I personally thought it was pretty crappy and mean spirited, if not downright deceptive. You can decide for yourself, I understand I'm biased with my burnt-orange-tinted-blog.
But....Here are some problems I have with the article:
1. Graham Watson's selective use of actual statements:
"'The horns down is disrespectful,' Brown said Monday. 'We ought to talk about that as a league.'"
In all actuality, the entirety of the statement was:
"I think that's something we ought to talk about as a league. I think the Horns-down are disrespectful to the players on the field. If Horns-down are OK, we ought to have guns- [sic] down be OK."
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| "....and also these koozies." |
That's some good, fair journalism by Dr. Saturday, if you ask me.
2. You can't exactly blame Watson. Mack's "comments" as quoted in the Dr. Saturday article, as well as EVERYWHERE ON THE INTERNET, which characterize Mack as whiny and cry-babyish, were first seen twatted (can I say twat on the Internets?) by Kirk Bohls of the Austin American Statement (below), where they soon went viral.
3. Brown was answering a question. In a press conference. HOW DARE HE?! Of course, no one is talking about the question he was asked...because then he wouldn't be able to come off as sad and pathetically whiny....Mack was answering a question regarding the penalty Mike Davis received when, after a touchdown (okay, after two touchdowns), he made the Texas Tech "Guns Up" hand sign, then proceeded to holster those guns.
The point Brown was making, was that the call was a bit inconsistent considering that NO PLAYER IN THE HISTORY OF TIME has been give a penalty for throwing Horns Down in a game.
Not these guys....
Or this coach...
Or this Sooner....
Or Geno Smith...
Not even Greg McElroy
4. As Watson points out that Bohls points out, "no one complained when Texas wide receiver Mike Davis pretended to holster Texas Tech's two-gun hand gesture during the Longhorns' win over the Red Raiders last weekend." Well...the refs kind of complained (you know, with the penalty and all) and Mack Brown complained "I still think Mike Davis should act like he's done that before and not talking to the Tech crowd...." He went on to mention that it was disrespectful, and the game is about winning, "not being cute."
Having people throw Horns down at Texas fans is par for the course. As I've mentioned in a few posts (like here) (and here) it's not that the Horns down sign makes me really mad, or offends me. I think it's just so dumb, that I make fun of people making fun of Longhorns by throwing my Horns down right back at them*.
I know Mack can seem a little crier-ey..."Oooh, rank us high in the polls so we can go to the BCS Rose Bowl" or "boo hoo, I don't like the three-way tie-breaker rules in the Big 12..." and "I'm sad that the LHN has given every team full access to our practices..." But this is not one of those times.
It's hard to argue with the point Mack Brown is making. Of course, no one is bothering to argue the point because journalists like Graham Watson and Kirk Bohls would rather get twitter & blog traffic by presenting a whiny and sad Coach Brown - one who, as Watson put it, "would like you kids to get off his lawn."
* Okay, we love throwing Horns down back at rival fans. It's so much fun, mostly because it just confuses the crap out of the offender...often causing anger, which we, in turn, find hysterical.
Last season at the Texas A&M game (forever scoreboard!!), as the A&M fans were filing out of the stadium, many of them had to cross right in front of our Eyes-of-Texas-singing-celebrating-ecstatic asses. I understand, this is not great for them. We can't help where we were sitting (near the band), nor could we help the fact that this particular part of the stadium is prone to a bottleneck, as there's a lot of activity there after a game. So not only did they have to cross in front of us, but they were stuck there for awhile, having to listen to our celebratory delirium.
At one point, an Aggie walking by pointedly scowled in my general direction (I was, actually, for once, not being confrontational...this may be one one time I was an innocent) and so I kind of made a face back in his general direction, to convey the sentiment "Um, can I help you? I was just cheering for my team..." This slight facial gesture sent him into a rage, cursing at me, flipping me off and throwing a soda in my general direction. I was very perplexed, because as I mentioned, this time I actually had done nothing to antagonize him. Still, I was also very delirious and giddy, so I just kind of made a scrunched up face and looked away.
On the car ride home, we were doing a de-briefing of the game, and I mentioned the hostile exchange to Kacie and Debra. Kacie fessed up right away. "Yeah, I saw that. That was my fault. We were singing and clapping and he threw Horns down at me, so I did this."
Upon this declaration, she turned around and demonstrated an epic Horns down display:
And that is why I love my sister.
Mack's had his moments, but he's completely justified in defending Mike Davis, and shame on the media for pretending that he's whining in this instance.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this whole drama will end if Mack would just retire at the end of the season.
I agree - it was an unfair characterization! Thanks for reading!
DeleteI'm still staying out of the "should Mack retire" debate :)