Butchisms

Corny is hardly the worst thing ever. Who cares anyway? The 'cruits are flocking and obviously love whatever he's doing.

 

Lets not forget Mr. Motivation himself, Jackie Sherrill and his castration of a bull at practice!

 

I must be a helluva motivator if castrating a bovine is a qualifier.

 

Mr. Motivation II, wear a mask!

 

who was the coach that tried to let a turtle snap his nutsack for some weird motivation? Was that Woody Hayes? Or did I dream the whole thing.

 

Never heard of that one. I think something like that would back fire big time.

 

http://www.brobible.com/sports/video/woody-hayes-let-turtle-bite-[penis]

 

I feel the need to clarify, somewhat:

1. To a sizable portion of our fanbase, and maybe even some of our players, these sort of glib coachisms may work just fine. However, such is, at absolute best, of very small, transient or neutral benefit, IMO.

2. If someone can show me one piece of tangible evidence that directly correlates the winning of championships to some abundance, or even the existence, of these sort of kitschy phrases, please present it. I'll examine it with an objective mind, and if proven, I'll admit that they hold some greater significance than as previously described in #1, above.

Perhaps we're loading up on all of this talent because so many recruits were swayed by catchy phrases like "Brick by Brick", "Butch, please", or "Gets it." But if true, that seems to imply that the best recruiting coordinator may be one who doesn't have a coaching pedigree of winning championships, but a masters degree in marketing, instead.

And perhaps we have players on our team who will somehow give less than their absolute best on fourth(?) down, if not for a bunch of people extending a clinched fists. Of course, and again if true, what that says about the type of player we're talking about may be more damning than anything I could hope to allege, but if that's the argument that some wish to make....I guess, go ahead.

And finally, one could argue that the best motivational slogan is no real match for a slew of high NFL picks and the hoisting of big trophies (preferably, those made of crystal) - but I could be wrong on that.

Like I said, I'm willing to examine any provided evidence, once provided, and will honestly review it with my most objective eye.

 

I don't think any catchphrase or anything else does anything to help win or anything else other than get fans fired up.

I also don't think a catchphrase means one damn in recruiting. As a matter of fact, I might go as far as to say less than .1% of any interaction with any recruit or with the team involves the phrase "bring by brick". So much that IIRC, it wasn't some grand plan as opposed to something he kind of fell into. This reeks of the UT public relation machine.

However, lots of coaches use ridiculous stuff all the time as "motivation". Fulmer hung a damn ladder in the locker room in 98 with each opponent on it. Kiffin staged a fight between Orgeron and Thompson (I think) that Monte played along with. Carroll threw a dummy off a building. Richt does his high-dive skills. Miles did the damned Harlem Shake with LSU. Hell, even Sumlin has his little "YESSIR" on twitter when they get a new recruit. Need I recall this board salivating over Gruden's "[itch bay]es and hotel room" comment, which is a really cheesey comment itself if you get right down to it.

Butch isn't building anything off catchphrases. He's a cheesy/corny guy who is genuine and because of it can somehow connect with 18-22 year olds. From all indication, this team may not have much talent but they at least like the guy, respect the hell out of the guy, and are willing to run through a wall for him at the present time. Other than building a team atmosphere, I'm not sure what much more we could ask for since X's and O's have not come into play yet.

 

The very idea of allegiance to a sports team and the trappings that go with it is itself preposterous. Every utterance of "Go Vols", "Go Big Orange" or verse of Rocky Top sung or heard is evidence of certain glibness or kitsch. The idea of team colors -- while having some practical import -- is on the face of it ridiculous. Vol walk? Checkerboard endzones? Marching bands? The Maxims?

My suspicion is we would have a real hard time determining the right amount of glib and kitsch makes a team glib and kitsch before we throw up our hands and realize the whole enterprise of cheering for teams, with slogans and expressions (John Ward, anyone?) is about the dumbest thing we could possibly do. Yes it brings us joy, but it is rooted in something silly -- growing up in Tennessee for example, or going to school there, or granddaddy playing there, and so on.

So my general view is to suspend my natural instincts that cheering for a particular sports teams is an entirely ridiculous proposition and just go with it, brick by brick. It is after all, about fun. Yes, I want to win... I REALLY want to win. But I want to have fun. And UT sports is fun. And catchy slogans can be dumb (Give Him Six!) but mainly harmless and really fun.

Will these things produce champions is your real question? Probably not, but they likely don't hurt. We continue to recite the General's maxims before games but I can't tell that it makes anyone better. But we do it because Coach Neyland way back when seventy years ago did it, and it's a nice thing, and whatever. So yes, bring me more 5 stars, but leave me my Oskie, and VFL! and Bottom! There's a place for both, I think.

 

There's a lot of truth to that.

 

Like an utterly underqualified defensive staff.

 

I think the idea of an entire team getting fired up with a 4th down stop and doing fist up or whatever is good for momentum, team comraderie and could get the crowd more involved. Home field advantage matters more when you have a decent team and when the crowd is fired up. None of those things bring W's by themselves, but could be a factor. Football usually comes down to a handful of plays and momentum or shifts in momentum due to those plays. If you can do anything that may make a difference or assist in making one of those plays or keeping momentum, mentally or physically, then you have to try.

 

[video=youtube_share;dahihZAW2Aw]http://youtu.be/dahihZAW2Aw[/video]

 

that made me smile a few times

 

All fair points, as usual, VFJ.

I would only add that many of the things you mention are steeped in tradition, and which are by very definition, the opposite of kitsch.

And I've pretty much drawn some peace at being ok with all of the Butchisms, if that helps to gain some interest back to the team. I'm just saying that they should not be seen as being more than they are.

If he wins, we can all agree that he won't need these glib sayings.....so long as we equally agree that if he doesn't win, that they won't save him.

 

Just win, and don't make too big of an ass of yourself doing so. That's all that matters.

 

Certainly the strong, silent type coach -- think Bill Snyder -- is more my cup of tea than the over-exuberant Pete Carroll-types. It's not my thing either, but I can't get too lathered up about it.

About tradition: they have to get started at some point. Some of ours are old (the color orange) and some are rather recent (the Vol Walk) but they become tradition and for better or worse we're stuck with them. I don't mind it, but I'm not against new traditions, or slogans either. Black jersey, fist-up defense and so on.

 

You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

At nut cutting time, he just needs to bring in talent and get them blocking, tackling, and playing hard.

 

The whole "chop wood" thing worked out ok for Schiano. Swinney has the "All In" gimmick at Clemson. This shit isn't all that uncommon.