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Battle for 9

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Yes, it is hard to stand beside my Tenn friends in the backdrop of the whole charade of the run to the NCAA.... with no remorse afterward..... just a generic childlike "You know what you did!".... In a big way, I think this emboldened us..... forced us certainly to defend out integrity and our specific actions..... I still cannot believe that UT has nothing to say in the sense of "Gee we probably shouldn't have been so strident in our accusations".... If I was a UT fan, I would be embarrassed.... but of course they are not.... for the reason, again "You know what you did!".... As soon as we became dominant, and the heat got too hot, PHS led her troops out of the kitchen in a hurry in bully fashion. To UT, I would say "Now you well know why you don't want to play us any longer!"
 
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Fans of other programs are welcome to post such items and promote their teams here as long as they don't denigrate UConn in the process. You know, stuff like, "Yeah, your player is good but ours does this that and the other thing that your player can't do". VolFan didn't do anything like that.

I don't care to see the Boneyard become one of Those Boards that try to run off reasonable fans of other programs that just want to have a normal conversation. We'll leave that kind of shabby behavior to Those Boards and continue to welcome civil fans of other programs.

CLARIFICATION: I am all for allowing fans of other schools posting in this forum as long as they follow the guidelines you referenced. However, what my real issue concerns is allowing a LINK to a promotional video and web site of another school; especially considering this schools primary message board forum is a premium paid for content site, meaning they can post it on their site but very few outside of their own fans will ever see it. Meanwhile, they post it here -- on the most visited FREE WCB forum around, for fans and possible recruits to see.

This doesn't seem like something that is in the best interest of UConn WBB.
 

DobbsRover2

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Perhaps an irrelevant tidbit, but in the last 20 years there have of course been 80 squads making it to the , but only 5 were from the host state for the FF. Maybe no effect on UTenn, but historically teams often seem to miss out on the when their state is host but win the NC in an adjoining year, such as Texas did way back in 1986 and UTenn did in both 1989 and 1991 in the years surrounding Knoxville as host in 1990, or more recently as Texas A&M did in 2011 following San Antonio's host job in 2010. Only twice has a team won an NC in their home state, the last being Stanford in 1992, with USC also winning a title in 1984 in LA. The only team to even make it to an NC game when its state was hosting since 1992 was Notre Dame in 2011.

Possibly means nothing, but perhaps the pressure gets ratcheted up a bit.
 

BooRadley

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Well, I don't believe I was the victim of a conspiracy. I try to look a little deeper into why people do what they do. I shall explain. For a period of my life I showed Border Collies in sheep dog trials. A few days after a trial, an animal control agent came to the ranch acting on a complaint I was abusing my dogs. At first I was shocked, then angry, then became amused as the agent examined my kennels and dogs and found them in perfect condition. As I thought about it, I realized that someone had turned me in, hopefully with the interest in protecting my dogs. I tried to believe they were acting in good faith and not because it was me.

I think that people who are part of organizations like the NCAA, WBB, colleges around the U.S. need to follow the rules and assist in making sure others do as well. I hold no ill will toward anyone who contacts the authorities in an effort to keep their organization clean. There will obviously be some that will see their actions as an attempt to attack some other member because of personal reasons. My word "perceived" was chosen because if TENN in fact thought UCONN was doing wrong they had an obligation to report it and let those in charge determine the truth. And those actions should not be considered an attempt to undermine the UCONN, WBB or Geno and his staff. Some personal comments from both sides were exchanged and I believe the situation escalated and got a little crazy. I prefer to let it pass and hope that those in charge can do the same. Let's act like adults and get the series started again.

RT,

In many situations the reasonable approach you have taken and the conclusions you come to would be spot on... but... in this one, the conclusions you've drawn just don't fit the situation particularly well. As you know, in life there are times when what looks to be reasonable upon a first observation is found to be very unreasonable with a fuller understanding.

I hope that I can give you a better understanding and a flavor of the experience so that you can make a better informed decision/opinion on this topic. I'm not saying that your understanding of those times is unreasonable given that you weren't here to experience them, but I am saying that you have built your opinion without sufficient understanding of those times and of those events. No one can reasonably expect you to GROK the issue but one can expect you to have a better, more flavored understanding if someone is willing to talk to you about those days and you are willing to be open minded to what you see, hear, read.

Sentiments 'Let's act like adults and get the series started again.' have frustrated some of those who lived through those times because your words suggest to us that you haven't sufficiently understood the depth and breathe of the flood of bile that came out of Knoxville at the time and how that spread across WCBBdom. We also believe that you are missing the more basic understanding that the accusations were not made out of a sense that justice or in an effort to keep the sport as clean as could be expected, but out of the more base motives of spite, entitlement & resentment. The accusations were not just beyond baseless, they were an of mean spirited hissyfits and appallingly immature tantrums. Otherwise responsible adults acted like nasty little 7th graders...

The insanely constructed accusations from their school and the nearly endless flow of followup accusations from PHS's proxies and her fanbase were not made in a sincere effort to find truth; they were personal... very personal.... attempts to destroy reputations and careers. There was very little actual high-minded speech coming out of Knoxville back in those days.

It was not all that much fun to be a fan of WCBB or of the Huskys in those days... The boards were aflame with attack and counterattack. The pregame-gametime-postgame media coverage couldn't resist spending insipid conversation after insipid conversation on this nonsense. WCBB as a whole was a lot less fun in those days. The 'troubles' became all-encompassing... it filled the air and pages even when we weren't playing each other... any and every televised UConn or UtTenn game was filled with nonsensical conversations by the play-by-play and color commentators about the problems between PHS & Geno... UConn & Utenn... it was pushing the actual game of basketball out of the conversation... It was all about the anger & resentments. The printed media blindly followed suit.

As Phil said, the accusations were based upon ridiculously flimsy supposition and completely unsupported, yet 'responsible' adults made them anyway. There was no reasonable suspicion that could be found here... there was only an itch to be scratched... a need to lash to be laid upon a foe. Most of us were gobsmacked when we finally had a chance to read the actual NCAA complaint... How UTenns AD didn't squash this all before it left the walls of her office is still a mystery. It was beyond silly... but old angers and the rest of the more base of human emotions took control of our Knoxville neighbors. Positively silly notions became facts in the resentment fueled minds in Knoxville. Given that as a starting point, it wasn't really all that surprising that it rapidly went downhill from there.

So, what would a rational, reasonable, mature person/organization do if they suspected that something was amiss....well, in the absence of facts that would substantiate allegations of wrongdoing, the folks in Knoxville chose to wage a war of innuendo whose first shot was at Geno in the form of "Ask Geno." PHS's fans took up her tactic and the smear was on... Their weapon of choice to give remedy to their suspicions was a campaign of far fetched rumor mongering and a malicious whisper campaign designed to punish Maya's mother, Carolyn Doty, DT, Sue, Geno, Kib, Tonyc, DD and others.... This full scale smear campaign was set into motion by UTenn and kept fueled for years by it's more rabid fans. To them, it was a sacred duty to back Pat with whatever was needed to smear potential recruits, recruits families, Geno, the other Husky coaches, the COOP, Husky fans as a group, and several Husky fans individually many of which were 'interviewed' by the authorities(FBI, Compliance officers).

Because PHS and crew had shown no motive other than a deep sense of resentment as she and they allowed nasty rumors and ugly suspicions to go unchecked and unchallenged, many folks lost respect for Coach PHS.
For many of us this was PHS's greatest misdeed:: she and her subordinates stayed silent as her proxies spread rumors -- her are just a few :::
  • Rumors of houses purchased as payoff to recruits parents ::: although untrue and completely concocted out of whole cloth, it had the potential to effect our recruiting efforts and to damage the reputations of both the school, the recruits, and the recruit's parents. Pretty dirty stuff...PHS never lifted a finger to mute this vile onslaught.
  • Rumors of sweet-heart book-bag deals made illegally to payoff the parent of a Husky:::not a scintilla of evidence to suggest that this ever happened... just mud thrown at UCONN and Maya's mom.
  • Rumors of cash payouts, not a scintilla of evidence to suggest that this ever happened... just mud thrown at UCONN and Maya's mom.
  • Rumors of illegal payouts of french fries and Wendy's burgers ::: designed purely to punish CD for having chosen UConn and to discredit UConn & Geno.
  • Rumors of secret and strictly illegal car rides home given to a recruit by DT & Sue, who BTW were out of the country at the time of the alleged car ride but had to be interviewed non-the-less. Simply a mud-slinging story created out of the air to damage the reputations of UCONN, Geno, DT, & Sue.
  • Rumors of accusations that illegal contact between Husky fans and recruits had become so commonplace that gifts(handmade signs) were given... too silly to take seriously except, of course, if you were the one being interviewed by the compliance folks.

As one rumor was shown to be ridiculous, several more would pop up from Knoxville. Peoples lives were interrupted and their reputations were assailed not as a result of an honest desire to keep the sport as clean as possible, but as a result of spite, resentment, anger, entitlement, and to some extent jealousy. These times were not filled with the laudably high-minded sentiments that you spoke of in your post; they were nothing more than humans behaving very very badly. The story became the nastiness... the game was lost in the muck. Those that disagree with you aren't failing to act like adults, they just don't wish to revisit/repeat those experiences.

I know that this response is far too long and I apologize for that but I also hope that this helps you to understand why you get the push-back that you do when the topic of renewing the series comes up. For many of us, it's as if you are suggesting we get back into an abusive relationship because there were 'good' times too. At least consider the possibility that those who oppose renewing the series are not failing to act like adults, that instead that it is possible that your plea for a detente is far too naive and based upon far too frail of an understanding of those events.


You Ol' Pal Boo
 

RockyMTblue2

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To be more succinct with you reno tony, in multiple threads this summer you have voiced you opinion the Tennessee and U Conn should play. In those multiple occasions you have either made false assumptions (UConn had a hand in canceling series) or said anyone with a contrary view was "immature" or should "grow up." This is disrespectful to your fellow Boneyarders and begs the question whether you are simply using the position as an attention seeking device. If it's the latter it is akin to the 4 year old farting at the dinner table.
 
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To be more succinct with you reno tony, in multiple threads this summer you have voiced you opinion the Tennessee and U Conn should play. In those multiple occasions you have either made false assumptions (UConn had a hand in canceling series) or said anyone with a contrary view was "immature" or should "grow up." This is disrespectful to your fellow Boneyarders and begs the question whether you are simply using the position as an attention seeking device. If it's the latter it is akin to the 4 year old farting at the dinner table.

This topic obviously stirs great emotion in some Boneyarders but I think this can not be ignored. Some, like you, know that I wish the series would start again. Maybe I am wearing rose-colored glasses when I see a day when all this stuff can be worked out and put behind us and let the teams play. Holly made a big step when she approached Geno about it and I take that as a good sign. Her attempt at opening the lines of communication should be recognized and UCONN should at least consider a chance at some type of reconciliation.

Since this is the first board on which I have posted, I might have unintentionally been disrespectful to someone's opinion and for that I apologize. It was not an attempt to gain attention or stir the pot.
 
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RT,

In many situations the reasonable approach you have taken and the conclusions you come to would be spot on... but... in this one, the conclusions you've drawn just don't fit the situation particularly well. As you know, in life there are times when what looks to be reasonable upon a first observation is found to be very unreasonable with a fuller understanding.

I hope that I can give you a better understanding and a flavor of the experience so that you can make a better informed decision/opinion on this topic. I'm not saying that your understanding of those times is unreasonable given that you weren't here to experience them, but I am saying that you have built your opinion without sufficient understanding of those times and of those events. No one can reasonably expect you to GROK the issue but one can expect you to have a better, more flavored understanding if someone is willing to talk to you about those days and you are willing to be open minded to what you see, hear, read.

Sentiments 'Let's act like adults and get the series started again.' have frustrated some of those who lived through those times because your words suggest to us that you haven't sufficiently understood the depth and breathe of the flood of bile that came out of Knoxville at the time and how that spread across WCBBdom. We also believe that you are missing the more basic understanding that the accusations were not made out of a sense that justice or in an effort to keep the sport as clean as could be expected, but out of the more base motives of spite, entitlement & resentment. The accusations were not just beyond baseless, they were an of mean spirited hissy fits and appallingly immature tantrums. Otherwise responsible adults acted like nasty little 7th graders...

The insanely constructed accusations from their school and the nearly endless flow of follow up accusations from PHS's proxies and her fan base were not made in a sincere effort to find truth; they were personal... very personal.... attempts to destroy reputations and careers. There was very little actual high-minded speech coming out of Knoxville back in those days.

It was not all that much fun to be a fan of WCBB or of the Huskys in those days... The boards were aflame with attack and counterattack. The pregame-game time-postgame media coverage couldn't resist spending insipid conversation after insipid conversation on this nonsense. WCBB as a whole was a lot less fun in those days. The 'troubles' became all-encompassing... it filled the air and pages even when we weren't playing each other... any and every televised UConn or UTenn game was filled with nonsensical conversations by the play-by-play and color commentators about the problems between PHS & Geno... UConn & Utenn... it was pushing the actual game of basketball out of the conversation... It was all about the anger & resentments. The printed media blindly followed suit.

As Phil said, the accusations were based upon ridiculously flimsy supposition and completely unsupported, yet 'responsible' adults made them anyway. There was no reasonable suspicion that could be found here... there was only an itch to be scratched... a need to lash to be laid upon a foe. Most of us were gobsmacked when we finally had a chance to read the actual NCAA complaint... How UTenns AD didn't squash this all before it left the walls of her office is still a mystery. It was beyond silly... but old angers and the rest of the more base of human emotions took control of our Knoxville neighbors. Positively silly notions became facts in the resentment fueled minds in Knoxville. Given that as a starting point, it wasn't really all that surprising that it rapidly went downhill from there.

So, what would a rational, reasonable, mature person/organization do if they suspected that something was amiss....well, in the absence of facts that would substantiate allegations of wrongdoing, the folks in Knoxville chose to wage a war of innuendo whose first shot was at Geno in the form of "Ask Geno." PHS's fans took up her tactic and the smear was on... Their weapon of choice to give remedy to their suspicions was a campaign of far fetched rumor mongering and a malicious whisper campaign designed to punish Maya's mother, Carolyn Doty, DT, Sue, Geno, Kib, Tonyc, DD and others.... This full scale smear campaign was set into motion by UTenn and kept fueled for years by it's more rabid fans. To them, it was a sacred duty to back Pat with whatever was needed to smear potential recruits, recruits families, Geno, the other Husky coaches, the COOP, Husky fans as a group, and several Husky fans individually many of which were 'interviewed' by the authorities(FBI, Compliance officers).

Because PHS and crew had shown no motive other than a deep sense of resentment as she and they allowed nasty rumors and ugly suspicions to go unchecked and unchallenged, many folks lost respect for Coach PHS.
For many of us this was PHS's greatest misdeed:: she and her subordinates stayed silent as her proxies spread rumors -- her are just a few :::

  • [ ]Rumors of houses purchased as payoff to recruits parents ::: although untrue and completely concocted out of whole cloth, it had the potential to effect our recruiting efforts and to damage the reputations of both the school, the recruits, and the recruit's parents. Pretty dirty stuff...PHS never lifted a finger to mute this vile onslaught.
    [ ]Rumors of sweet-heart book-bag deals made illegally to payoff the parent of a Husky:::not a scintilla of evidence to suggest that this ever happened... just mud thrown at UCONN and Maya's mom.
    [ ]Rumors of cash payouts, not a scintilla of evidence to suggest that this ever happened... just mud thrown at UCONN and Maya's mom.
    [ ]Rumors of illegal payouts of french fries and Wendy's burgers ::: designed purely to punish CD for having chosen UConn and to discredit UConn & Geno.
    [ ]Rumors of secret and strictly illegal car rides home given to a recruit by DT & Sue, who BTW were out of the country at the time of the alleged car ride but had to be interviewed non-the-less. Simply a mud-slinging story created out of the air to damage the reputations of UCONN, Geno, DT, & Sue.
    [ ]Rumors of accusations that illegal contact between Husky fans and recruits had become so commonplace that gifts(handmade signs) were given... too silly to take seriously except, of course, if you were the one being interviewed by the compliance folks.

As one rumor was shown to be ridiculous, several more would pop up from Knoxville. Peoples lives were interrupted and their reputations were assailed not as a result of an honest desire to keep the sport as clean as possible, but as a result of spite, resentment, anger, entitlement, and to some extent jealousy. These times were not filled with the laudably high-minded sentiments that you spoke of in your post; they were nothing more than humans behaving very very badly. The story became the nastiness... the game was lost in the muck. Those that disagree with you aren't failing to act like adults, they just don't wish to revisit/repeat those experiences.

I know that this response is far too long and I apologize for that but I also hope that this helps you to understand why you get the push-back that you do when the topic of renewing the series comes up. For many of us, it's as if you are suggesting we get back into an abusive relationship because there were 'good' times too. At least consider the possibility that those who oppose renewing the series are not failing to act like adults, that instead that it is possible that your plea for a detente is far too naive and based upon far too frail of an understanding of those events.


You Ol' Pal Boo

First of all, thank you for taking the time to so eloquently express your feelings about this subject. And it is true, I haven't been on this board very long and had only heard of some of the rumors you mentioned. It seems like there were many Bone Yarders that became personally involved in the situation and it may boil their blood to read about someone wanting to start the series again. My simplistic approach of trying to move forward without harping on the past doesn't sit well on the BY concerning this subject. And while my comments are not intended to insult another blogger, I feel entitled to my opinion. However irrational it may seem. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
 

RockyMTblue2

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This topic obviously stirs great emotion in some Boneyarders but I think this can not be ignored. Some, like you, know that I wish the series would start again. Maybe I am wearing rose-colored glasses when I see a day when all this stuff can be worked out and put behind us and let the teams play. Holly made a big step when she approached Geno about it and I take that as a good sign. Her attempt at opening the lines of communication should be recognized and UCONN should at least consider a chance at some type of reconciliation.

Since this is the first board on which I have posted, I might have unintentionally been disrespectful to someone's opinion and for that I apologize. It was not an attempt to gain attention or stir the pot.

Good to know. The weird part of that "Holly...approached Geno about it" was that it appeared that it was done for PR purposes only and Tennessee within days reiterated that the series would not be renewed and refuses to make Holly available to a reporter on the subject. Public hints, closely followed by public disclaimers do nothing to advance the day when these 2 will play again on a scheduled basis. The whole thing was amateur hour or in keeping with the sports theme, bush league. These are not mere details in a big picture. What they mean is that Holly "made [no] big step" other than to put her foot in her own mouth.
 

HuskyNan

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CLARIFICATION: I am all for allowing fans of other schools posting in this forum as long as they follow the guidelines you referenced. However, what my real issue concerns is allowing a LINK to a promotional video and web site of another school; especially considering this schools primary message board forum is a premium paid for content site, meaning they can post it on their site but very few outside of their own fans will ever see it. Meanwhile, they post it here -- on the most visited FREE WCB forum around, for fans and possible recruits to see.

This doesn't seem like something that is in the best interest of UConn WBB.

The LVs can advertise all they want, until they run an efficient offense and find some team chemistry they aren't any particular danger to UConn or a threat to take over wcbb.

And - this thread would have sunk to the bottom of the board long ago but for our discussion. :)
 

Kibitzer

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I feel entitled to my opinion. However irrational it may seem.

You are of course entitled to your opinion.

And it's not irrational, it's just plain wrong. Dead wrong.

It's up to you whether you want to stick with it or not.
 

ctfjr

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If things were the way they were in the beginning between UConn and Tenn I would say yes what a classic. But they're not and it will never be same, thanks to what Pat and Tenn tried to do to UConn and what UConn had to go through to prove their innocence. What Tenn did to UConn and tried to accomplish was horrific. Many of us that lived through it couldn't believe it. I don't ever want to play Tenn again. I don't know why fans keep trying to bring back the past. Most of the past between Tenn and UConn was memorable but not good. When UConn beat Tenn for the first time in 1995 Tenn fans flooded the boards with anger, and it got worse as time went on. UConns 1995 Undeafeated NC was scarred by Tenn fans who just wouldn't give up. The icing on the cake was when DT came and the way she manhandled Tenn in every game. But the last straw came when Pat and Geno were after Maya Caroline and EDD and many Tenn fans thought they had the upper hand only to have all 3 come to UConn. That's when the anger turned in to destruction. Tenn their fans and almost many associated with Tenn were out to destroy UConn Geno CD and everything they built . That was the beginning of the end for Tenn. No I don't ever want to play Tenn again. It will never be the same. Never Ever. What Tenn made UConn go through and when I say UConn Im talking the school, players, recruits, parents, coaches, administration, and some of our fans, was humiliating, embarrassing and gut renching. There is no room for a Tenn UConn rematch no matter what for me and there will never be. Tenn cant not loose enough games for me. What they did was despicable.

If by some miracle Tenn made it to the Finals against UConn it would be humiliating and embarrassing for Tenn. The hatred that some of the Tenn fans carry would be worst then a boiling pail of oil. If you think not go pay to join the Summitt Tenns board and read what they write about Geno and UConn. Theres a reason for their pay board and their Tenn only chat rooms. IMO its a chance to hide what they've got to say, hid from the public. Im finished, now.

Wow, now tell us how you really feel Tony :)
Life is too short to get worked up into a tizzy over bupkis like Tenn.
 

Tonyc

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Wow, now tell us how you really feel Tony :)
Life is too short to get worked up into a tizzy over bupkis like Tenn.
ctfjr you have no idea what I/we had to go through because of what Tenn did.
 

pinotbear

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Indeed, ctfjr: the Tennessee complaint - which ended up going, not only to the NCAA, but eventually involved the FBI, as I understand it - named specific BY posters, and excerpted specific posts they had made (mostly in jest or hyperbole) on this board. To put it bluntly, Tennessee went after UConn players, coaches, and specific fans on this board: so, yes, it is personal, and, no, to my knowledge, the Tennessee program, administrators, fans, nor those who filed the spurious complaint, have never apologized or explained their actions. So, it isn't bupkis, nor fandom run amok on Tony's part.
 
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You are of course entitled to your opinion.

And it's not irrational, it's just plain wrong. Dead wrong.

It's up to you whether you want to stick with it or not.

It is certainly nice to know I have someone who is capable and willing to correct my opinions for me.
 

Kibitzer

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This thread seems to have "gone south" in more ways than one, so I am withdrawing from further participation.
 

CCinCT

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Don't know about the Summitt these days, but there is a free Tenn site where the vitriol can still be witnessed, albeit in diluted form. Perhaps Reno Tony should register and participate in a civil discussion with our orange hued WCBB fans to the south.
 
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Don't know about the Summitt these days, but there is a free Tenn site where the vitriol can still be witnessed, albeit in diluted form. Perhaps Reno Tony should register and participate in a civil discussion with our orange hued WCBB fans to the south.
Don't know about the Summitt these days, but there is a free Tenn site where the vitriol can still be witnessed, albeit in diluted form. Perhaps Reno Tony should register and participate in a civil discussion with our orange hued WCBB fans to the south.
If you have a link I would certainly be interested.
 

UConnCat

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Good to know. The weird part of that "Holly...approached Geno about it" was that it appeared that it was done for PR purposes only and Tennessee within days reiterated that the series would not be renewed and refuses to make Holly available to a reporter on the subject. Public hints, closely followed by public disclaimers do nothing to advance the day when these 2 will play again on a scheduled basis. The whole thing was amateur hour or in keeping with the sports theme, bush league. These are not mere details in a big picture. What they mean is that Holly "made [no] big step" other than to put her foot in her own mouth.

I have a slightly different take on what happened at the WBHOF although I agree it was amateur hour and weird. Holly put on the fullcourt press with the kind words, the Volunteer bottle of wine, the wine glasses, etc. The Summit moderator even got into the act that weekend (snapping photos of Geno on twitter, etc) after she had all but put UConn and Geno on ignore since her FOIA request was denied. It was southern charm the likes of which Geno has never seen coming from Knoxville. All this was part of the plan to get Geno to say yes to Tennessee's idea that the teams renew their series. Geno, of course, is no fool and saw right through this transparent charm offensive and essentially called Holly on it (i.e., how 'bout you first explain all the negative talk and cheating accusations). Holly clearly wasn't prepared for Geno's reaction and rather than speak publicly (and honestly) about why Geno isn't ready to play again she chose to say "I don't think it's going to work out. I've put it out there." Her response was a variation on a familiar theme: "Geno knows."
 
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Good post UCC. Yeah what has changed ostensibly since the series was cancelled..... nothing really.... why would UT want to resume the series with the dark cloud over the opponent "go ask geno, he knows"..... well now of course UT is trying to showcase their program which they hope is on the rebound..... I am glad Geno is mindful of the "no remorse" prevailing attitude.... we can let the LVs nourish such intense rivalries as Kentucky and South Carolina..... I am sure the national audience clamors for those sorts of matchups. We are 2 programs in different spots now...... I AM curious as to who on the UT team will take the leadership role this year, and show the heart that UT teams of old showed when PHS was in her better years.
 

JRRRJ

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First of all, thank you for taking the time to so eloquently express your feelings about this subject. And it is true, I haven't been on this board very long and had only heard of some of the rumors you mentioned. It seems like there were many Bone Yarders that became personally involved in the situation and it may boil their blood to read about someone wanting to start the series again. My simplistic approach of trying to move forward without harping on the past doesn't sit well on the BY concerning this subject. And while my comments are not intended to insult another blogger, I feel entitled to my opinion. However irrational it may seem. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

Because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean the ugliness didn't happen, over and over again.

Less than a decade isn't long enough for all the vile morons to be dead and gone. Talk to us again in another 30 years.
 

stwainfan

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I think Graves will benefit from having Russell.
 

Biff

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I have a slightly different take on what happened at the WBHOF although I agree it was amateur hour and weird. Holly put on the fullcourt press with the kind words, the Volunteer bottle of wine, the wine glasses, etc. The Summit moderator even got into the act that weekend (snapping photos of Geno on twitter, etc) after she had all but put UConn and Geno on ignore since her FOIA request was denied. It was southern charm the likes of which Geno has never seen coming from Knoxville. All this was part of the plan to get Geno to say yes to Tennessee's idea that the teams renew their series. Geno, of course, is no fool and saw right through this transparent charm offensive and essentially called Holly on it (i.e., how 'bout you first explain all the negative talk and cheating accusations). Holly clearly wasn't prepared for Geno's reaction and rather than speak publicly (and honestly) about why Geno isn't ready to play again she chose to say "I don't think it's going to work out. I've put it out there." Her response was a variation on a familiar theme: "Geno knows."

And I had another possibility floating in my mind on what transpired....I think Holly got her legs cut out from under her.

My theory was that Holly was reasonably honest about wanting the series to renew. She sees it as good for the Vols. I have no opinion if she thinks it's good for WCBB or for UConn but I don't think those were her motivations. I think that her motives were to better her program and that playing the most visible program in WCBB would be beneficial overall to hers. So she sees Geno, has an amiable chat with him and floats the idea. Then, when she gets back to the lair, the real powers-that-be let her know that it's not her program and that there will be no resumption of the series in the foreseeable future. She then proceeds to do the public back-pedal, saying nothing that upsets the existing Vol program stance on the matter. ..

Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I interpreted it as it unraveled real-time.
 

UConnCat

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And I had another possibility floating in my mind on what transpired....I think Holly got her legs cut out from under her.

My theory was that Holly was reasonably honest about wanting the series to renew. She sees it as good for the Vols. I have no opinion if she thinks it's good for WCBB or for UConn but I don't think those were her motivations. I think that her motives were to better her program and that playing the most visible program in WCBB would be beneficial overall to hers. So she sees Geno, has an amiable chat with him and floats the idea. Then, when she gets back to the lair, the real powers-that-be let her know that it's not her program and that there will be no resumption of the series in the foreseeable future. She then proceeds to do the public back-pedal, saying nothing that upsets the existing Vol program stance on the matter. ..

Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I interpreted it as it unraveled real-time.

I agree 100% on Holly's motivations. She knows that playing UConn will be good for her program. I do have a different take on what prompted her back-pedal though, largely based on Carl Adamec's reporting on Geno's response to her. Her comment -- "I don't think it's going to work out. I've put it out there." -- is consistent with Carl's reporting that Geno was/is not quite ready to say yes.

Pat is very close with Summitt and I don't think she would have taken the step she did without Summitt's okay. The power-that-is in Tenn athletics is Dave Hart and I'm sure he has no problem with playing UConn.
 

RockyMTblue2

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I have a slightly different take on what happened at the WBHOF although I agree it was amateur hour and weird. Holly put on the fullcourt press with the kind words, the Volunteer bottle of wine, the wine glasses, etc. The Summit moderator even got into the act that weekend (snapping photos of Geno on twitter, etc) after she had all but put UConn and Geno on ignore since her FOIA request was denied. It was southern charm the likes of which Geno has never seen coming from Knoxville. All this was part of the plan to get Geno to say yes to Tennessee's idea that the teams renew their series. Geno, of course, is no fool and saw right through this transparent charm offensive and essentially called Holly on it (i.e., how 'bout you first explain all the negative talk and cheating accusations). Holly clearly wasn't prepared for Geno's reaction and rather than speak publicly (and honestly) about why Geno isn't ready to play again she chose to say "I don't think it's going to work out. I've put it out there." Her response was a variation on a familiar theme: "Geno knows."

You may be quite right. The sequences of events remains cloudy. I do recall that one of our Connecticut reporters stated that Geno and the U Conn Admin. had put out to Tennessee that a precondition was an acknowledgment of error/apology. I can't find the report now ... Bing is not pinging. Warlick, over a month later, continued to say I put it out there but it has not gone beyond that. Strange position for her, because within a week of the HOF gala the Tennessee Athletic Department had said words to the effect that they have plenty of rivals and do not see U Conn in their plans.

I, like many on this Board, am quite happy to see scheduled games between U Conn and Tenn a thing of the past.
 
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