Bill Shanks Has The Manners Of A Yankee

You tell ‘em I’M coming… and hell’s coming with me, you hear?

          -Wyatt Earp, Tombstone

I am going to the mattresses here (quick-what movie?  I used two quotes from two all time great movies in the first two sentences…you know this is going to be a good post). 

Because I am a glutton for punishment and because Chuck and Chernoff don’t pick up that great in the afternoon, I turned to Bill Shanks on my short drive home.  I thought he might be talking to Braves.

Oh no.  He was talking UGA football.   Now, Bill’s opinions and mine regarding UGA football and Coach Richt don’t exactly jeehaw.  He does make some valid points, but I honestly think he takes it too far, takes personal attacks when possible, and is not entirely fair. 

He was going on about the problems facing  the team this upcoming season, and his sidekick Russ Brown chimed in and said that it cracks him up to hear Georgia fans talking about how UGA could be good this year, because they lost to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl, and didn’t even score a touchdown. 

Yeah, we got that.  And for the record, I kind of agree.  I have yet to give any in-depth preview yet, but here is my 30,000 foot view: I hope Georgia wins the East, I think they could, maybe should, but I don’t think it will happen.  South Carolina is just too strong of a team, and I think we will have some ups and downs, but on January 1, 2012, we will be pleased with the forward progress and expect very LOFTY BCS expectations in 2012.  I also think that Georgia Tech will rebound in a weak ACC this year and win more games than UGA for the second time in three years (but they won’t beat UGA). 

But what irked me about Russ’ comment was, that as an open Tech fan, he doesn’t mention that Tech lost to Air Force 14-7 in a bowl game last year.  While no SEC school (minus Vanderbilt) should ever lose to a CUSA team, no BCS Conference school that is one year removed from a Championship should lose to a Service Academy.  The academic requirements, size restrictions and pressures of going to school to be more than a football player to serve our country makes it very hard for Service Academies to be really competitive against modern day football teams.  Paul Johnson should know that a Service Academy struggles against teams with better players and resources (not taking away anything from Paul Johnson…I think he is a good coach).   

So I called and threw Russ and Bill both “under the bus”…Russ for criticizing Georgia for committing a similar sin that his football team committed a year ago, and Bill for not calling Russ out on it.  For grabbing his ankles and taking it.  What I really asked for them to do was to be fair and call a spade a spade.

They both jumped on me.  Bill mistook my calling him out for not getting on Russ for defending mediocrity.  I have not defended the mediocrity that was the 2010 Liberty Bowl.  It is unacceptable for a school with the talent of UGA to go 6-7; Hell, it unacceptable for UGA to win any fewer than 9 games at their worst.   I told them that, and even shared with them I think Tech will have a better season that Georgia this year. 

But this struck a nerve with Bill and Russ.  Like the blowhards they are, they started yelling and going on, and on and on.  What is worse, they hung up on me, and I had to listen to their rant on the radio without offering a rebuttal.  They skewered me, then did not let me offer a retort.  They didn’t address my comment; they turned the call about how these fans are always are taking up for UGA.  It was just about how Russ doesn’t call it both ways, and Bill doesn’t call it out.

I know I probably sounded like a fool.  I was taken off guard by their response; I shouldn’t have been because they are a couple of jack offs.  I know I can be hard to understand from time to time; I don’t speak so clear and sometimes stammer around when I get excited, it gets blocked in my mouth, I don’t say it no goods.  I have a face for radio and voice for writing.  So my call probably didn’t make good radio.  But I was not given a chance to make my full point.  They anticipated that I was just one of the simpletons that call in normally to their show-I write for blog damn it, and I have a voice.  And I have an audience. 

For someone who is from Waycross, Bill sure does act like a Yankee.  He is loud, obnoxious, and very ignorant.  It is his radio show, and he can do what he wants, but I was guest on his program.  And yelling at someone before they can fully articulate their point, then being a COWARD and hanging up on them is no way I would treat my guest, especially when I was trying to be civil.  I was interrupted.  I didn’t like that. 

Bill may have silenced me on the radio but, and I admit this is a character flaw,  I WILL get the last word. 

Bill’s ineptitude is rampant, and his radio show is drivel.  He does talk Braves and is knowledgeable on the ballclub, I will give him that. 

What pisses me off is that he has an open Georgia Tech fan as a co-host, an open Florida fan as a producer, and his boy Skip is a big Tech guy too.  And Bill makes it his hobby to run down Georgia and Mark Richt.  But his other guys pile on also, and I guess Bill lacks the stones to stand up to them also.  So a show that could give 3 different opinions on college football, and could honestly be pretty good, turns into a regular dumping of UGA. 

A lot of Bill Shanks’ criticisms are valid.  I listened one day when he made a very compelling, damning argument about UGA’s offensive line.  When he goes off script and is being “fanatical”, he shows his ignorance.

I say all that to make the point I really wanted to make : take for example these posts from about a year and half ago.  To refresh your memory, Bill ranted and raved about Mark Richt being honored by the GA General Assembly following a mediocre football season.  We pointed out his flawed research.  Russ was right there with him.  His lazy journalism did not find that Chan Gailey received proclamations before he ever coached a game at Tech.  But Bill and Russ jumped on how stupid they thought it was. 

I could go on and give more examples, but I think you get the point.  Bill is a rude jerk, who is so consumed with taking digs at his alma mater than to defend them when it warrants defending.  He goads Mark Richt to the point where Coach Richt hangs up on him, then brags about it.  Because Bill Shanks is the equivalent of Sean Hannity…a loudmouth jerk who has all the power because they have a microphone in front of them.  He is like Hannity in the fact he interrupts callers and uses his strong personality to steer the conversation to a different direction where he wants it.  I guess that is a good talent to have when you don’t have the skill to get by normally. 

Well, Bill, you have your microphone.  I can be a loudmouth jerk, too.  And I have an outlet just like you do.   

Corbindawg

For those keeping up at home, I referenced The Godfather, Tombstone, and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.  Not too shabby…

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