#(im in the US and have never been asked to denounce my own country's actions

[jameshurleyhateblog]

The fun thing about the rise in antisemitism and the insistence of leftists to conflate "zionism" with jews as a group (as evidenced by all the harassment of diaspora jews) is that it leaves precious little opportunity for jews who do support Palestinian freedom to join the movement without risking our own safety. And if this sounds made up or overly cautious, I'd like to remind everyone of that "we didn't realize we were palling around with nazis" post that's been going around.

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

hi hello, i realize im like 2 years late so if your hype has already died out feel free to ignore this ask BUT if not, i really loved your Tbolts character analysis and justifications for a new team and I'd love to hear more about your fanon run? Please and thank you!

Oh thanks :D

I’ve been super-busy with my job as a teacher and it’s been a nightmare this year and I’ve not been able to afford to commission any covers for a long while. And its a shame because I have loads of Thunderbolts stuff, they were the first one I ever started thinking of fanon for.

I don’t have my file with me right now but I can remember some stuff...

I know one of my main directions for the team as a whole was to try and get them out of the more Suicide Squad-y set-ups they had been receiving since Nicieza left. I love Jeff Parker and his run, but I did want to get back to them being an actual super-hero team - a bunch of people who would show up alongside the Avengers and X-Men and FF and whoever during big Crisis events. I would maintain a link to The Raft prison but I would have them based out of their own headquarters somewhere else. I think back at Thunderbolts Mountain was what I went with. The Raft would still be explored a lot in the series and we’d get a look at a lot of other villains through that. I was always finding excuses to remind people Grizzly was technically once one of the Thunderbolts. In fact, with the Raft, there is a running joke I had thought of where whenever they are at The Raft (handing over a prisoner or whatever), the minor character Skeleton Ki - who featured on the Giant-Size cover - he is meant to be this master escape artist who can open any door so my idea was he would be a prisoner at The Raft and whenever we are there it is always the case he was either constantly escaping from his cell or being escorted back to his cell after failing to get anywhere beyond that.

The first two issues were the team fighting Red Hulk. Red Hulk had invaded a fictional country and was killing dictators so the Thunderbolts go to stop him before he ends up causing any more of a major international incident. This was also a nod-nod-wink-wink to Red Hulk stealing the Thunderbolts book all those years ago. I was likely going to blindly alter Red Hulk so that it wasn’t ever General Ross, over time my rules became looser and looser about what is and isn’t canon so one day I decided “it’s an alternative fanon, Red Hulk can always just have been Ross’ young protege that they later introduced in Parker’s run”.

The second issue cover was a homage (all the second issue covers would have a “homage” cover but usually not of the usual culprits) and it would have been a homage to Thunderbolts Prelude, a one-shot from 1997 reprinting the Hulk issue they debuted in. The new cover would swap Hulk for Red Hulk and Atlas for Man-KillerAmazon.

And she would also vanish after getting her arse kicked by Rulk. She would have gone her usual route of cut and running. She will be back and before she does come back, she would make a very brief appearance on Whirlwind’s Lethal Legion which attack the Pyms on their second honeymoon in my Avengers fanon (a group mostly made up of Pym enemies or Pym particle users). She would again cut and run from that group.  Amazon would return issue 6/7. She would show up again at the Thunderbolts headquarters one day and this would be a big character thing for her, it’s hard to explain but it’d be like her returning is her first active step towards something better. Although maybe she only came back out of fear? Maybe because she had nowhere else to go? Amazon was one of the character’s I was most enthusiastic about, I love that there is this super-strong (one-time but now full-time) giantess with this really understated character arc from Nicieza’s run and some history with a lot of the team.

Songbird would be the team leader, I can’t remember how much I posted before, but she would be no area for debate about who is leading the team. It’s Songbird. It’s Songbird’s team. It always should have been Songbird’s team for a while now and other people - Zemo, Osborn, the Avengers - have held it from her. The Avengers would come to better understand and appreciate the Thunderbolts this time around. Cap is pretty okay with Songbird and Abe, he believes in them, but he’d always be less convinced about the rest of the team so that is part of the way Diamondback gets brought onto the team. To forge a bridge between the two teams but it wouldn’t be the case she is acting as a spy or a mole or anything. She’s just there to let Steve and the Avengers know what’s up and help the Thunderbolts get some clearance here and there. And also because Steve wants Rachel there, he knows Rachel being around people like Songbird and Abe will benefit her and the Thunderbolts by showing that yes there is a chance to be accepted as a reformed hero.

Abe... I have him back in his Beetle armor but he’d be still operating as MACH-5. The idea is that he just upgraded his armor and this time was feeling a bit retro so modelled it on his old Beetle armor. This is also explained in story as part of him accepting his past sort of. There’s a story involved to best explain this, it’s in Giant-Size, Diamondback proposes Constrictor as team-mate. Abe tracks him down and Constrictor instead mocks him for making himself over in the image of a hero and burying his history. So, he decides his next armor will embrace/acknowledge his past. The Other Beetle is still out there (and she’s the one calling herself Beetle).

Karla is so fun, she would get back to being a bit less selfish and accepting that these people are actually her friends. She’d still screw them over and manipulate them to hell, but she’s definitely not going to kill any of them. One thing would be exploring her past history with Blackout and how Blackout remains a bit fixated on her but he doesn’t have the best mental capacity for her to manipulate.

Blackout is a hard one to really wrap my head around. He’s back from the dead but he’s not all there (like he was in Thunderbolts #100). I like the idea of exploring the nature of his existence post-death, and kinda getting a bit freaky with how anorexic his body would be (I remember sending reference points that were all Deadman pieces by Kelley Jones). It’s hard to really justify any of these characters, besides Moonstone, abusing this seemingly barely functioning person who doesn’t have the mental ability for doing much besides following orders and being a bit creepy with Karla. I can see him getting benched a lot but I’m pretty sure - no matter how long I ran with it - i wouldn’t ever want to have him say a full sentence. He’s not a dumb zombie, he’s just a bit out of it and it is more like a character trait that he isn’t very communicative. The idea is that custody of Blackout fell to the Thunderbolts because the Commission don’t want him, prison or Ravencroft can’t hold him and Songbird agrees to take him off their hands to basically stop him from being used by a bad guy or falling into Zemo’s hands again or whatever. 

Ghost... I can’t remember anything I do with Ghost. Sorry!! I mainly remember him and Karla being something of a double-act. He’s too clever/paranoid to be manipulated by her and she doesn’t even bother. I remember the first issue (which I wrote a whole script for!) had a scene with them just sat on the side offering commentary on Amazon on Blackout becoming part of the team.

Juggernaut. He would be back. I want him on the team, I always planned with him on the team, but I’m holding him back initially to allow the other characters a chance to exert their powers (especially, I don’t want him there to dominate the Rulk fight). He’d be back after the Zemo/Osborn story I think. I think the story thing was that Juggernaut was being held pending a trial for his actions committed while possessed in Fear Itself and so he was off-limits for the team. He’s eventually found innocent of those crimes and re-joins the team.

Sandman, I really want Sandman on the team but I’m also very adverse to just putting him on the team because I want him on the team. I never really had much to say with Sandman other than cementing or re-establishing the heroic side of the character from the 90s. I’m sure I had ideas for him but I can’t remember any of them without my files.

I’m sure the third issue was all about Zemo and Fixer (my 3rd issues were all a gimmick too, they would focus/feature a villain). Zemo has a lot of stuff going on, he is a complex character and so much more than just a villain or pretending/trying to be a hero. I am dumping so hard on Fixer, I am absolutely destroying the character but my take is “when I came up with these ideas, Fixer was dead and if I’m bringing him back I need to do something more substancial than just have him be back from the dead”. Personally, I think my idea for Fixer is not at odds and, while it is maybe exaggerating a few moments from old stories, but I basically see him as completely worn out by his hero days and his failed attempts to be accepted like Mel and Abe are. He’s wound up just turning back to Zemo, Zemo always accepted him, he is valuable and treat like he is important by Zemo. Zemo would have a huge plot at the end of the first year. He would go up against Norman Osborn, angered by Osborn usurping his Thunderbolts and believing his Dark Avengers scheme was copying his original Thunderbolts plan. It would end with Songbird and the others interjecting, especially highlighting Moonstone’s history with Dark Avengers, and the end-point would be Zemo denouncing Osborn and effectively not-so-subtly, writing Osborn out from a continued presence in Thunderbolts books. Oh, and Osborn skewering Andreas would indeed be brought up. 

Speaking of, he would be back. In the first annual, we would learn that Andreas’ corpse was found by that sect of The Hand from Enemy of the State and since he was a Strucker, he was resurrected to lead them. It would be implied Zemo tipped them off to the whereabouts of Strucker’s body. Andreas would lead the Hand in an assault on The Raft under the pretense they are recruiting new soldiers but in truth Strucker is using them to get to Osborn and Bullseye (it happens before the above Zemo story and neither of them would actually appear). He would eventually stand down after encountering Songbird again and being reminded by her of his original mission of not being like his father. This would set him up as leading this sect of The Hand to do good ala Daredevil in Shadowland but obviously if Daredevil couldn’t do it, snotty Strucker brat isn’t going to succeed but for the time being he is out there doing stuff.

The second annual is a fun one-off story where Radioactive Man comes to Quicksilver (this is all hinging on one quick scene in Mighty Avengers where they pointed out how they were both heroes now). Chen wants Pietro to put together a Thunderbolts squad to break Collective Man out of a Russian gulag. Part of this is borne from one of my original ideas which was having Quicksilver take on Hawkeye’s leader role. I can’t remember the exact team but I know Finesse was on there, Man-Ape was too and he deserts them immediately. The big one was Crossfire because there was an awesome Quicksilver moment at the end where after they have completed the mission, Pietro beats the shit out of him - breaks his arms and legs - and leaves him behind to presumably be thrown in the same gulag Collective Man was. I remember he’s like “I don’t have many friends but Clint Barton is one of the few I truly do consider more than an acquaintance. You killing Mockingbird’s mother and her desire to eventually exact revenge on you will likely drive another wedge in their attempts to repair their relationship... so I picked you for this team, Crossfire, to stop you from causing any more harm to their lives.” (or something like that)

Eventually there was going to be a “Thunderbolts International” (a riff on Justice League International) which would be a one-off rival team led by Dallas Riordan comprised of Atlas, Jolt, Radioactive Man, Blizzard, Speed Demon, Boomerang, Skein and Cyclone. I think that would be the ... 25th issue? issue 200. It would be a chance to include some of those guys I love but can’t fit on the team. (edit: just remembered this leads into a cool story where a combination of some of both teams end up transported into Kree space). Atlas wouldn’t rejoin the team but the very very final story in my run is an Atlas story. Something of a tragedy where Atlas steps up and is a great hero and nobody will ever know. This would be a big Atlas vs. Fixer epic which i just realised also has a nice undertone of highlighting that they were the two who sided with Zemo back in Thunderbolts #12.

(edit: there was also another team they’d go up against called the Renegades - a team comprised of American Eagle, Sepulchre, Steel Spider and Jack Flag - who recall the Osborn Thunderbolts and as such are very anti-Thunderbolt)

I think there’d be another ad-hoc team at some point, that last story might see Atlas step up and lead one, of which Mentallo would be a member. Mentallo probably should factor into my character assassination of Fixer. I’m so sorry to Fixer fans, he’s going so unhinged. Batroc is another guy I want to throw in somewhere. Most the guys on that cover to Giant-Size Thunderbolts 1 either feature explicitly in that story (with the idea of them being Thunderbolts directly referenced) or will be prominently in another part of the run. 

[thisnerdsadventures]

i graduated.

i graduated yesterday from MIT!! with a BS in computer science and engineering :)  a few of my friends and i celebrated over zoom with my mom in the background as they played video after video on the commencement live stream while only taking 10 minutes to scroll through our names lmao. the ceremony was done and done after 12pm PST, and i spent the rest of the days watching suits.

cw: protests, police brutality

I wanted to spend a good amount of this post talking about how it feels to graduate and what I’ve learned over the past 4 years. I’m still going to do that, but I want to start with how I felt this morning, as I watched protest videos on Twitter and tapped through an endless stream of call to action posts on Instagram. In the hours around commencement, I didn’t feel as happy as I should’ve, probably because the world we are graduating into is an actual Hot mess. We should’ve graduated onto Killian Court, with the sun out and hope and optimism with the world smiling upon us, but instead we graduated at home, separated by a global pandemic that our country refuses to take seriously and surrounded by protests and anger and racism, sent out into a world where people refuse to take a virus that has killed over 100,000 people in the US seriously and where a white police officer can literally kill an unarmed black man on the streets in broad daylight and nothing will happen without an actual public uproar. 

Frustrated, helpless, sad, angry are a few of the things I’m feeling. I feel frustrated because I know the community I grew up in and currently am in is a part of the problem. (For those of you who don’t know, I grew up in Orange County, California, which is surprisingly conservative for California, and has a lot of middle to upper class Asian and white people who are the types to denounce things like affirmative action, black lives matter, taxing the wealthy. Obviously not everyone here is like this, but actions like this make me remember why i wanted to leave :/ -- https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/comments/gt7ift/oc_sheriff_department_raises_blue_lives_matters/) And I feel helpless because I don’t know how to help - if we were back on campus, we’d take the T out to Park St or even just walk there to Boston Common protesting, marching to City Hall, but we’re dispersed now, and not as many of us can drive out to the nearest big city protest, esp with COVID. So it begs the question of what we can do from our laptops, our homes?

Here’s some links that I’ve seen recently and have found really great:

Where you can donate, and where you can learn, a summary.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund is an organization that helps pay for immigration bonds and bails, but I think they’ve recently posted that they’ve gotten a lot of donations, and are now encouraging people to donate to other local organizations [x] and George Floyd’s family [x]. 

As an Asian-American, I recognize the privileges in society that we benefit from, and it’s our responsibility to stand up in solidarity now and actively fight anti-Blackness today. Here is an awesome Medium post I read yesterday, listing out some of the ways we can help -- https://medium.com/awaken-blog/20-allyship-actions-for-asians-to-show-up-for-the-black-community-right-now-464e5689cf3e

One thing that I’ve been thinking about lately is how much anti-blackness actually appears in our own families and communities - I know I’ve heard many many racist comments from the people around me, so now more than ever, it’s important to have these conversations and educate one another on how we can do better. Another thing I found really interesting was reading about where the model minority myth came from, why it exists, and the damage it does. NPR article. tl;dr educate one another, educate oneself

I also just stumbled upon this google doc that is so in depth, so if you want to read more about more actions you can take, look here -> [x]

welp. that’s all i can really say on that, or at least I think the links do a better job.

1) So going off of that, the first thing i guess i can say MIT did for me was instill a drive to action. I remember before college, I was mostly in this socal bubble, shit in the world definitely happened (ok maybe not global pandemic level) but we didn’t see its effects as much. When I moved to Boston and started meeting people from different backgrounds, that changed. These people here are so inspiring in the way that they don’t sit around or mope or ignore the problem, they choose to do something about it, whether its a pset, the next MIT admin shitshow, or COVID. They go up and beyond what’s expected for them to make the world the better place, and I think that’s something i learned to do a bit of.

2) Another thing I learned was to forgive myself - we all have to forgive ourselves for being less perfect and for whatever dumb stuff we’ve done in the past. Like you might not even realize it’s happening to you, but taking stuff out on yourself way harder than you should might be a product of you just being angry at yourself for mistakes in the past. Everyone wants to be perfect, that’s just a product of who we are as people, a product of the environment we’re in. But the sooner we forgive ourselves for not being perfect, the faster we can move to growing and being better.

3) We are all pretty valuable people. It angers me to no end when people settle for less than they should, whether it's out of fear that something else might not come along, or they just don’t know their own self-worth. A big example of that is how often people will accept lowball offers and fail to negotiate salaries at all. And it drives me up the wall that it happens to people I know and love because it makes me wonder if they can see how much they really are worth. So much of our time at MIT is spent just wondering if we’re enough. But once you leave the MIT bubble, you realize how open you options are, and that maybe we should spend more of our time advocating for ourselves and believing in our own worth than letting people define that for us.

4 and 5) i learned that moving too quick to label people as completely good or completely bad never ends well. Same goes for companies, organizations, issues, everything. This was a hard lesson to learn, I had to learn it, relearn it, unlearn it, learn it again, and I made mistakes after mistakes after mistakes. When confronted with a bit of bad, I closed my doors, thinking I had all the good in the world I needed. But what I really needed was perspective. That maybe there was some x, y, and z, and those were bad, but there was also a, b, c, d, f, g and those were all so, so good. I can get pretty angry in the moment - I did this again just the other day, when I was projecting my anger towards someone to the whole two year relationship. But this time, I had another friend watching my situation on a balcony three floors up who heard and listened to all the good they had done for me and reminded me about it. This is why its points 4 and 5, that its also so important to have friends around that will listen to you, not just during the bad, but also the good, so they can tell you when you’re being irrational and to really be there for you when you dont even know you need someone to be there.

6) one of the things i learned the hard way was how to know when someone is your friend, and how to know when friends truly have your back. something that my experiences have shown me (and 11.011, ngl) is that when it seems like someone has your back, they might not, and when they have to choose sides, they may very well not choose yours. But here’s the thing I have learned: when faced with that, good close friends do not leave. They show up. Do friends fight? hell yeah. and they apologize and grow from it. They confide in you and answer your call at 1am. They know you better than you know yourself, so when you start losing sight of your true self, they remind you. There is no condition to your friendship, no prereq. When a crisis happens like COVID, they show up, they help you pack, they calm you down when you’re panicking, and if they’re not there in person, they reach out, they ask how you’re doing, and they offer support. When you graduate, they send you surprise gifts or join your zoom party or at the very least, remember the date and text you congratulations. Turns out, good, real friends are hard to find in this world, but it’s important to remember to not give up on finding them. it might take a couple years longer than you had thought it would for finding friends in college, but that’s ok. someone once told me that although the journey was hard, it led me to this point, and that that’s what made it worth the struggle.

So yeah, graduating was a lot to deal with. I’ll be back in the fall for my masters and im starting my internship in 2 weeks, so there will still definitely be updates on this nerd’s adventure!

[junker-town]

THIS WEEK IN SCHADENFREUDE, Tennessee and LSU have both reached the “GoFundMe to pay the coach’s buyout” stage of the season

Your weekly search of the college football internet’s strongest reactions centers on two SEC fan bases.

There is losing.

There is losing to your rival.

There is losing to your rival 41-0.

There is losing to your rival 41-0 at home.

Then there is losing to your rival 41-0 at home one week after almost losing at home to UMass, two weeks after losing because you didn’t have enough defensive backs on the field, and all in front of your fans who call for your coach’s firing even during victories.

The 2017 Tennessee Volunteers, everybody!

Let’s see how some Vols fans across the internet responded to the loss.

We start our travels at the VolNation.com message boards.

Mere weeks ago, some thought athletic director John Currie had hatched a plot to relieve Butch Jones of his duties and replace him with ex-coach Phillip Fulmer. There’s still a fear (or a hope?) that Fulmer, now 67 and an AD assistant will return:

VolNation.com

Someone’s got a more practical idea, obviously:

Do whatever it takes to get Gruden !!!! This was embarrassing

We have to much talent to be losing this badly ... especially at home

Jon Gruden’s turned down the Tennessee job at least three times since 2008.

I agree. Whether it is Gruden or Chip Kelly, or Bobby Petrino, or Mike Leach...take a blank check and make them say no.

I'd still love to see Gruden here. He's clearly a smart coach, great offensive mind, great QB mind. He relates with kids as he has shown on his QB camp shows. I have to imagine he'd be a great recruiter, the question is whether he'd put in the time? He has connections to build a great staff. He wouldn't coach scared. The booth is always there for him to return to.

Why not make a run at him?

Another poster wants to hire the 32-year-old head coach at FCS Austin Peay, which recently snapped a 29-game losing streak:

Bring in Will Healy

Smart young coach on a roll. What could go wrong??

Someone started a thread that was designed purely as a repository for Tennessee fans’ freshest Butch Jones jokes. The original post:

Well, this game is awful. I would usually be ticked off and screaming at the television. Unfortunately, apathy is beginning to set in. In the midst of my boredom, I've created a list of bad Butch Jones jokes. Feel free to add to this list or burn me at the stake.

Butch Jones should be a spokesperson for a vacuum company... He sucks!

Butch Jones likes the yellow starbursts

Butch Jones' mom is disappointed in him and doesn't think he's handsome

Butch Jones pees sitting down

Butch Jones knits blankets for Christmas gifts

Butch Jones drives a Toyota Tercel

Butch Jones vacations in Muncy, Indiana.

Butch Jones thinks the band is underappreciated

Butch Jones wrote the book, Football for Dummies.

Butch Jones owns one book, Football for Dummies.

Butch Jones can't read or write

Butch Jones flies kites every afternoon

Butch Jones thinks the word infallible means sucks

Some of my favorite reader submissions:

“Butch Jones skis in jeans.”

“Butch Jones has a Blockbuster card.”

Someone else proposes everyone go to the next home game dressed in protest gear.

I think fans going to the games should wear black to show their displeasure in Butch and continue to wear black until he is fired. You can still support the team and wear the gear but seeing a stadium that is normally full of orange blacked out sends a loud and clear message.

Let’s stroll on over to Twitter just see what we find, shall we?

This is an idea of how many people have changed their Twitter names — not just tweeted, mind you, but actually changed their names — to FIRE BUTCH JONES:

(This may not be an exhaustive list.)

In Nashville, the trending topics right after the game:

This is a bit of a “choose your own adventure” game, but I’m going down the “Neyland Stadium” rabbit hole first.

A note for the athletic director from Pastor James:

@John_Currie 2nd year coach & freshman QB 4️⃣1️⃣ points #GA 5 year coach and junior qb 0️⃣points #UT & at Neyland Stadium #vols http://pic.twitter.com/CbCfKQKHcM

— Pastor James Chessor (@JamesChessor) September 30, 2017

Separately, one gentleman had a proposal:

I will post nudes on twitter if Butch Jones is fired this weekend.

— Owen Hill (@owenahill) October 1, 2017

Let’s just camp in Butch Jones’ mentions for a minute.

Well I never thought it could happen @UTCoachJones you have broken my husband

— DAT Way (@cable18) September 30, 2017

Fuck Butch Jones. Fuck this ‘excuses’ program he has sold our fan base. Fuck you and your trash ‘ecosystem’ that you push. @UTCoachJones

— Digital Dad (@DigitalDad23) September 30, 2017

Last week, Jones went on a weird rant directed at local media. Therefore:

@UTCoachJones god damn media

— RK Anderson (@RK_Anderson6) September 30, 2017

Shame on the Knoxville media if you can’t find the countless positives in the most lopsided home loss in 94 years. #Vols @utcoachjones

— G (@GFunk_Error) September 30, 2017

@UTCoachJones will bobby Petrino replace you?

— Bones (@mike_the_dick) September 30, 2017

@UTCoachJones i will fight u sir

— pey (@PeytonnBlairr) September 30, 2017

Fire HIM NOW, FULMER for Intern @UTCoachJones

— Caleb Salyers (@crazyreb12) September 30, 2017

Let’s make a super brief stop at UT’s 247Sports board.

Even Vol Nation’s children apparently offer no mercy.

My daughter just came up to me

And said that Tennessee is trash. I couldn't disagree.

And also at the school’s Scout board.

When is butch getting fired i denounce him as coach

Im not watching another game until he is gone period

Once you’ve been denounced, there’s no way back.

These aren’t even from the internet, but you should see them.

Here is a VOL BRAWL that happened in the stands:

Lets check in on the Vols http://pic.twitter.com/FTOKhgMnP8

— SEC Country (@SECcountry) September 30, 2017

Here are some extremely loud second-quarter boos:

More fun stuff here:

http://pic.twitter.com/uGYbp1hqvs

— Gray Hardison (@BellyoftheBeast) September 30, 2017

And here:

Thanks for helping me make sports illustrated for the wrong reasons @UTCoachJones https://t.co/IeJP7ZIYHS

— Quillen B (@ChillinBlack) October 1, 2017

And here:

And here:

Here:

Here:

And definitely here:

Tennessee fans had fled the premises by the end.

Last snap, 41-0 final. http://pic.twitter.com/UP7jGAH5HJ

— Joe Rexrode (@joerexrode) September 30, 2017

Back to the internet: a brief Q&A to take us home.

Did anyone propose hiring Les Miles yet?

Yes.

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Fire Butch Hire Les Problem solved

Posted by Brad Boles on Saturday, September 30, 2017

Did anyone start a GoFundMe yet to pay Jones’ buyout?

Also yes.

Are people actually going to spend money on that?

It’s possible.

Has anyone called for failed Michigan head coach Brady Hoke, UT’s DL coach, to take over? Via a Rocky Top Talk commenter:

Fire him now. Promote Hoak to interim HC, and start the search.

Has anyone suggested the Vols hire FAU coach Lane Kiffin, the man who once left them in the middle of the night to take the head coaching job at USC and has now found himself running a middling Conference USA team at 42?

Hey @Lane_Kiffin after your games over you think you could head on to Knoxville to take over for Butch or naw? #firebutch

— Scott (@msallen22) October 1, 2017

Hey @Lane_Kiffin there is a job opening up on rocky top. You interested?

— DAT Way (@cable18) October 1, 2017

At this point, I’ll take Lane Kiffin back please. #VolTwitter

— Josh C (@ViperTheShowOff) October 1, 2017

Are these people kidding?

Quite possibly. But when things are this dark, never assume someone’s joking.

Also, LSU lost to Troy.

There is losing.

There is losing at home.

There is losing at home to a team from the Sun Belt.

And there is losing at home to a team from the Sun Belt in the fifth game of your new head coach’s five-year contract, which carries a $12 million buyout.

We now visit with some Tigers fans to take their temperature.

First things first: Yes, there’s also a GoFundMe to buy out Ed Orgeron.

On Sunday evening at 6 p.m. ET, it had raised a fraction of a fraction of a percentage point of the money that’d be needed to pay Orgeron’s walking-away money.

At TigerDroppings.com, posters are plotting AD Joe Alleva’s demise.

In these sharply political times, grassroots activism is more important than ever. Whether you’re fighting for affordable healthcare or trying to get your school to fire its athletic director after a bad loss, real change happens on the ground.

Email addresses if you're interested in taking action

Michigan fans rallied (Fire Dave Brandon Rally) and got their AD ousted. Nebraska fired their AD within days of losing to Northern Illinois earlier this season (Nebraska ousts AD after embarassing loss).

Why can't we as a fanbase get Alleva and F.Kingremoved? It's well-documented that termination of both is completely warranted and way past overdue. These two gentleman have single-handedly made LSU a national laughing-stock. This is a $150 million per year organization and there must be accountability.

Things you can do to help: -Stop auto contribution to TAF today or Monday (I recommend email stopping contributions with CC to board members below) -Email the board as much as your time allows -Do not attend upcoming home games -Do not buy another piece of LSU merchandise -Talk to your powerful friends and legislators and put the BOS on notice -Keep pressure on the media to ask the tough questions and demand accountability for this $150 million per year revenue organization that is LSU athletics -If you know the governor, tell him his job is on the line too and he better stay out of our way -If you know the LSU BOS members, put them on notice that investigations of ethical violations and conflicts of interest are coming on them as individuals

Another way to get the regime out, per one poster: Have one of Louisiana’s smaller schools step in for the good of LSU.

Time for a state school to help LSU out

Get one of them like ULL or Nicholls to offer him the AD and head coaching job and strongly encourage him to accept it. Give whichever school hires him whatever they want. LSU can agree to play at their stadium for a few years.

Of course this is after Alleva is fired.

Infighting’s rampant on message boards, especially after a brutal loss.

This is a thing that happens. It’s also the time to delineate who’s a TRUE FAN and who’s not.

Check in here if you're a true fan

These are the times where people truly prove their fan-hood. I'm very upset and angry right now, but I'll never leave my Tigers. Check in if you'll be here during these dark days.

I bring that up just to share the first reply:

Just here for the downvote

At And the Valley Shook!, the discourse was largely reasonable. This comment is important to note ...

At least Florida had the foresight to schedule us for their homecoming

... because it came in response to this:

Hey @LSU, thanks for having us down for homecoming! We really enjoyed it!

— Troy University (@TROYUnews) October 1, 2017

The folks at R/LSUFootball had good sense of humor about all of this.

Someone brought up the plight of fans of another Louisianan football program: the South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs, from The Waterboy.

How I felt before drinking my sorrows away

Here is the problem for LSU: It doesn’t have Bobby Boucher.

Also, someone posted this:

One person did start a thread simply titled, “Calm the fuck down.”

This is college football, and that’s never going to happen.