The House of Blue

As I frequently say on this topic: you shouldnt be so concerned about those of us disappointed with the direction of the football program and speak up on what we see....but should be concerned about all the thousands who no longer give a damn about this program, and say nothing at all. And more importantly no longer purchase tickets. The 97% empty Commonwealth Stadium this Saturday evening which will witness this teams spring game reinforces this better than anything I can say. I've heard rumor that nonrenewal of season tickets is at such an alarming rate this offseason that there is serious discussion for going back and lowering prices across the board.

Characterizing so-called LOD segment of fans as being basketball-only is quite amusing. From my perspective those most critical of this program's status and direction do so because they follow college football MORE than the average fan. That is why things like the picture of the "Recruiting Corner" hits home with us, because we KNOW the kinds of facilities that our opponents have and have plans to build. We see us stuck with an ultra-conservative afraid-to-take-risks coaching mentality, while all across college football there are programs being built by exciting point-scoring riverboat gamblers at places like Oregon, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and Vandy (!!). We hear the praise heaped on recruiting efforts that (once you leave the basking glows of sunshine pumpers) are universally ranked as bottom of the conference.

Drama and mis-truths. Great example of a lod post... Keep em coming. This is fun.

A. Our spring game never has anybody at it. period. Simply too much going on this time of year in Lexington.
B. The recruiting "corner" strikes again. One of the silliest arguments in the history of this board.
C. I agree with you. Whoever said that the LOD is full of basketball only fans was foolish. you guys are passionate, just incredibly mis-informed or incredibly dis-honest.

I don't think 7 wins is too un-realistic. 8-12? Yes. Vandy, Miss. State, Mizzou, and Tennessee are all very winnable. Of course some on here don't think we can compete with Murray State right now.

If you predict UK will out recruit ALA next season in football, you may be a sunshine pumper.

Like I've proudly proclamied, SSP4L! And I do feel that if we stay healthy & get better QB play we can win 7 games this season.

UL
Kent St
WKU
MSU
Vandy
Samford
UT

Those 7 are winnable games. The Samford, WKU & Kent St. games should be wins. The rest are very winnable.

I would have but I haven't went over their roster or depth chart to really know enough about them. I know about the QB Franklin and they signed the #1 Wr recruit but other than that I have zero knowledge on them.

Another great example.

Nothing going on in Lexington? Ever heard of Keeneland? Ever heard of the #1 ranked baseball team in the country?

Attendance at spring games has never been huge. It will be small/smaller this year because of Keeneland and because of the UK baseball game. To say it has ever been a "big deal" is just plain sill. I'm a MASSIVE uk football fan. But I have NEVER attended a spring game. Just not worth the trip for me.

The recruiting corner isn't great, but it is used DURING saturday games for lunch/pre-game reception. WOuld it be better if it were in a great recruiting room? yes.

But kids aren't stupid. They know that the recruiting room is only a sales tool. They care about actual facilities. If you LOOK AT FACTS you will see that our athletic department has INVESTED IN GAMEDAY and PRACTICE facilities that players actually use once they are on campus. If you cared about FACTS you would know that Barnhart had a donor back out at the last minute who was going to pledge a big chunk of the change for the recruiting room. If you CARED about facts you would know that Barnhart wants to do the recruiting room RIGHT and have it be a part of the stadium and not something seperate.

But as usual, you guys create half-truths (say that there is nothing going on in Lexington in April) and sensationalize minor issues (recruiting room) to try to make an invalid point (not sure what point you were trying to make?

LOD post at it's best. #fail

Oh, so is that this week's spin on that situation? Previously it was that UK had the money to have it built, but Brooks decided that it should be spent on other things instead. Hard to keep track of all your spear-catching water-carrying as the stories change from day-to-day.

Barnhart wants to do it RIGHT and have it be in the stadium....great, a plan that is impossible to ever be accomplished because the pricetag is $100 million. Why, it is almost as though he set up an objective that he knows can never be reached, thus he isnt responsible for it not ever getting done!

15,000 was a very high, mucho mucho high estimation of the true number of people there. How do I know? Sadly my nephew is a UofLOL fan and was there. He said maybe 10,000 but that was pushing it. Jurich is the King of propaganda and misinformation.

This is an interesting situation the LOD is creating here. If UK has fewer than 15,000 fans they will be on here CROWING about how awful the fanbase is and how Barnhart and Joker have lost them. It's a classic LOD tactic. they hope for bad things to happen so they can say "i told you so".

They don't even care to point out that nearly 100% of louisville's fanbase LIVES in louisville while about 70% of Uk's fanbase doesn't live in Lexington. They also don't point out that the 15,000 fans is a PUBLISHED Louisville #. These are the same people who a couple of years ago LAUGHED at the # of fans that UofL claimed were coming to games.

Bottom line is this. Will attendance be down? yes. You have two HUGE events happening during the day that will likely hurt attendance. You do have a lot of fans who are down on the team who won't be going. But to act as if spring game attendance is some kind of a litmus test for how the team will do this year is silly.

The ONLY thing that matters is what happens next season. A HUGE part of that situation will boil down to what happens VS. Louisville. I'll say this 100 times before the game. If we win I think we have a shot at a nice season. If we lose a close one I think we still might have a shot at a bowl but it will be an uphill battle. if we lose and don't make a bowl Joker is gone and probably should be. If we get blown out and things go down hill from there joker may be fired mid-season.

BUT... we have some things that are swinging in our favor this season. A. We have a much better situation at QB. B. We actually have a legit SEC d-line that hasn't had a ton of guys missing time to injury throughout off season training and Spring practice. C. Whereas last season we had NO hope at receiver besides King, I think we do have some hope with Robinson and COllins alogn with Sweat coming in. D. Although we lost two seniors at cb I think that they were very poorly coached (steve brown) and weren't very talented. The guys we have replacing them are much more talented IMO but not as experienced. Talent over experience every time...

It's simple... It's not about spring game attendance, it's not about having a recruiting room, it's not about Joker's tone on the radio show. It's about what happens, game 1 vs. Louisville. If we win that one i think we might be back on track. If not, we need to start the discussion about who is the best fit for the job...