A totally pointless question.
During last night's game I noticed that whenever Smallwood for UTC would enter the game that a group of about a dozen people at the north end of FH would cheer loudly. I said to the person next to me that he must "be from around here." He replied with a bit more aspersion than seemed warranted, "No, he's from Bourdeuax, France." Only then did I remember that someone had mentioned somewhere on the board that although he was from France that his name and looks seemed to suggest that he was British. With not much else to do the last hour, I looked this up.

https://fr-fr.facebook.com/dave.smallwood.50

I don't speak or read French and I don't have access to Facebook (thank goodness) but I believe that the pictures that I saw on that site show pere et fil (I looked that up and probably still have it wrong) and the site suggests that the father is English. Still, what I wonder about is who were the people cheering for him?

(01-06-2019 05:41 PM)BigIslandBuc Wrote:  A totally pointless question.
During last night's game I noticed that whenever Smallwood for UTC would enter the game that a group of about a dozen people at the north end of FH would cheer loudly. I said to the person next to me that he must "be from around here." He replied with a bit more aspersion than seemed warranted, "No, he's from Bourdeuax, France." Only then did I remember that someone had mentioned somewhere on the board that although he was from France that his name and looks seemed to suggest that he was British. With not much else to do the last hour, I looked this up.

https://fr-fr.facebook.com/dave.smallwood.50

I don't speak or read French and I don't have access to Facebook (thank goodness) but I believe that the pictures that I saw on that site show pere et fil (I looked that up and probably still have it wrong) and the site suggests that the father is English. Still, what I wonder about is who were the people cheering for him?

It was the band. They were cheering because of his last name and then they would say, “Thomas has small wood”.

(01-06-2019 05:50 PM)Bucs06 Wrote:  It was the band. They were cheering because of his last name and then they would say, “Thomas has small wood”.

That is unacceptable. I am all for a very vocal student section giving the opposing team hell. However, that crosses the line especially coming from members of the band.

Unacceptable? Or inappropriate play on words? Is it hate speech? Should they be put on double secret probation? How does one give the other team acceptable hell? Darn those college kids!

Band director should be cautious, considering the university fired a music department employee over allegations of behavior (sexual harrassment) violating accepted professional standards of conduct. The former director of the CPA was also terminated for purportedly not handling complaints properly. ETSU has to maintain control over groups and staff that represent the university.

(01-06-2019 11:12 PM)Bucc18 Wrote:  Unacceptable? Or inappropriate play on words? Is it hate speech? Should they be put on double secret probation? How does one give the other team acceptable hell? Darn those college kids!

Yeah, this doesn't come close to stepping over any line for students razzing the opponent players. UTC students doing the same to our guys when we're down there is fair game and really should be expected.

(01-06-2019 09:37 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  

(01-06-2019 09:06 AM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  Toatley is going to be tough matchup for the next four years.

He's their best young guard alright. Very quick to the basket and able to score off a variety of unlikely floaters. You start off thinking, "yeah, let him keep shooting like that, and it will even out". But he just keeps making them.

They've got another freshman guard, Maurice Commander, who is reputed to be good, although not as explosive as Toatley. He's been out several games now with injury, so we didn't get to see him.

And of course there's 6-6 230 freshman Kevin Easley who got 15 points and 4 rebounds, but 3 turnovers. A strong scorer but not super athletic.

They'll need another strong recruiting class or two to be competitive.

Toatley and Easley - what was up with both of them wearing tights and rolling up their shorts? Both are good players but that was a distraction; especially when Easley spent so much time trying to get his just right - and his tights were way too short. Are they trying to set a new trend or is this something some of the NBA guys do?

(01-07-2019 06:12 AM)frankenheimer Wrote:  

(01-06-2019 11:12 PM)Bucc18 Wrote:  Unacceptable? Or inappropriate play on words? Is it hate speech? Should they be put on double secret probation? How does one give the other team acceptable hell? Darn those college kids!

Yeah, this doesn't come close to stepping over any line for students razzing the opponent players. UTC students doing the same to our guys when we're down there is fair game and really should be expected.

Yeah, agreed. You'll hear FAR worse at pretty much any high major contest (Cameron Crazies, anybody?). Hell, I heard WAY worse from students at D3 football and basketball games.

(01-07-2019 08:35 AM)Running_Fool15 Wrote:  Yeah, agreed. You'll hear FAR worse at pretty much any high major contest (Cameron Crazies, anybody?). Hell, I heard WAY worse from students at D3 football and basketball games.

I've never been to a Furman game but I've heard their students are about as bad as anyone. Someone told me in Forbes first season his wife was at the Furman game in Greenville and the students were insulting her. Now if that's true that is out of line.

(01-07-2019 09:00 AM)Bucster Wrote:  

(01-07-2019 08:35 AM)Running_Fool15 Wrote:  Yeah, agreed. You'll hear FAR worse at pretty much any high major contest (Cameron Crazies, anybody?). Hell, I heard WAY worse from students at D3 football and basketball games.

I've never been to a Furman game but I've heard their students are about as bad as anyone. Someone told me in Forbes first season his wife was at the Furman game in Greenville and the students were insulting her. Now if that's true that is out of line.

Coach Forbes commented on the radio in a post game interview about some fans at an away game a year or two ago (since I can't remember exactly where it was, I won't say where I think it was). He wouldn't characterize what they were saying other to say that they made some "interesting comments." I remember that Jay was especially perturbed as a number of the commentators were directly behind him apparently trying to get some air time.

I remember VMI being pretty bad last year, and Furman is pretty bad. So what our band said was certainly not "professional" but that's pretty harmless. I've been to games at Oklahoma & Kentucky (my two alma maters). I've heard much, much worse.

To answer your question, BigIsland, it looks like Smallwood's parents are English, and his Dad has a job as a Middle Ages professor in Bordeaux, so Tom grew up there instead.

Also chanting "Thomas has small wood" is certainly appropriate for a college basketball game. It's just not very funny or clever. About as good as the band can come up with, though.

I wish students would get into chanting more, they're supposed to be the funny ones

(01-05-2019 04:42 PM)RodShaw2 Wrote:  Program has Chattanooga players listed as JUCO or transfer beside their class. Hmmmm

It will be interesting to see if this is a new thing (never seen it before)
or was it a one off in response to Mike Young's comment saying Paris was building it the right way without JUCO and transfer players.

(01-07-2019 07:34 AM)seagrove10 Wrote:  

(01-06-2019 09:37 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  

(01-06-2019 09:06 AM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  Toatley is going to be tough matchup for the next four years.

He's their best young guard alright. Very quick to the basket and able to score off a variety of unlikely floaters. You start off thinking, "yeah, let him keep shooting like that, and it will even out". But he just keeps making them.

They've got another freshman guard, Maurice Commander, who is reputed to be good, although not as explosive as Toatley. He's been out several games now with injury, so we didn't get to see him.

And of course there's 6-6 230 freshman Kevin Easley who got 15 points and 4 rebounds, but 3 turnovers. A strong scorer but not super athletic.

They'll need another strong recruiting class or two to be competitive.

Toatley and Easley - what was up with both of them wearing tights and rolling up their shorts? Both are good players but that was a distraction; especially when Easley spent so much time trying to get his just right - and his tights were way too short. Are they trying to set a new trend or is this something some of the NBA guys do?

I was thinking the same thing during the game. Bradford's shorts last year were sort of a poor man's version of the old short shorts from back in the day, but not as extreme as Easley's. Guess what's old is new again now.