"Fulmer wants to see balanced coverage"

[patrick]

I am not going to rail on Fulmer for his comments in that article, however his comments don't really endear him to those of us who question whether he can right the ship.

We all know that "sex sells". For whatever reason, the public wants to read about other peoples problems and mistakes more so than to read about their accolades. Fulmer should know this also. His comments sound kind of whiney to me.

just my opinion.

 

[hatvol96]

Here's a novel concept for the current head coach: Do something positive, and you'll receive favorable coverage. Does he expect that a 5-6 record and a rash of arrests will have the media producing glowing articles?

 

[Lexvol]

100% correct. CPF is somewhat of an enigma. He has some "gravitas" to use a silly media word. There are a lot of people who have deep loyalty to him that I cannot really explain.

For example, a recent article on the Scout website indicated that Jim Clausen flew to Knoxville, HE FLEW to KNOXVILLE to personally tell CPF that Jimmy would be going to Notre Dame. In the conversation CPF encouraged Mr. Clausen, and praised Casey for what he accomplished at UT ( Mr. Clausen is now blaming himself for Casey's inability to make it in the pros by the way). The tone of the article suggested that father Jim was apologetic that little Jimmy would not be suiting up for the Big Orange.

Anyway, how is it that CPF inspires such actions, and yet seems so ineffective lately? How can CPF inspire such actions, and still cry over the mess that he helped create?

 

[hatvol96]

100% correct. CPF is somewhat of an enigma. He has some "gravitas" to use a silly media word. There are a lot of people who have deep loyalty to him that I cannot really explain.

For example, a recent article on the Scout website indicated that Jim Clausen flew to Knoxville, HE FLEW to KNOXVILLE to personally tell CPF that Jimmy would be going to Notre Dame. In the conversation CPF encouraged Mr. Clausen, and praised Casey for what he accomplished at UT ( Mr. Clausen is now blaming himself for Casey's inability to make it in the pros by the way). The tone of the article suggested that father Jim was apologetic that little Jimmy would not be suiting up for the Big Orange.

Anyway, how is it that CPF inspires such actions, and yet seems so ineffective lately? How can CPF inspire such actions, and still cry over the mess that he helped create?

Fulmer is an example of our current culture of victimization. The media is wronging him by reporting that he is the head of a directionless, lethargic program that could provide enough arrest footage for a one hour special "Cops:Knoxville." He, of course, is a victim and had no culpability.

 

[Lexvol]

Fulmer is an example of our current culture of victimization. The media is wronging him by reporting that he is the head of a directionless, lethargic program that could provide enough arrest footage for a one hour special "Cops:Knoxville." He, of course, is a victim and had no culpability.

:birgits_giggle:

Sarcasm aside, perhaps if he stopped following his Mea Culpas with excuses it would be a lot easier to support him. I just don't understand his need to justify the current slide.

 

[orange+white=heaven]

I am not going to rail on Fulmer for his comments in that article...

I've no idea what article you're talking about. :dunno:

Somebody got a link or quote?

 

[Lexvol]

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cf...s&news_id=49868

 

[orange+white=heaven]

“I don’t think anybody’s been unfactual, it’s just trying to find the balance,” Fulmer said. “Munoz wins the… academic equivalent of the Heisman trophy and it’s on the sixth page in very small print. Now if one of the guys turn right on red and gets stopped, it would have been the front page headline, so that’s screwy.”

It would be nice if the good got as many columns in the paper as the bad.
That is not realistic and I'm sure Fulmer knows that. So maybe in that sense the quote is a little inane.

Still, It didn't seem to me he was really whining about how he and his team have been treated.More of a commentary on the climate of how college athletics is covered in general.

I dunno, maybe I'm being an apologist. Hat, did I set your 'fulmerite' detector off?

 

[orange+white=heaven]

Another bit from that article, this time from Pearl...

This is an opportunity for me to say, ‘Thank you,’ because the Vol Nation was a huge part of our success this year.”

Nice when the Pearl recognizes all of Freak's hard work here at the Nation!

 

[hatvol96]

It would be nice if the good got as many columns in the paper as the bad.
That is not realistic and I'm sure Fulmer knows that. So maybe in that sense the quote is a little inane.

Still, It didn't seem to me he was really whining about how he and his team have been treated.More of a commentary on the climate of how college athletics is covered in general.

I dunno, maybe I'm being an apologist. Hat, did I set your 'fulmerite' detector off?

Not really. I think the comment by Fulmer was a bit disingenuous. I must have missed the incident where Fulmer was criticized for one of his players committing a minor traffic violation. This is a tough issue for me. I'm not sure who I dislike more, Fulmer or the mainstream media.

 

[OWB]

Fulmer or the mainstream media.

It's Fulmer...

 

[hatvol96]

It's Fulmer...

You've never heard one of my rants on the state of the media in America. I'm from the Bob Knight School of Media Relations.

 

[orange+white=heaven]

You've never heard one of my rants on the state of the media in America. I'm from the Bob Knight School of Media Relations.

And yet the media loves the guy because he's money in the bank.
Parcells too for that matter. Come to think of it, maybe if Fulmer went off in a couple of pressers he might get a better rep...

 

[hatvol96]

And yet the media loves the guy because he's money in the bank.
Parcells too for that matter. Come to think of it, maybe if Fulmer went off in a couple of pressers he might get a better rep...

I agree completely. If Fulmer would challenge the media instead of complaining/whining, he would come across as a much stronger personality.

 

[lawgator1]

I agree completely. If Fulmer would challenge the media instead of complaining/whining, he would come across as a much stronger personality.

As I read the one quote above, Fulmer was in fact taking the media to task for minimizing the good while highlighting the bad.

Part of this to me is that the sports media in particular is made up of so much hipocrisy. Sports reporters recognize that they are basically entertainment reporters. Sports is not "news." Yet they want to be treated as news reporters in a lot of respects, and usually when it suits them.

The reality is that, if you have a successful program, then the sports reporters will laud you for a long time and keep your reputation going in the "right" direction. But at the first sign of trouble, they look for more cracks in the armor. UT had a bad season last year and expectations have been dashed a bit, so the sports "reporters" are now earning their keep by finding even more that's wrong with the program.

The irony is that, if UT has a fantastic year, then all will be forgiven and the sports "reporters" will talk about Fulmer getting things back under control, turning it around, and everyone will go right back to writing about the recruiting juggernaut at Tennessee, the tradition, the fans, etc., etc.

Bottom line to me is that, regardless of whether you like the current regime or dislike the current regime, the last place to look for input as to whether the team is successful or going in the right direction is the sports media. Might as well ask Joan Rivers on the red carpet what she thinks because that in essence is what you are going to get, anyway.

 

[therickbol]

If some of you were able to read the article WITHOUT BIAS you would be able to understand what he actaully said. He didn't whine and he didn't say that the negative press was unwarranted. He said the reporters are not making stuff up and that they are reporting the facts. He never said they should STOP reporting on the negative aspects. He made a very common sense argument that newspapers are nothing more than "a for-profit" business and therefore there is an injustice in how stories are reported. Negative articles get big headlines and frontpage space. Anything positive that the players or the coaches do usually get stuck in the little blog box in the back of the sports page. Is that fair? No. I think everyone would being unbiased would agree. But, is a newspaper in business to be fair? Unfortunatley not, its a business.

Some of you people are so biased in what you read about Fulmer that there could be a story about him discovering a cure for cancer and you guys would find some way to manipulate the story and make it negative.

 

[hatvol96]

If some of you were able to read the article WITHOUT BIAS you would be able to understand what he actaully said. He didn't whine and he didn't say that the negative press was unwarranted. He said the reporters are not making stuff up and that they are reporting the facts. He never said they should STOP reporting on the negative aspects. He made a very common sense argument that newspapers are nothing more than "a for-profit" business and therefore there is an injustice in how stories are reported. Negative articles get big headlines and frontpage space. Anything positive that the players or the coaches do usually get stuck in the little blog box in the back of the sports page. Is that fair? No. I think everyone would being unbiased would agree. But, is a newspaper in business to be fair? Unfortunatley not, its a business.

Some of you people are so biased in what you read about Fulmer that there could be a story about him discovering a cure for cancer and you guys would find some way to manipulate the story and make it negative.

I think it's much more likely that he would discover a new recipe for chocolate pie.

 

[cd12]

I think he should be put in a room and made to listen to the song Dirty Laundry, over and over again

 

[hatvol96]

I think he should be put in a room and made to listen to the song Dirty Laundry, over and over again

"We all know that crap is king, give us Dirty Laundry."

 

[cd12]

"We all know that crap is king, give us Dirty Laundry."

"got their dirty little fingers, in everybody's pie"

 

[kptvol]

As I read the one quote above, Fulmer was in fact taking the media to task for minimizing the good while highlighting the bad.

Part of this to me is that the sports media in particular is made up of so much hipocrisy. Sports reporters recognize that they are basically entertainment reporters. Sports is not "news." Yet they want to be treated as news reporters in a lot of respects, and usually when it suits them.

Sports media does tend to put a negative spin on pretty much anything. TO might not be a model NFLer, but I think he's been overly villified by the media. I remember how all these sportscasters were calling TO selfish for trying to come back to the Super Bowl. The guy ignored his doctor's advice to play on a broken leg in hopes of helping the Eagles win it all and he's selfish? Give me a break.

 

[jakez4ut]

you know when i read that article, i knew what would come..and sure enough....

and i can see why he could be labeled a whiner...the comment about running a red on a right turn minimizes some of the transgresions that have taken place at UT over the past two years, but in all fairness, his first comment was that none of the reports were inaccurate, just that that is all you ever hear about.

any good, of which there was little in the past two years granted, things that have happend surrounding players or coaches at UT have been treated with less coverage than the bad. I dont' think that could be argued, and it's the same at every other big program in the country as well.

to me the point of his comments is warranted, it's the delivery that can get scrutinized, and that i can certainly understand. If you just get to the intended point of his comments, i don't think it was making excuses or whining, just wanting there to be equal time for all the things that happen at UT...good and bad.

and i have no problem with that.

 

[patrick]

i just wish he wouldn't have said anything at all. heck he closes of practice like ut is some secret sports team.

im glad munoz received an award (wasn't that in the middle of 05) but come on.

fulmer needs to pick better battles.... and give fans something to believe in.

it is going to be a long year

 

[VolBeef88]

Come on guys. Good grief! What did he say that was whinning? What did he say that was not true? It's a slow sports time and he was in town and was asked a question and gave his opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. I know some of you hate him so much that you will take any chance to take a shot at him. SO go ahead and enjoy yourself. But you sound foolish complaining about this interview.

 

[hatvol96]

Come on guys. Good grief! What did he say that was whinning? What did he say that was not true? It's a slow sports time and he was in town and was asked a question and gave his opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. I know some of you hate him so much that you will take any chance to take a shot at him. SO go ahead and enjoy yourself. But you sound foolish complaining about this interview.

Not nearly as foolish as those who blindly defend everything the current head football coach says and does.