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Topic: OT: Don't break that oar

Topic: OT: Don't break that oar

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Pataskala
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OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/20/2016 12:27:56 PM

Before getting throttled by WMU last Saturday, the Akron team broke an oar to show disdain for Fleck's "Row the Boat." PJ didn't like it (from AP):

*************

THAT'S NOT VERY NICE

A motivating technique for the Akron players Saturday was breaking an oar into pieces before the game - designed to make light of Fleck's "Row the Boat" mantra, which is supposed to symbolize a group of people working in unison for a common goal. Fleck, who came up with the mantra after losing an infant son shortly after birth a few years ago, didn't like it.

"It's not very classy, in my opinion," Fleck said after the game. "We're not into revenge. I do believe in righteousness....Very simple, I think it's just two different cultures."

**************

Not sure if Bowden knew the backstory of "Row the Boat."

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

OU_Country
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/20/2016 4:13:03 PM

I never knew the story about where the Row the Boat came from. Thanks for sharing.

GoCats105
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/20/2016 4:39:15 PM

Now are we completely sure Terry didn't eat the oar?

Parkersburgwvcat
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/20/2016 9:51:22 PM

I am just guessing that , if there had been ketchup or mustard available, that piece of wood would have been history!

Recovering Journalist
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/21/2016 10:07:03 AM

Fleck's righteous indignation is a bit much. A failed innocent motivational tactic hardly warrants a swipe at the integrity of a program.

Deciduous Forest Cat
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/21/2016 11:11:26 AM

Recovering Journalist wrote:

Fleck's righteous indignation is a bit much. A failed innocent motivational tactic hardly warrants a swipe at the integrity of a program.

+1 Exactly. Sensitive much, PJ?

.
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/21/2016 11:21:59 AM

P.J. Fleck is a crazy person. A soon-to-be rich, crazy person.

I hope he goes to the Big Ten so we can witness a Fleck vs. Harbaugh match-up. Fist fight...before the game...at the 50...simultaneous knock-out...both wake up and share a goblet of milk and a 60-ounce steak at Ruth's Chris after the game and sing "Who rows the boat better than us...NOBODY!"

I'm also fascinated that he was born in Illinois. The state of Ohio usually creates all the unhinged, obsessive coaches.

Last Edited: 10/21/2016 11:28:26 AM by .

Monroe Slavin
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/21/2016 4:48:32 PM

We may chide Fleck for his crazy.

But I bet we wish he had what's giving WMU.

Where's the band?!
WHERE"S THE BAND?!

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Ohio69
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/21/2016 5:01:02 PM

I think I like this. All of it. Lets mix some chippiness and bad blood in with all the MACTION.

I say tomorrow Quentin Poling runs out to the middle of the field, grabs a lighting bolt out of the sky, and eats it.... That'll show Kent....

Last Edited: 10/21/2016 5:02:21 PM by Ohio69

Can somebody hit a pull up jumper for me?.....

MonroeClassmate
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/21/2016 10:04:27 PM

Ohio69 wrote:

That reminded me of the OHIO cheer when playing Kent that my class of 1968 sister told me (when the brand of smokes 'Kent' were being made)

Smoke Kent; knock the Flashes on their Ashes.

ts1227
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/22/2016 12:44:51 PM

MonroeClassmate wrote:

Ohio69 wrote:

That reminded me of the OHIO cheer when playing Kent that my class of 1968 sister told me (when the brand of smokes 'Kent' were being made)

Smoke Kent; knock the Flashes on their Ashes.

They still exist, they're just VERY rare now.

Mark Lembright '85
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/22/2016 5:40:08 PM

Maybe EMU didn't"t get the memo but they're hanging in there with #20 WMU.

The Pessimist
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/23/2016 10:48:50 PM

In an ESPN interview, Fleck explains briefly the origin and meaning of row the boat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iC6KcQxmZE

I'm curious to see if "row the boat" will follow him along his coaching career or if it is a WMU tradition now as suggested in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgHyEbMQ-OE

(Don't miss 2:00 about 3rd down, the rowing between 2:30-2:40, and 3:50 "All traditions have a beginning...")

Monroe Slavin
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/24/2016 3:06:12 AM

That first video--in about 30 seconds you can see the energy and magnetism of Fleck.

We will win exactly zero recruiting battles against that guy.

Our next coach needs to have some of that aggro. It's attractive.

L.C.
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/24/2016 12:48:53 PM

Monroe Slavin wrote:

...We will win exactly zero recruiting battles against that guy. ...

Zach Murdock, Durrell Wood, Casey Sayles, Joe Lowery, Joey Duckworth, Kyle Kuhar, Maxwell Howell, Elijah Ball, Xavior Motley, and Ilyaas Motley all chose Ohio over offers from WMU.

�We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.� ― Epictetus

.
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/24/2016 3:29:35 PM

L.C. wrote:

Monroe Slavin wrote:

...We will win exactly zero recruiting battles against that guy. ...

Zach Murdock, Durrell Wood, Casey Sayles, Joe Lowery, Joey Duckworth, Kyle Kuhar, Maxwell Howell, Elijah Ball, Xavior Motley, and Ilyaas Motley all chose Ohio over offers from WMU.

Me as a professional wrestling announcer in giant cowboy hat and 1970s powder blue leisure suit: "He would've been fine � and likely correct � working in generalities about Fleck outrecruiting us, but he used the term 'exactly zero' and that just set him up for the finishing move."

[LC swoops down from the turnbuckle]

Last Edited: 10/24/2016 3:30:34 PM by .

Monroe Slavin
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/24/2016 3:32:44 PM

I stand by my statement.

OhioCatFan
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/24/2016 3:44:01 PM

Monroe Slavin wrote:

I stand by my statement.

Me thought you were Mr. Fact-Based Analysis. Me wrong.

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

Monroe Slavin
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/24/2016 3:56:59 PM

Now, to answer more seriously. Off a very, very quick review:

Wood and Sayles enrolled 2013
Lowery, Duckworth, Kuhar,2014
Maxwell, Ball, 2015
Motley & Motley 2016

Fleck's first year was 2013 in which he went 1-11. 2014 he began to turn it around, going 8-5.

So, his personality and record (with turnaround evidence) really started after 2014. So,'forget' the guys before the class of 2015.

Then, of the players which he offered after 2014, I wonder how high the guys who came our way were on his list, how much he really sought them.

Really think our staff can hold a candle to Fleck as recruit-bait?

colobobcat66
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/24/2016 4:09:13 PM

Monroe Slavin wrote:

A great weasel job, Monroe.

Maybe every recruit doesn't like all the hype. Interesting that Fleck lost 6 of this years recruits before the opening game kickoff.

Don't get me wrong, Fleck can recruit. He is gone after this season, and I wish him well in his future endeavors.

.
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RE: OT: Don't break that oar

Posted: 10/24/2016 4:20:07 PM

Guys, this really has nothing to do with anything, but I'd like to just point to Holly Anderson's wonderful visit to K-Zoo in 2013 and relive some of my favorite moments:

� "He gestures at a vinyl decal of a human heart on his office wall, and one of a raw steak, and between them the word FAMILY."

� "We have what we call Bronconese."

� "That�s why they named the game football. It�s after the ball."

� "My dad kills bugs for a living."

� "Right now the itching is Western Michigan, and I�m scratching like crazy, because it�s a lot of itches."

� "Because I�m not me. I�m a culmination of a lot of people."

He's a treasure. He's if Jim Harbaugh and Les Miles had a baby.

Last Edited: 10/24/2016 4:21:58 PM by .

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