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

social media change the balance little bit
we can now alert everybody when the evil empire is doing something wrong and we can teach everybody how wrong they are about a special subject and we can prove by post it

you can see how non prepare they were face a strong opposition
the pr stuff was good before fb and tweeter
not it not
they won in montgomery because montgomery run on the old system of back door deal
'we will replace them one by one in montgomery and we will get what we won t

they wont be able to take a lost and they will make more mistake and we FREE UAB will progress faster
if football come back monday it will the first time that they lose when they face an opponent and i WONT BE THE LAST ONE versus free uab

The Board is simply learning that they waited too long to snuff out UAB. Probably should have done it before they hired Dr. Garrison.

They should have pulled the plug when McGee left instead of waiting for the Carr Report. They would have gotten away with it, because we were demoralized. Clark comes in and turns things around and we started to believe in him, we went bowl eligible and we had enthusiasm and hope.

The other thing that saved us was Justin and Lee figuring out what was going on and blowing the whistle on it early. If we had not had those 4-6 weeks to gather ourselves, to organize, we'd have lost.

We were well led, and we were lucky. It's not over yet but I am very optimistic.

So, if we get the teams back, will we ever know 1)What got Watts to finally tap out 2) Why the rest of the BOT is now willing to stand up to the three stooges? It all seems like a sudden about face, if all this is true.

(05-29-2015 11:22 PM)tibber Wrote:  So, if we get the teams back, will we ever know 1)What got Watts to finally tap out 2) Why the rest of the BOT is now willing to stand up to the three stooges? It all seems like a sudden about face, if all this is true.

Those are definitely intriguing questions.

We haven't won s#it until U@B has it's own board of trustees. The BOT has set a series of smaller and higher hoops in front of us, continually expecting us to fail, but we keep on making the leap. No other program and or fanbase on the planet has to put up with these power games. Regardless of Mondays outcome, the bastards need to be imprisoned, after a good caneing

If fb is truly brought back - I guess a vocal minority trumps a silent minority no matter how powerful they are

(05-29-2015 11:22 PM)tibber Wrote:  So, if we get the teams back, will we ever know 1)What got Watts to finally tap out 2) Why the rest of the BOT is now willing to stand up to the three stooges? It all seems like a sudden about face, if all this is true.

If Watts and the BOT are capitulating, does this mean we have met their goal ?

We are being played for a stooge. UaB is about to have the only athletic department playing Division 1 that is fully funded by it's fan base.

And in doing so, we are in an indirect way paying PBjr for sticking it to us.

(05-30-2015 01:25 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(05-29-2015 11:22 PM)tibber Wrote:  So, if we get the teams back, will we ever know 1)What got Watts to finally tap out 2) Why the rest of the BOT is now willing to stand up to the three stooges? It all seems like a sudden about face, if all this is true.

If Watts and the BOT are capitulating, does this mean we have met their goal ?

We are being played for a stooge. UaB is about to have the only athletic department playing Division 1 that is fully funded by it's fan base.

And in doing so, we are in an indirect way paying PBjr for sticking it to us.

While I don't necessarily disagree with your line of thinking, (it has certainly crossed my mind a time or two), who should be paying for the program? The tax payers? I don't know the answer to the question, but I think most people are happy to have their pledges pay for the program, at least in the short term. I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but knowing that my (relatively insignicant) pledge played some part in bringing the team back will be a damn cool feeling.

(05-30-2015 01:25 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(05-29-2015 11:22 PM)tibber Wrote:  So, if we get the teams back, will we ever know 1)What got Watts to finally tap out 2) Why the rest of the BOT is now willing to stand up to the three stooges? It all seems like a sudden about face, if all this is true.

If Watts and the BOT are capitulating, does this mean we have met their goal ?

We are being played for a stooge. UaB is about to have the only athletic department playing Division 1 that is fully funded by it's fan base.

And in doing so, we are in an indirect way paying PBjr for sticking it to us.

Maybe Johns got tired of Ray messing with his fundraising? That's about the only scenario I could see with them getting on board.

While I agree with much being posted, let's be real. This fight we are in is akin to a football season. The ultimate goal is to win the national championship, ie have a board that truly looks out for us. However if we get football, rifle & bowling back it would be a big game win along the way. Coach Clark would tell us, celebrate until the next practice and then focus on the next battle. So come Monday, if it comes back, I will celebrate. This has been a tough 6 months and if we don't celebrate some, we won't be able to fight the next 6 months.

The university will still drop in $20 million per year to athletics, although some of it is funny money, I'm sure that Craft, Hire, Filler, & company have made sure that our investment will be used to get us to upper echelon of C-USA as the president said was required.

Not to mention, basketball has received an unprecedented commitment as well from the university... (Even if it was an attempt to make bringing back football more difficult) We could be the next Louisville.

(05-29-2015 11:22 PM)tibber Wrote:  So, if we get the teams back, will we ever know 1)What got Watts to finally tap out 2) Why the rest of the BOT is now willing to stand up to the three stooges? It all seems like a sudden about face, if all this is true.

That's why AttallaBlaze's letter and phone campaigns are important. Like I stated in an earlier post their greatest weapon was our apathy. Add in a less than stellar coachs and a decade of losing seasons and attendance will drop and apathy will grow. It's easy for a minority on the Board to convince (employment at Bryant Bank helps too) that UAB football is a drain on the University. Now these Trustees' emails are packed with emails from enraged students and fans. Their phones start ringing off the hook from time to time and their meetings are met with protests. The argument by the minority of Fess, Espy, and Bryant Jr starts to look foolish and they are starting to look old and bitter.

With that said, even when football returns (I know it's coming back if not next week it will be later) we can't let up and have to show support for our team even though we have been set back at least a five years competively.

(05-29-2015 11:18 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  They should have pulled the plug when McGee left instead of waiting for the Carr Report. They would have gotten away with it, because we were demoralized. Clark comes in and turns things around and we started to believe in him, we went bowl eligible and we had enthusiasm and hope.

The other thing that saved us was Justin and Lee figuring out what was going on and blowing the whistle on it early. If we had not had those 4-6 weeks to gather ourselves, to organize, we'd have lost.

We were well led, and we were lucky. It's not over yet but I am very optimistic.

I think you misunderestimate how broad-based our movement has been. In late November and early December the Fury of the Ponytails and the March of the Marching Blazers were crucial. I don't know that the movement would have grown without them. The alumni awakened from forty years of sleep. Kaleidoscope vets have represented. The faculty - the living incarnation of professional caution - put themselves on the firing line. And very little of it was about football.

We have not won yet. But we are numerous and fierce.

(05-29-2015 11:18 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  They should have pulled the plug when McGee left instead of waiting for the Carr Report. They would have gotten away with it, because we were demoralized. Clark comes in and turns things around and we started to believe in him, we went bowl eligible and we had enthusiasm and hope.

The other thing that saved us was Justin and Lee figuring out what was going on and blowing the whistle on it early. If we had not had those 4-6 weeks to gather ourselves, to organize, we'd have lost.

We were well led, and we were lucky. It's not over yet but I am very optimistic.

I am not sure that I am with you on that one. Yes, it would have been harder had they tried to pull the plug during the last days of Callaway or McGee. And it was easier after the first year of Coach Clark's leadership, but sincerely believe that the Blazer faithful would have risen to the occasion regardless of when they would they tried to do away with the program.

Coach Clark made it easier for us because he exposed the true potential of Blazer football, but our success, if we achieve it, will be due the the people who make up the FreeUAB community.

Take a look around you at those who worked with you shoulder to shoulder since December 2nd. They are not the fly by night, bandwagon jumping fans who only supported the program when it was doing well. The core of the FreeUAB movement are folks like you and me who supported the program in any way they could through thick and thin, through good times and bad. We were were the folks who were optimistic about what UAB football could ultimately achieve even during the darkest times.

We were joined by other UAB people - faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of the university - who while not necessarily motivated by the loss of football, fully understood that this was not only about football. They understood that it was an attack on our university itself, its potential, what it currently is and most of what it could and will be in the future.

I firmly believe that regardless of when Watts would have tried to pull the plug those who presently make up the FreeUAB movement would have responded. If we were "lucky", it was because we made our own luck by uniting together and responding with persistence, applied individual skills and plenty of hard work. "They" were unlucky only in that they grossly underestimated us. "They" may not want to admit to themselves, but I think that regardless of the outcome Monday, in the back of their minds they know this isn't over, and it dang sure isn't!

I think we would have fought at any time. I know I would have. On the other hand, I don't know if there was a time that we were more dispirited than after being crushed by a SoMiss team that had not won for two years. The core group of loyalists would have been there, but do not underestimate the excitement and momentum and sheer optimism that Bill Clark brought the ordinary UAB fan.

Good things seemed possible, and that was a big change. "Wait till next year!" wasn't about maybe we'll be a little better, it was the thought that we had a very legitimate chance to bring home a conference championship.

I really don't care to spend time and effort arguing this. All I'm saying is that the spirit on campus regarding football was light years different, and that I don't think the students and many fans would have been nearly as intensely angry and motivated.

(05-30-2015 10:54 AM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  

(05-29-2015 11:18 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  They should have pulled the plug when McGee left instead of waiting for the Carr Report. They would have gotten away with it, because we were demoralized. Clark comes in and turns things around and we started to believe in him, we went bowl eligible and we had enthusiasm and hope.

The other thing that saved us was Justin and Lee figuring out what was going on and blowing the whistle on it early. If we had not had those 4-6 weeks to gather ourselves, to organize, we'd have lost.

We were well led, and we were lucky. It's not over yet but I am very optimistic.

I am not sure that I am with you on that one. Yes, it would have been harder had they tried to pull the plug during the last days of Callaway or McGee. And it was easier after the first year of Coach Clark's leadership, but sincerely believe that the Blazer faithful would have risen to the occasion regardless of when they would they tried to do away with the program.

Coach Clark made it easier for us because he exposed the true potential of Blazer football, but our success, if we achieve it, will be due the the people who make up the FreeUAB community.

Take a look around you at those who worked with you shoulder to shoulder since December 2nd. They are not the fly by night, bandwagon jumping fans who only supported the program when it was doing well. The core of the FreeUAB movement are folks like you and me who supported the program in any way they could through thick and thin, through good times and bad. We were were the folks who were optimistic about what UAB football could ultimately achieve even during the darkest times.

We were joined by other UAB people - faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of the university - who while not necessarily motivated by the loss of football, fully understood that this was not only about football. They understood that it was an attack on our university itself, its potential, what it currently is and most of what it could and will be in the future.

I firmly believe that regardless of when Watts would have tried to pull the plug those who presently make up the FreeUAB movement would have responded. If we were "lucky", it was because we made our own luck by uniting together and responding with persistence, applied individual skills and plenty of hard work. "They" were unlucky only in that they grossly underestimated us. "They" may not want to admit to themselves, but I think that regardless of the outcome Monday, in the back of their minds they know this isn't over, and it dang sure isn't!

I am pretty sure they made the decision when mggo was the head coach
they add a big plan to to cover up everything (like they always do about everything )and they underestimate the power of coach clark , twitter and fb
so far watts with his zero people skill help free uab like nobody
as usual the bot was arrogant and didnt care of the opponent (uab fans) and said stuff without knowing anything about a simple subject
THe BOT was pumping up ray watts for increasing the money for research , they were too stupid to know that the money for research when down when watt was on charge on it as the medical director ,WHEN low voltage watts left ,, dr vickers took over and the research went up
they were so arrogant that they ask dr watts about vaccination just after he got drill by dr epps and that superb undergraduate student
football will be back and we will destroy the bot as we know it
i AM so happy and i WILL help as much as i can
after football is back we cannot stop exposing the bot ,the current uab administration we need work harder
#freeuab is the only goal
we dont need any leach (aka uat ) if we want to be the best at everything and we will be :)

If the BOT is relenting, there has to be a reason. Either John Knox's articles, John Johns' fence sitting, Jack Williams' bills , the attention given Shepard's Bend or something has hit too close to home.

We will never achieve the BOT's demands. We have got to keep fighting to wrestle U@B loose from the BOT. If they give in, it is because they have more to lose that is now possible to obtain. I'd wager it is Jack's bills and the attention they are receiving that has them worried.

As was said in another thread, social media was crucial to the uprising. Had the board done this several years ago before social media became such a way of life, I think it would have been nearly impossible to get everyone on the same page, and we would have been sunk

(05-30-2015 01:22 PM)LairDweller Wrote:  As was said in another thread, social media was crucial to the uprising. Had the board done this several years ago before social media became such a way of life, I think it would have been nearly impossible to get everyone on the same page, and we would have been sunk

Absolutely agree. It's given us all a voice.

When it's all said and done... Without the money, we'd have no chance