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November 23, 2006

Stop Feeding the Troll

Filed under: Admin,Uncategorized — Chas @ 11:25 am

I rarely do this but the amount of vitriol directed here is enough that I have to go direct. I don’t mind people disagreeing. I like it. I don’t think of myself as infallible. I do, however, try to keep things from getting personal. “Firewalt” is pushing things. He seems to be channeling some Mark Madden shock-jock thing trying to get people all riled up. Taking the same approach — changing the subject from the defenses problems to bandwagons, Walt Harris support, the offense, Kordell Stewart?, and anything else just to make it seem like he knows what he is talking about. It’s quite tiresome, and I don’t need it.
This isn’t a message board where you can flame away wildly without any clue. I don’t moderate comments — other then a spam filter that has caught other commentors at times (sorry Steve and Neil). I’m not about to start. I also haven’t banned anyone, though, I have thought about it when someone has gotten a little too close to crossing the line with criticisms of Carl Krauser wholly unrelated to the game.

I don’t like set policies, but here’s a basic thing to follow. Don’t insult the readers and commentors especially because there’s a disagreement. Especially don’t do it by trying to claim a knowledge of their inner-thoughts and dreams. If that is the approach you take in trying to make your case, then I will have to start banning people because that isn’t making an argument. That is just an ad hominem attack to win without having the facts.
So, a few facts, for FW. The only time Walt Harris has ever run a spread offense was for about half a season in 2001. That he thinks the offense under Harris was a spread, well, “I do not think that word means what you think it means,” is being kind.

As for Blades being the leading tackler because the D-line sucks. One does not necessarily follow the other. Even if the D-line didn’t suck, Blades would likely be the leading tackler and among the all-times at Pitt. Likely not by so great a number. Here’s the list of leading tacklers for the country this year. Notice a trend if you look at the position? Blades has played all 4 years, and started for 3. It stands to reason that he would have ended up near the top of the list in all-time tackles with playing this long. Linebackers make more tackles.
It hasn’t mattered what scheme the defense runs. Whether it’s Wannstedt’s or his own choice. The run defense has blown chunks and sucked since 2003. The biggest issue with that, has been the absolute lack of progress on teaching the kids the fundamentals. That has been there with Rhoads for quite some time. That goes directly to the job of the DC. There are these things called archives on the site. It might help to review to see those complaints are nothing new.
Putting the blame for the personnel and try to put the recruiting entirely on the head coach — well, now who’s being naive? Johnny Majors was fired from Tennessee in large part because the Tenn administration recognized who was really bringing in the talent and didn’t want to lose him. What is one of the big reason that assistants get hired by other programs? It has a lot to do with their reputation as recruiters. It is a major part of their job. That the defense has gotten worse the longer Rhoads has been in charge reflects poorly on his skills regardless of whether it’s teaching the schemes or the helping to get the personnel.

As for Dorsett and Marino not setting foot on the campus while Harris was here. Huh? Must have missed the 1999 end of  Pitt Stadium. Must have forgotten about when Marino was honored in-person for his HoF inductions. Just to name a couple times off the top of my head. Again, arguments that are not even germane to the discussion of Rhoads and whether he should stay or go. It isn’t even an issue with Wannstedt’s role in the defense.

Again check archives for the just for the past couple of months regarding complaints about Wannstedt’s inflexibility. Wannstedt deserves and takes blame for that. Despite pretending otherwise, Wannstedt is not being absolved.

That’s it. Keep the arguments on point and not personal.

Happy Thanksgiving.





link to insider.espn.go.com

Um…Ted Ginn, Calvin Johnson, Steve Slaton…Clint Session….is this a joke? (insider subscription only, hopefully Chaz can put this up)

Comment by Jake 11.23.06 @ 11:55 am

I don’t know if I should laugh at you 1st or stop and insult you back 1st. 1st off, your a message board and blog owner you homo. Your entire worth is spent posting your opinions to 10 people who may read your garbage. 2nd off, you continually tell people how to see it or you post their content as a subject just so you can try and conivince your 10 regular posters (all friends of yours I am sure) that you know best as editor and flaming freak job. What person who spells as poorly and uses grammar as poorly I as do, has his own blog? I made sure to insult myself 1st so that you would feel some balance their. I’m a smhuck, but I can take it you homo. Don’t mean to offfend you as a homosexual or any of your poster friends. Your an insult to the Pitt name and I laugh at you when you say you are open to debate. Your the one insulting people who don’t agree with your hogwash information. Maybe you did not notice that 50% of those polled in the paper disagreed with you and your looney toons on this page. 50% say your theory of Rhoads is garbage. So you post my theory and make fun of me on your page and then defend the right to disagree? I did not call you names until you posted your garbage about me as a subject matter the other day. You must think this is Rivals or some legitimate board where a recruit would even come let alone find you. Give me a break! My friends and most Pitt/PSU alum I know think your a total baffoon with too much free time. So much for referals. I won’t bother to post here anymore because you won’t even admit you started it. Can’t wait until you try and edit out this post so that you and your 10 friends don’t have to see what people really think about your two cents.

Remember 1 thing. You tell people how they should see things. Then when they disagree, you put their posts up with their names (with no disrespect of course and using their full name which is a violation of privacy rights you claim to protec), and then you start calling them out with names while you pretend to have a message board. Of course I enjoyed making fun of people like you in response.

Lastly, I am laughing at you and will continue to on a regular basis. You made your bed loser. I will enjoy watching you lie in it. All you had to do was be nice and just give the news and links. Instead you thought it was your job to decide who was right and wrong and post those comments as subject matter by pointing out disention. What a total baffoon you are!

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 1:17 pm

They came to Pitt for Pitt stadium and Pitt Awards. They never came to Pitt to endorse Walt Harris or kick off his football teams. I know because I am friends with several of the former pantehrs. They think your a moron too. Keep it up and I will have some of them stop by to unendorse your…loser. Too funny.

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 1:18 pm

Happy Thanksgiving. Stuff a turkey up your ass! I can see you do.

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 1:19 pm

Tell us about what offense Walt ran. You don’t understand football loser. Want me to get former players to insult you now. I will. Just keep up the dumb remarks about what people don’t understand that you do. Try writing skills. At least I’m not the editor of a blog. My goodness your stupid. Maybe I should post your funny comments on the postgazette letters to the editor and then I can say you allow for free speech and are open to arguments on your blog of baffoonery.

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 1:28 pm

I think I have seen ‘Firewalt’ on ESPN Message Boards. Explains his demeanor.

Comment by MoE 11.23.06 @ 1:30 pm

Are you his highschool chum or did you offer him the reacharounds. Is he a big fat pimply faced loser too or are you his favorite.

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 1:40 pm

Is your name short for HoMoe?

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 1:43 pm

Easton 21 Phillipsburg 7. YES!

Comment by steve 11.23.06 @ 2:14 pm

Tickets are available for tomorrow’s basketball game. Call 412-648-PITT or visit pittsburghpanthers.com.

Finally, Chas please do everyone a favor and ban Firewalt.

Comment by Omar 11.23.06 @ 2:34 pm

look i’ve been a regular reader for the past year and i’m no friend of chas, never even met the guy. but he makes points (some of which i agree with and some of which i don’t) but it throws information out there and sparks discussion and thats all i really want from a blog.

firewalt should be banned

Comment by kamesh 11.23.06 @ 2:48 pm

Chas- I can hook you up with an IP banner if you want.

Comment by Matt 11.23.06 @ 2:49 pm

Wow, this really took a turn for the worse. Firewalt’s posts were always opinionated and debatable, but I looked forward to reading them.

After this spew you might as well just ban him because he’ll never take this site seriously again. In any event it will be hard for me to take his posts seriously again also.

By the way – I post pretty frequently and never heard of Chas, or any others associated with the PITT BLATHER site, until last year.

Comment by Reed 11.23.06 @ 3:01 pm

I hope you don’t ban me….Please don’t. I would never be able to post again without you telling me what to say about Pitt. “fire rhoads”, but don’t say anything nice about him or anyone that thinks he is ok. Manufacture Pitt facts and then pretend you are better than Mark madden. Yet you argue against Smizik when he says good things about Rhoads. Your a selective idiot chaz!

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 3:13 pm

Ban him before he turns this site into the ESPN Message Board.

Comment by Greg 11.23.06 @ 3:41 pm

1st off, unless he forces you to regiter and makes it harder for all 10 of you to post, he can’t ban me or anyone because screen names can be changed as often as chas’s arguments.

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 4:00 pm

Omar, did you happen to see what the price was for those tickets?

Comment by Shawn 11.23.06 @ 6:02 pm

Well, Happy Thanksgiving. That’s all I can say about the Blog today.

Comment by TMGPanther 11.23.06 @ 6:15 pm

Firewalt: your posts are very informative. Chas is obviously intimidated by your knowledge of the game and mastery of the English language. Calling Chas a homo was classic. Good One!

Comment by Jon C 11.23.06 @ 7:32 pm

Firewalt for not caring about this blog and thinking its a joke you check in an aweful lot….1:17, 1:18, 1:19, 1:28, 1:40, 1:43, 3:13, 4:00. If you dislike Chas or the blog why not just leave? But then again I guess name calling and threatening playground violence is the more adult thing to do. Anyway Happy Thanksgiving to all fellow Pitt alumni and friends!

Comment by Rex 11.23.06 @ 8:20 pm

No one threatened violence. Chas just sits there and insults me and my posts because I don’t agree with him. He instigates and calls me out calling me Mark Madden or Rhoads himself. How is that not name calling. He posts my name instead of my registered name. If you all want to think I started flamimg him, go ahead. I just don’t insult people until they can’t argue without insulting me. Just because you disagree with me does not give you the right to call me out, make thread titles questioning my understanding of football, and dictating an unpleasant response. That is what the Rivals boards would do and most people I know chose to stay off them for that reason. SO you can all be revisionist historians. If you actually read my earlier posts, I only enjoyed being an ass when Chas himself kept calling me an ass. I have no problem writing or spelling but there is no edit function on this board and I hardly find the time to proof in an argument I did not start. I always come here and find Chas starting in on me and what would you expect me to do. Just because you all seem to hate Rhoads does not mean I must and I don’t. You want to argue substance, don’t call someone out in particular and make it a subject on your next paragraph. Then again, this is hardly reality and I won’t mind you starting with me in a cyber world. I enjoy defending my logic as much as I enjoy hearing other people give me theirs. I’m waiting for you to show me where I threatended playground violence. It just keeps getting deeper.

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 9:26 pm

I have been visiting this site for 3+ years. I like the fact that Chas compiles a lot of the Pitt related stories on one site that is updated often. I could not pick him out of a line up of two people and be sure it was him. I wouldn’t consider him a personal friend but I have sent $ to him in the past and a personal Thank you for what he does on this site.

You really shouldn’t be busting on the other people who post here. I know I never said anything to you personally but I also know that you and I have disagreed about Carl Krauser in the past.

Bottom Line FireWalt if you don’t want to deal with it or you feel Chas is busting on you personally just don’t post anything or better yet just ignore the site and post elsewhere.

I don’t listen to country music stations because I hate the music. I don’t call the station and bitch I just turn off the station. That’s what you should do here.

Comment by Tony in Harrisburg 11.23.06 @ 9:59 pm

Say it my way or leave. Like i Care. Ban me. I don’t care. Just get off his jock. He started it.

Comment by Firewalt 11.23.06 @ 10:18 pm

Oh ok so we’ve got a guy who can’t spell or string together ten coherent sentences deciding he’s the bigger man. i mean, come on, it takes a real man to get on a message board and rip a guy on thanksgiving who busts his ass every day to give all pitt fans the most up to date information on their teams. it also must take a real man to then go on and try to defend these statements while trying to dish out more. i coudln’t do this. i guess i’m not a real man. i must be a “hoMoe”, and we’ve got a real winner here in firewalt.

on a lighter note: while some people may not be, I am very thankful for Chas’s posts.

Comment by Yi 11.24.06 @ 12:08 am

Firewalt is clearly a frustrated 15 year old. (They get that way at that age, it’s hormones and no girls). Just ignore him, he’ll go back to his X-box soon. In the meantime, keep up the good work on this site, I love the compilation of stories from all over.

Comment by fred 11.24.06 @ 12:33 am

That\’s it. All 10 posters have your jock Chas. You win. Your the bigger man. Start fights and let your minions fight your battles. I could care less. I\’m 37 and I don\’t take your insults personally nor do I care if you guys think this is a sweet forum of 1 train of thought. I\’m just entertaining myself and I don\’t put much weight on any of your posts other than to hear Pitt opinions. But you may all feel better about yourselves because you proof read your messages, stick together on a 10 person message board, and don\’t see who instigates the fights. Blah blah blah chas. Your site is nothing but a collection of other peoples ideas and you then select the content you wish to agree with. I never came here to get information because I get content on non biased sites that you steal your facts and misinterpretations from. Once again, enjoy your circle jerk. I can\’t wait to laugh at your theories next year when Rhoads has a good defense and you all blame it on Wanny instead of Rhoads. Great Pitt fans. My hot Argentine Wife is laughing at you too. Playstation not X-box. Any more questions. I grew up Watching Marino toss the ball on my street. I stepped on Rambo\’s toe in the locker room with my grade school turf shoes, I am good friends with Doug Waley (Now Steelers assistant personel director and head pro scout), I graduated with Curtis Martin, and I know Kevan Barlow as well. But you guys know more than them and understand football better than me. Rhoads is fine, Wanny is fine, you all are just to happy to have someone tell you what to think and have no background to know what you are agreeing with. Take a moment to think before you have a man fired for lack of talent. Think about who makes the final calls. Then remember I will be waiting to laugh at you when the defense shows up next year. Until then, enjoy your universal but 50% polled opinions. He will ignore that poll as well. Be careful. Don\’t disagree with a man who posts other peoples thoughts for kicks. You might end up being your own person.

Editor note: Buh-by Walt. You\’re banned. You\’re IP address and service provider have been logged. Please be a stranger. Congrats on being the first banned troll at this site. 

Comment by Firewalt 11.24.06 @ 1:12 am

I, like probably most people who visit this site, come to read the articles and opinions but choose not to post. I visit this site at least once a day and have done so for more than a year. Chas, thank you for this site. Clearly this guy likes the attention he is receiving by creating a stir on a blog supporting the very team he supports. I could maybe see some “entertainment” value in doing this on a psu or wvu site but come on. How about we ignore his BS and move on to some new Pitt topics?

BTW…Greg Gaskins is going to be a quality c or g for us in a couple of years. Young, bright, tough kid. Good get by Wanny and staff.

Comment by G 11.24.06 @ 8:12 am

Firewalt: “I know because I am friends with several of the former pantehrs. They think your a moron too. Keep it up and I will have some of them stop by to unendorse your…loser. Too funny. You don’t understand football loser. Want me to get former players to insult you now. I will. Just keep up the dumb remarks about what people don’t understand that you do.”

That sounds like Im going to tell my friends on the football team to me. Just to clarify I have no idea what this fued is all about but I enjoy reading everyones posts.

Comment by Rex 11.24.06 @ 9:18 am

See ya, Firewalt. Good move, Chas.

Comment by Lee in State College 11.24.06 @ 10:28 am

Thanks for wasting space Firewalt….

Comment by Marco 11.24.06 @ 11:00 am

Firewalts hot Argentine wife is laughin at us all. Oh the humanity!

Comment by danstrohl 11.24.06 @ 11:17 am

Firewalt’s Hot Argentinian wife was declined to comment. She issued this statement through her attorney, “I don’t speak English very well and am very interested in my 37-year old husband’s money. I would like to send it home to my betrothed, Carlos.”

Comment by Jeff 11.24.06 @ 1:27 pm

Bye bye Firewalt! Thank You Management!!!

Comment by Kenny 11.24.06 @ 1:33 pm

What a long, strange trip its been….

Rivals.com has free access for the holiday weekend.

Comment by Reed 11.24.06 @ 4:31 pm

forgive walt, hes has spent so much time on espn messageboards he doesnt realize that the cesspool of the forums there ends when you leave that site.
im just surprised his lover dandilion isnt here defending him.

Comment by pacostacos 11.24.06 @ 4:48 pm

Wow, and I thought Washington DC was full of nit wit fighting. In the Ditka days you two would just meet under a street light and end this nonsense once and for all.

Probally old news in the burgh, but I saw a TV show today that named Tony Dorsett the greatest college running back of all times! Now that is really something that should lift real panther fans spirits. Do not be surprised if Pitt puts together a full game tomorrow and a stake in Louisville’s heart.

Comment by Ron 11.25.06 @ 12:08 am

Bring back Firewalt-on-Dawson-St and Isaly’s on B of Allies, home of the $.15 spiced ham sandwich and a Klondike for dessert.

Comment by steve 11.25.06 @ 10:24 am

Firewalt Rules!

Comment by Pittrulesuno 11.26.06 @ 4:31 am

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