Sports Illustrated writer Pat Forde is certainly no stranger to garnering the ire of college fanbases. He’s certainly had his fair share of internet dust-ups over the years over his reporting and commentary. Sometimes it’s warranted and sometimes it’s just college football fans not wanting an outsider to critique their team or fanbase.
https://twitter.com/ActionNetworkHQ/status/1449583622692950016
On Saturday, the game between Tennessee and Ole Miss descended into chaos when Vols fans started throwing items onto the field, including beer cans, vape pens, a mustard bottle, and even a golf ball (directed at Lane Kiffin). Concern for the people on the field and commons sense led to a lot of understandable criticism of the moment. Even the SEC itself made a statement denouncing the events and threatening penalties.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey releases a statement on Tennessee. pic.twitter.com/h1406OPaCG
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 17, 2021
Plenty of people took to social media to voice their disgust with Tennessee fans and these actions, but Forde’s comments might have struck a nerve when he tweeted about it.
Joe Milton literally runs out the clock, and it was by no means the most embarrassing thing of the night for Tennessee. Pitiful display by the petulant fan base.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) October 17, 2021
The dislike between Tennessee fans and Forde goes back to the Greg Schiano affair when Forde went all-in on Vols fans who drove the narrative to get the Schiano deal revoked.
You people are ridiculous. Not all of you, but the delusional loudmouths who somehow think a program with a 62-63 record over the last decade is too good for Schiano. The internet vigilantes who want to bully their way into running the school’s coaching search. The piling-on politicians. The protestors. The rock painters. The rubes who still are waiting for Jon Gruden to slide down the chimney.
…if you used this as a Trojan horse to blockade a coaching hire you don’t like because you think Tennessee football deserves better, shame on you. And now that the Schiano hire has been blown up because of this, good luck landing the next guy. Who would want to deal with this fan base right now?
That’s what was probably on the mind of Brian Rice, who co-hosts The Erik Ainge Show on Sports Radio WNML in Knoxville. Rice saw Forde’s comments about Tennessee fans being petulant and, well, proved his point, tweeting that Forde is banned from ever appearing on his radio station and threatening to “fight anybody on our staff who tries to have you on.”
Almost as embarrassing as someone who claims to be a professional journalist saying that 100 jackasses are fully representative of the other 101,950 fans that were in the stadium tonight. Pitiful display by a sportswriter who was once respected. https://t.co/UasDIwrFQ5
— Brian Rice (@briancrice) October 17, 2021
It’s a small thing, @ByPatForde and you won’t care. But you’re banned from our radio station, @SportsRadioWNML in Knoxville and I will literally fight anybody on our staff who tries to have you on. You are not welcome here. Tennessee fans have had enough of people like you.
— Brian Rice (@briancrice) October 17, 2021
“It’s a small thing, @ByPatForde, and you won’t care,” said Rice. “But you’re banned from our radio station, @SportsRadioWNML in Knoxville and I will literally fight anybody on our staff who tries to have you on. You are not welcome here. Tennessee fans have had enough of people like you.”
Forde, who presumably doesn’t make many appearances on WNML as it is, seemed okay with the news.
Oh darn. https://t.co/GQIHRKiAqx
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) October 17, 2021
Meanwhile, Mike Golic Sr., who was calling the game on radio for Learfield, tried to add some common sense back into the mix by agreeing with Forde while also noting it was a pretty good game up until then.
As someone who was there calling the game, @ByPatForde was right it was an embarrassing display by some fans, and it was a shame, because it turned into a pretty damn good game on the field.
— Mike Golic (@golic) October 17, 2021
Rice let a little bit of time pass before clarifying that he, in fact, will not fight any of his coworkers if they did decide to have Forde on as a guest, much as it would displease him.
I’m obviously not going to fight coworkers. If someone wants to tank their show by having a guest who openly denigrates the fans that pay our salaries, that’s their business. But I’m tired of standing by while national guys take shots at the entire fan base for actions of few.
— Brian Rice (@briancrice) October 17, 2021
Forde has always had a way with agitating college fanbases simply by reporting or reacting to them. But it’s not as though he was the only person calling what was happening in Tennessee embarrassing and bad, regardless of whether or not it was just a select number of fans people doing it. It was a bad look for Volunteers fans and they have to own it.
In the end, this was a good reminder that if the charge being laid at your feet is that you seem petulant, you want to try to avoid being petulant in your response.
