The Boneyard and Tennessee

[msf22b]

I've really enjoyed participating in this community over the last two or three years, getting to understand what is PC and what is taboo, and coming to grips with its proclivities and habits.

Still, I have been slightly surprised and bemused over the Yard's coverage of the Lady Vols this current season.

On November 9th (seems like yesterday), Voulguy posted a thread noting that UTenn was losing its first game badly to an unranked team. 142 replies and 5,842 vies later, the subject had been exhaustedly explored, including Holly's inexperience and the seeds of her dismissal, the underachievement of the still, largely All-American (HS.) outfit, the absence of a coherent offense, yadda, yadda, all the usual boneyard loving gloom and doom. And of course, there were those voices in the wilderness querying the preoccupation with a team that we don't even play anymore.


Well, since that not-so-far away time, the Lady Vols have won two games, have looked pretty good (to the best of my knowledge, listening in on their radio broadcasts), Holly has started to get her system in and the kids are coming around, especially the bigger gals, Graves, (who we always recognized as a talent) and Isabelle Harrison who seems to be finding her way. The 24 assists were a big improvement too.

TO TOTAL SILENCE ON THE YARD

My point is, that we seem to love to wallow in their misery, but are completely willing to ignore any news positive except I suppose when it concerns or might threaten us.

And by the way: Graves was SEC player of the week and all their recruits signed on the dotted line.

 

[hoopingcrane]

Anything you have read here that is negative concerning Tennessee is orders of magnitude less negative (not to mention more humorous and intelligent) than what you could have read for many years on the Summitt, not only concerning Geno, Diana and Maya, but also regular posters here. It's not so much the Boneyard and Tennessee as it's the Boneyard and the Summitt. Things have actually gotten more pleasant since that site became a pay site.

 

[sarals24]

The reason UT losing is discussed so much here is because it's an anomaly. If we discussed in detail every win they had, the player development, etc, then this wouldn't really be a UConn board! You should take it as a compliment that we here find it shocking to see Tennessee lose to an unranked team. It would be no less shocking if Stanford or Duke did it, or of course Baylor. Those games are always going to be discussed more. Tennessee is fascinating because we are watching a top program in a transition...one that we hope is very far away (but likely not that far away) for our beloved Huskies.

 

[alexrgct]

It was a shocking, inconceivable loss. Of course there was interest. Dog bites man vs. man bites dog.

 

[VAMike23]

Why does the BY seem to be getting weekly psychiatric self-exams re: this issue? It's not rocket science.

These are two fans bases (reminder: fan is derived from 'fanatic') that mostly don't like each other at all, and in quite a few cases can't stand each other. In yet other cases there is some shared respect, as with a few of the LV posters we have here.

Growing up in Iowa, there was (and still is) the Iowa - Iowa State rivalry. I would castigate my Hawkeye-sympathizing friends when their team slipped up and saw no reason to compliment them on their wins. If anyone had ever asked me why not, I'd think they were nuts. And it worked both ways, back at me, when the Cyclones dropped the ball (which was often). There was no other rivalry approaching the same level of shared disdain. Down in Missouri, they seem to have a particular hatred of all things Illini. Ditto for other schools all over the country. I'd wager that many of the 'Yarders grew up with similar sports rivalries of one type of the other.

Newsflash: These things are not grounded in congeniality or objectivity. Our mods do a good job setting the boundaries here and so long as everyone colors within the lines we're good to go. Sometimes things get out of hand and they rein it in after cleaning up the mess with their usual aplomb.

C'est la vie.

 

[triaddukefan]

Growing up in Iowa, there was (and still is) the Iowa - Iowa State rivalry. I would castigate my Hawkeye-sympathizing friends when their team slipped up and saw no reason to compliment them on their wins. If anyone had ever asked me why not, I'd think they were nuts. And it worked both ways, back at me, when the Cyclones dropped the ball (which was often). There was no other rivalry approaching the same level of shared disdain. Down in Missouri, they seem to have a particular hatred of all things Illini. Ditto for other schools all over the country. I'd wager that many of the 'Yarders grew up with similar sports rivalries of one type of the other.
e.

With a few exceptions.... a loss by UNC is definitely more enjoyable than a Duke victory... especially in Men's basketball.

 

[Icebear]

With a few exceptions.... a loss by UNC is definitely more enjoyable than a Duke victory... especially in Men's basketball.

And yet somehow I feel the opposite, Mr. Laetner.

 

[UConnChapette]

I don't get why you obsess over the discussion about Tennessee's losses? This is the second time you have raised this issue. Your implied criticism, complaining, or lecture if you will, on what people post and respond to is a little annoying.

When there is a thread that I am not interested in because it involves another team, I simply move past it and don't spend time reading it. I certainly don't monitoring the number of views or responses it receives or create another thread to discuss it.

I have been a fan of the UConn women for a long time. I started posting on message boards way back in the days of the AOL message boards - before Scout, before our current iteration of the best UConn message board yet. The AOL boards got REALLY ugly, even uglier than the Scout boards - which were pretty nasty at times.

As hoopingcrane and sarals24 have noted, there are different reasons why we post about the Tennessee losses - the anamoly of their losing, the fact that there is long standing intense fan rivalry between the teams, the fact that Tennessee has such a storied history and legacy of greatness and are now struggling. The fact that some of us love to take a perverse pleasure out of the misery of our "hated" rival fans.

Why do Yankees fans obsess over Red Sox woes, and vice-versa? It is just the nature of fans and their rivalries. That is the way it will always be. Fighting it is futile.

 

[pinotbear]

It was a shocking, inconceivable loss. Of course there was interest. Dog bites man vs. man bites dog.

 

[doggydaddy]

I've really enjoyed participating in this community over the last two or three years, getting to understand what is PC and what is taboo, and coming to grips with its proclivities and habits.

Still, I have been slightly surprised and bemused over the Yard's coverage of the Lady Vols this current season.

On November 9th (seems like yesterday), Voulguy posted a thread noting that UTenn was losing its first game badly to an unranked team. 142 replies and 5,842 vies later, the subject had been exhaustedly explored, including Holly's inexperience and the seeds of her dismissal, the underachievement of the still, largely All-American (HS.) outfit, the absence of a coherent offense, yadda, yadda, all the usual boneyard loving gloom and doom. And of course, there were those voices in the wilderness querying the preoccupation with a team that we don't even play anymore.


Well, since that not-so-far away time, the Lady Vols have won two games, have looked pretty good (to the best of my knowledge, listening in on their radio broadcasts), Holly has started to get her system in and the kids are coming around, especially the bigger gals, Graves, (who we always recognized as a talent) and Isabelle Harrison who seems to be finding her way. The 24 assists were a big improvement too.

TO TOTAL SILENCE ON THE YARD

My point is, that we seem to love to wallow in their misery, but are completely willing to ignore any news positive except I suppose when it concerns or might threaten us.

And by the way: Graves was SEC player of the week and all their recruits signed on the dotted line.

Seriously????.....Seriously????

You really can't figure out out why posters are interested in Tennessee losses and not so interested in Tennessee wins?

How long have you been posting here?

Really???
Really???

And I would wager that most of the posters you are questioning didn't listen to the radio broadcast of their games.

I posted in another thread why there is such glee when they lose.

Their coach called Geno a cheat and filed a complaint with the NCAA against UConn. 30+ pages of that complaint were boneyard threads.
Their coach dropped the series.
Their fan site had posts that were allowed by their mod with insults to Geno's ethnicity, insults about DT (drunk driving issue and false PED use).
The mod called the FBI about a boneyard poster.

Simply put, some UConn posters like when The Summitt posters and mods are miserable. And an upset loss to who they lost to? Priceless.

Read UConnChappette's post. She hit it on the head.

And just for you, I'll comment on their two wins.

1. GTech, an overranked and rated team. Not impressed.
2. Rice? Big deal. Lousy team.

Happy?

 

[meyers7]

I
My point is, that we seem to love to wallow in their misery, but are completely willing to ignore any news positive except I suppose when it concerns or might threaten us.

Yea, and your point?

 

[meyers7]

Growing up in Iowa, there was (and still is) the Iowa - Iowa State rivalry. I would castigate my Hawkeye-sympathizing friends when their team slipped up and saw no reason to compliment them on their wins. If anyone had ever asked me why not, I'd think they were nuts. And it worked both ways, back at me, when the Cyclones dropped the ball (which was often). There was no other rivalry approaching the same level of shared disdain. Down in Missouri, they seem to have a particular hatred of all things Illini. Ditto for other schools all over the country. I'd wager that many of the 'Yarders grew up with similar sports rivalries of one type of the other.

We (in Illinois) didn't like Iowa either. And were always happy win they lost.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

I don't get why you obsess over the discussion about Tennessee's losses? This is the second time you have raised this issue. Your implied criticism, complaing, or lecture if you will, on what people post and respond to is a little annoying.

When there is a thread that I am not interested in because it involves another team, I simply move past it and don't spend time reading it. I certainly don't monitoring the number of views or responses it receives or create another thread to discuss it.

I have been a fan of the UConn women for a long time. I started posting on message boards way back in the days of the AOL message boards - before Scout, before our current iteration of the best UConn message board yet. The AOL boards got REALLY ugly, even uglier than the Scout boards - which were pretty nasty at times.

As hoopingcrane and sarals24 have noted, there are different reasons why we post about the Tennessee losses - the anamoly of their losing, the fact that there is long standing intense fan rivalry between the teams, the fact that Tennessee has such a storied history and legacy of greatness and are now struggling. The fact that some of us love to take a perverse pleasure out of the misery of our "hated" rival fans.

Why do Yankees fans obsess over Red Sox woes, and vice-versa? It is just the nature of fans and their rivalries. That is the way it will always be. Fighting it is futile.

Bing Badda Boom...now that is a good post.

 

[HuskyNan]

I've really enjoyed participating in this community over the last two or three years, getting to understand what is PC and what is taboo, and coming to grips with its proclivities and habits.

[yada yada yada]

I'm assuming you don't get the whole rivalry thing. As VAMike so astutely pointed out, it's not just the UConn-Tennessee rivalry; it's the Boneyard-Summitt rivalry, too. As you don't seem to get the rivalry, you appear to be a tad condescending towards long timers in your amusement over their feelings. Perhaps a bit of perspective might help you understand.

Since you've only been here for the last couple of years, you missed about 99% of the pettiness and sheer nastiness of the exchanges between the two fan bases while their teams were still playing. Those terms don't even come close to describing how awful the exchanges were. I have been literally damned to Hell for my comments about Tennessee and I'm one of the milder posters when it comes to the LVs. We've had name-calling, mud-slinging, hit & run posters, trolls of every stripe, innuendo and outright lies - everything. I've banned a buncha LV fans and a buncha UConn fans, too because those people were simply unable to speak on this board without sounding like petulant pre-adolescents with a loaded gun in their pocket. Scary people who need to seek help with mental health professionals. A lot of them went to the sewer called the ESPN board before the folks over there got tired of them, too.

The people left behind on the 'Yard after the purges are mostly rational towards the LVs but there are still a lot of hard feelings left over from the "old days" magnified by the infamous NCAA recruiting violation complaint. I guess you missed all THAT, too, and wasn't that time on the Boneyard a lot of fun? Holy canoli. Anyway, there are reasons for folks here to maintain their part of the rivalry. The reasons aren't wrong or right, they just are and IMO they aren't going away soon.

 

[Lynx23]

Just wondering about all the positive comments being made about UCONN on The Summitt that we'll never get to read.....

 

[Tonyc]

From what Ive heard there are alot of negitive comments about UConn on the Tenn board. I expect once the season really gets underway there will be more Tenn posters here as many dont wanna pay for their board. The posts to this thread nailed it. WHen UConn beat Tenn in 1995, the influx of Tenn posters coming over here, almost taking over the board and crucifing us for beating their LVs. After the NC in '95 all hell broke lose. BTW when UCOnn got commitments from Caroline EDD and Maya right out of Tenns backyard, then the NCAA 37 page report started. When Tenn came to Hartford for the last time, all the fans talked about was "wait til you see whats coming out about UConn" When it did, and the NCAA pretty much threw it out it really got bad. I love to see the LVs get beat, and trounced and I hope we get them in the NCAAs and beat them by 100 in Bridgeport. We can pound them enough for me after the way they tried to tear our team, school, posters, and basically had no regard for anyone. They wanted to take everybody and everything to do with UCOnn down. Now the problem is SNY. UConn got it and Tenn cant get in.

 

[Vowelguy]

Just wondering about all the positive comments being made about UCONN on The Summitt that we'll never get to read.....

Biggest laugh of my week.

 

[uconnell]

Just wondering about all the positive comments being made about UCONN on The Summitt that we'll never get to read.....

If we can read them, who cares? Reading the Summitt was like picking at a scab, you know you shouldn't do it, but you can't
help yourself.

 

[meyers7]

I'm assuming you don't get the whole rivalry thing. As VAMike so astutely pointed out, it's not just the UConn-Tennessee rivalry; it's the Boneyard-Summitt rivalry, too.

And considering UCONN-TN don't play anymore the Boneyard-Summitt is really the only rivalry left.

 

[uconnell]

The Boneyard and Summitt don't play anymore either!

 

[vtcwbuff]

Not at all like picking at a scab. I really enjoyed visiting the Summitt the morning after a loss. I had long become immune to stuff like "Gino lies 'cause he's an eyetalian catholic. He just goes to confession." I visited after every loss (something that became frequent in recent years) just to watcth them don their post game hair shirts. It was a hoot and I miss it.

 

[meyers7]

The Boneyard and Summitt don't play anymore either!

Yea, you gotta point.

 

[magical2]

Nan,Chap,and others have in some detail put the issues in its proper context! Involving UCONN/TENN Womens BB they involve a number of layers.Rivalries, Rivalry. 2 programs who used to play one another on the court,one program and Coach who reigned supreme until another program and Coach developed to challenge them,battling for recruits,the accusations by Pat,her ending the playing us,our becoming the #1 Womens Program,the falling off of their program,our continuing to be
the #1 program,threatening to not only reach their 8 National Championships/7 for us,but the very real likelyhood that we
are going to catch them and surpass them. Add Olympics dominated by former UCONN Stars,WNBA Success! All of this
has made for great joy for UCONN Fans and "Unhappiness" for TENN Fans!

Nan is correct about folks who need mental health help! I happen to be a Mental Health Professional! I personally don't get abusive on this site or any site! That also is not my make up in my life!

Having said that,I know what Rivalries are about! Since I have been a sports fan and athlete all of my life I have my teams and dont care or root for those that are Rivals! I grew up in NY and they existed there on every level of sports local and across the country! We all can rattle off rivalries that we dont even have any stake in. That is sports around the world.

There are appropriate ways to handle that,and crossing the line.

When it became known that Pat was ill, this board had numerous on going threads feeling sad, bad for her,praying and wishing her well! That was seperate from still not rooting for TENN.

Though we are not currently playing TENN we continue to be Rivals. We are also on a collision course with them as I stated earlier. They stand in our way for most NCs. So they will continue to be talked about on this board. That is sports!!

I happen to like msf! I am not going to trash him! I also think it is big news when TENN loses!

GO HUSKIES
Ira

 

[vtcwbuff]

I've really enjoyed participating in this community over the last two or three years, getting to understand what is PC and what is taboo, and coming to grips with its proclivities and habits.

Still, I have been slightly surprised and bemused over the Yard's coverage of the Lady Vols this current season.

On November 9th (seems like yesterday), Voulguy posted a thread noting that UTenn was losing its first game badly to an unranked team. 142 replies and 5,842 vies later, the subject had been exhaustedly explored, including Holly's inexperience and the seeds of her dismissal, the underachievement of the still, largely All-American (HS.) outfit, the absence of a coherent offense, yadda, yadda, all the usual boneyard loving gloom and doom. And of course, there were those voices in the wilderness querying the preoccupation with a team that we don't even play anymore.


Well, since that not-so-far away time, the Lady Vols have won two games, have looked pretty good (to the best of my knowledge, listening in on their radio broadcasts), Holly has started to get her system in and the kids are coming around, especially the bigger gals, Graves, (who we always recognized as a talent) and Isabelle Harrison who seems to be finding her way. The 24 assists were a big improvement too.

TO TOTAL SILENCE ON THE YARD

My point is, that we seem to love to wallow in their misery, but are completely willing to ignore any news positive except I suppose when it concerns or might threaten us.

And by the way: Graves was SEC player of the week and all their recruits signed on the dotted line.

If you are so enamored of the orange clad, feel free to transfer your fandom.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

. . . Still, I have been slightly surprised and bemused over the Yard's coverage of the Lady Vols this current season. . .

. . . and I am slightly bemused over your apparent self satisfaction at having
discerned, with your keen and penetrating insight, an intense interest and
satisfaction with a Tennessee loss to an unimpressive opponent and a
corresponding lack of interest in two Tennessee wins over inferior opponents.

Previous posters have outlined some of the reasons why, when it comes to
the Tennessee fans, shadenfreude is the order of the day.