Greetings, Lion fans, and to say the past few weeks have been hectic and eventful is a definite understatement. Certain events have taken place recently that Brian and I must address and make some changes going forward here.

Brian and I have tried our best operate a fair and honest blog that is entertaining, informative, and, hopefully, keeps you coming back. We invite any and all comments, both good and bad. We welcome it all.

However, we will be suspending those comments for a period of time for the reasons laid out below.

What we don’t welcome, however, is baseless, unfounded accusations and personal attacks, especially when using a fake screen name, or social media profile. Brian and I have never written one word that we did not, as is said now, “have the receipts” for. Every word we’ve written, we have proof, and we have never, and never will attack an athlete, coach, or any university employee by name. If we see what we think is an underperforming team or part of a team, we’ll certainly comment on it. Go back and review anything written during the second half of the 2021 football season if you don’t believe me.

Certain comments about former athletic department coaches and staff have been made that were baseless, unfounded, and downright rude, and as such, have been deleted, and the posters banned. That’s something we will not tolerate. That being said, if you have the receipts and you use a verifiable name, we’ll allow it so long as the comments are not slanderous or libelous.

We’ve both been doing this for a while now. Brian has been at it since 2012 and I joined in 2017. We’ve had to work very hard to build a level of trust and access to get people to talk to us. We are not employed by the University, and we do not work in the newspaper or television industry. We’re just a couple of guys with a computer, one hellacious work ethic, and a love for ETSU/TAMUC athletics and the University. We needed access to information and some credibility, and people that are being targeted in these comments were a big assist in that. For that, we’ll always be thankful. Like I’ve written before, we know that not everyone feels that way, and that anyone and everyone certainly has critics. Anyone in a high-profile position like that will certainly have them.

As to the changes…. all comments on every article we post will first be approved by one or both of us before being allowed after the comment suspension is lifted. It is our page, and we have that right. Basically, it comes down to two rules:

1. If you feel strongly enough to comment, put your name on it. Everyone knows who we are. Brian and I are not hard to find. We both have an active presence on social media. We don’t hide behind a keyboard or a pseudonym.
2. Bring the receipts. Offer some tangible proof as to your point. Hearsay and anonymous sources won’t work.

For the foreseeable future, we will not be allowing comments on any post unless we find a way to moderate them in a fair way. Also, Brian has said, and I agree completely, that this is a free speech zone, but that has it limits and right now we are having to make some temporary modifications. However there are times when we have to take extraordinary measures, and let me emphasize this. This IS NOT the place to air out your grievances about former coaches and admins personally. We have a very strong opinion about our current University President, but we don’t use this forum to whine about it here. We understand that there are always going to be times where employees and employers have issues, but if you feel that passionate about airing it out, you can create your own site because this is a place to support our students, athletes, and the athletic success of our school.

Again, we do our best to operate and maintain a fair and honest blog. We ask that you be fair and honest as well.