Character attacks, insults: A rant

juvenile aspects of BON have been creeping up in game threads. It is time for the participants here to tone it down over a loss. It is a game. Nothing more. I get passion. I get love for your school and alma mater. What I do not get is the personal attacks on our own for being human and not the best team in the college basketball world.

Yes, this team did not live up to expectations. I recall the Aggies clamoring for the firing of RC Slocum…they got their wish…say, how is football these days in Aggieland? Appreciate what you have peeps…it could be so much worse.

Hook’Em!

I wish that those people that say those things would listen to these posts. I myself have posted the same post as you and I know PB has done it numerous times on here. It is because of those people that I do not participate in live game threads anymore or read the comments about a disappointment or even a celebration thread. It is sad to because there really are a ton of good people on here that provide good productive posts, I may not always agree with them, but at least you can sit and have an intelligent debate with them.

Yes I know games get frustrating and sometimes people lose their cool and may shout something stupid out, god knows I have, but it actually takes a special person to go out of their way 20-30 seconds after a play has happened and type something stupid on here.

…yes, I have come to expect that posts on this site generally not be of the juvenile, name-calling variety. But… a lot of the criticism leveled against the players over the last few weeks of the season was justified. After all, it is a valid opinion that Barnes has been recruiting a bunch of hot-shot young athletes who just might not have the greatest personal character or basketball I.Q.

To address those you mentioned: Perhaps Jordan can rightfully be called stupid or selfish for making minimal progress after a full season. Pittman has consistently played lazily and his nonchalant attitude does not express concern for the team. I think Mason played admirably and I do not understand the venom some posters have spewed at him. J’Covan does play like he is “selfish or petulant, arrogant.”

I see no fault in calling a spade a spade. Obviously, it should be done as tactfully and intelligently as possible.

Negative things can be said about anybody. A responsible critic has a duty to point those things out and can do so without making a statement into an attack. But mindreading and armchair psychiatry are probably not helpful.

In the sporting world we like to pretend that a player’s success somehow reflects his character. Thus our anger with guys like Tiger Wood. What we sometimes see here at BON is the same sort of thing — assuming that failure on the court has something to do with the player’s character. And so we decide that someone must be stupid or lazy or stubborn.

I am sure you have all played basketball before. It is not a difficult sport to pick up, yet the members of the UT basketball team consistently showed that they did not grasp simple constructs of the game. The team could not defend the pick and roll, could not escape traps by dribbling or passing, and teammates refused to come back to the ball and had passes stolen all year. At some point it becomes necessary to question the intelligence of these players.

Ever since I’ve been here, which is admittedly not overly long, I’ve had this same conversation with some of the earlier BONizens. On the whole, this community is something to be quite proud of. Most of the posters here can keep their cool when shit’s going badly. Admittedly, we all lose it sometimes, and some more than others. This is a big blog, so we also have to deal with lots of troll BS and keep our own members from flying off the handle sometimes. The irony of it all is that’s what we’re here for – to keep the lid on things and keep ourselves from going on a killing spree when Jamaal fumbles on the goal line (F#*&!!!!!).

Everyone knows how the malicious posters end up – crawling back to the holes from whence they came, tails between their legs. We’ll take care of our own, and our site, and our nation. This isn’t a fan site as much as it is a community. I keep coming back to this blog because of the excellent writing (whether or not i’m wearing burnt orange-tinted glasses) and the overall attitude that this community has. I’ve been on here way too often after a ridiculous fanshot gets posted (ala FIRE RICK BARNES), we quickly post our take, and PB comes out somewhere in the mix and tells how much he wants to start a Church or Royal with the lot of us.

My point is this: we’ve got a handle on things. Sometimes we’ve gotta put up with shit. What would a community be without the belligerent village idiot and the troll? We’ve all played the role of the former at some point or another…gotta stay away from those rum runners.

Thanks robthecob. I have never been on BON and attacked an athlete. I can tell intelligent players from those who are not though. So, maybe you should just keep from personalizing anything on the internet- you know its not like we will ever meet.

…that PB and the other mods actually take the effort to close a thread like the anti-beergut one, but then they allow all those ’Bama fakers to roam free on the board during the run-up to and during the National Title game. I mean, it was so obvious it was one or two of them just continually making fake usernames to troll the board starting trouble, but would PB and the other mods actually do anything about it? Nope, not a damn thing. I had to endure them continually making one insulting fanpost after another after another. But one guy makes a thread about the dumb things beergut has said and BOOM! PB falls on him like the wrath of God.

Whatever. I like BON, but sometimes you guys are such pussies with your selective “modding”.