Is Crompton already the most hated athlete in UT sports history?
Friday, October 3, 2008
Rick Smith writes:
Clay,
Is it possible that Jonathon Crompton is the most hated athlete in the history of UT sports?
Wow, this is a great question that demonstrates how rapidly Crompton has fallen. From many UT fans calling for him to replace Erik Ainge last season to now, after only four starts, to many UT fans hating him.
I think this is indicative of how the internet has made everything move faster, including fan hate. Of course Crompton hasn't endeared himself to fans with his media responses after losses. The haters can keep doubting him after UCLA. Okay, they did. We were a few plays away against Florida. Okay, again. To worst of all, after the Auburn game professing that he wasn't sure how he performed that he'd have to look at the tape. Right.
As a general rule, I'm going to say that if you go 8-23 for 67 yards, don't complete a pass in the entire fourth quarter, and lose a football game that you don't need to check the film out to see how you played. But maybe that's just me. What do I know? After all, I'm not an X's and O's expert.
But, anyway, the question is a good one. Who is the most hated Vol athlete of all time? Amazingly, Crompton has surged up the list with his peculiar combination of arrogance, poor play, and generally dubious intelligence (trash talking the wrong Gator after getting decked on a quarterback draw while trailing 27-0). Prior to the UCLA game Crompton wouldn't have even been in the top 100 list of most-hated Vols.
Anyway, here's my top 3 list. Please send me your own nominations and eventually we'll revise it and make it longer. My criteria were as follows: a. you have to be prominent enough to be recognized by the average fan. Ergo, someone like Brian Darden who signed as a top running back recruit and never really saw the field despite pronouncements that he was the next Herschel won't count. b. even though he's not an athlete, Wade Houston has to be included. Just for complete and utter incompetence.
1. Tony Harris- Any list has to begin and end with Harris. No one choked more when the games really counted than Harris. Yet, every NCAA tournament you'd find yourself sitting in front of the television thinking, "This is our year, Tony's going to hit his shots and we're going to be unstoppable." Then we'd lose in the first round to Charlotte. To his credit he was a four year starter. To his discredit he never got a single bit better in four years. He was always infuriating.
2. Charles Hathaway- Another member of the Jerry Green era teams. What a clown show those years were. Hathaway was a McDonald's All-American who began talking about making the Final Four as a freshman. Then he did nothing to help make this happen. He was a fellow Nashvillian who was entirely overhyped. I think we're the same age. Which means I'm going to be out this weekend and Hathaway is going to stuff me into a garbage dumpster. Which sucks.
What sucks even more is that, inevitably, as he attempts to dunk me into the garbage dumpster Hathaway will trip, fall down, and throw me into the side of the dumpster. Rendering me more injured than I otherwise would have been.
3. Jonathan Crompton- I think it's way to early to make him the most-hated ever, but he's headed in that direction.
4. Wade Houston- Yeah, it's a bit jarring that a coach who lost 20 games could be below Crompton. But let's be clear, Wade gave us Allan. Jonathan has only thrown the football really hard.
5. The Clausen brothers- For all his success at UT, I never really got the feeling that anyone ever liked Casey. Of course, if we had Casey now we'd be 3-1, but he never really fit in that well with the fanbase. Perhaps it was a merely a sign of when he arrived, after the line-up of quarterbacks that included Heath Shuler, Peyton Manning, and Tee Martin, but Casey was cursed. Put it this way, you'd take a bullet for any of those quarterbacks I just mentioned. Would you even take a papercut on Casey's behalf?
Didn't think so.
Don't even get me started on Rick. The only thing that spares him from being higher on this list was his sub-par talent. I'll admit it, I liked him better than Casey. Labels: most hated ut athlete ever tony harris jonathan crompton charles hathaway wade houston casey clausen
Posted by Clay Travis at 12:26 PM
 
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A couple of additions:
Kelley "the future" Washington. First, he named himself, "The Future." Second, he tempted us with his promise in 2001. Third, he juked Donte Stallworth into the NFL draft in 2002 so he could be "the man" in the WR corps. Finally, he gets hurt, leaving Jason Witten as the only viable receiving target on the team and enters the NFL draft that spring.
Randy Sanders. You used Wade Houston, so coaches are fair game. Although, Randy could be replaced by Fulmer on this list any day now.
Interesting topic. I'm not sure if I can speak for the rest of the Vol Nation but here are my most hated Vols:
1. Jerry Green. I know that he's not an athlete but since Houston was on the list I thought there might be enough room for Jerry. You mention Tony Harris' failure to develop and you are right. The same could be said for about all the athletes on Jerry's teams (Vince Yarbrough anyone?) except Ron Slay. When the failure-to-improve phenomena repeats itself across most of the team doesn't that mean the coach has to be a part of the problem? That question has relevance to the current state of the Football program as well. I'm not going to answer it for the Football Vols but I'll unequivocally say it is true of Jerry Green's teams. Two of my friends were recruited by the Vols our senior year (1999) and came back from a practice they attending saying they had never seen more of a laid-back attitude in practice. Needless to say, the choose to go elsewhere and Jerry's kids continued to disappoint.
2. (I don't know how these guys get left off the initial list) The Leak Brothers. I don't hate C.J. as much as Chris - I think of C.J. like a ne'er-do-well screwball cousin. Still, his suckiness resulted in Chris feeling justified in ditching the Vols. I also know Chris was never officially a Vol but his extended contact with the team has to make him a special exception. Worst of all, of course, Chris had the audacity to be successful after doing what he did. I can't say enough awful things about Chris Leak.
3. Jamal Lewis. Remember seeing your buddies in the hallway or the store and saying "Give Jamal the Ball" like some kind of cultic chant going into his final season with the Vols? Flopping under big expectations is one thing but spending your time letting everyone know you are just getting ready for the NFL when you could be one of the most dominant backs in NCAA history is entirely another.
4. Eric Parker. Just because he's has spent so much time being so vocal about hating the Vols.