For those of you that follow us on twitter, you may have seen us reference Mid-Major Madness’ most recent Big South Power Rankings where there were rumors posted about members of the Liberty team not liking Coach Layer and even encouraging students not to come to games. The author of those power rankings, Parks Smith, is also the founder of LancersBlog, and has been known to be a Liberty troll. Funny how not so long ago he was “just as much a Flame as anyone else.” Here are a few of his posts on FlameFans…
As a very proud Liberty alumn and student athlete…I ask you, what exactly is your point? You simply stated a few fragments, called someone a name, posted some old message board photos, and left the article with no point made. How embarrassing! Try again, make us Liberty scholars proud. Go Flames! Oh and by the way, this is Claire..LU class of 2012…and Parks Smith’s sister.
a) I think the point is clear. The same dude who started a Longwood blog and consistently TROLLS Liberty fans, is or was at some point a pretty serious Liberty fan…now that’s irony.
b) TROLL – In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response.
So, yeah, Mr. Last name, first name, is, by definition, a troll.
c) Having your sister come to your defense? How embarrassing!
It seems that you yourself may be a “troll”
Yeah I’m a troll. So what. At least I can admit it. Therein lies the difference between me & this dude. Now move along…
“Smarks Pith”…really? You’re a pathetic coward. I could think of other words to describe you and Jon, but we wouldn’t want to violate The Liberty Way, now would we? I bet you feel so empowered and strong behind your keyboard. What you’ve misunderstood about my post is that I didn’t reply simply to defend my brother. I responded with a post to point out that the article made no point, and that you “men” should wear your big boy pants and recognize that this happens in sports…especially pre-game. If you can’t take the heat, then this is the wrong hobby for you. You took everything personally, victimized yourself along with the university, and made us look weak. Liberty doesn’t need that. I shouldn’t get all worked up though, “Smarks Pith.” You are probably a sheltered, home-schooled man that hasn’t been exposed to competition/rivalry. Bless your heart.
1. Haha, yeah because I’m sure you visit this site every day on your accord right? Of course you are defending your brother. Embrace it, don’t defend it. It’s super sweet of you…
2. “…this happens in sports…” Umm, maybe you and your bro should take your own advice and put your big girl panties on. It seems that you two are the only ones taking this personal. Besides how personal is this whole thing really? If you put something on the internet in a public forum, and someone calls you out for it, you cant exactly cry about it getting personal then. You chose to put it out there.
3. The whole Smarks Pith thing really seem to hit a nerve. Do yourself a favor and breathe…Then have a drink.
4. I played COMPETITIVE college basketball….not cross country. And, as a wise man once said. “I play real sports, i’m not tryin to be the best at exercising.”…Bonus points if you can name the author of that quote. Seriously, I’d be impressed.
5. And finally, if you thought I have something to do with this blog and/or Liberty you’re 100% wrong.
That is all.
Now get off my lawn.
You’re disgusting. Separate me from my brother on these posts. I’m posting on my own behalf. Absolutely I chose to post what I did…and if you want to hear more about what I choose to say to you, please email me. And who’s crying? At least I’m not AFRAID to put my real name and email on a public forum. I’m sure you were extremely competitive warming the bench in college while I was out running my multiple 50Ks post cross-country. Yeah, 50K. Can you do that math to convert the mileage or do you need help? Try me. If you don’t have anything “to do with” this blog OR Liberty, I really feel sorry for you because otherwise..who has time to be [cowardly] on a public forum that he has nothing to do with. Get a life, you whimpy douchelord.
Now go ahead, reply back with your bulleted, numbered points. Get the last word, you’re not worth my time.
Here’s my bulleted, numbered points, per your request:
1. It’s not about you being “not afraid”. If you put your email address and full name on the internet, that makes you an idiot.
2. I don’t have your email address, please feel free to post it on this public forum. 🙂
3. +1 for douchelord. I have no idea what that means, but i’m pretty sure its some sort of an attempt at name calling, which, if I recall correctly, you seemed to take issue with in a previous post.
4. I know the word probably doesn’t exist in your vocabulary since you are such a hardcore athlete, but its wimpy, W-I-M-P-Y.
5. 50Ks are for douchelords. Try a 100k, then call me.
6. If I’m not worth your time, why do you keep responding?
7. I enjoy trolling you. It’s fun.
“Rumblings continue to emit from Lynchburg that the team does not like Dale Layer, so much so that some members of the team have encouraged students not to come to the Vines Center. There is also the persistent rumor that Layer would not be coaching Liberty right now if it wasn’t for the late season tournament run last year. Nevertheless t-shirt night enticed 5,000 people to come on out Saturday night, but the Flames couldn’t send the fans home happy with a loss to struggling High Point. Liberty gets match ups this week against two 0-4 Big South schools, but remember the Flames have never won at Longwood’s Willett Hall, despite the building being open over 30 years.”
The Mid Major Madness post just seems super negative, and the bold claim that the players have told fans not to support the team this year isn’t true at all as far as anyone I’ve talked to knows. That is a REALLY bold statement and implies the team hates coach Layer to the point where they don’t even want this season to go well. A real stab to the gut to those guys. I think the point of this post is that Parks sure acts like he likes Liberty a lot to make these statements (especially when not true) and it’s a “what the heck man? I thought you liked us?” post.
With the big rivalry game against the Lancers tomorrow, not really sure what is so embarrassing about the independent sites taking a few jabs about one another.
I’m a Liberty fan and a Liberty student and I’m done with Liberty Flames Nation. This is just pathetic.
1. Who the hell cares about some blog from Farmville, VA?
2. Why do you care if he’s Longwood supporter but also supported Liberty’s football team 3 years ago. Why not appreciate any fan that would give our crappy football team the time of day?
3. After hearing that his sister is/was a student-athlete at LU, why continue the bickering? Seriously, are you that obtuse? We LOVE our student-athletes. I don’t care if they warm the bench on the track team, we should go out of our way to show appreciation for all of our athletes.
Again, this is completely pathetic and Manson, you look like a fool.
I hope ‘Paul Johnson’ is an alias because the poster is the one sounding foolish.
One would hope that an LU student, much less a Christian, could make his point without resorting to profanity. Yeah, neither of these sports blogs is going to make anyone miss Sports Illustrated but when someone, Parks Smith, in this case, puts out some nonsense publicly just to create mischief before a rivalry game he deserves to get called on it.
I think he made three false statements deliberately in his blog post linked above. If he wants to elaborate and provide substantiation for his claims then be above board about it and name names. Self-invented “rumblings” and “rumor” mean nothing. He needs to back up his claims with facts. My guess is that he doesn’t have any. I will be happy to be proved wrong.
And I agree with Claire Smith, I don’t care much for the tone and content of Jon Manson’s response post either. It should have been done better. At the same time, if Claire is going to scold Jon Manson then she should also scold her brother as well. His claims go beyond the usual Sports banter. They are serious and divisive and should not be made lightly.
GlobalAdvance (man I love when people don’t use their real names),
Put the rivalry banter aside between LancersBlog and FlamesNation for a second… I take what I do at Mid-Major Madness seriously and enjoy it very much. I’ve been writing for SB Nation for almost six years now. I’m credentialed by many conference and at least feel as though I’m respected by many of my mid-major peers.
I would never fabricate a rumor as some sort of vendetta for Liberty University. What I posted was passed down from me from someone within the athletic department in December and I also heard the same thing from some in the high school ranks. Frankly, I didn’t put too much stock in, hence why I didn’t do a full feature story (and furthermore who divulges sources any more). I stand by my words and I think my record speaks for itself when talking posting things about the job status of coaches around the college ranks.
I write about Liberty regularly, why? I love the Big South and I think they are one of the more interesting teams around. If I was taking calculated measures to rip the Flames a part then why would I give them such high praise in my preseason preview: http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/9/7/4695824/mid-major-conference-preview-big-south
and why would I continue to tout Davon Marshall as one of the country’s best shooters? http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/8/11/4610984/best-mid-major-three-point-shooters-to-watch-in-2013-14
I think that was left out in the hate that Jon continually spews out.
I’ll be honest, I tried to support Liberty football. I enjoyed going up to games with my dad and visiting my little sister. I love sports and I love to talk about sports. I encourage you to go back and read the threads that Jon posted and see some of his responses about how I wasn’t allowed to be a fan, along with his buddy Duke. Even my very first post ever on Flame Fans I was met by a rude/abrasive personal message from Duke dispelling anything I said about the CAA, despite me interning and having a personal relationship folks at that conference for 10 years now. The final straw was how rude Jeff Barber was on the homecoming game against Coastal a couple of years ago when my dad and I reached out to ask about parking. The community just left a bad taste in my mouth.
I appreciate everyone’s comments and those who read either Mid-Major Madness or LancersBlog. I’m looking forward to the game tonight and safe travels for anyone who makes the trip.
The gist here – ‘My feelings got hurt so now I’ve dedicated my life to trolling everything Liberty.’
Makes sense.
Paul, while I appreciate and respect both your opinion and passion, I do have one question for you. you state that “we LOVE our student-athletes” and we should “go out of our way to show appreciation for all of our athletes” regardless of their stature, yet you preceded that by calling our football team “crappy.” Contradiction?
I agree Paul, I love our student athletes and think very highly of them. That is one of the reasons I have a problem with Parks supposedly being a Liberty supporter a couple years ago and now really throwing our basketball team under the bus with claims that they ask people to not support the team.
Hard to believe when you get personal messages on FlameFans like this from Mon Janson:
Sent: January 30th, 2012, 3:38 pm
From: jcmanson
To: RVAparks
…
I have a hard time with only being a Liberty football fan. Either you\’re for Liberty or you\’re against it….
if you are insinuating somehow that this is Jon Manson, then, you sir, are wrong.
Our football team isn’t crappy because of our student athletes. Our football team has been crappy for a while, despite all of the fake co-championships. That isn’t necessarily our athletes fault. Secondly, there is something different between expressing my frustration with the lack of success on the football field, and calling out the brother of one of our own. If you can’t see the difference, then there is no hope for you or this blog.
Additionally, I don’t necessarily agree that Parks should have spread those rumors, even if they are true. But how is anyone within the Liberty camp making the situation better by calling out the writer? And trying to point out that he’s simply a Liberty troll and not to be taken seriously? Instead, why not make a valiant effort to disprove the rumors and then if they aren’t true, and you want to call him out, fine. I don’t believe the rumors are completely true, but I’d like to know for sure.
And yes, this is an alias. I work in the athletic department at LU and I would rather not reveal my identity. This is not the first time I’ve heard of such rumors. I haven’t heard of them being to the extent of what Parks wrote (players asking students to not come to games), however, there is definitely something there. I’ve been a big fan of this blog for a long time, but you all are fooling yourselves if you honestly believe that there aren’t some real issues going on inside of Williams tower.
Thank you for your comments Paul. I appreciate them.
I have not heard anything about these rumors, and I asked a few people that are closely connected to the program and this was the first they had heard anything to that extent as well. That was all well before this was published or even hinted at on twitter.
Also, this isn’t Parks or LancersBlog’s first shot at Liberty. Read his twitter timeline. It doesn’t matter if Liberty/Longwood play in just a few days or if it’s not for months. He ALWAYS finds a way to take a shot at Liberty.
“…the brother of one of our own” – My cousins, cousins, friends, wife went to Liberty and I cheer for another school. Does that make going out of my way to say something negative about Liberty, OK? Stop it with that nonsense. If you cheer for another school, I don’t care who you are related to, you still cheer for another school. And when you choose to go in on a rival school in a public forum (twitter, blog etc.), expect backlash. Welcome to the internet.
His sister was one of our athletes. If your sibling is directly connected to our athletic program, then that does mean something. Especially when you consider how coaches usually incorporate families into the recruiting process. Even after the student enrolls at the school, the family is still directly involved by attending games. dinners and such. There is a reason why the school gives student-athletes tickets for family members. You always want the family to be on board with the athletic department. Having some blog call out the brother of one of our athletes doesn’t help anyone. Welcome to college athletics.
I don’t understand why so many people are so upset over some post from a blog, for a school that very few care about (no offense Parks). We have bigger fish to fry. And if the rumors aren’t true, why not make an effort to prove that?
Yea Paul, my timeline is littered with pure hate, please search \”Liberty\” and find everything I’ve spewed out: https://twitter.com/RVAparks
LancersBlog is a community, just because I founded it doesn’t mean I\’m the one writing all the articles and/or tweets. And I mean really? It”s a two way street. Check the FlamesNation timeline, when’s “Longwood Hate Day 2.0\” coming out? http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/longwood-hate-day/
Everything is usually good natured fun, you decided to make things personal for no apparent reason except for the fact you were mad. I mean what’s your end goal here? To make me look like an idiot for going to Liberty football games 3 years ago? To turn Longwood against me? It’s just stupid and a low blow considering how many helping hands I’ve reached out to you to get this blog off the ground over the years. From your logo to KenPom (and other resources) to injury news to recruiting/scheduling news, etc etc. I’ve always been good to you and tried to help. Now I truly regret that.
“I’ve always been good to you”…thanks for making this awkward! Now I feel like we’re going through a breakup…
Yea, sorry for humanizing a situation that you made personal. I’m not sure why you would, considering the help I’ve offered (and you’ve taken) over the past few years.
Yes, thank you for acting as google and sending me to a website to design the FN logo. And for the recruiting/scheduling info which I returned the favor as well.
I don’t know your all’s relationship, but I have a question…if you truly did so much for this blog, why does your blog have a fraction of the traffic as this one and why do you have less than a third the followers on twitter? why not help yourself? I’ll hang up and listen.
Haha, I’d likely attribute that to one school having 100,000+ students compared to 4,800. One school having double the residential students than the others. One school has football. One school is a regional public, one school is an evangelical, national university. One school has been Division I for 20+ years, one has for 6 years. It’s apples to oranges. Think of the alumni disparity as well, especially males.
I would hope this site would have a much larger following than ours given all of that. If I start a blog about the New York Yankees then I’m probably going to get more hits then if I started one on the Lynchburg Hillcats. There is no denying that Liberty should, and does, have a lot more fans then Longwood.
Normalize the Twitter followers by undergraduate enrollment and we both are at 11%. I’m sure the same would be true in terms of traffic. Obviously, I don’t know what this sites traffic is and I’m not sure you know what ours is. I’m not sure why you’re so perplexed.
Sure sounds like you’ve asked yourself that same question before. Call me crazy, but I think maybe you try to use Liberty fans to get hits through trolling. Throw in a little jealousy, and here you are on a rival Liberty blog trying to defend yourself. And against what? A little banter? Don’t sound so desperate man.
Also, you should join Alexa.com. For one, maybe you wouldn’t have to figure all these stats out on your own. Secondly, that’s how I know this blog gets more traffic than yours:)
Haha it\\\\\\\’s a labor of love, not in it for hits or page views. We didn\\\\\\\’t have an open online community and now we do. If I was trolling for page views from Liberty fans then I probably would have written the article on LancersBlog.
I think this is great site, and it\\\\\\\’s certainly a lot nicer than mine or any other Big South fan site. Better layout, cleaner, etc. I\\\\\\\’m glad to hear it\\\\\\\’s doing well. With that being said I respect the guys at the other sites a lot more, especially now. Quality people who treat their peers with respect. I thought that\\\\\\\’s what I had when lending Jon a helping hand over the years, but clearly I was wrong