The House of Blue

Interesting thought. Worth a shot...

Sounds good to me.

Agree. We have some debates here (sometimes they get a little heated) but people for the most part do a good job of avoiding the labels and personal attacks.

Good post. Almost exactly how I feel.

Was excited about the eating of babies, but Oh well? Here goes.

I don't consider myself LOD, and I actually don't think most of you do either, but there def are a certain few who have labeled me as such in recent times so I'll take that angle. Personally, I consider myself a realist, and I just don't believe in denying reality for the purpose of having a message board pep-rally.

As far as good things, I think we found a compitent QB w/ lots of potential in Max, and I really like several of our young running backs, particularly Clemons. I am also hopeful that some of our freshman wr's will show up ready to be playmakers this year, and am excited about our D-line, and the direction the overall defense is going, but I am not sure how well it will translate as awhole this season.

Ultimately, the reason I come off negative at times is because I watch enough football to see what it takes to win. When I see UK not doing those things, It drives me crazy. It also bothers me to see guys constantly speak positive for the sake of being positive. It reminds me of concerts I went to as a kid, where the band was obviously having an off night, but all the audience acted like it was the greatest show they’d ever experienced, just because they wanted it to be great. Personally, I’m don’t enjoy mass illusion and group think for the sake of fitting in. It just makes for false hope and jaded memories.

I lean more to the Sunshine Pumper Club, mainly because that's my nature. Are there things I don't like? Absolutely, but I have followed UK football since the late 60's and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. This could be an interesting thread, and I'll bite.

Dislikes:

*After some moderate success under CRB, we have taken a step back. The reasons IMO in no particular order:

No one could foresee neither of the highly rated QBs working out. Playing in the SEC without competent QB play is just brutal. Which brings me to....the QB play isn't going to be any better than the WR he is throwing to. How different would last year have been had King not fumbled after a nice gain into UaVel territory that puts us close to FG range.....had Roark hauled in that pass it the most certainly puts us in FG range....or if Robinson hangs on to the football after gaining a 1st down in the closing moments. Make 2 of those plays, and we likely win the game.

*Weak recruiting in what are now the upper classes, and yes, Joker (as well as others) has had a hand in that.

*The return game was just abysmal last year, and aside from Cobb & Locke, we haven't had much in the return game since Abney. Aside from McIntosh, the kicking game has been erratic at best. In short, special teams breakdowns, not limited to, but including missed/blocked FG attempts....long returns given up....and roughing the punter calls have cost us several wins over the years that would have put us in much better bowls and gaining positive exposure.

*Questionable playcalling. In 2009 & 2010 against UT, I didn't think we put the football in Randall Cobb's hands enough at crucial times. Other calls, of course, but you're also limited by the playmakers that you have/don't have.

*Our facilities, while good, need to be eyepopping for us to help put us over the top for some of the guys that we are now starting to compete for. When you have by far the weakest home state recruiting base in the SEC, you need every bell and whistle you can get. I believe you have to investigate every type of fundraising that you can possibly get, including something like Clempson's IPTAY. I'm sure Mitch tries, but I wish to hell we could do better.

*Need better promotion of the sport. I went to the blue-white game year before last, and in addition to the abysmal promotion of the game, we stood in line to enter so many at a time into a little fenced in area to by what I had hoped would be some UK football gear, but instead there was a lot of leftover stuff with even some basketball stuff mixed in. The longer I stayed the madder I got and my blood pressure was sky high when I got out of there.

*The fans...yeah...we have some great fans.....we also have a bunch who cut out early when the game is still in reach, like the people who cut out on the 7 OT Arkansas game. How embarrassing was it for Lorenzen to be seen on TV asking people where they were going and telling them they were missing a helluva game. Just like in the 2009 Arkansas game when the stadium only had about 35K or so left for the big comeback. I was there and we made more noise than the entire stadium did at the start of the game. Those are the people I want to be with.

Now to the likes:

*IMO this is the best recruiting staff to date. Still not getting some of the guys we need, but we are for the most part competing for better players.

*I also think that if for whatever reasons it doesn't work out (and I badly want Joker to succeed), that the next coach will have some pretty decent talent on hand to start with.

*I like that Max Smith probably had the best spring of a UK QB since Woodson.

*I like that we have a stable of good RB, and 3 of them are very young.

*I like that we seem to be in pretty decent shape at TE and Max showed he could find them in the spring.

* I like that we actually may be pretty good up front defensively this year.

*I like that we have Bud Dupree at LB, and he has a steady running mate in Williamson. Now if we could get some more guys like those.

*I like what I saw from this team in the last 2 games of last year. After rolling over like a possum at Vandy, they played with a chip on their shoulder in giving UGA all they could handle and ending that horrendous 25 year streak against UT.

I like the fact that I am now looking at 5 win seasons as step backs, because for most of my years follwing UK football, I would have considered 5 wins a success.

I am accused of being a sunshine pumper. This isn't the case though. I haven't met
A person on this board who says that joker is doing a great job and should get a another year no matter what.

What I would say the board has turned into is a group of fans who take a wait and see approach and say that there is no point to judge joker yet. The same group also tends to point to better recruiting and the fact that we had a bad stroke of luck at qb with newton being a just and moss having a bad injury. In reality this is a year of judgement for joker.

The loder's have a boring/tired/annoying agenda that is basically this. Joker sucks, Mitch sucks. They back it up with biased and agenda laden information that is often a lie or patently false.

The new tactic of the lod is the juvenile trademarked "passive aggressive" criticism of joker and our program and Mitch. In the last week we have seen 4 or 5 new threads based around the false premise that the "camps" haven't had elite level talent. Or that "we are offering guys with no other bcs offers". The posts are silly and annoying and drive good posters away from the board.

In the end it is beyond annoying to listen to this. I am guilty in engaging these lies and annoying agendas. I wish I could ignore it but I care too much about the truth and out football program.

Any chance you could read the OP about the purpose of this thread? You came in to post twice, neither of which contribute to the purpose or spirit of the thread.

For the sake of not derailing my own thread, I'm not going to argue with you about my post, but this type of thing is just as useless as the constant negative posting.

LoL!!!!!! Classic!!!!

I wouldn't say I'm in either group but I'll do both of things.

Bad: I think we as a whole has not done enough to push us further, we miss on a prime chance when things were looking better to cash in and do a lot of things needed. We seem lost more times than not last year. Play calling on offense has been a very questionably. Seems we have an alumni that doesn't want to buy into making the program where it could be, fans want to run away if things are seeming bleak.

Good: Recruiting is improving, slowly but at least it's being done legit. An actually head coach that wants this to be his dream job instead as a stepping stone towards something else(Nothing against Brooks but we all knew he wouldn't be here long enough to do what he really wanted but at least he gave us some stability). Young talented roster that could be very good in a year or two. If the offense is anything close to the spring game, it'll be way better than last year. A d-line that seems to be a lot closer to everyone else in the SEC.

Who really knows what this year is going to look like but we'll find out in September. I think everyone really needs to put on there rally caps on and just support the players, it makes a lot difference at the end.

Up until the last 1.5 years I think I always feel into the, "Sunshine pumper" crowd but for a few reasons and for the sake of this discussion I'll go from the LOD POV even though I don't think I'm quiet to that degree. Leaning there, but not yet.

I like the front 4 for this coming season. UK has done a good job getting the run stuffers needed to win SEC games. I think they have some DE's who can come off the edge and get sacks/QB hurries.

I like the last years class. To me, a great example of building, "inside-out" in regards to winning.

They have a nice stable of RB's. Towles, IMO has the chance to be a very good SEC QB in time.

I think the Admin has made some nice, "behind the scenes" facility upgrades in regards to locker rooms, etc. I just wish they would be more proactive in sharing that with the fan base.

I think Mitch is very PRO football. I just think he has to battle some elements out of his control and that hurts UK in some regards. I do believe if Mitch thinks Joker is his guy then for him to please extend his contract sooner than later and help Joker in recruiting so opposing coaches can't use his status against him.

Man you are right on the money with these two paragraphs. Truly excited about the Dline especially if we can add Ross and Washington. At the moment our Dline already looks like one of the most talented we've had in a while. Adding those two guys would take it over the top. We've got some guys that can play right away and we've got some monsters that might need a little development.