Bill Little?

by CheeseHorn on Nov 26, 2007 4:57 PM CST Comment 8 comments

It might be a silly question, but who is Bill Little? Does he have close ties to the football program? I have no clue who this guy is, and he does all the game "recaps" for the website. Some of the stuff he writes is just ridiculous. Thanks.

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The UItimate Insider

Little's been around Austin and UT since I was in school in the early 1970's (maybe longer). He was the assistant sports information director for years and may have even reach the SID title. I'm not certain of his exact title now, but he's been on the payroll at UT for many years. He's done his fair share of radio "color" for various UT sports and has been a PA announcer at basketball and baseball for many moons. Because of his previous insider status, I'm always skeptical of his objectivity - similar to the "opinions" of insider beat reporters hired by NFL teams.

by pchorn on Nov 26, 2007 5:07 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

He's not meant to be objective

Bill Little is an outstanding writer who does an extraordinary job of taking football games and translating them into vivid stories - but, he is a homer, through and through - no doubt about that. He has been in the athletic department forever and I do believe he was SID at one time. He also co-wrote Mack Brown's book - which, by the way, is a surprisingly good, interesting read.

by jwill on Nov 26, 2007 10:40 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

fuck bill little

I try to avoid rash statements as often as possible, but I can't stand Bill Little. His writing is way overdone for his subject matter - college football - and he's in my mind a big part of the spin machine and conservative nature of this athletic department.

For the record, my opinion of Little is tainted by my experiences (or lack thereof actually) with the guy. I wrote the chapter in PB's book about DKR, and Bill Little, I was told, was the undeniable authority on the subject. I called him over and over and over again for an interview, but the old fogey dinosaur POS couldn't bother returning a single call or email. God forbid somebody else gets to have an opinion on the subject matter! Fuck this guy. His fluff pieces and and unwavering praise of all things Longhorns are admirable and all, and certainly fill a certain role in the landscape of discussion about this great university, but imo, the guy shouldn't really be seen as anything more than a puppet of the athletic department. Good luck finding anything he's ever written that is objective and analytical when times have been tough during the Mack Brown era.

by Blitzburgh on Nov 26, 2007 11:21 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Simmer down there

He is not supposed to write objective and analytical, he is a PR guy. That is like wondering why you never get a objective and critical press release from a company or why the press secretary is never critical of the president.

by Wells on Nov 27, 2007 9:01 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, simmer down

I don't pop back up often but I feel compelled to here. Some years ago I worked for the SID department and Bill Little is literally the godfather over there. He has been around forever and he knows everything there is about UT. More than every person on this website combined. He is also a truly nice man who does not deserve to be cursed on an internet web site. Please show some respect.

Of course his stuff is cheesy, but he's on the payroll and he is paid to make the school look good. What do you think he should write after a loss like A&M? He doesn't need to echo what Bohls and everyone else has already said. People go to MB-TF.com for the official slant from the program, which of course is going to be sunny.

He is a great writer, by the way. Imagine how hard it is to always spin up and to still tell a story.

Rant over.

by TR on Nov 27, 2007 9:42 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

um

Bill Little is literally the godfather over there. He has been around forever and he knows everything there is about UT. More than every person on this website combined. He is also a truly nice man who does not deserve to be cursed on an internet web site. Please show some respect.

He is my elder, so I will show him respect only in that regard. If he were such a 'nice' man though, he would have taken the five seconds to answer one of my 50 calls or emails, even if only to tell me he was too busy to help out. And I would curse him to a friend or anybody else who was looking for an opinion on the man. It's just my opinion, but just because I transmit on 'an internet board' as you so eloquently said, doesn't cheapen my thoughts in the slightest.

Sorry, I don't respect professionals who are too greedy to help out a younger writer looking for some information. I made it crystal clear in my attempted correspondence that I was aware of his legendary status, but the old dinosaur didn't want anybody else stepping into his territory. Sad.

by Blitzburgh on Nov 27, 2007 12:24 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Free Bill Little

Thanks for that personal response, TR.

I've been aware of Bill Little a long time.

What I think the University should do is declare him a Sports Historian Emeritus and free him to write some serious sports history.

He happens to be the one person right there in the middle of it all for these decades who could reveal such history in great depth and detail. If he were unshackled from the propagandistic needs of the athletic department, he could accomplish something perhaps no one else ever can.

I run a history museum. From my perspective, he is in an extremely rare position. There may be those who know more or have more depth, but he is the one who can express it so well. In a sense, he has been practicing to do this for his whole career. This is the natural extension of sports information, the integration of the narrative. If you can do it as a personal eyewitness, it can be valuable.

While it may seem mundane in terms of serious histories, I think the whole story would have relationships with all the major elements of our time and culture. It would be a very specialized view of this modern era (1950 onward).

by whills on Nov 28, 2007 1:22 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs