Y'all might have seen news of the banner that flew over Texas' stadium last weekend.
Well an enterprising reporter at ESPN did some digging to figure out who purchased the banner and came up with this.
According to Eddie Thompson of AirSign, the company that facilitated the stunt, the buyers did not wish to be identified, preferring to remain deep undercover.
"They wanted to drop the money off in dollars," Thompson said, declining to reveal the cost. "They were worried Patterson would hire a [private investigator]."
They may sound a little paranoid, but there is precedent for concern.
Folks, football is really big in the Palmetto State. But it's child's play compared to a couple other states, those being Alabama and Texas. Crazy.
They may sound a little paranoid, but there is precedent for concern.
When Patterson was president of the Portland Trail Blazers, he bought the domain name of John Canzano, a sports columnist at the Oregonian with whom he was less than pleased.
"This was a group of alumni that runs in those circles," Thompson said, explaining why the boosters told him they were so cautious about staying behind the scenes. "Apparently, Patterson is very vindictive."
Wow.
And what about that domain name? Read all about it here.
Shortly after this in 2005, the available domain name JohnCanzano.com was snapped up. I was alerted by a Blazers IT staffer that Patterson had entered a morning meeting that day ticked about my piece and had instructed her to purchase the domain. She told me she was unsure what he planned to do with it and didn't want to be caught in the fray. I laughed out loud but also, shook my head because it was exactly the kind of eye-off-the-ball move Patterson routinely made.
When I told Patterson I knew what he'd done and thought it was a petty waste of time for an acting NBA team president, he panicked, worried it would go public. The Blazers had an arena in bankruptcy, a basketball team mired in draft lottery hell and Patterson had major unrest in his own hallways and he was busy issuing a Code Red to a media member? The Blazers offered to transfer the domain to me later that day and I accepted. I still use the domain today.
Corporations play defense all the time by purchasing domain names with negative connotations. I suppose some individuals do as well. The way I see it, in 2005, the Blazers had two viable plays: A) Ignore the individual selling BlazersSuck.com. After all, it has limited marketability or; B) Simply announce that they were purchasing it and list all the reasons why companies need to protect their brands. But what Patterson chose was option C). And it's why Shaka Smart should run.
My ... goodness.
A few Wednesday links:
-- This Louisville columnist writes about the possibility of Tom Jurich succeeding Patterson.
Still, it would be unlike Jurich to decamp for Austin less than two years after responding to a question about the Texas job by saying, “I really believe the grass is pretty green here. ... Everybody is different, and I think this is the greatest job in college sports here at the University of Louisville.”
Moreover, it would be unlike Jurich to take a job where so much of the heavy lifting has already been done; where the challenge is more about maintenance than enterprise; where the shadows cast by your predecessors are destined to obscure your own achievements.
At Louisville, Jurich has relished the role of “Little Brother,” and the autonomy he has been given to heed his own counsel. At Texas, he would be Big Brother, expected to crush all rivals and to appease wealthy donors should they want the football coach fired. (That the Longhorns’ current football coach is Charlie Strong, formerly of U of L, only complicates that scenario.)
At Louisville, Tom Jurich can operate virtually independent of outside interference, as a committee of one in most cases. At Texas, the athletic director is more of a corporate executive, subject to the sentiments/whims of his stockholders.
It’s easy to see that Texas could mean more money. It’s harder to see that it would be worth it.
-- Pat Forde writes his weekly Dash column and says if you have a running quarterback you'd better have a serviceable backup quarterback.
As the quarterback injury list lengthens, one thing is clear: If you run your QB a lot – and a ton of teams do – you take your chances. Things break, twist and tear.
Last year, of course, Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett suffered a broken ankle on a run. BYU’s hard-luck Taysom Hill has suffered consecutive years of season-ending injuries on runs. Kansas State’s Jesse Ertz came up limping after a handoff on the second play of the Wildcats’ season opener – after he ran the ball on the first play. Notre Dame’s Malik Zaire broke his ankle Saturday on a run. Utah’sTravis Wilson hurt his shoulder Friday night on a run, although at least his season does not appear to be over like the other guys’.
The injury risk at the most important position highlights the need for a competent backup quarterback. They are, as the old saying goes, one play away.
Ohio State showed last year how valuable depth is at QB, ultimately relying on third-stringerCardale Jones (1) to win the national title. But the backup needs more than just talent – he has to be invested in the weekly gameplan and fine-tuning his craft. When that one bad play happens, the next man in has to have a clue what he’s doing.
-- Forde also gives his take on the epic failure in Austin.
By all reports, Patterson failed on the relationship side. He fired some popular and loyal staffers, and others chose to leave on their own. Current and former staffers say Tuesday was almost like Bastille Day at Texas, a mixture of joy and relief that a guy described as arrogant and aloof was being forced out.
Patterson infuriated fans with a major football season-ticket price hike, rather poorly timed coming off a 6-7 season. He also raised ticket prices for basketball at a time when the program is far from its peak years earlier this century.
So his tenure was a remarkable mess, yet it’s possible Patterson will get credit for a couple of coaching hires that work out well. Even if the truth is that those hires were possible because Texas is Texas, not because anyone dreamed of working for Steve Patterson.
-- In Denver, Peyton Manning creates his own injury report.
Manning created his own media injury report, diagnosing various reporters with ailments, including carpal tunnel syndrome, bunions, a mystery rash and gout.
“This is not a healthy group by any means,” Manning quipped. “But I never hear you guys complaining about it, so I’m not going to complain about it. In many ways, you guys inspire me.”
Wow that's great.
-- The AJC writes about that time some guy named Nick Chubb visited South Carolina and didn't get to meet Steve Spurrier.
I know I say "wow" a lot, but ... wow.
Chubb originally set his commitment date for late spring of 2013 – either April or May – and was set to announce for Georgia. Then South Carolina “stepped into the picture,” and Chubb pushed his commitment date back so he could visit Columbia. Just not its head coach.
“I would’ve got to meet the head coach. That would’ve been great to know who I was gonna play for,” Chubb said. “But I probably would’ve come to Georgia.”
Chubb was SEC freshman of the year last year, rushing for 1,547 yards despite only starting eight games, and coming off the bench in the other five. This year he has 309 rushing yards in two games, and has a streak of 10 consecutive 100-yard rushing games.
“I’m glad I’m here,” Chubb said, chuckling.
-- Congrats to Clemson's Jonathan Gantt, who's been recognized for his outstanding social media efforts.
Jonathan and his team from Clemson are not only engaged with the latest trends happening in sports and social media, but they are extremely active and engaged with not only their fan base, but their communities as well. It's been great chatting with Jonathan on what his team is doing - and yes - Louisville and Clemson will be playing against each other this week in football. Looking forward to seeing what Jonathan and his team come up with this week - if it's anything like this past weekend, it's going to be a home run on social media! Look at what Jonathan and his team did for their game this weekend - awesome visual content!
-- And we close with some tunes from Chris Stapleton, who has written tunes for Kenny Chesney and George Strait:
LW
