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

Just wondering if you all think the BOT and Watts were taken by surprise by the amount of hostility and media coverage this is getting? Im sure they felt the UAB program was so inconsequential that this decision would just go away but it seems to have really inflamed the student body and falcutly to action. Are they sweating?

I sincerly hope the decision gets reversed and that UAB Football makes a great turn around. Unfortunaetly it will knock you guys back another 3-5 years at least im afraid.

I've got to think they were surprised by the outpouring of support.

I truly believe they thought Bill Clark would come in and go 2-10 or 3-9 and they would be able to kill it while we were still depressed (despite the fact that we've had no support over the years from them). I think they underestimate how much we love our program. We see how great it can be, but its frustrating to suffer year after year when they deny any infrastructure upgrades (stadium, practice facility, etc.). Still, we love it, and we're willing to fight for it!

I definitely believe they were caught off guard by both the level of outrage, and by the scale of the reporting. I think they estimated that there would be a subdued reaction that they could manage, and that most people really didn't care because we have had a history of losing.

They are sweating. People are not going to drop a story that has some meat. Professionals are going to start piecing through the Carr study, journalists are going to start wanting to know more about this, and someone is going to make this whole affair a signature story story somewhere. The student body they thought would shrug and go back to class has been protesting ever since, faculty are saying they weren't even involved, and the community is collectively pissed. It's ironic that the board and Dr. Watts have ushered in the greatest sense of unity I've seen in Birmingham in my lifetime.

More than that, I fully expect the teams to be reinstated sooner or later. UAB is a relatively young school with a young program. This isn't SMU. We weren't shut down by the NCAA. This is something internal. It's not being punished. It's more like a university being infected, and we're taking the steps to ensure it gets well soon and actually goes on to become more healthy than ever before. We'll be set back, but, the few good years aside, it's not like we have a history of success in football. We're not going from being Ohio State to Ohio, we're just going from being a good UAB team on the verge of being better to post-Brown UAB. We just have to avoid the likes of Callaway and McGee is all.

Could we please get Michael Lewis (Blind Side, Moneyball, Flashboys) to come in and write a real book on this.

Watts and BOTs were not expecting this level of reaction at all. No way. It's clear they misread the situation. The #FreeUAB movement has happened for a number of reasons:
1. The underdog team was successful above all odds and its own school killed the progress. Ray Watts turned himself into a villain and every good story needs a villain.
2. UAB simply has a larger alumni base now than 15-20 years ago. People care. A lot of people care, including politicians and influential alums.
3. The media fights against injustice. Say what you want about the Fourth Estate, it's there for a reason.
There are others, but those are the main three.

We have not won this war. We won an important battle, but it is far from over: the Enemy has many weapons. And his Master has not yet intervened.

We have to be careful to avoid triumphalism: though I have many personal reasons to fight this monster I was moved to active participation by a cancer researcher bragging on how ""Ray Watts is finally cutting out the deadwood," breathing Rhhhaaay Whhhatttsss with her pretty chest heaving like he was part of New Direction. Writing screeds and marshaling faculty votes seemed more effective than punching her obviously-rebuilt nose.

He has fans. He has the power and money of his office. He has support of Primeval Evil. He remains a formidable, if fairly arrogant and stupid, opponent and we dare not take him lightly.

(12-10-2014 11:15 AM)58-56 Wrote:  We have not won this war. We won an important battle, but it is far from over: the Enemy has many weapons. And his Master has not yet intervened.

We have to be careful to avoid triumphalism: though I have many personal reasons to fight this monster I was moved to active participation by a cancer researcher bragging on how ""Ray Watts is finally cutting out the deadwood," breathing Rhhhaaay Whhhatttsss with her pretty chest heaving like he was part of New Direction. Writing screeds and marshaling faculty votes seemed more effective than punching her obviously-rebuilt nose.

He has fans. He has the power and money of his office. He has support of Primeval Evil. He remains a formidable, if fairly arrogant and stupid, opponent and we dare not take him lightly.

But we have Twitter!

(12-10-2014 12:02 PM)Agent Orange Sauce Wrote:  

(12-10-2014 11:15 AM)58-56 Wrote:  We have not won this war. We won an important battle, but it is far from over: the Enemy has many weapons. And his Master has not yet intervened.

We have to be careful to avoid triumphalism: though I have many personal reasons to fight this monster I was moved to active participation by a cancer researcher bragging on how ""Ray Watts is finally cutting out the deadwood," breathing Rhhhaaay Whhhatttsss with her pretty chest heaving like he was part of New Direction. Writing screeds and marshaling faculty votes seemed more effective than punching her obviously-rebuilt nose.

He has fans. He has the power and money of his office. He has support of Primeval Evil. He remains a formidable, if fairly arrogant and stupid, opponent and we dare not take him lightly.

But we have Twitter!

Absolutely: he's clearly caught off guard by this "social media" stuff and rock-and-roll music.

(12-10-2014 09:34 AM)the Dragon Wrote:  I've got to think they were surprised by the outpouring of support.

I truly believe they thought Bill Clark would come in and go 2-10 or 3-9 and they would be able to kill it while we were still depressed (despite the fact that we've had no support over the years from them). I think they underestimate how much we love our program. We see how great it can be, but its frustrating to suffer year after year when they deny any infrastructure upgrades (stadium, practice facility, etc.). Still, we love it, and we're willing to fight for it!

This!

Let's not forget that the original plan was to do this during the semester break/holidays when no one was on campus. They did not expect the plan to be found out.