I first found MinerDigs back in 1999, during what would become Charlie Bailey's final season as UTEP's football coach. As a new member of this board I wanted to contribute, but, as I was living in San Diego at the time, I couldn't provide any news or inside information. With unwarranted confidence in my analytic ability, writing ability, and my memory of UTEP Athletics, I thought that I could contribute by writing analyses. One of the first analyses that I wrote, perhaps my very first analysis, was comparing Bob Stull's tenure as head coach to Charlie Bailey's. I pointed out how Stull's teams had improved every year, learning to "crawl" with 4-8 record in his first season, which was an improvement over the one win team that he inherited, to learning to "walk" with a 7-4 record his second year, and then to "run" with a team that finished with a 10-3 record and a bowl berth (this was back when bowl berths weren't the participation trophies they are now). I then pointed out how Bailey's teams had reached the "crawl" stage with 4-7 and 3-8 seasons the two previous years, and asking when Bailey's teams would get to the walk and run stages, hoping that '99 would be that year.
Some of the responses surprised me. I was called a "fair weather fan" and told that Bailey's current team could beat anybody. I was shocked. I certainly didn't think of myself as a fair weather fan, and I knew that my family would die laughing at the absurdity of someone labeling me with that moniker.
The reason that I bring this up is that if we fast forward 25 years to today I'm sure that, had a just joined this board and posted an analysis, instead of being called a fair weather fan I would be called a troll. In fact, based on my typical posts on here over the last several miserable years, I believe that the only reason that I haven't been called a troll is because I'm such an old fart on here that I'm somehow insulated from it. Many other posters here, making complaints very similar mine, have been stamped with that designation.
Let's take everyone's favorite "troll" on here, Kane. He has been banned on here, and returned under a different name, too many times to count. I have been opposed to every single banning. In my opinion, the closest any of his past behaviors ever came to being "troll-like" were when he and one or more other posters would derail a thread with a completely unrelated back and forth. He always seemed to take 100% of the blame for those derailings, as he was labeled a "troll," but, as I often pointed out, it takes two to tango.
As to why he was labeled a "troll," it was because he so often criticized Miner coaches, teams, and ADs. But here's the thing: he was, in my opinion, right much more often than he was not. Yes, he called for the firing of some coaches much quicker than most of the rest of us, but in each case he was proven right. Yes, he frequently criticized our athletic programs, but you know what? I agreed with him far more often than I didn't. Now I have disagreed with him plenty of times, but when I have, instead of crying that he's saying mean things about the Miners and calling him a troll, I have tried a different approach: countering him with facts and a different perspective, often leading to an intelligent discussion rather than name calling, which I believe makes for a better experience on this board.
It's not just Kane, though, that keeps getting dismissed as a "troll." Recently, anyone who complains about the Miners is prone to be labeled as such, including guys line Fanatico and Corona. I can't adequately describe how utterly ridiculous this is. I've met both guys a few times. Each time at a UTEP/UTSA game here in San Antonio. Neither of them live here, meaning that they had to spend much more time and money than I did to go to those games to cheer on the Miners, as all I had to do was drive to the other side of town. And cheer they did. This is not the behavior of "trolls." By the way, Corona wasn't around for those great Miner Basketball teams of the 80s and early 90s that greatly influenced the fandom of many of us on this board, making his willingness to travel anywhere in Central, South, and East Texas to watch UTEP all the more impressive.
If you believe that only positive, optimistic posts belong on this board, then fine, post those type of threads. But many, if not most, of us on here come to discuss all things Miner related, the good, the bad, and ugly. And if you haven't had your head buried in the sand the last several years, you'll recognize that there has been an over abundance of bad and really ugly. If you read a post where someone points out some UTEP warts, instead of dismissing the criticisms with name calling, how about trying to provide an intelligent counter argument? This is a discussion board, after all.
PS. One final note about Kane. He is often criticized as never having anything positive to say about the Miners. Please go back and see who was the most convinced that we would get an MWC invite. You might also see that he countered a criticism of the Basketball Team's win at UCSB, calling it a good win over a Div1 team on the road. There are other examples.
