Morning Coffee Lusts For Darrell Scott

Simms misunderstanding of Austin

It's unfortunate that Simms never understood why many fans disliked him.

It had nothing to do with turnovers in the Big 12 championship. It had nothing to do with wins or losses, at least not to the fans I know.

It had to do with attitude:

Simms waltzed into town believing he was entitled to the starting job - not that he had to earn it. At least, that's how he came across in media interviews.

Simms was caught on the sidelines laughing, joking and otherwise cutting up during inopportune times. Like when Major threw an interception. Or when the game was on the line. Fans want their QB to care about the game as much as they do.

With Simms, the outcome for him personally seemed to matter more to him than the outcome for UT.

Now, the points above MAY BE WRONG. I don't know the kid personally. But this is how he came across in the media.

Unfortunately for him, Major was standing right next to him. And none of the above applied to Major, which provided a stark contrast.

The attitude seems to continue today. Simms doesn't want to visit his alma mater or college down because he loves them. He wants to "return in triumph." It will always be all about him.

I refused to name my children Vince, Kevin or Major ... despite my secret desire to do so.

by EddieTheAlbinoSquirrel on Jan 23, 2008 8:10 AM CST 0 recs

That and more...

I think your points are right on, but that there is more to the fan's feelings re Simms. If memory serves me, Simms that year was the #1 offensive recruit in the nation. He committed to Tenn, backed out, and was a rather late commit to UT. Many of us suspect Brown made certain promises to Simms and his father in order to get him signed. Brown was too honorable to go back on his promise and continued to play Simms over Applewhite, even when Applewhite was playing better. This ultimately hurt the whole team, including Applewhite and Simms, as some of the fan's frustration became directed toward Simms. When Brown's loyalty toward Simms ultimately cost UT a shot at the NC, it is not surprising that Simms was a target for frustration. While we may enjoy seeing VY play well in the pros, by and large, we care about what a player does in college. So if Simms really thought he could redeem his UT career by becoming a star on Sundays, and then receive a hero's welcome back in Austin, he was sadly mistaken.

"Only angry people win football games." --DKR

by OBdoc on Jan 23, 2008 11:56 AM CST up 0 recs

Differing Opinion

I was a student on the 40 Acres the same time as Simms and Babers ('99-'03) and I had the opportunity to meet Chris a couple of times. He was very genuine, down-to-earth, and truly seemed interested in what you had to say.

I honestly pulled for him during my 4 years there. Even though Major turned out to be the better QB in the end, I always believed (at the time) that Simms - given the proper chance to develop - was the better QB and one most likely to lead us to a National Championship. If you remember, there was some similar dual-QB nonsense with Chance Mock and VY. It wasn't until Chance graduated in '04 and VY wasn't looking over his shoulder that he really had the opportunity to develop and shine.

Finally, such a heralded player like Chris Simms doesn't just "come back" to Austin like Babers did with little or no fanfare. You're either going to be greeted with some enthusiasm or with resounding boos... I'd personally like to make sure it was the former rather than the later.

"I own yOU" - Peter Gardere

by OilmanHorn on Jan 23, 2008 12:59 PM CST up 0 recs

Y'all are just dead wrong.

Ask any beat reporter or someone from Inside Texas or Orangebloods and they will all tell you:

Simms was one of the most popular players on the team.

Simms was a high character guy and one of the hardest working players on the team.

Simms was down to earth and never used his notoriety to "big time" anyone in Austin or in the football program.

There was no deal with his dad. If you've ever listened to Phil Simms do a game or interviewed on TV and radio, he has discussed the need for the QB of a team to be the hardest working guy there who sets an example for everyone else. It would be against his very nature to try to set up a deal for his son.

Simms was a great guy, but not a great quarterback. But that doesn't justify the abuse he received from Longhorn fans.

Major and Chris both dealt with the difficult situation a lot better than our fans did.

by The Tres Leches on Jan 23, 2008 2:53 PM CST up 0 recs

I'm tired of this revisionist history

If Simms was so great, why did he singlehandedly ruin our 2001 season? It took a lot of tears and a lot of prescription drugs for me to get over that, and I'm sure that I'm not alone. Chris Simms should die of gonorrhea and rot in hell.

by Meekrob on Jan 23, 2008 4:11 PM CST up 0 recs

My suggestion

You need to go back on prescription drugs.

by The Tres Leches on Jan 23, 2008 4:25 PM CST up 0 recs

no one said he was great

all we're saying is that his only real problem was that he wasn't as good as some magazine thought he would be coming out of high school.

if you're going to take occasional poor play on the football field as a personal insult worthy of your hatred, you should probably seek help or, you know, take tres leches' advice and get back on the pills.

by billyzane on Jan 23, 2008 4:35 PM CST up 0 recs

Greatness

I wasn't referring to his inabilty to play football when I used the term great, I meant as a person. It bothers me when I hear people like Tres Leches describe him as "high character" or a "team player" or comparisons to Billy the Eagle Scout, etc.

Seriously, if he was such a team player, then why did he throw 8 INT's in our two losses in 2001? Why did he cough up a conference championship for our team? Or a chance for our team to play in the national championship game? Just so he could be remembered as the first ever recorded case of Black-Burnt Orange color blindness? I mean come on, talk about selfish.

Oh, but he's high character? Then why did he slaughter the dreams of hundreds of thousands of millions of Texas fans? That's Murder 1 in some states. Now I'm starting to question y'all's definition of character.

Yet I'm supposed to feel bad for booing him when he was on the field. For chanting "Put in Major!", or "Eat a dick!" while I followed him three steps behind around campus. I mean boo freaking hoo. Meekrob egged my limousine...on the inside! Go cry about it to your millionaire dad.

And now people are like, "Chris has never complained about getting teased at school." So the hell what? We should all feel guilty about it now? Do you now how many people I bullied from K-12, and I'm supposed to feel sorry about one spoiled Aryan from freaking Jersey? Well screw that, I'm bailing on this pity party. I heard Major was signing bare chests down the street.

by Meekrob on Jan 23, 2008 4:59 PM CST up 0 recs

ROFL

Oh, but he's high character? Then why did he slaughter the dreams of hundreds of thousands of millions of Texas fans? That's Murder 1 in some states. Now I'm starting to question y'all's definition of character.

ROFL. This is sarcastic, right?

Get your ass going! You ain't hurt!

by Cyrus on Jan 23, 2008 5:16 PM CST up 0 recs

HAH!!!

You got'em.

College was fun!

by 16thLonghorn on Jan 23, 2008 5:21 PM CST up 0 recs

Greatness

I wasn't referring to his inabilty to play football when I used the term great, I meant as a person. It bothers me when I hear people like Tres Leches describe him as "high character" or a "team player" or comparisons to Billy the Eagle Scout, etc.

Seriously, if he was such a team player, then why did he throw 8 INT's in our two losses in 2001? Why did he cough up a conference championship for our team? Or a chance for our team to play in the national championship game? Just so he could be remembered as the first ever recorded case of Black-Burnt Orange color blindness? I mean come on, talk about selfish.

Oh, but he's high character? Then why did he slaughter the dreams of hundreds of thousands of millions of Texas fans? That's Murder 1 in some states. Now I'm starting to question y'all's definition of character.

Yet I'm supposed to feel bad for booing him when he was on the field. For chanting "Put in Major!", or "Eat a dick!" while I followed him three steps behind around campus. I mean boo freaking hoo. Meekrob egged my limousine...on the inside! Go cry about it to your millionaire dad.

And now people are like, "Chris has never complained about getting teased at school." So the hell what? We should all feel guilty about it now? Do you now how many people I bullied from K-12, and I'm supposed to feel sorry about one spoiled Aryan from freaking Jersey? Well screw that, I'm bailing on this pity party. I heard Major was signing bare chests down the street.

by Meekrob on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:59:31 PM CDT

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

You are so ignorant.(0 / 0)
Yeah, Simms maybe to blame for that season but get over it. Its not like he threw those 8 picks on purpose. Your greatness as a person is not defined by how you play on the field, but how you handle yourself off it. Your sense of character and how good of a person you are, are completely misguided and idiotic. I feel really bad for that you base a a person's character by how they played against OU and CU. You can judge his football abilities all you want but to say that he was not a class guy and
a class act is just wrong and ignorant.

Its not murder number one in any state, except Alabama when an amateur athlete crushes the dreams of millions of fans. I was upset about the debacle against CU but I got over it and have no ill feelings towards Chris, only feelings of "what if?" and "what could have been?" It was disappointing but I won't burn the guy in effigy

You probably are an extremely insecure person and is just jealous of Chris Simms. Leave the guy alone. He was a good kid who tried his best but just was not could enough. Also, why would you say that you were a bully? Only assholes bully people and you seriously must be extremely insecure about yourself if you bully and belittle other people.

Since we are talking about Chris Simms, lets talk about Major.

Major, in my opinion, is one of the most overrated football players that this school has ever had. I am pretty sure that many of you guys will disagree with these sentiments, but I never thought he was that great. He had Ricky Williams his freshman year and did not play that well in 1999 and Chris really took over in 2000. Mack made a good move in picking Chris over Major. It made complete sense but I feel like we had a better chance to win a national title with Chris. He was a good player, do not get me wrong, but too many of you guys glorify him as some kind of God. To many people are on this guy's bandwagon. He was not that good. I believe that Chris was the better choice at quaterback and if we ranked the top qbs that Mack has had at Texas so far (not counting Colt) Chris would be number two besides VY (obviously) and Major number three.

So many people point out his last two games against CU and U-Dub as signs that Major should have started over Simms. They were good performances but don't you guys remember that Simms, during the regular season, played from good to great in every game except one. Also, don't you guys remember that Applewhite started when we got slaughtered by OU in 2000. How come the people's champs did not lead us to a victory over OU that year?

Same thing with this whole coordinator hiring. If Major wasn't an ex horn we would have mixed feelings about having an unproven guy, possibly, be the offensive coordinator. I hate Greg Davis as much as the next guy. To annoit him as the next offensive coordinator is kind of irrational, but some of you guys are already annointing him as the next coach of UT which is just delusional. All I am saying is don't jump on the Major bandwagon, just yet.

He probably took this job because we won't scrutinize him if he does poorly because he is "one of us." I just am not ready to jump on the Major bandwagon, just yet and I never jumped on Major's bandwagon when he was a player.

I want to close this long ass response with this.
I just want to say that Chris Simms was a solid player and good guy and leave him alone. He deserves our respect and we should welcome him back.

I bleed burnt orange!!!!

by FNJ on Jan 23, 2008 5:41 PM CST up 0 recs

Oops, accidently copied meekrob's response.

Yeah, Simms maybe to blame for that season but get over it. Its not like he threw those 8 picks on purpose. Your greatness as a person is not defined by how you play on the field, but how you handle yourself off it. Your sense of character and how good of a person you are, are completely misguided and idiotic. I feel really bad for that you base a a person's character by how they played against OU and CU. You can judge his football abilities all you want but to say that he was not a class guy and
a class act is just wrong and ignorant.