Category Archive for ‘Rumors’ at Fire Billy?

Archive for the 'Rumors' Category

Published

on May 19, 2008

. 2 Comments

Don’t ya get sick of seeing the image on the left?

Every time you read a rumor on the Internet about Coach Gillispie’s personal life, you end up having somebody post this image. When the Wildcats lost four-in-a-row, you couldn’t go anywhere on the Internet and not stumble upon a rival fan (or a spurned Aggie fan) posting the image. I’m sick of it. I’m sure Coach Gillispie wants to vomit every time he’s linked or emailed it.

Unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll ever go away. The Internet never forgets.

Mark Story’s piece on the rumors that swelled around Coach Gillispie speculates that the rumors probably stemmed from his past DUI charges:

At the news conference in which he was introduced as Tubby Smith’s successor, Gillispie publicly acknowledged that he had had a pair of alcohol-related traffic arrests in the seven years before his hiring at UK (one was pleaded down to a lesser charge, and the other was dismissed for lack of evidence).

The 48-year-old coach is divorced.

Those two factors seemed to make speculating on the new coach’s personal life a statewide obsession. …

By December, when Gillispie’s first UK team was struggling mightily and the mood surrounding the program was surly, rumors about the coach were rampant. Callers to Lexington sports talk radio shows were mentioning them without challenge. The talk was pervasive all around the state.

So take a coach’s multiple public mistakes. (I mean the DWIs here, not the divorce.) Throw that into a cauldron full of rabid basketball fans that are already boiling over due to the previous coaching regime. Throw in some good ole Kentucky oneupmanship and speculation. Don’t forget to add some anonymous assholery from the Internet — but not too much, a dash will do ya. Mmmm, smell that? That’s some sweet Bullshit Burgoo, just like Pappy used to make!

Mark Story’s article tries to verify most of the bigger rumors that were cookin’ late last year. All addressed rumors were rebuffed. (I didn’t see the “Billy Behaves Badly Because He Has A Nineteen-Year-Old Girlfriend” rumor, but that might had been a split from the “Billy Behaved Badly At Merrick Inn’s Pool” rumor.) Of course, having the Merrick Inn owner or Chief Beatty publicly rebuke the rumor won’t matter to whoever told you about it:

Misty Carlisle, general manager at DeSha’s, says, “I can promise you that story is absolutely untrue. Yet I have customers come in here arguing with me, that they know it’s true.

What’s more important is the telling of the rumor, and the glorification that comes from it. Some of us Wildcat fans want to be program insiders in order to elevate us socially among other fans. That’s why we have roughly a thousand recruiting “experts” running around on message boards and blogs touting the inside information they have.

Don’t take me as a fool — I’m not blinded by the printed word of newspaper or press release. Of course Misty Carlisle is going to say the rumor is untrue; she doesn’t want a Big Blue Boycott by the now-swelling “Yay Gillispie” crowd! Of course President Todd is going to get Gillispie’s back and cooperate with a positive Herald-Leader write-up of the coach. It might be collusion, or it might not; just because the Herald-Leader or any other paper writes something doesn’t make it 100% true.

But you can’t fool Dr. Todd:

Says Todd: “One thing Mitch said to me when some of this discussion was going on, with everyone walking around with a cell phone with a camera in their pocket, if this stuff was going on, it would be on YouTube or whatever. And it never was.”

Thanks, Mr. Barnhart, for reading our humble site. Let’s do lunch this week; I have some grand ideas about basketball promotions for next year. Just as a teaser, let me share with you this: For the intro movie for Big Blue Madness, lets recreate the end credits of Tombstone with Billy and the kids. Rupp will EXPLODE!

(Hey Mitch, did you notice that I didn’t use the Tombstone “Hell’s coming with me!” scene? That’s because I know you’re a religious man, and you wouldn’t want Hell coming with anything to do with UK. See, I’m quite the sharp tack! How about we meet upstairs at Joe Bologna’s with your media crew?)

As the Big Blue Nation transitions into “Billy: Year Two” by starting to count down these tacky summer days, I know that the rumor mill will start churning up. We’ll probably get our first “Billy Behaving Badly On The Golf Course” tale, which will involve a young co-ed driving the drink cart. There might be a few more sprouting up by the time students head back to school in the fall. Just because I know what I’m reading or hearing is at least 75% bullshit doesn’t make it any more enjoyable.

So the tall tale will be told. Then that damned DWI image will show up again. The Internet never forgets.

Published

The Fake Gimel Martinez

on May 8, 2008

in Billy Clyde News, Fake Gimel give Real Truth, Recruiting, Rumors and The Internets and eBays

. 5 Comments

Whoops! Are we back? Possibly. Sorry for the lack of updates, but some real life issues benched me for the remainder of Billy: Year One.

When the season’s over, I suppose its time to pick up the old battles. This weeks entertainment: Jerry “Master Blaster” Tipton vs. “Mad” Marc Maggard! Remember no deals can be broken!

This is battle numero 57 (approximately) in the Tipton is Trying to Hurt UK Fan Wars. This time, Jerry interviewed the parents of our new recruits Vinny Zollo and Michael Avery. In follow-up interviews conducted by Kentucky Ink’s Marc Maggard, the parents admit feeling uncomfortable with some of Tipton’s questions, which Marc labels in the shows’ notes that Tipton exposes his anti-UK feelings.

The ire of the Wildcat Nation was awoken, which prompted Lexington Herald-Leader Editor Linda Austin to blog about an investigation into Tipton’s interviews. Tru at A Sea of Blue wrote up what he thought of the whole deal, which caused Marc to post his displeasure in the Kentucky Ink forums on Tru’s thoughts. (Remember, Tru has called Tipton a “Negative Ninny” in the past.)

Editor Austin reviewed Tipton’s notes and a recording of his call with Mr. Howard Avery (Michael’s father), and stated that Tipton asked professional and worthy questions in those interviews. But what about the “Bigger Ass” statement that was allegedly said? In her interview with Maggard, Zollo’s mother (Robin Curry) either quoted or paraphrased — its not clear in the interview — an example of Tipton’s negative questioning:

Your son is leaving one school because his coach is an ass, but he going to play for Gillispie, who is a bigger ass, how are you going to deal with that?

Linda Austin addressed that question in her blog post:

After Mrs. Curry mentioned her concerns about the methods of her son’s high school coach, Jerry asked her about Coach Gillispie’s widely reported “tough love” style of coaching.

Where’s the ass! The Wildcat Nation DEMANDS TO KNOW!!! Maybe Editor Austin was not privy to the ass. She writes, “I went through Jerry’s notes of his conversation with Robyn Curry, mother of recruit Vinny Zollo, question by question.” Which means Jerry didn’t provide or/and didn’t have a recording of his interview with Mrs. Curry.

Honestly, I don’t blame Mrs. Curry or Mr. Avery for feeling uncomfortable with some of Jerry’s questions; their sons are just 15! I would want to protect my young son from the pressures exerted by the media and a rabid fanbase such as ours. “Look at Little Fake Gimel, you’re SHOOTING THE BALL WRONG! GO BREAK YOUR NOSE LIKE YOUR DADDY!”

But I honestly don’t think anything a reporter or interviewer asks should be concerned about the comfort level of the interviewee. If we get into making rules what can and cannot be asked, we are not living in a Free Speech society — and I’m sure some people feel like we’re already there. I don’t subscribe to the “Sports Journalism should be turned into Entertainment Journalism” that some folks seem to be pushing. I believe strongly that there should be serious journalism coverage of sports programs, and there should be pro-program writing, fan writing, and a place to put up pictures of athletes doing dumb things in public.

I do not put much faith in Austin’s investigation. Austin was unable to access the full transcript of Tipton’s call with Mrs. Curry, and she cannot give us any assurance that Tipton’s questioning was proper. And to be quite honest, comparing a college coach to a high-school coach as a “Bigger Ass” crosses a line of journalistic objectivity, regardless of context. However, as mentioned above, I am not for sure if Mrs. Curry quoted Tipton calling Gillispie a “Bigger Ass”, or if she paraphrased his question and added the language. Without clarification, we have no proof that Tipton crossed the line.

Outside of the “Bigger Ass”, Mrs. Curry and Mr. Avery did not mention anything that I felt was inappropriate questions for a parent of a 15-year-old child who verbally committed to UK. In the Kentucky Ink forums, Maggard points to Tipton’s previous negative writing and several off-the-record comments he has from other persons. I agree that Tipton has been caught in Negative Ninny mode once too often in the past. Because of that, he will forever be labeled by many in the Big Blue Nation as “the UK Beat Reporter who dislikes UK/Gillispie/winning basketball/etc.”

But I cannot blindly accept Maggard’s claim of more “off-the-record” information as the catalyst that Tipton has somehow turned into “UK Enemy #1″. I don’t see what Jerry Tipton could write or say that would adversely affect a student’s decision to attend UK. Maggard is clearly the expert in recruiting, but he has not claimed that Tipton’s writing has swayed a recruit away from choosing Kentucky. So I’m not for sure how Tipton is an enemy of anything.

Also, Maggard is wanting us to believe him and his “off-the-record” sources. I deeply respect what Maggard does at Kentucky Ink — and a little envious, since he focuses the majority of his life on Kentucky Basketball and gets paid for it. I admit that he has more inside information than I do. (~~At least until I install the wireless web cam inside the men’s practice gym.~~ Pay no attention to the man behind the padding!)

However, until his information can be confirmed and on-record, its value holds nothing for me. I took Seth Davis to task for publishing an anonymous rumor about Patrick Patterson considering leaving for the NBA. In this day and age of Internet rumormongering and one-off anonymous reporting, I refuse to believe any off-the-record comment until it is on-record.

And until Tipton does something on-record that betrays his supposed disloyalty, there is no chance of any fan petition or advertiser boycott will work. But hopefully this issue provided the Herald-Leader with discussion on what stories involving new recruits — especially those as young as Zollo and Avery — should entail.

More may be revealed by Mad Marc in the future. Will it be enough to conquer Master Blaster? And why are we worried about the supposed bias of Jerry Tipton instead of celebrating our early recruiting victories? Are we all getting so sick of the “Gillispie spotted in my kid’s preschool” jokes that we must resort to watching this battle in the Thunderdome?

Update May 12th:If Marc is “Mad”, then I’m just plain dumb. I accidentally misspelled his last name as “Maggart”, which was not intentional nor meant as any disrespect. All the misspelling seem to be corrected now. Sorry, Marc!

Published

The Fake Gimel Martinez

on February 26, 2008

in Current BMOC, Rumors and The Internets and eBays

. 4 Comments

In his latest column, SI.com’s Seth Davis drops this little nugget:

I hate to disappoint Kentucky fans, who have every reason to be excited about their team’s run of eight wins in its last nine games, but I’m hearing Patrick Patterson is seriously considering turning pro.

O RLY?

Honestly, I wouldn’t blame Patrick for going pro. He’s performing miracles in the paint despite teams double and triple-teaming him. And I’m not mad that Seth Davis wanting to share what he hears from anonymous sources; I am pissed that all he wrote was one little sentence about it, without any evidence of fact-checking presented to the reader.

At one time in my life, I was an editorial editor for the Kentucky Kernel. They needed somebody to manage the editorial page — letters to the editors, opinion columns, the Kernel’s official Editorial piece, etc. The other sections of the paper had to maintain a high level of fact-checking and cite sources.

Honestly, I don’t understand what’s allowed for anonymous sourcing in professional journalism. I wasn’t a journalism major and I never took a journalism class. It was my understanding from my working experience at the Kernel that the information from an anonymous source needs to be confirmed from more sources. It seems to me that you have to give your anonymous source a little check — and you need to inform your reader of your check.

Maybe Seth Davis did his check. But hell if we know. All we know is that he expects us to trust him with what he’s hearing. Leaving out some of the details of his fact-checking — not including a follow-up call with Patrick Patterson himself — means that Davis decided to print what he’s hearing unchecked.

Instead, Seth Davis expects us to trust him. But its not his job to be trusted! Its his job to take what he’s hearing, question the validity of it, and present it as factually-based, incorrect, or unmentionable. That is what I thought the professional media — those who are supposedly better than blogs — are supposed to do.

I really hate this kind of shit reporting. Its no better than message board posters reporting rumors about Coach Gillispie’s off-court behavior. The only difference is that Seth Davis gets paid to tell us what he thinks about basketball, and to report basketball news. And it appears he’s not fulfilling his job duties by reporting to his readers the validity of his sources.

Of course, since I’m a blogger, my standards are different. So believe me when I say that I’m hearing Seth Davis just decided to jump on the “Patterson is Leaving” bandwagon early with this comment. My sources tell me that if he’s wrong, nobody but a few Internet trolls will remember; but if he’s right, he can say, “as I first reported in February…” until he’s blue in the face.

Seth, when you decide to present to your readers a fact check on your Patterson leaving rumor, I’ll reveal my sources that says your full of shit. Deal?

Published

The Fake Gimel Martinez

on February 11, 2008

in Billy: Year One, Fake Gimel give Real Truth and Rumors

. 3 Comments

A few weeks ago, I asked all the rumormongers talking about Coach Gillispie’s ballyhooed wild personal life to show evidence of these rumors in a credible form. Since then, I have found very little rumoring and no credible evidence. No embarrassing videos found through Google or MySpace. Nothing on Google News. Even Billy Reed, who compared Gillispie to Charlie Bradshaw and suggested that Gillispie should be sent on his way, now says that Gillispie is the front-runner for SEC Coach of the Year.

In fact, the only recent rumor I found was on the Tennessee VolNation message board, which supposedly cut-and-paste’s a post from “catspause.com“. I looked high and low for that post on the House of Blue and Rupp’s Rafters message boards, and couldn’t find it. Sounds like sour grapes from some Vol fans who were a little bitter. ~~(If you saw the post — allegedly made by BlueSteel — let me know and I’ll update the information.)~~

It turns out that the rumor referenced by VolNation was posted on WildcatFanReport.com:

I was told yesterday by a friend with pretty good connections to the athletics department that Billy Gillispie will not be retained as coach after the season. My source said it had nothing to do with the on-court product, meaning it has everything to do with off-court issues. He also said that the main focus of the coaching search would be John Calipari.

Yet again, we have the unnamed “source”. Yet again, a reference to “off-court issues” without specific accusations. Specific details about an unlikely replacement — anybody with two bits of common sense knows Calipari isn’t leaving the set up he has in Memphis. Granted, the rumor is posted with the “take this with a grain of salt” disclaimer, but it still fails to be credible or worth anybody’s time.

Really, that was it, or at least all I could find. Go look for yourself. If you find a gaggle of Wildcat fans still in a tizzy about the allegedly hard-drinking wildman of a coach, please let me know.

What’s happened since then and now? 8 wins (5 in a row), 4 5 losses. Now everybody is talking bubbles. Its amazing how the Big Blue Nation’s righteous anger seems to be less about the personal life of the coach and more about the letter L. And happily, for the rest of this season, we’re forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air.

Update February 12th: That first sentence was a little unclear; I wanted to make sure that I was claiming for credible evidence, not necessarily for shutting up.

Update February 13th: Hubbs of the always-awesome Blue Goggles pointed me to the WildcatFanReport.com article that published the rumor that was referenced at VolNation. Also, I updated the losses to include our asskicking given to us by Vandy. I wonder if losing by 41-points will start the rumor mill back up again? Probably.

Published

The Fake Gimel Martinez

on December 22, 2007

in Billy: Year One, Non-Basketball Stuff, Random, Rumors and The Internets and eBays

. 4 Comments

I have been informed that a shadowy network of ex-CIA spies have been following Coach Gillispie’s every move. They have sent me notes on what they have seen, which I have added to the map below. (Thanks Wayfairing for the application!) Each yellow pin you see below is a report from the spies. Double-click on the map to be taken to the main map; there you will be able to click on each yellow pin and read the details of each report.

Continue reading ‘Since You MUST Know… BillySpotting Map Available’

Published

The Fake Gimel Martinez

on December 18, 2007

in Billy: Year One, Rumors and The Internets and eBays

. 3 Comments

No time for a column proper — I hate my job — but I wanted to record some of the comments I’ve made over this whole Billy Reed article fiasco that Tru at A Sea of Blue has already addressed. First up, my comment I left on Billy Reed’s blog (which was awaiting moderation due to a hyperlink, I suppose):

Mr. Reed, you’re an accomplished journalist. Nobody can argue that. Your blog has been around for a while, so I take it you’re familiar with the way blogs work. I’m no dummy, either, so let’s call this post exactly what it is; flamebait.

Surely somebody with your journalism history, writing stories the past 40+ years, would not base a whole column about “rumors” which you cannot directly address. If you had a source, even an “anonymous” source, you would have detailed EXACTLY what Billy Gillispie is accused of doing.

Even your details — not taking Van Florence on away games — seem sketchy. Who’s asked UKAA or Van about this? Shouldn’t that be covered before publishing with the detail? I never had a journalism class, but isn’t basing your opinion in truth key in writing a solid column?

So there’s no way you actually believe what you just wrote. I take it you’re trolling for the Big Blue crazies that you read/hear about on catspause.com. Is this a chapter of your latest book that tries to rightly define the UK fanbase? Or were you just looking for shits and giggles?

Whatever the reason, you can’t fool me. This isn’t a Billy Reed column proper.

I forgot to add that another possibility is that Billy Reed is intentionally proving Stephen A. Smith’s missive that blogging causes “a total disregard, a level of wrecklessness” in sports reporting.

Meanwhile, ever anxious to stick it to the Wildcat Basketball fans, my good buddy GatorPilot stated Patrick Patterson made the wrong choice in coming to Kentucky. I think overall GatorPilot got what he wanted — a riled up Tru and Kentucky Fanbase, and a clever reference to the Indiana Jones movie. I appreciate the comedy combo he unleashed. But in the comments, I wanted to remind him of something:

What you Gator guys forget is that Kentuckians favor a good story over the truth. And they favor more being tied to the story — “my brother’s roommate at the game said,” “my cousin who works at Merrick Inn saw,” “my lawyer who knows Mitch had dinner,” etc. This has been going on for ages; its part of our culture. The Internet makes it public outside of the Bluegrass State.

So whenever I hear things like “Billy Donovan’s wife was horse-farm hunting in Lexington in March”, I laugh about it. Actually, it was several Billy Donovan rumors that completely convinced me that any rumor involving UK Basketball is no less than 75% full of shit.

In relation to all this, I agree with Chris at Intentional Foul: “Either show and prove or just keep quiet. Even the sports bloggers of the world seem to understand this.” (Well, except the sports bloggers who are fans of the opposition, of course.) But I would take it a step further.

Saying “my brother heard” or “my cousin saw” doesn’t count anymore. Bring out the proof, or shut the hell up.

Show me the videos of Gillispie drunk off his rocker getting into a car to drive home. Show me pictures of Gillispie near Lexington Police Chief Anthany Beatty the night that allegedly Beatty called a squad car for Gillispie to either take the coach home or to jail. Let me see the raunchy text messages Gillispie allegedly sent to a hotel employee. Let me see pictures of Gillispie with his 19-year-old girlfriend, that aren’t obviously photoshopped or from some social event.

This is a call for truth, not vandalism or paparazzi-type misery. If he’s truly this bad, it will be blatently obvious and recorded with something other than a “They Say” story. Besides, if any of these events were true, it would be best to get them right out in the open. If Gillispie’s poor conduct was outed, he would be forced to deal with the consequences of his conduct. Then we can all move forward.

Kentucky fans, bring the shame or stop talking about it. Stop feeding into the nonsense that you heard from whoever or wherever on the Internet. Until I start seeing proof, I call bullshit on every story.

Of course, I suppose nobody would be talking rumors so loudly if the team was winning instead of losing. I just checked the Houston score on ESPN Gamecast. *sigh*

Published

The Fake Gimel Martinez

on December 5, 2007

in Billy: Year One, Current BMOC and Rumors

. 0 Comments

I tells ya’s what boys, this here story got more twists and turns than Kentucky Route 69.

Update Wednesday 2:46 PM EST: I’m a little jealous that I didn’t think of FireAlexLegion.com first. I think it shares the same spirit as this web site — poking fun at the situation but not explicitly mean. The site now has a forum for your flaming pleasure. I wouldn’t read or post there if you take the Internet seriously, though. Save that for the CatsPause.com message boards.

Published

The Fake Gimel Martinez

on December 3, 2007

in Billy: Year One and Rumors

. 6 Comments

I’m sure you’ve read the report about Alex Legion ~~possibly~~ is leaving the Wildcats. Update: UK Athletics official statement. Of course, Coach Gillispie now has to find somebody else to anoint Patrick Patterson’s shoes with holy oil.

Alex’s recruitment prior to the Wildcats was strange. In truth, Billy Gillispie didn’t actively pursue Alex for the 2008 class — Legion was granted release by Michigan due to a coaching change, and Billy was able to catch Alex before anyone else could. Of course, those anti-UK folks out there (especially those who recruit against UK) will spin this into “Oh! Billy couldn’t even keep Alex Legion at UK for longer than 6 games.”

They’ll also revel that rumor has it that several of the players are unhappy with the way the coach treats them. Given that we have several devout Christians on the team, one of which who is ~~reported~~ leaving (Legion), I wonder if the coach’s salty language and his rumored wild lifestyle has rubbed folks the wrong way.

And with all this turmoil going on within the team, how the hell are our boys supposed to play against Indiana on Saturday? Out of all games this year, this is my Big Rival, and I want us to win. Badly.

Regardless, all this rumoring and speculating has re-raised my Big Blue Blood Pressure. Once something is confirmed, we’ll be sure to comment on it 5 days after it happens, as we are prone to do here at FireBilly.com. Stay tuned!

(Oh, by the way, if you couldn’t get on the site earlier today, sorry about that; evidently with Legion leaving, our site got swamped. By the way, did you know we were smart enough to register firegillispie.com too?)

Update 10:27 PM EDT: The official UK Athletics announcement confirms that Legion is transferring. We have no idea at this time how this affects his NCAA status and his & the school’s obligations concerning Alex’s National Letter of Intent — since Alex has played less than one year.

Published

webmaster

on April 13, 2007

in Rumors

. 2 Comments

No, I’m not talking about the fight between UK and Florida to bring Patrick Patterson and Jai Lucas to the bluegrass. Nope. Not even the possibility of DeAndre Jordan rescinding his letter of intent at Texas A&M. This recruiting battle is going on right here in Lexington. You won’t find news about this recruit in the mainstream media or even on Kentucky Sports Radio.

Who is this superstar you ask? This recruits name is Billy Clyde Gillispie. No, no, no, Billy Clyde isn’t being wooed by an NBA team (you can relax), he is being approached by some of the biggest companies doing business in Lexington. Kroger, Paul Miller Ford, and probably Rafferty’s among others are all furiously competing to get Billy on TV first. Word from my source; (my third cousin is friends with this guy that’s dating this girl who is an executive assistant that books the travel plans) Kroger executives have been flying into town on private planes from their headquarters in Cincinnati to have discussions at the Crown Plaza with Gillispie that have allegedly been lasting long into the night.

Paul Miller Ford and Toyota on Nicholasville have apparently escalated their competing offers so much that other top coaches around the country will likely be renegotiating their deals with their local auto dealers to come in line with what Billy Clyde will eventually get. I’m hearing it will be in the mid two to three car range.

One dark horse candidate that has been discussed on internet message boards is that Dr Pepper will negotiate an exclusive contract with Billy Clyde. Like I said that is only a rumor but I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t let all our fans know what we’re hearing and what is being discussed on back channels. Also, since BCG doesn’t have an agent he has retained the services of the Heavy Hitter to negotiate all contracts (call 2-5-5-3-0-0-0). We will let you know more as we hear it.

Picture from ukathletics.com

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