This is my true and honest feelings. You can agree with them, or disagree with them. I know for a fact that we have lost recruits by things people say on internet message boards. Quentin Groves was one. He was coming to State but thought we would be on serious probation due to all the internet rumors. Does that help or hurt MSU? Well, you might say, we didn't really need thin skinned players representing us. Maybe they would have left when hard times hit? I'd rather have them, however, than give them to LSU, Alabama, Auburn or Ole Miss.
Think back to the vicious internet rumors which were spread by ColReb in his "commentaries," the rumors of XenaReb, JediReb, ARay and their viciousness and claims of NCAA violations, when none of any real magnitude really occurred. We got 3 years probation and lost scholarships. Over what? Even the NCAA report said that they initiated the investigation due largely to information which came from internet message boards. We even had some of our own people believing their drivel and repeating it. The NCAA placed us on probation partly because of the preponderance of internet rumors that we cheated. It is in their report as such. The rumors were given credence by newspaper writers who wrote things after reading them on the internet...untrue things. The rumors were rife for 3 years, before we even got probation. The Ole Miss disinformation cadre kept claiming we would get the "death penalty." One writer, who was caught plagiarizing material, and was recently fired from the Mobile Press Register, was one of their conduits to legitimizing the rumors. He is back with ColReb.
Do you think that no one reads and really pays attention to what you post other than frequent posters here? What do you think it says to recruits who know little about us when they read what our own people are saying about our coaching staff on the internet? What does it do to the confidence of our own players, people like Michael Henig when people said vicious things about him? Saying vicious things about players, recruits, and coaches on the internet is like booing people. Do you think recruits will sign with us, when there is nothing but a chorus of boos from our own fans?
I have just as much, sometimes more concern, about some of the issues surfaced here on this board, but I don't call coaches or players stupid. I don't call them childish names. I can be concerned about our offense, and how productive it will be, but I won't call a coach a 17ing idiot. I try to use good judgment about what to write about and what not. I can write my honest feelings, but I don't have to be an a**hole about it, nor demeaning of someone's character.
I really like this board. I read things here that are deleted on Gene's Page in a heartbeat. Things that happen often get printed here first. The humor is sophomoric at times, but really funny at others. I like looking at the pictures of girls too, even though some would say I am too old for that kind of thing. I think my 31 year old girlfriend would disagree!