Dec 13th, 2007 10:42AM
by: Douglas

Let me preface this by saying that I do somewhat wish that Petrino's resignation debacle was handled a bit more differently, however, under the current circumstances, I absolutely support him for this. This post/thread, however, isn't going to dip into that aspect heavily; rather, I'm going to focus on the publicity we (as in the University of Arkansas) have been receiving.

The old adage "Any kind of publicity is GOOD publicity" has never rung more true than what we've seen transpire in the last 28 hours or so. For all the bastardization, degradation and chastising the media, Atlanta Falcons and some fans are doing on Bobby Petrino's rather hasty exit from the Falcons organization, it is actually bringing one key point to light: The University of Arkansas and Bobby Petrino's actions have put Arkansas on the front burner of everyone's minds in the football world.

For all the griping that the Media is doing, and for all the crying and blathering that the overpaid prima-dona Falcon teammates are doing, it just continues to keep Arkansas in the mainstream media and allow our name to get out there to the recruits that are still undecided or were possibly considering other schools, but now rethinking their decisions.

It also gets Advertisers attention and they want to hop on board and latch their hook to that speedboat blazing by, just so they can catch some of the publicity buzz and turn that into more $$ for them.

In the last 28 hours, I have seen a plethora of non 'Backs fans signing up here, congratulating us on our Grand Slam of a coaching hire. People from Louisville, Alabama, Minnesota, Chicago, New York, Detroit, California and other places coming here and going "WOW". I also know, for a fact, that we've picked up a nice contingent of ATL Falcons fans that are absolutely pissed off and want to scream into whatever sounding board they can that they're disgusted with the coach that left their "beloved" (read: disgraced) franchise.

This is a WONDERFUL time for the University of Arkansas as well as the state.

Any kind of publicity is good for us, as fans. It keeps people talking about us. That collective groan you heard was the entire SEC West division now dreading ANY game against the Razorbacks... and that thud that you just heard was the collective jaw dropping of every coaching staff in the SEC (and our OOC Opponents, too). Think that the Longhorns and Aggies were "worried" about facing us with HDN at the helm? I can guarantee they weren't. They are now. We see the mumbling, griping, groans and complaints on their fan sites.

Let me throw another aspect out there, one that deals specifically with Hogville and its incredible growth. Much like the national media is talking trash about Petrino and Arkansas, a lot of the fan sites did the same about Hogville. We held our head high and just kept striving to be the best damned fan site out on the internet. Four years later and close to 2.2 million posts later and 32,076 brand new members later (as of the time I wrote this, based on when I joined up with SouthernSports Media, Inc.), we are now considered to be one of the premier fan sites in the world, ranking #13 of ALL fan sites (professional or collegiate, official and unofficial). Yes, we welcomed the negative publicity. I cannot count the number of times that I've had to tell hSv to not sweat the naysayers, take the high road keep moving forward. Every time someone would launch a major attack, we would counter with a brand new feature to bring MORE people to Hogville.

The University of Arkansas needs to pay attention and use ALL of this publicity (good, bad and indifferent) to propel themselves forward and show the rest of the nation WHY we're a premier school and why we are about to become a major powerhouse in Football again.

Attention Coach Petrino, AD Long, Chancellor White: The ball is a scant 5 yards away from the goal, first down. Do you go for the kick, or do you want to go for the two point conversion and win the game? How you handle this will ultimately determine where we are viewed in the next few years. You've got the ball, what are you going to do?