Adamec: No renewal of UConn-Tennessee in Sight

[EricLA]

Tony, Ya' gotta' give it up. It ain't healthy. Summitt is gone and the orange timted whackos are now hating in private. In the end, Karma kicked their ass in the Ball State game.

Tony has given it up. You don't see him starting threads talking ad nauseum about Tennessee, even tho other posters on here do that. You don't even see him replying to every Tennessee themed post. He's certainly not obsessed with, or consumed by, all things Tennessee.

I know Tony and know that he's gone on to live a happy and healthy life with his family, friends, work, etc. What he does reply to vis-a-vis Tennessee are the posts that talk about renewing the series, and from his perspective why he's opposed to it. To call him out specifically when a plethora of us have said basically the same thing is bad form.

 

[Waquoit]

Pat was the one who cancelled the series, she was the one who initiated the 30+ page complaint to the NCAA regarding alleged violations, she was the one who said it was cancelled because of things Geno did, and then she refused to say why, acting coy and saying "Geno knows. Go ask him". Frankly every time this gets brought up again, it brings back all the memories of the dirty, nasty, and arrogant way Pat and Tennessee went about the whole affair.

All true. She gained all kinds of hand after winning that last NC and she chose to spend it all on a vendetta against Geno and UConn. What kills me to this day is when PHS is described as "classy". If by classy they mean pathetic and bitter, I agree. She doesn't have a classy bone in her body. What makes it all the sweeter is that was her last hurrah. Not another sniff of the NC since.

The fact is, there is no clamor for this game anymore. The Lady Vols are just another decent program. The "moolah" for this game would be no more than any other UConn game against any other decent team. That ship has sailed.

 

[EricLA]

All true. She gained all kinds of hand after winning that last NC and she chose to spend it all on a vendetta against Geno and UConn. What kills me to this day is when PHS is described as "classy". If by classy they mean pathetic and bitter, I agree. She doesn't have a classy bone in her body. What makes it all the sweeter is that was her last hurrah. Not another sniff of the NC since. The Lady Vols are just another decent program.

Agree in general. In fairness, I think there are a great many things Pat has accomplished, and most all in a classy manner, but to pretend she's perfect is what sticks in my craw. The other part I mentioned, maybe in another post, is that instead of pulling Geno aside, yelling at him (if she wanted) and handling the affair in adult manner, she chose to take the cowardly and childish route.

 

[CL82]

I agree with that 100% and, actually, hold them much more responsible. I will say, however, they, too, may not have realized what was going on with Pat at that point and may well have misunderstood any erratic behavior. Until one has been closely involved with an Alzheimer's patient or several it is very hard to understand. In addition the deference with which Pat had been treated in the past probably made what you suggest extremely difficult, even unlikely.

I agree with your last point, but I still have to believe that someone would take a look at what she had, realize all that she had to lose in terms of her reputation, which has taken a hit, and say Pat you've got nothing here. Don't pursue it until you do. In my experience the issue with Alzheimer's isn't that patients are irrational in the early form of the disease, it is that they are pliable. So if the disease figured in it, maybe the issue isn't that she forced this down everyone's throat, maybe it is that she lacked the capacity to realize the advice to go after to Geno was shortsighted. I suspect that we will never know though.

 

[Bayareahusky]

My thinking on those who want to extend an olive branch to Pat because of the beginnings of her affliction clouding her judgment on going voraciously to bury our program...... she was totally of sane mind and judgment to run the UT WCBB program..... with no issues ..... until she handed off to Holly in 2012..... We are talking about 2007..... 5 years earlier.....

Like a lot of others, I strongly salute Pat for her career accomplishments.... they are to behold...... I also, like many, wish the PHS talk will go away..... but, as long as the return of "the game" will be debated..... a bringup reminder of what has transpired is also more than fair..... and I will always be happy to chirp in.

Long live Pat's legacy! Well deserved for your accomplishments...... But also, thank goodness our program was resilient in '07, proven innocent, and has established itself as finest in the land..... Geno 8 titles in 28 years..... THAT is commendable..... let's go #9!!!

 

[jscott]

wow i cannot believe that some of you are talking about a women with a disease saying these things talking about the posters on the summitt some should start looking at the post on the boneyard too every team has some bad fans out there its just a game its not life or death like what pat is facing is her life here

 

[pinotbear]

It is a tricky thing, jscott - on one hand, you are talking about somebody who has a major health issue, and has it far, far too early in her lifetime. And, you are talking about somebody who is the winningest coach in college basketball, and literally set the standard for women's college basketball.

On the other hand, most of what we are referring to here predates her diagnosis by several years. So, you have two questions to factor in - first, to what extent did Pat's oncoming dementia affect her statements and decision-making that far ahead of the recognition of her illness? Second, to what extent does one excuse the litany of disagreeableness she engendered, based upon her subsequent diagnosis - or, put simply, how big and how far back do you pardon Pat Summitt and Tennessee? Because, as has been noted, there were no shortage of individuals and institutions - including the SEC conference - that "aided and abetted" the underhanded innuendo and assault on the UConn staff, program, and school.

Count me among the group that do not issue a blanket pardon. Some forgiveness, or at least understanding, of what went on the last couple of years of Pat's tenure, sure. Having a father going through a similar situation, as so many of us do, hindsight allows me to see that things were starting to slip at least two years before my dad was obviously in distress. But, that doesn't negate all the good/not so good things he may have thought, said, or done for an indeterminate number of years before. Where do you draw the line? I don't know. But, it's too easy and somewhat condescending, to just say that nothing Pat said, did, or achieved for the last several years of her career, really counts. Her wins count, her championships count, all the good things she did count - and, so do her failures.

 

[grizz36]

wow i cannot believe that some of you are talking about a women with a disease saying these things talking about the posters on the summitt some should start looking at the post on the boneyard too every team has some bad fans out there its just a game its not life or death like what pat is facing is her life here

At one point in his life, Al Capone was in a prison cell dying of syphyllis. Are you implying the public should have stopped discussing his criminal behavior during this time? A tad extreme, but the point is just as valid. What the hell? Many of us, at our age are facing life and death situations and afflictions. What makes Pat Summitt such a special subject to be petted and fussed over? BTW - A few caps and punctuation marks wouldn't hurt your post much.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Yes, the timeline, as I recall, was that in May or June of 2011, Pat went to the Mayo Clinic because of health things she started to notice which had shown themselves the previous several months.... a full 3 to 3 1/2 years after she spearheaded the attempt to raze our WCBB program. She followed her visit with the public admission in late August 2011.... and coached UT in 2011-12 with Holly as the de facto coach......

I think in 2007 she had her wits about her, 100%...... again, she appeared to have a complete and able handle on her basketball program at that time, even winning the NC in both 07 and 08.

 

[doggydaddy]

, she appeared to have a complete and able handle on her basketball program at that time, even winning the NC in both 07 and 08.

She gets credit for recruiting Parker and got lucky with a JC transfer (Bobbitt) for her last two.

 

[EricLA]

wow i cannot believe that some of you are talking about a women with a disease saying these things talking about the posters on the summitt some should start looking at the post on the boneyard too every team has some bad fans out there its just a game its not life or death like what pat is facing is her life here

Yes the posters on the summit have had an absolute aneurism in claiming that UCONN fans are somehow using Pat's illness against her, against them, in a nefarious manner, are making "cruel jokes" about the disease, and saying "awful" things about Pat vis-a-vis the cancellation of the series, blah blah. They are delusional. But you make it sound like people are making fun of her, or somehow making light of her struggle. Far from it.

Summitt posters STILL have a huge vendetta against doggydaddy, and have nothing nice to say about icebear (who is one of our more compassionate posters). The thing they don't seem to get is that Pat acted in a childish, looney tunes crazy, manner when she lost out on the prized recruits she felt she somehow "deserved" and that Geno somehow "cheated" her out of. (By the way, in spite of near universal comments of Geno as a "cheater" on their board, no one has EVER come up with what he did that supposedly constituted cheating). It's also a fact that she has Alzheimers. Are the two related? We have no idea (I personally do not think so). And there are posters on the BY who have had family members or friends affected by that horrible disease. It's certainly much better for her legacy to think her behavior had something to do with her illness, rather than think the paranoid petty childishness is part of her natural personality.

BUT because Tennessee fans thing she's a Saint (the thing they don't get is Geno is a God - that trumps Saints every day ), they can't imagine that Pat has EVER done anything wrong. Well the fact is, she did. Not only has Tennessee been cited for at least 5 recruiting violations (4 under Pat's tenure), not to mention her very unfortunate comments about Pearl when he was getting fired, but she went bonkers with her vendetta against Geno and UCONN, only to have it blow back up in her face.

I honestly don't care to discuss her illness with regards to her behavior regarding UCONN and Geno because it wasn't just her. It was the AD, Tennessee administration, and SEC who allowed that stupidity to go forward. Were assistant coaches involved in the fiasco? The crazy moderators of the Summitt (after all, they went after posters on the Boneyard)? That part we will never know.

If the CEO of IBM or Apple or some other major corporation were diagnosed with a horrible disease, and that disease was known to affect the mind in all sorts of debilitating ways, wouldn't one think that major shareholders as well as other executives would question crazy and strange decisions leading up to the diagnosis of the disease?

If any Tennessee fan REALLY thinks that UCONN fans take her disease lightly, aren't compassionate about it, can't comprehend how devastating it is for Pat, her family, friends, and the Tennessee community, then there's no cure for that kind of stupidity. To play it off by saying that it makes sense - since we have a coach like Geno and a poster child like Diana - is equally delusional.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Great post Eric...ditto ditto ditto...... I also think posters here recognize Pat's great achievements. Also remember a couple of months back they were encouraging for the large part on Holdsclaw's troubles.

Go Huskies!

 

[doggydaddy]

They still post about me? How pathetic are they?

Post this - kiss my blue posterior.

 

[msf22b]

get over it already its been years its the greatest rivarly in the womens game forget about the past time to move on no game in womens basketball can possibly even come close to tennessee vs uconn. sorry but baylor vs uconn or notre dame vs uconn just isnt the same lets get this rivarly started back up again forget about everything else lets just play some basketball

New member gets it right.

True, I wasn't there but am a history buff, read all I can, even queried the Summit.

This is about a rivalry... won't be the same, doesn't have to be, will still be fun and make plenty money and notoriety (like good for the game…that we are all supposed to love and needs all the help it can get).

Ice (perhaps unwittingly) gives us all an out to resume: She was in the first stage of dementia when this all came down. So we can all exercise our Judeo/Christian capacity for forgiveness (or better ignore) Pat's transgressions.
How can apologies mean anything if the person is mentally ill?
Even if she was healthy, this apology nonsense strikes me as being ridiculous.
I won't play unless you make nice…sounds like three year-olds.

What do great friends and current teammates Bashaara and Stewie and Morgan have to do with grown-ups acting like children? Nothing at all. They just want to play ball.

I also think that the reasons tendered to end the ND rivalry are equally small-minded…that we played them too much…Anyone bored?
And that somehow we have to punish their admin for their role in breaking up the Big East… Not really true but more importantly It's finished forget it, move on.

And if we are setting a standard of conduct for whom we are not going to play, who's next? North Carolina, Baylor?

Remember folks, its just a game…and traditionally we have the best horses. Wouldn't it be fun to beat all the best teams
Including our unworthy former national rivals.

 

[Biff]

New member gets it right.



I also think that the reasons tendered to end the ND rivalry are equally small-minded…that we played them too much….

May I ask exactly who tendered that reason?

 

[msf22b]

Haven't you heard it repeatedly?

 

[msf22b]

Ah so Biff

I get your point.
It certainly has been prevalent as a point of discussion among posters rationalizing the disengagement.
But I thought I also remember it as being part of the official rationale


Check and be back. If inaccurate, mea culpa

Michael

 

[Adesmar123]

She gets credit for recruiting Parker and got lucky with a JC transfer (Bobbitt) for her last two.

Could it be that she learned her dislike of men from the infamous Bobbitt?

 

[Icebear]

My point in observing what I now see as signs of Pat's battle with Alzheimer's is not meant to provide reason one way or the other for resumption or continuing the current status. Posters may well have different views on it. I am simply saying that I can see evidence in the trail of the events for what would be the normal developmental course of the illness. As I said it is usually 3.2 years from onset of symptoms to diagnosis. Diagnosis was in the summer of 2011. This would indicate the possibility on a normal path for the onset to be in early 2008.

 

[Bestiarius]

get over it already its been years its the greatest rivarly in the womens game forget about the past time to move on no game in womens basketball can possibly even come close to tennessee vs uconn. [...] lets get this rivarly started back up again forget about everything else lets just play some basketball

I have an idea of how to resolve this conflict.

The UConn coaching staff will make unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing about the Tennessee program to the NCAA. Then, UConn will send letters to law enforcement agencies in an attempt to obtain indictments or other legal action against Tennessee coaches, administrators and fans. UConn will then start a public relations campaign intended to destroy the reputation of everything Tennessee. We here at the Boneyard will make vile statements about past and present Tennessee coaches, based on the obviously true Tennessee transgressions. UConn will refuse to provide documentation regarding the Tennessee wrongdoing, and instead, state that "they know what they did."

Then, you, jscott, can write to The Summitt and the Tennessee coaching staff and tell them to, "Get over it." I'm sure they will be happy to comply and the series can promptly resume.

 

[msf22b]

My point in observing what I now see as signs of Pat's battle with Alzheimer's is not meant to provide reason one way or the other for resumption or continuing the current status..

I understand Ice, I was just making use of your observation to suggest a possible way forward to bridge differences which seem both emotional and intractable.

 

[doggydaddy]

Official rationale?

It wasn't official that ND would be in the ACC in 2013 until Uconn's schedule was finalized.

You have other information?

 

[Icebear]

I understand Ice, I was just making use of your observation to suggest a possible way forward to bridge differences which seem both emotional and intractable.

I understood you understood but wanted to make sure that others understood what you understood and I understood so that there was no misunderstanding. Is that that understood?

 

[msf22b]

yeah, I suppose I left myself open to that

 

[Icebear]

yeah, I suppose I left myself open to that

That is understandable.