i will never ever EVER bash any of auburns football players

[aubiefifty 17,487]

these kids have feelings just like we do. they want to succeed as much or more than we want them to. they chose to wear the orange and blue. they sweat and bleed and hurt for my beloved auburn. some of you like to bash players. how can anyone bash someone like holland when he played hurt all year? that my friends is called sacrifice. its really stupid on some of yalls parts. a player loves auburn and has a bad year and we want to throw them under the bus? not me. i love them all. everyone has the choice of choosing grace over pettiness. i know some will say thats just part of football. but do we really want those kind of fans?

[juscAUse 1]

Agree 100%.

[ChattAU 0]

Absolutely. As has been said around these boards and elsewhere, we should hold ourselves and each other to a higher standard than other Alumni/fanbases.

[alexava 6,974]

who is bashing players?

[Root 0]

Amen brother! This use to be just one of the things that separated Auburn fans from some other fan bases. We always supported the team win or lose -- and that support included NOT BOOING at a game if something goes wrong. When I hear AU fans boo at a game, it embarassess me as an alumnus. That is UAT behavior not AU behavior.

Please remember this if Jake is in the game and misses a tackle or if Kiehl throws an interception. Fans booing only makes things worse. No one wants to win anymore than the players. If you want to express displeasure (and feel you have to do it publicly) call the coaches show, or better yet, man up and go speak to the coach face to face. If youre not man enough to do that, then you are just another whiner. And the world does not need anymore of those.

[Guest jojo1515]

There are several theads with this exact discussion going on...though I agree with you....do we really another?

[Threedog79 0]

Booing at a player during a game is unforgiveable. Period. One of the things that brought me here for a very long time (just now posting the last couple of weeks) was that this board is the AU "family" board. I do think if anywhere, here is a place to offer constructive criticism. I mean constructive...not bashing. If you can't do it here...then where can you? If Kiehl starts...it is because the COACHES feel it is best. If Jake starts...it is because the COACHES feel it is best. We are to support the players on the field at ALL times. We all want our boys to win. They want to win more than we do...they are on the field killing it at practices, off the field hitting the weights and hitting the books. I personally feel (and what does that count for?) that many doors were opened up for other players after last year and this spring practice...it is disappointing that those doors was not walked through by other players OR it is very encouraging that the doors are being closed by the current players due to their progression. We can only tell after toe meets leather in 19 days. WAR EAGLE and lets give the coaches the benefit of the doubt.

[Charleston Tiger 134]

There are several theads with this exact discussion going on...though I agree with you....do we really another?

+1... get it?

[madkat7 254]

These threads all lead to the same place. Any negative comment posted about a player, even if it is spot on analysis / observation gets insta-dubbed with the "you're not a true AU fan". Its a set-up. Can we not draw the line at personal attacks. Just leave those out because I agree (as do most here) that they have no place. Talking about football players and their relevant performance should be perfectly ok on both positive and negative fronts. That is part of what make sports fun!

[AuburnNTexas 7,236]

These threads all lead to the same place. Any negative comment posted about a player, even if it is spot on analysis / observation gets insta-dubbed with the "you're not a true AU fan". Its a set-up. Can we not draw the line at personal attacks. Just leave those out because I agree (as do most here) that they have no place. Talking about football players and their relevant performance should be perfectly ok on both positive and negative fronts. That is part of what make sports fun!

I tend to be homer and more positive then most so I am seldom attacked. That said I have to agree with this poster. I have seen people making onjective comments get tarred and feathered, accused of being a fair weather fan or even worse a partisan from the dark side (bama).

We should never boo an Auburn player, we should never attack one personally in a post but if a player did not perform well there is no reason we should not mention it. I am sure that player will have heard a lot worse from his position coach.

We can disagree with each other and we can argue with the persons analyses but just like we shouldn't personally attack the players we also shouldn't attack each other. We all love Auburn and want to see us win even though we might have different views on how to achieve that goal.

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

There are several theads with this exact discussion going on...though I agree with you....do we really another?

Agree. Plus, I have not seen any bashing.

[AU-Jess 0]

[stoic-one 1,554]

This bears repeating, rule #4:

http://www.aufamily.com/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules

[ShugMan55 0]

These threads all lead to the same place. Any negative comment posted about a player, even if it is spot on analysis / observation gets insta-dubbed with the "you're not a true AU fan". Its a set-up. Can we not draw the line at personal attacks. Just leave those out because I agree (as do most here) that they have no place. Talking about football players and their relevant performance should be perfectly ok on both positive and negative fronts. That is part of what make sports fun!

This is spot on. I see very few out of line comments on players (Jake Holland received the most last year) however if you say Wallace looks better than Frazier you are accused of bashing. These young men are old enough to take a bit of analysis and if they are not they are in the wrong arena.

[bikeriderga 134]

Honest assessment and opinions are not bashing a player. I love all of our Auburn players, whether they start, provide a backup roll, or are just part of the team. Hey, they are playing college football and that makes them a cut above the average HS player.

We want all of our players to succeed and have successful careers after their college days end. That is why it should always be education first. As we all know, only a few make it to the next football level, but the education last a lifetime.

[Tiger 8,835]

To be fair, these guys are kids. But as a football fan you just can't naive enough to just say THEY ARE ALL GREAT. Nothing that said about these players is personal. It's only commentary and critiquing from what is being displayed on the field. Some players are better than others -- its life. The biggest thing for me is that we have a new coach and new DC that aren't bringing any biases with them in regards to this group of players. If CEJ says Holland is better than Frost right now then who the hell is ANYBODY to argue?

[NYCAU99 0]

These threads all lead to the same place. Any negative comment posted about a player, even if it is spot on analysis / observation gets insta-dubbed with the "you're not a true AU fan". Its a set-up. Can we not draw the line at personal attacks. Just leave those out because I agree (as do most here) that they have no place. Talking about football players and their relevant performance should be perfectly ok on both positive and negative fronts. That is part of what make sports fun!

This is spot on. I see very few out of line comments on players (Jake Holland received the most last year) however if you say Wallace looks better than Frazier you are accused of bashing. These young men are old enough to take a bit of analysis and if they are not they are in the wrong arena.

Thankfully our players are not as thin-skinned as some on this board. This is big boy football ladies and gents. You will not see me ripping any player apart, ever, simply because it is not my personality, but the lack of effort I saw in my one visit to JH last year against TX A & M warranted the boo birds. Our guys flat out quit, save a few. Although I never played in college, my high school coach made clear to me that if I chose to pursue it I needed to understand "this isn't little league, make no mistake about it, you are there to win". I didn't participate in the booing, but acting indignant toward it with a poor performance displayed is absurd. These young men are on the big stage, and someone who purchased their tickets has a right to show their displeasure to a certain point. It comes with the territory and the adoration. I realize some will pretend I somehow love Auburn less because I don't think our players or coaches are that soft or expect to be treated like they are playing in flag league, but that is a narrow minded point of view. Booing and player bashing are two separate entities, and if a kid can't take the former, he doesn't belong on the big stage.

[mustache eagle 2,428]

booing an amateur student athlete is incomprehensible ... it is pathetic and has no place on a college campus, period. there is NO grey area. there is NO sane or reasonable argument that can be made for it. ever. never. ever. big time football it is. however, booing a college athlete is reprehensible on every level. period.

[TitanTiger 20,614]

As long as you stick to discussing play on the field and don't get personal, everything is fine. We're not going to be Pollyanna-ish about someone if they aren't performing on Saturdays but always keep in mind these are young men that want nothing more than to go out and wear that blue jersey and excel for all of us and their teammates. We always have people who think anything other than hugs and kisses is player bashing and those who think unless you trash a guy and declare that he utterly sucks and should be bagging groceries you're a sunshine pumper. The key is a balanced perspective.

[NYCAU99 0]

booing an amateur student athlete is incomprehensible ... it is pathetic and has no place on a college campus, period. there is NO grey area. there is NO sane or reasonable argument that can be made for it. ever. never. ever. big time football it is. however, booing a college athlete is reprehensible on every level. period.

While I appreciate your and opinion just as much as my own, as incomprehensible, pathetic, unreasonable, and reprehensible as you find it, I've heard booing at nearly every college stadium I've ever been to in the SEC and from L.A. to Norman, South Bend to Ann Arbor, and Happy Valley to Tallahassee. That said, I'm not going to participate further in the "merits of booing a collegiate athlete" discussion. I was simply offering another perspective. This discussion is counter-productive to enjoying and promoting Auburn football and frankly has no correct answer, regardless of how strongly one feels about their view. War Eagle!

[NYCAU99 0]

As long as you stick to discussing play on the field and don't get personal, everything is fine. We're not going to be Pollyanna-ish about someone if they aren't performing on Saturdays but always keep in mind these are young men that want nothing more than to go out and wear that blue jersey and excel for all of us and their teammates. We always have people who think anything other than hugs and kisses is player bashing and those who think unless you trash a guy and declare that he utterly sucks and should be bagging groceries you're a sunshine pumper. The key is a balanced perspective.

Well said and agreed.

[chimesAU 89]

Strange thread. Let's not get too emotional...

[icanthearyou 4,468]

There are several theads with this exact discussion going on...though I agree with you....do we really another?

+1... get it?

I get it. I laughed. What else can you do?

[ShugMan55 0]

These threads all lead to the same place. Any negative comment posted about a player, even if it is spot on analysis / observation gets insta-dubbed with the "you're not a true AU fan". Its a set-up. Can we not draw the line at personal attacks. Just leave those out because I agree (as do most here) that they have no place. Talking about football players and their relevant performance should be perfectly ok on both positive and negative fronts. That is part of what make sports fun!

This is spot on. I see very few out of line comments on players (Jake Holland received the most last year) however if you say Wallace looks better than Frazier you are accused of bashing. These young men are old enough to take a bit of analysis and if they are not they are in the wrong arena.

Thankfully our players are not as thin-skinned as some on this board. This is big boy football ladies and gents. You will not see me ripping any player apart, ever, simply because it is not my personality, but the lack of effort I saw in my one visit to JH last year against TX A & M warranted the boo birds. Our guys flat out quit, save a few. Although I never played in college, my high school coach made clear to me that if I chose to pursue it I needed to understand "this isn't little league, make no mistake about it, you are there to win". I didn't participate in the booing, but acting indignant toward it with a poor performance displayed is absurd. These young men are on the big stage, and someone who purchased their tickets has a right to show their displeasure to a certain point. It comes with the territory and the adoration. I realize some will pretend I somehow love Auburn less because I don't think our players or coaches are that soft or expect to be treated like they are playing in flag league, but that is a narrow minded point of view. Booing and player bashing are two separate entities, and if a kid can't take the former, he doesn't belong on the big stage.

I agree. I only boo officials. On the other hand I saw nothing wrong with fans leaving early. I still think those empty seats did more to get rid of our incompetant coaching staff than anything else.

[TitanTiger 20,614]

In case anyone missed stoic-one's post, we actually have a specific rule in place about this:

4) Leave the Players Alone. They are 18-22 year old kids. If they sometime act like kids, hey, that's what they do. If they have an off day, give them some grace. Saying that "the WRs underperformed" or "Joe Smith had a bad game" is very different from saying "Joe Smith sucks!"

http://www.aufamily.com/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules

I expounded on this a tad a few posts back.