re: Who's on your All-Vol Team

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To be honest, don't know any of the back story there. All I knew was he made my fantasy team one year and busted it another year.

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I like Foster but he got a case of the fumbles at the worst possible time and that frustrated a lot of fans. To make matters worse he was so sick of hearing reporters ask about it that he'd only answer in fake pterodactyl (not kidding!) - now I totally understand that even found it amusing, especially knowing what I now know of the press but a lot of fans just got even madder.

Taco-gate had to do with him making a comment not too long ago where in support of paying players he talked about how he couldn't afford to eat back then and had to threaten a coach by calling him up and saying "I'm feeling like doing stupid" in order to get tacos out of. Now, all of us know Foster's background, his father had a good job in Nashville (IIRC) and even then the UT meal plan for athletes was absurd - regular student meal plans didn't come close! And his comments came at a bad time so it felt like he was trying to directly slap us in the face. Overall it was just so silly no one who has any knowledge of our program or Arian's family could buy it but he wanted to lend his name to a cause.

That said, I don't think that making us look bad was his intention at all. He made those comments thinking it could help kids at programs who are in those situations and while he knew the NCAA wouldn't come calling in, I don't think he factored in how much it would hurt fans or how wronged they'd feel about. It was a case of doing what he felt he needed to in order to support those struggling but doing it the wrong way.

Foster was a good RB at UT but given all the good and great RBs we've had he's not who I'd put at the top of the list, not even in the top 5 and maybe not the top 10. We've just been blessed that way until our recent dry spell.

And again, I say that all as someone who really likes Arian Foster and think he's been largely misunderstood by fans. His real breakout though came in the pros (would've come sooner but those fumbles were bad and regular). That said, he still a great UT RB and I'm proud to claim him.

BTW, thanks for the link.