What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

The Barr Has Been Raised at UMaine

Status
Not open for further replies.
Chuck, this a thread about hockey not coaches weight. I don't care what the guy weighs, I only care about his ability to help the team and we don't know whether he will or won't as the season hasn't started yet. I stopped reading your posts as they weren't about Maine hockey. Some folks seem to have an issue with you posting in here, I don't. Post about hockey and I'm cool with it.
 
walrus said:
Chuck, this a thread about hockey not coaches weight. I don't care what the guy weighs, I only care about his ability to help the team and we don't know whether he will or won't as the season hasn't started yet. I stopped reading your posts as they weren't about Maine hockey. Some folks seem to have an issue with you posting in here, I don't. Post about hockey and I'm cool with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to check in, Wally. To be clear, I took the Fortier stuff out of this thread when bradz created that opportunity with the other thread. I came back with the Michelin Man after that other thread was closed. Then, of course, I learned amongst the chattering that followed it wasn't bradz who took the other thread down - it was a UMaine friendly mod.

You and I agree that if Fortier shows himself to be an effective coach/recruiter, that takes the edge off any weight criticism. But some folks are (yes) soft and snow-flakey, and demanding of "protection" from big, bad words, instead of countering by (like in USCHO's heyday) taking the game to the opposition's camp with a better bit, and making the place a little bit livelier.

I've done some of my harshest gags on the UNH program (including the AD and coaching staff - past and present), and no one whines about it. Some do post in support of my targets - fair enough. But running to the local mod and begging protection, like some did on here ... weak.
 
Wayuphere said:
My rule is, what if they were to read it. Simple.
Click to expand...

Can you expand on that for a moment, please? Do you think JF is curled up in a ball in fear under his desk, begging for the "violence" of the harsh words to stop?? Really???

I heard from multiple folks with access to the man that Walshy (RIP) enjoyed some of the gags I used to post about him/his program on here. Proved to me he didn't take himself too seriously.

Successful people can take a joke sometimes ... shocking, I know.
 
Chuck Murray said:
Can you expand on that for a moment, please? Do you think JF is curled up in a ball in fear under his desk, begging for the "violence" of the harsh words to stop?? Really???

I heard from multiple folks with access to the man that Walshy (RIP) enjoyed some of the gags I used to post about him/his program on here. Proved to me he didn't take himself too seriously.

Successful people can take a joke sometimes ... shocking, I know.
Click to expand...

So when a bunch of Maine students come to a Maine-UHN game with a giant display that shows a Wildcat giving oral sex to a giant phallus you think that's hilarious, right? Just satire.

Shawn was a champion of fan involvement. Many times I heard him say that our team always shows respect to the fans; not just Maine fans, but any fans because they are what makes the sport. Fans from Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and so on have made their way across the country to the tiny town of Orono to support their team. That meant something to Shawn. He also demanded that our fans show respect to those fans from other schools. "Make life difficult for the players, but never the fans." He viewed that arena as our house and the opposing fans as our guests. You don't invite someone over and treat them like shit. There is no doubt in my mind he would have found those students responsible for that stunt and seen to it that they never set foot in Alfond again. Likewise, he abhorred vulgarity. Not because he was Mister Clean (big surprise that he had a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush) but because it was lazy. Yelling, "You suck!" at a player just shows how uncreative you are. He might not have been offended at a bunch of fat jokes, but he wouldn't like them because they're just lazy. Also, you could take whatever shots you wanted at him. Hell, he was so vain he dyed his moustache which made him the butt of many a joke, but they were aimed at him...his reaction would have been different if someone had lobbed an insult (or a series of them) at one of his assistants. Especially something like fat jokes. Maybe to you it's funny that a coach is overweight, but making light of the situation is just mean. Do you also go the hospital and make fun of sick kids? Head down to the local AA and crack jokes about drunk people? Go to a homeless shelter and ridicule people for being poor? It's not funny. It's not creative. So don't for a moment think you can pretend that Shawn would have supported you making such jokes because he wouldn't have.

Anyway, it seems the prevailing opinion of most of the posters in this thread that the topic should be adhered to. After all, this is a thread about college hockey in a forum devoted to college hockey so people here may want to talk about college hockey - shocking, I know. We have an entire section of the fan forum where you can post whatever you like. Go try out the Cafe.
 
Last comment on this. You feel you can walk up to someone and make a fat joke, go for it. Just let us know how that works out for ya. Anything else, is just another keyboard warrior hiding. Most people get, and have always gotten, where to draw the line.
Too much effort responding to an idiotic point of view. Done.
 
ticapnews said:
So when a bunch of Maine students come to a Maine-UHN game with a giant display that shows a Wildcat giving oral sex to a giant phallus you think that's hilarious, right? Just satire.
Click to expand...

Did that really happen? Must have missed it. If it's true OR just an example for your discussion, I can assure you I would not be on here whining about it, or pointing the kids out to arena security in person. I remember when Animal House was a top grossing film when I was in school - "grossing" both money-wise and humor-wise. I am hardly the arbiter of good taste, but then again, my point is, are USCHO mods supposed to be the arbiters of good taste?

ticapnews said:
Shawn was a champion of fan involvement. Many times I heard him say that our team always shows respect to the fans; not just Maine fans, but any fans because they are what makes the sport. Fans from Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and so on have made their way across the country to the tiny town of Orono to support their team. That meant something to Shawn. He also demanded that our fans show respect to those fans from other schools. "Make life difficult for the players, but never the fans." He viewed that arena as our house and the opposing fans as our guests. You don't invite someone over and treat them like ****. There is no doubt in my mind he would have found those students responsible for that stunt and seen to it that they never set foot in Alfond again. Likewise, he abhorred vulgarity. Not because he was Mister Clean (big surprise that he had a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush) but because it was lazy. Yelling, "You suck!" at a player just shows how uncreative you are. He might not have been offended at a bunch of fat jokes, but he wouldn't like them because they're just lazy.
Click to expand...

This part is actually somewhat instructive, the more I look at it. There's a fine line sometimes between what's acceptable, and what goes over the line. I'm not sure I agree that Walshy would have banished those kids from Alfond forever. That's a little over-the-top authoritarian, and to bring the hammer down on a bunch of (drunk for the weekend?) kids seems a little heavy-handed, and a little too much of what nowadays would be called virtue signaling. Being an imperfect kind of guy, I suspect the guy who narrowly kept his job due to the grace of the U wouldn't have been calling for permanent bans of kids. Maybe you know differently?

ticapnews said:
Also, you could take whatever shots you wanted at him. Hell, he was so vain he dyed his moustache which made him the butt of many a joke, but they were aimed at him...his reaction would have been different if someone had lobbed an insult (or a series of them) at one of his assistants. Especially something like fat jokes. Maybe to you it's funny that a coach is overweight, but making light of the situation is just mean.
Click to expand...

So let me see if I'm getting this right ... if Coach Barr was the overweight head coach, he's fair game ... but since Fortier is only an assistant, he's in some imaginary protected status? I mean, he's hardly a volunteer, and he's probably getting paid more than 95% of the folks who go to the games at Alfond. Also, does JF strike you as someone asking to be protected? Or does this all just "come with the territory"? It can't be the first time he's encountered this ...

ticapnews said:
Do you also go the hospital and make fun of sick kids? Head down to the local AA and crack jokes about drunk people? Go to a homeless shelter and ridicule people for being poor? It's not funny. It's not creative. So don't for a moment think you can pretend that Shawn would have supported you making such jokes because he wouldn't have.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, there have been some nasty comments on here over the years about the sobriety (or lack thereof) of a former UMaine star player and HC candidate (more recently), and I don't recall seeing folks "getting the vapors" over it not being "funny or creative". "Funny" and "creative" are up to the readers, last time I checked. bradz's short-lived alternate thread was getting as many (if not more) views per post than this thread (and a fair few others) when you took it down. Finally ... to compare a well-paid professional sports coach to sick kids or homeless people is a bit of a stretch, no? That seems to take this "identity politics" fad a step too far, when protected classes now include "fat white male hockey coach".

Oops ... "assistant" hockey coach, my bad.

ticapnews said:
Anyway, it seems the prevailing opinion of most of the posters in this thread that the topic should be adhered to. After all, this is a thread about college hockey in a forum devoted to college hockey so people here may want to talk about college hockey - shocking, I know. We have an entire section of the fan forum where you can post whatever you like. Go try out the Cafe.
Click to expand...

The topic ultimately was adhered to here. The stuff taken down was on a separate thread.

You do understand that, right??? Seems pretty simple, but I guess not ...
 
Wayuphere said:
Last comment on this. You feel you can walk up to someone and make a fat joke, go for it. Just let us know how that works out for ya. Anything else, is just another keyboard warrior hiding. Most people get, and have always gotten, where to draw the line.
Too much effort responding to an idiotic point of view. Done.
Click to expand...

One of us posting here is using their real name, and one isn't, so the "keyboard warrior hiding" quip is pretty rich actually.

FWIW I've gotten guff in the past from some of my targets (none associated with UMaine, until this recent spat) on USCHO, including one former Hockey East head coach. 99% of the folks working in the public realm (look it up) understand that this comes with the territory. Every once in awhile, the overly sensitive 1% gets chafed and looks me up. So I'm doing a lousy job of "hiding".

Done, unless anyone wants to continue, but it won't be me ... until hockey starts up in the Fall.
 
When it comes to derailing entire threads with a focus on a single topic, I care much less about Chuck picking a sensitive subject than I do about the fact that he is never actually funny.
 
ticapnews said:
Going by the website, 75% of the gold level donor seats have been sold. It is possible the athletics department has held a few back as prizes/gifts/etc but considering how empty Alfond has been (and we're still in a pandemic) that's a good number on July 1.
Click to expand...

Over 80% of the donor seats have been sold. Likewise 81% of seats in sections M and N are gone. In sections C and D only a handful of seats above the 4th row remain available but if you're willing to sit behind the benches you'd have your choice of seats.
 
ticapnews said:
Over 80% of the donor seats have been sold. Likewise 81% of seats in sections M and N are gone. In sections C and D only a handful of seats above the 4th row remain available but if you're willing to sit behind the benches you'd have your choice of seats.
Click to expand...

Should be some full games, people are hungry, ready, optimistic. Keeping fingers crossed covid doesnt screw things up worse.
 
Looks like Barr picked up another recruit. Goalie Lucas Szyszka, which I couldn't tell you anything about prospect ranking since I'm new to this. All I know is Barr has been very, very busy and that's incredibly exciting to me.
 
Blackbear96 said:
Looks like Barr picked up another recruit. Goalie Lucas Szyszka, which I couldn't tell you anything about prospect ranking since I'm new to this. All I know is Barr has been very, very busy and that's incredibly exciting to me.
Click to expand...

Looks like a solid goaltending recruit. Has played for USA teams, is a USHL draft pick and Heisenberg has him #2 goaltender in 2022 NAHL.
 
Quick update - looks like the giant rubber duck is still floating in Belfast Harbor ... locals are intrigued and happy to see it, but unlike Jessica Fletcher, haven't been able to quack the case ...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top