New Monday Morning Beef - Week 16 | Franchise Sports Media

My Monday Morning Beef…

This week’s beef has been on my brain for a while now. Let’s call it aged beef. I’ve watched and listened to. I’ve begun to write only to say, “Nah, too soon.” I needed to do more research. If you wanna know the pulse of a team, the best place to check is on the sidelines. I’ve been on the sidelines in 2019, and I’ve made some real observations about teams and the fans that love them. So without further ado…

I got beef with Las Vegas Sports fans.

Yeah, I said it. I’m from LA, but I bought a crib out here in 1999. After 20 years you can call me whatever you want. I’m a real-life Las Vegas resident, though. Not new to this. True to this. Yes, I remember Tark the Shark. I remember Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon. Shit, I remember Andersen Hunt and Moses Scurry! That was one of the best basketball teams anybody has ever seen. Now let’s ask a question.

How long ago was that?

Why do we think that a team from 30 years ago is gonna hold some weight with 18-year-olds? Nobody from that team is still in the league. Greg Anthony is an announcer now and has a son playing at UNC. I doubt that kids connect him to a college basketball team from the 90s. UNLV fans of my age are always quick to reference this brief moment in history when this program was on top.

I get it. It’s the claim to fame for sports at the University. UNLV Men’s Basketball fans remember winning, and they desperately want it again. They’ve seen it. They’ve tasted it. They are rightfully upset with the fall from grace. UNLV is a basketball school, so the basketball program should be better. I get that 100%…

But what about football?

What’s the reason here? What has the UNLV football program achieved to create such high expectations and a lack of patience? UNLV football fans act like USC football fans with one significant and distinct difference. Hardware. The Rebels don’t have any. There seems to be an expectation though when I’m talking to UNLV football fans. I don’t understand this expectation, so I’d like to dive into the program a little. Let’s start at Coach Sanchez. That was the reset button. Let’s call it the power button. Turn the system off, wait 15 seconds, and turn it back on.

At the end of his tenure, Tony Sanchez had fixed two MAJOR issues for the program; GPA and facilities. A cumulative 2.8 for the team and the new Fertitta Football Complex are foundation-laying achievements. The team didn’t win enough. When you don’t win, you face the inevitable. When you don’t have the tools to win, either you sit on your ass and get a check for two years, or you can work tirelessly off the field to make sure the program gets those tools. Coach Sanchez chose the latter to his demise and for the good of UNLV football.

Now we have a foundation.

In comes a sexy hire in Marcus Arroyo. UNLV AD Desiree Reed- Francois swung for the fences and connected. A few months ago, most people would have thought this hire was out of UNLV’s league. It wasn’t. Coach Arroyo will coach the Ducks in the Rose Bowl before assuming his full-time duty as our new head coach.

This is another layer of bricks added to this foundation. All of the underground plumbing and stuff are being laid for this house. We can’t see it yet, but this coach will put up the frame. The frame shows the neighborhood a glimpse of how this house is gonna look. The frame is recruiting. Add Arroyo’s ability in this area to Sanchez’s foundation, and you know what we need next?

Patience. We need to be realistic.

We want a Roman house. We want it secure, and we want it to last. It cannot be built in a day. I could care less about what happened over the last five years as far as wins and losses. UNLV hasn’t had the talent to win. We didn’t have the talent because we didn’t have the tools. Joe and I are both from LA. We both went to high school football powerhouses in Serra and Upland, respectively. We know SO MANY kids that play ball in SoCal. Joe, being a former coach, gives us as a company a real perspective of how kids see UNLV. We MUST remember that this about kids.

At the moment, UNLV Athletics does not move the needle. This is not a point of argument. This does not need to be defended. This is just a fact. Part of why we started this company was to be a bridge between kids who can play ball and universities that want them. There are only so many roster slots at USC, UCLA, and Oregon. Our point is to make UNLV a viable option for kids who otherwise don’t think of playing D1 ball in Las Vegas.

How do we change this?

Look, the sideline is the best gauge of the pulse of a program. I’m down there for football, and I’m down there for basketball. As I shoot, I hover. I listen, and I read body language. The vibe of the UNLV bench is critical to me. If the players don’t buy-in, the foundation is worthless. You can’t build with assholes. Some players don’t get it. Some players won’t get it. Credit to DRF because Otzelberger and Arroyo will be the toilet paper for that ass… and I mean the double-ply expensive kind. There won’t be any assholes next season. This university is building a house. Get your popcorn ready.

So what about us?

Here’s the charcuterie board. What are we gonna do in the meantime? Are we gonna sit on social media and complain? Are we gonna bitch and moan about hires? Are we gonna keep bringing up Jerry Tarkanian’s name as if he can help us right now? Are we gonna continue to allow these teams to play in front of no one? Trisha and I don’t shoot content for our little blog exclusively. We take it upon ourselves with Joe Arrigo as Franchise Sports Media, to play our part in making Las Vegas Sports better. We send content to parents, schools, teams, and athletes, trying to put UNLV in their minds…

Do you know how hard that is to do when the background of every photo is thousands of empty seats? A student-athlete will pass Las Vegas to play in some small hick school down south somewhere because people will watch. Asses in the seats are what drive kids. Its the social media era. Kids care about their “brands,” and everybody has one in their mind at least. Your brand ain’t shit if nobody sees it…

While I’m at it, check this out.

Prospects are on Twitter. When we say to a kid, “Hey, you should check out UNLV,” they go straight there first. Do you know what they see? A bunch of UNLV bashing from the city of Las Vegas. From the media to the average fan, to the Vegas guy who’s figured out that he can get likes for shitting on UNLV athletics, I haven’t experienced this at this level anywhere else. Whether you feel its deserved or not isn’t the question. We’re asking that you keep it to yourself for a while.

Some of you are rightfully fed up, and you want change now. I get it. You don’t want to spend $25 going to games to watch the team underperform. Nobody does. But we’re building a new house. We have to put the past out of our minds, make a sacrifice, and support this school and its athletics. We, as fans have to play our part.

Sanchez had a part. DRF had a part. Otzelberger and Arroyo have some serious work to do for their parts. This work will be tedious and ugly before we see any fruit. More than likely, these teams are going to lose for a while. We need to be there. We need to be loud. We need to muster up the same enthusiasm we feel when we hear “GO KNIGHTS GO!” Get the fuck outta here! There weren’t this many hockey fans in Las Vegas 3 years ago. The Knights haven’t won shit yet… But the Knights KNOW that the city of Las Vegas has their back.

We need the Rebels to know it too if we expect the Rebels to get better.

Hit that power switch. Buy some cheap seats at the Thomas & Mack. Move down after the first quarter. Security will be so happy to see you; they won’t even trip. Do it now while the team is struggling because those seats are gonna hurt your pockets again soon. Otzelberger has that look in his eyes right now that puts assholes at the end of the bench regardless of talent. It’s dog-finding season. Let’s see who on this team really wants to play UNLV basketball and euthanize the rest.

We have some young Rotts, Pits, and Mastiffs coming in next year. The Thomas & Mack won’t be a place for Bassett Hounds and Yorkies. Let’s start Saturday. It’s the weekend between Christmas and New Years Day. You ain’t got shit to do so come out and root for the Runnin’ Rebels…

Las Vegas has a house to build. Let’s put our hard hats on.

Monday Morning Beef American football blog

*Disclaimer: We at Franchise Media Sports do not support any of TQ’s views. We also cannot stop him from making them. FSM is comprised of a group of non-biased sports professionals who report sports news without emotional attachment. We apologize that TQ is not one of us. Please do not accredit any of the madness you may read here as the views of Franchise Media Sports as they are not. Please beef with TQ and not the rest of us. Thank you!

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