No one can enjoy the specific criticism of Tyler.

And, let's not forget this factor:  The O-line performed pretty poorly this year.  That significantly increased the degree of difficulty for TT.

Of course they have a right to express themselves. They should be always aware, however, that the athletes, while they shouldn't read this site, probably do, or are at least aware of what is said here. Thus, when fans get personal, or abusive, they may not only express their feelings, but in fact the fans may also affect the attitudes of the players, in ways that conversations in private, or in bars, would never lead to.

Now that the TT's career is over, and it had it's ups and downs, I'll say out loud that I've long wondered if his attitudes, and his play, weren't affected by the many negative comments expressed here. After a difficult ending to a game like the Miami game last year, I'm sure he was harder on himself than anyone, and it would have been hard enough for him to put that behind him, and move on, but when fans piled on, and attacked him personally, it had to only make it harder for him. Yes, he should have a thick skin to be a college QB, and maybe he does, and the things written here didn't affect him, or, maybe he doesn't have one as thick as was needed, and the negativity here did affect his play.

By all means, fans have a right to express themselves, but they need to keep in mind that they aren't doing it in a vacuum. I , personally grew up with the lesson in mind that if you can't say anything nice, its better not to say anything at all, and also that you shouldn't say something out loud about a person that you wouldn't say to that person's face. As a result, mostly I stick to positive comments, or if negative, a general negative, and I try to never say anything negative specifically about one player, but then, that's just me.

L.C., I respect your decision not to say negative things about specific players.  However, I really don't think that anything said here has had much effect on any players, especially TT.   It seems to me if TT had reacted to something on this board that we would have noticed some kind of change in his game.  Perhaps, he would have called his number more on option plays, to prove those of us who said he was afraid to run wrong.  Or, maybe he would have rolled out more on pass plays to show us he still could.  Or, he might have said something specific about the criticism.  I just think there would have been some type of noticeable reaction.  To me it seems more likely that he just packed it in mentally for reasons we may never know.  If he did indeed have a rib injuring during the latter part of last season, he may have been wanting to avoid the kind of situation that would lead to a similar injury.  This could have been very subconscious or it might have been in the forefront of his conscious thinking.  Or, it might have been something else altogether.  

Let's hope that nothing said here affects the players, yet it's certainly true that no one ever would want to admit that something someone said affected them, even when it did. Nevertheless, I know that in real life, things do hurt, sometimes. If you work in retail, for example, 99% of your customers can be friendly and pleasant, but at the end of the day, which one do you remember? The rude, mean one, of course. It's just human nature. Thus, I try not to be that rude, mean one.

I tend to agree with bornacatfan on this rather than L.C. I doubt that this site has had any impact on Tyler Tettleton.

However...there is a former head coach in a major sport at Ohio, who always spoke in disdain about this site, claiming he never paid any attention to it...but would then betray himself with comments evidencing pretty good knowledge of this message board.

If Tyler was so affected by BobcatAttack that he couldn't play to his abilities, then he is softer than any of us thought. C'mon...

Been trying to find his stats from the Medal of Honor Bowl and they've finally been posted:

Passing 1-8, 13 yds, 1 sack
Rushing 5 carries, 1 yd. (includes the sack yardage)

His one completion was to Gerald Ford, so at least he hooked up with a dead president.

I think he's often considered for open positions across the country, right Jeff?

Not sure what you're trying to say here, but he is referring to NBA player Kendrick Perkins who plays for his hometown OKC Thunder. I agree he is terrible. An ESPN article yesterday had him as the least valuable player in the NBA.

There were many great career moments...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySlApx3WoJQ