I Am Utterly Convinced

Techbert

Techbert

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Joined
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I am utterly convinced that those that refuse to accept mediocrity are the ones that cause it, both directly and indirectly.

I am also convinced those without the power to directly control a situation who insist on trying to influence events, such as whiny fans on an internet board who just want someone's head, have no ability to do good and only have a capability to do harm.

Further, it annoys me that some fans call themselves the "faithful", when they lack any faith and they tear away at the thing they claim they are faithful to.
 
I agree with Techbert.

Unfortunately, he was also utterly convinced Rumsfeld did a smart thing by disbanding the Iraqi Army prematurely in his famous "take your AK-47s and go home" speech, so lets hope his football track record is better than his political one.


;)
 
What Techbert said....squared!

Bill Curry wrote an excellent column last year congruous with the thoughts you expressed so well. I think it was titled "Fellowship of the Miserable"?. It ASTOUNDS me how many people think constant negativity will produce a positive result. You know, Dale Carnegie had it all wrong, if he would only have titled his book " The Power of Negative Thinking", I'm sure he would have been considered a significant mentor to many millions more successful people.
 
Sounds like Dr. Zachary Smith from Lost in Space.

Johnathan_Harris.jpg
 
Bunger Henry said:
Sounds like Dr. Zachary Smith from Lost in Space.
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Interesting. All I remember of Smith was him saying, "We are doomed.... Doomed!"

That sounds to me much more like the attitude of someone who cannot fathom GT having success without tearing everything down we currently have, as compared to myself, who thinks we are building a very good program on a very solid foundation.

So I am guessing that your post was a memo to yourself.

Oh, and I just remembered he kept trying to change who was the captain of the ship. Again, I guess your post was a memo to yourself.
 
Just trying to get my terms straight. So if someone thinks "we are building a very good program on a very solid foundation" you're one of the faithful, but if you have concerns that we're spinning our wheels without making any progress you're whiny and cause mediocrity? So is a good fan one who simply cheers for the team, win or ose, and never has an opinion about anything? I'm so confused.
 
ncjacket said:
So if someone thinks "we are building a very good program on a very solid foundation" you're one of the faithful.....
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No..no..no.....now you're confusing "faithful" and "enlightened". Big difference. Mutually exclusive.

I have the tremendous good fortune to be both.

In regard to the subject at hand, one finds that the latter currently tends to propogate the former.
 
ncjacket said:
Just trying to get my terms straight. So if someone thinks "we are building a very good program on a very solid foundation" you're one of the faithful, but if you have concerns that we're spinning our wheels without making any progress you're whiny and cause mediocrity? So is a good fan one who simply cheers for the team, win or ose, and never has an opinion about anything? I'm so confused.
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If you have those concerns you should not post them on a public message board where they may directly or indirectly cause untold harm to the program. You should contact Drad or Gailey himself with your concerns.

If you have nothing positive to say on a public message board then you should say nothing at all - or stick to less damaging topics such as uniform color or whining about coverage by the local media.
 
My reply by no means agrees with your post or disagrees with you. I can see where you are coming from, but I don't place as much value on whiny internet fans as you do. I don't place much value on internet message boards period. I just don't think they are that important, and I don't think they have an effect either way.

I've always wondered about those that "won't accept mediocrity". I typically wonder how successful these people are and if they don't tolerate mediocrity in their own lives and at work. It seems we may have a bunch of CEO types that have too much time on their hands that allows them to post on internet message boards about how avergae we are as a football program. Some even dedicate their sites to that cause.

I typically say want I want to say, because I enjoy the banter. I don't place a lot of importance in what I think or what others think. Like anyone, I do think I am right the majority of the time. But I can admit when I am wrong.

Techbert, you contradict yourself in your second paragraph. You imply that those without power have no ability to directly control the situation but insist on trying to control events. Then you give them credit for being harmful instead of good. So at that point, do you not think they have some direct control?

I think your mentality on internet fans being harmful is a perception that has been manufactured and influenced by those on the Hive. The board moderators and RR have consistently acted above the norm because they are truly convinced that the board somehow represents Georgia Tech. Let me sum that up again: An internet sports board with paid advertising and its posters somehow represent Georgia Tech. The idea is laughable. They don't have any control over the perceived events anymore than Buzzoff does. The self importance they feel is hollow. Have you ever met in person some of the people on the Hive? If you think they have the ability to influence our athletic department then you need to get your head checked.

The mods on the Hive believe that they actually have some control over events which is why they choose to run their board the way they do. They have given themselves and all the other Tech boards the feeling that we are somehow more important than we really are. I know of no other fans message boards that take themselves so seriously as the GT fan boards.

The Hive set a standard over what can be said on a message board. That standard was represented as the only "positive" and anything that disagreed was perceived as negative. Unfortunately, there are a large majority of fans that disagreed with what was being said and therefore they think that the standard created by the Hive has a NEGATIVE effect because it promotes something that may not be in GT's best interest.

So other message boards were created because they wanted to advertise a different position 1.) to influence as they were taught to believe the powers that be, 2.) to give them their own feeling of self importance and 3.) to show up others who disagreed with them.

When you stop believing that what you say on a message board has any effect, and when you stop placing importance over what is said on a message board, things become a lot more fun. That is why I like posting here because for the most part that is what the average fans are like on this board. If you go to the hive you have people dripping with self importance over their agenda and if you go to buzzoff you get the exact same but opposite.

Once you come to that understanding, you can basically categorize posters into two different types: a.) those that are down to earth, and b.) those that are crazy.

You'll never agree with a crazy type, unless you are crazy yourself. You can agree and disagree with a down to earth type without having to wage World War 3 to do so.

Anyway, my thoughts from the philosopher.
 
ncjacket said:
Just trying to get my terms straight. So if someone thinks "we are building a very good program on a very solid foundation" you're one of the faithful, but if you have concerns that we're spinning our wheels without making any progress you're whiny and cause mediocrity? So is a good fan one who simply cheers for the team, win or ose, and never has an opinion about anything? I'm so confused.
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I know you are confused.

A good fan cheers the team, and lets things play out. A good fan does not boo a running back in the middle of a run, or the equivalent.

A good fan does not jump on the team when it loses, and ignores its success when it wins.

A good fan does not undermine the faith the TEAM places in the head coach during the season.

A good fan does not point fingers every single week ad nauseum, win or lose. They do not whine they cannot take pleasure from a victory because it was not won the way that fan wanted it won.

A good fan sees progress when progress is made, whether it has reflected yet in the won-loss column or not.

A good fan does not try to scare away potential recruits from GT, or go on rival message boards to say why a kid should not go to GT.

A good fan does cheer for the white and gold. A good fan does cheer the players. A good fan does show their support. A good fan does stand up for his team. A good fan does give the decision makers their opinions in private settings. A good fan lets the professionals do their profession.

Fans can decide if they want to be good fans, or the jerks in Hoosiers.
 
BarrelORum said:
Techbert, you contradict yourself in your second paragraph. You imply that those without power have no ability to directly control the situation but insist on trying to control events. Then you give them credit for being harmful instead of good. So at that point, do you not think they have some direct control?
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The easy-to-understand analogy is a car driver trying to maintain control of the vehicle, and someone in the back seat trying to grab the steering wheel, thinking they will save the day. The chance of the back-seat driver being actually able to steer the vehicle to safety is basically zero. The chance of them yanking the steering wheel at precisely the wrong moment and causing an accident is very high. At the very least, they distract the driver at precisely the moments the driver most needs to concentrate.

There are sadly plenty of opportunities for people on the fringe to cause harm, and sadly few opportunities to actually do good (and stay within NCAA regs). I wish there were opportunities for fans to easily influence things for the good; I'd be at it every day.

As far as the rest of your post, some is good and some is bad and that is okay and that is what makes a debate. I'll just say that I think you are missing the picture about the Hive, probably because you stumbled into the picture late in the process, but that is for another day.
 
Techbert, you contradict yourself in your second paragraph. You imply that those without power have no ability to directly control the situation but insist on trying to control events. Then you give them credit for being harmful instead of good. So at that point, do you not think they have some direct control?
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I think he would contend they have some indirect control, whereas you would contend they have no control.

Personally, I think they're just annoying. Then again, I fall into their ranks sometimes, so in a way I'm admonishing myself.

Meh.
 
"A good fan lets the professionals do their profession."

What if these said professionals (in many posters minds) aren't making the best choices for the TEAM? Are we not allowed to discuss it on a message board?

You can talk about decision making on the HIVE, just not about firing Gailey or anything like that...its just the "rah-rah" stuff alone when everything is NOT glorious that gets on a lot of peoples nerves e.g. B-O-R etc....
 
Techbert said:
The easy-to-understand analogy is a car driver trying to maintain control of the vehicle, and someone in the back seat trying to grab the steering wheel, thinking they will save the day. The chance of the back-seat driver being actually able to steer the vehicle to safety is basically zero. The chance of them yanking the steering wheel at precisely the wrong moment and causing an accident is very high. At the very least, they distract the driver at precisely the moments the driver most needs to concentrate.
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No the correct analogy, if there is one, is someone sitting in the stands saying, "that guy can't drive" while watching the race. They can't yank the steering wheel and they can't distract the driver unless they throw beer cans at his car as it goes by.
 
Techbert said:
I know you are confused.

A good fan cheers the team, and lets things play out. A good fan does not boo a running back in the middle of a run, or the equivalent.

A good fan does not jump on the team when it loses, and ignores its success when it wins.

A good fan does not undermine the faith the TEAM places in the head coach during the season.

A good fan does not point fingers every single week ad nauseum, win or lose. They do not whine they cannot take pleasure from a victory because it was not won the way that fan wanted it won.

A good fan sees progress when progress is made, whether it has reflected yet in the won-loss column or not.

A good fan does not try to scare away potential recruits from GT, or go on rival message boards to say why a kid should not go to GT.

A good fan does cheer for the white and gold. A good fan does cheer the players. A good fan does show their support. A good fan does stand up for his team. A good fan does give the decision makers their opinions in private settings. A good fan lets the professionals do their profession.

Fans can decide if they want to be good fans, or the jerks in Hoosiers.
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So basically, in your world, fans can't do anything but cheer? Listen, if all you expect to happen on college message boards if for people to post happy thoughts, they will all shut down. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.

I don't appreciate people clamoring for people to be fired, nor do I appreciate those who insult and belittle players or coaches, but sometimes there are obvious issues with any team that are fair game for discussion. But to suggest that instead of making a post on a message board that "I don't like our play calling on second down" I should email Chan and DRad is ridiculous.
 
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