Ethan Bennett and Blake Thomas "retire"

[ShowmeVols]

If you want to pick particular paragraphs out of context in various losing press releases, you can find enough to fit your agenda.

"Particular paragraphs out of context"? Total BS and you know it. I gave the entire headline, subhead, and opening paragraphs verbatim for the losing team of every game in the tourney yesterday.

I'm not going to debate you on this.

Too late. You already did debate. And you lost. Badly. Now you're just covering your retreat, and that's not working out so well, either.

If you want to change the way they do business, then maybe you should apply for a job there the next time one becomes available.

Sorry. I'm retired and don't need a job.

Me? I have no desire to get in the middle of that, pretty much because of the things you cite in this thread. They can't win. Too positive? People complain and look for conspiracies and hidden agendas. Too negative? Same.

They can win. They can stop thinking they're super spinmeisters who can change perceptions by skewing their stories. They can play it straight.

 

[DeerPark12]

"Particular paragraphs out of context"? Total BS and you know it. I gave the entire headline, subhead, and opening paragraphs verbatim for the losing team of every game in the tourney yesterday.


Too late. You already did debate. And you lost. Badly. Now you're just covering your retreat, and that's not working out so well, either.

They can win. They can stop thinking they're super spinmeisters who can change perceptions by skewing their stories. They can play it straight.

Yes, but you didn't pull the rest of those releases that highlighted the things that their teams did well. That's what PR people do.

Clearly, we have different opinions on what the roles of PR/SID people are. Nobody "lost." We disagree. You're never going to accept my position, and I don't understand yours.

I'm not covering for anything. The root of this thread was you speculating that there was some alterior motive for a great player moving on, despite the school, the oath and the player directly saying otherwise. Since you didn't believe any of them, I should have known better than to expect you to believe me.

If you want to go on believing that Serrano ran off one of his best players despite everyone, including the player, saying otherwise, then I guess you're welcome to do so. Don't forget your tinfoil hat.

 

[HailButch]

Having grown up with Ethan, this decision definitely had something to do with Serrano. Ethan had injury issues yes, but he was healthy while he was inexplicably sidelined in favor of Houser earlier this year. Although he'd never admit it because he's too good of a kid, being benched in favor of Houser who was awful absolutely upset him. I don't blame him for seeing what else is out there because Ethan is first and foremost an excellent human being, and baseball was never going to be his career path. If the coach isn't going to give you a fair shake of things, why put your body on the line each and every day trying to be the best you can be? Good for Ethan and I know that he will be successful no matter what he chooses to do in life.

 

[ShowmeVols]

DeerPark,
Ready to move on because this has consumed way more energy that it deserves. But first, I need to clarify that I never said Serrano ran Ethan off. And you know what? It doesn't matter. He's the coach and can run off anybody whose presence won't help him reach his goals for the team.

I don't know why Ethan left. My instinct is to guess that the likely ratio of DH to C games he would play next year didn't increase the chance of his staying, but I don't know anything beyond the publicly available information.

My main point throughout this tempest in a teapot has been that the roll-out of this information was so odd and the explanations so vague and unsatisfying that the handlers ended up drawing more attention and curiosity to the story than a less active PR posture would have. I worked in non-sports PR for a good while and have strong opinions on the subject. It's a pretty basic rule of PR that you want your releases to communicate the desired information without raising additional questions. By that standard, the announcement of Ethan's retirement was a PR failure. Is that such a hard position to understand?

 

[BruinVol]

The SID debate is simple:


The UT SID's job is to paint a positive picture regarding all things orange.


It's that way everywhere.


Their info should be read with that understanding

 

[Freak]

The SID debate is simple:


The UT SID's job is to paint a positive picture regarding all things orange.


It's that way everywhere.


Their info should be read with that understanding

I'm shocked this is even a discussion.

 

[BruinVol]

I'm shocked this is even a discussion.

Agreed!


On a more enjoyment note:::


Right on cue for the post season Candy losing to Texas A&M.


Choke time for the biggest choke artist in college baseball!

 

[golfhunter28]

Having grown up with Ethan, this decision definitely had something to do with Serrano. Ethan had injury issues yes, but he was healthy while he was inexplicably sidelined in favor of Houser earlier this year. Although he'd never admit it because he's too good of a kid, being benched in favor of Houser who was awful absolutely upset him. I don't blame him for seeing what else is out there because Ethan is first and foremost an excellent human being, and baseball was never going to be his career path. If the coach isn't going to give you a fair shake of things, why put your body on the line each and every day trying to be the best you can be? Good for Ethan and I know that he will be successful no matter what he chooses to do in life.

Spot on!

 

[matts42012]

I'm sorry but that's not true. I can also tell you if it wasn't Ethan's decision to leave there would not have been fanfare there was with the radio interviews and UT tweeting it. Ex Chris Fritts

 

[BaseVol]

I'm sorry but that's not true. I can also tell you if it wasn't Ethan's decision to leave there would not have been fanfare there was with the radio interviews and UT tweeting it. Ex Chris Fritts

I don't think anyone is saying it wasn't his decision, the question is why. I'm gonna go with a combination of getting the shaft on playing time and just not loving the game as much you need to to battle through the injuries and playing time issues he faced this year.
Either way, like I said in my earlier post, I respect his decision, really hate to see him go, and wish him all the best!

 

[RichRollin]

[Cue the Herm Edwards "Playoffs!? Playoffs!?" video and insert "National Championship!?"]

Sorry, your weasel wording over "promised land" is not credible. Nobody on this site has talked about any promised land more blessed than Hoover or a regional bid in about five years. Whether you admit it or not, you were buying and retailing the hype of this freshman class not long ago. It's relevant because it establishes your susceptibility to being sold the party line. And my comments are about not blindly accepting the party line.

I'm not going to take your bait to go down your next rabbit trail, either, because that just takes us farther away from my original and main point on this thread, which is the simple observation that the official version seems like less than the whole story.

I don't know anything about anything that transpired between the player and the coaches, I haven't heard any rumors, and I'm not insinuating anything. I'm just saying the situation and explanation strike me as unusual. Deer Park's non-answer to my question about Ethan's catching role next year didn't allay those feelings, and neither did listening to Ethan's vague answers in the interview.

So let me ask you one question, then maybe we can move on--because in the long-term context of rebuilding the program, this incident won't matter a whole lot. Do you at least agree that the Tweets and interview were odd and raised more questions that they answered?

The tweets and interview didn't strike me as odd at all. I don't remember a bunch of interviews and tweets after half the team was canned last year. I see the tweets as a farewell, same with interview.

Let me ask you a question. Do you think Serrano would totally screw this kid over while trying to recruit locally...Faragut in particular? I'm gonna go out on a ledge and say he's smarter than that.

Again....you're blaming my belief in the younger players potential for me not buying into your self created conspiracy theory. Which could quite possibly be the most ludacris thing I've ever read on here. I'm big on taking local players (who can play)! My love for the freshman would never trump my love for homegrown players.

On the flip side you are blaming UT media for the reason you've single handedly drawn up a conspiracy theory against the baseball coach. You have nothing solid, just your drawn up conclusion that's happening in your own world.

Which leads me back to my original comment...you are all over the place. And until you provide me/us with some concrete evidence, I will stand by my statement.

 

[ShowmeVols]

Rich,

I sympathize with your inability to make or respond to a coherent argument, but it's getting really tiresome to see you resort again and again to the lame tactic of guessing wrong as to what I might mean and then attacking your guess as if it's something I really did say or mean.

I never said anything about a conspiracy.

I never said anything about intentionally screwing over kids from Farragut.

And I didn't blame your "belief in the younger players' potential for [your] not buying into [my] self created conspiracy theory." Rather, I cited your acceptance of the hype of the freshman class as evidence of your gullibility. There's a big difference.

Just stop trying to put words in my mouth.