics. We are playing right into his hands.

Let's face it, you never gave a rip about the UAB football program. All you ever cared about is basketball. And I guess that's okay. Basketball was my first love at UAB and I still consider it coequal to football in my heart. But you weren't been listening when we said over and over again that the dropping of the football program was going to be devastating to all of the other UAB sports, including your beloved basketball program.

I have not once seen or heard you do anything constructive during this entire crisis. Instead of carping from the sidelines, why don't you show your true UAB colors and join the fight.

(12-12-2014 11:37 AM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  why don't you show your true UAB colors and join the fight.

Rick is right. We need you.

Without a doubt there are experience PR people commenting on just about everything hitting the media. Watts may or may not have hired them; they are out there. They are showing up everywhere on media sites.

As I see the efforts being reported, if an action does not affect the medical side - that is it only affects the athletic programs or the undergrad schools - in Watt's eyes it is acceptable collateral damage. If it does not cross the Jeffco line into Tuscaloosa, it does not bother the BOT.

BTW, Back when the SEC had both men's and women's track teams, Legion Field hosted SEC Championship events. At one time there was a "state of the art" 8 lane running track around the grass field - where the field events were held - and when the new north end zone seats were built, they were designed to bridge this track so that runners dropped from view while beneath them in the north turn but otherwise ran unobstructed through the north end.

Track & Field is compatible with football, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and other field sports if design needs are acceptable, including placement of seating.

(12-12-2014 10:42 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  This is exactly what Watts wants. He is not upset about this at all. It is a part of the plan to kill all athletics. We are playing right into his hands.

Donating and supporting basketball won't upset him either.

At least this way, there's an article and publicity that will get more business people riled up and ready to make a fuss. It can't hurt at this point.

I am working in Baltimore, Maryland on a work detail. I am working 10 to 20 hours overtime a week. I can't drop everything and come stand with otherss and yell profanities at a university president. I have contributed in ways I can. Maybe some of you should not question what and what I don't care about and stop attacking fellow UAB fans and concentrate on the enemy.

I agree with MB, we may be playing in the hands of those who want to kill UAB athletics' if we don't show up.. I am a Basketball guy, love it...But I am also a UAB athletics fan.
I have attended many baseball games, and at the very least 3-4 football games a year. But I attend every basketball game. I realize what Watts is doing to our Football team is going to have far reaching intended or unintended consequences.
The casual observer could have told Watts he was jeopardizing our conference affiliation, donors contribution and the viability of the whole athletics program, the least knowledgeable among us could have told him its football, football and football that drives the conversation when expansion and dollars are discussed.

I don't want UAB sports fans to cut off their noses to spite their faces. I have read some here harp on not attending Basketball games as a way to protest and I have said before that's the worst way to protest, please come and support Basketball, now more then ever we need to be there for our most visible team. Lets not give them ammo to use against us.

Come to the games and protest, you will see the students there, Band members are there, the media is there, the business community is there, political figures are there, the student athletes are there, the casual fans are there, the UAB Admins are there, the big and small donors are there, the curious are there, the haters are there, AND WE NEED TO BE THERE to support our team.

What I don't want to do is validate the decision by enabling more of the same. We need these things to happen because they're agents of change. I think it's a really good thing that people are protesting in their own ways and utilizing their own methods of attack.

Playing into their hands would have been meekly agreeing with Dr. Watts that this is a new exciting time in UAB athletics and that UAB basketball is going to be better than it ever was before. No one fell for it. The plan was to kill athletics. They didn't account for reactions this strong. They didn't plan of any of this. Increased support from the fans? That's good. People ceasing any donations and ending working relationships? That's good. People showing up to the games? Good. People protesting? Good. People swearing they'll have nothing to do with UAB until things change? Good. We're not losing here. There's no damned if you do, damned if you don't. Every action we take is an angle of attack that builds up the pressure and aids in our overall effort.

It'd be nice if we filled up Bartow Arena, but we're all working in our own ways so maybe, one day in the future, we can fill up the place for all the right reasons. And maybe fill up a football stadium one day, too.

(12-12-2014 01:53 PM)Hopeful Wrote:  What I don't want to do is validate the decision by enabling more of the same. We need these things to happen because they're agents of change. I think it's a really good thing that people are protesting in their own ways and utilizing their own methods of attack.

Playing into their hands would have been meekly agreeing with Dr. Watts that this is a new exciting time in UAB athletics and that UAB basketball is going to be better than it ever was before. No one fell for it. The plan was to kill athletics. They didn't account for reactions this strong. They didn't plan of any of this. Increased support from the fans? That's good. People ceasing any donations and ending working relationships? That's good. People showing up to the games? Good. People protesting? Good. People swearing they'll have nothing to do with UAB until things change? Good. We're not losing here. There's no damned if you do, damned if you don't. Every action we take is an angle of attack that builds up the pressure and aids in our overall effort.

It'd be nice if we filled up Bartow Arena, but we're all working in our own ways so maybe, one day in the future, we can fill up the place for all the right reasons. And maybe fill up a football stadium one day, too.

What's this voice of reason thing? I thought that wasn't allowed on BlazerTalk!

Seriously...I think this is pretty accurate. Anything we do, individually or as a group, that lets the administration know that the fan base is pissed off is a good thing.

(12-12-2014 08:02 AM)Matrix Wrote:  The 1st of many if "Mussolini" isn't dealt with and we don't get our football, rifle and bowling teams back.

Mussolini? Matrix you are on target-both run off at the mouth, make dramatic poses and get humiliated a lot, and had huge security detail (Mussolini's kinda bailed on him in the end).