Thank you David Glenn for your take on 89

[Mr. Scot]

Whatever. Voth's opinion is not really addressing the issue at hand.  Smith should have been notified privately before he was cut.  Any mature and business-minded person should be able to see that.   If you're running a first-rate organization, that's what you do: act professionally, even when you believe that others have not.  As a GM, you are held to a much higher standard.   Anyone with any sense of professional protocol should be able to understand.

 

Voth is talking about things that actually happened, not just giving his opinion.

 

Smith was told repeatedly, over the entire previous season, "stop acting like this" and he didn't.

 

Any mature or professional person would have listened and acted like a grown up.

 

Smith didn't, and still isn't.

[teeray]

This was way past the time that Smith should have been notified that a change was coming. Come on, dude.

He knew for weeks that changes were coming. And he had a meal with the owner before it happened and free agency hadn't even started yet.

So... no he had plenty of time to deal.

[Mr. Scot]

I agree that there is a lot we don't know and I think Smitty is being infantile by doing what he's doing.  He'd be much smarter to chill and let it settle down, play ball, and come back here when he's done to welcoming arms to retire.  He apparently doesn't want to do that, and It doesn't surprise me given his personality.

 

I stand by what I said though, Gettleman could have handled it better than he did, both with Smitty directly and most especially with the fans.  He could have come out and explained what went down, but as usual, they chose to remain silent and take the heat.

 

Do you honestly believe there was a chance that Smith would have quietly accepted parting on anything but his own terms?

 

[top dawg]

Voth is talking about things that actually happened, not just giving his opinion.

 

Smith was told repeatedly, over the entire previous season, "stop acting like this" and he didn't.

 

Any mature or professional person would have listened and acted like a grown up.

 

Smith didn't, and still isn't.

 

Smith is kicking ass and taking names---basically doing what he has always done. 

[teeray]

Even Smith says he told him privately that he was going to be traded or released during his tirade on the radio. Then Big Cat had him over a day or two before he was released to thank him.

For Smith to say he didn't know is not true

[top dawg]

Do you honestly believe there was a chance that Smith would have quietly accepted parting on anything but his own terms?

 

 

Doesn't matter.  The Panthers didn't handle their business, so they opened themselves up to questions about their own behavior in regards to the situation.  If they had handled the situation better, then if Smith acted out he wouldn't have had a leg to stand on.  

 

You may not agree, but in the eyes of the NFL world, the Panthers look much worse than Smith does in this situation.

[Darth Biscuit]

Do you honestly believe there was a chance that Smith would have quietly accepted parting on anything but his own terms?

 

 

No I do not.

 

I'm not saying Gettleman was completely wrong for cutting him... I think it could have been handled in a manner in which the team looked better.

 

Smitty might be the biggest asshole on earth... i don't know the man personally... but in the eyes of a large percentage of Panthers fans, he was numero uno Panther.  Whether the man himself deserved repect or not, his image did... Gettleman bungled that from the start.

[Mr. Scot]

Smith is kicking ass and taking names---basically doing what he has always done. 

 

That's your response?  Seriously.

 

He was told to act like an adult and instead he acted like a spoiled kid because he believed "Daddy" would protect him.  This time Daddy made him face the consequences of his actions.  He could have taken that as a wake up call and grown up a little, but instead he chose to act like even more of a whiny brat than he already had been.

 

If that's "kicking ass and taking names" then I guess "kicking ass and taking names" is something any child can do.

[top dawg]

Voth is talking about things that actually happened, not just giving his opinion.

 

Smith was told repeatedly, over the entire previous season, "stop acting like this" and he didn't.

 

Any mature or professional person would have listened and acted like a grown up.

 

Smith didn't, and still isn't.

 

Even if I take what Voth says as fact (which I don't, because there are always two sides to the story), this still doesn't absolve the Panthers from acting responsibly and professionally in the way they handles Smith's release.  

[Mr. Scot]

No I do not.

 

I'm not saying Gettleman was completely wrong for cutting him... I think it could have been handled in a manner in which the team looked better.

 

Smitty might be the biggest asshole on earth... i don't know the man personally... but in the eyes of a large percentage of Panthers fans, he was numero uno Panther.  Whether the man himself deserved repect or not, his image did... Gettleman bungled that from the start.

 

I think the man who 'bungled it' is Jerry Richardson.

 

He screwed up by giving Smith the idea that he could do whatever he wanted and nobody could say anything to him.  In essence, he created the monster.

 

[Darth Biscuit]

I think the man who 'bungled it' is Jerry Richardson.

 

He screwed up by giving Smith the idea that he could do whatever he wanted and nobody could say anything to him.  In essence, he created the monster.

 

 

 

That is definitely a possibility.

 

I think there is certainly some blame to go around.  Including a lot on Smitty.

[Mr. Scot]

Even if I take what Voth says as fact (which I don't, because there are always two sides to the story), this still doesn't absolve the Panthers from acting responsibly and professionally in the way they handles Smith's release.  

 

Voth actually has direct contact with the people involved in this story on a regular basis.  He also knows way more about what really happened behind the scenes than you do.

 

Whose opinion should I take more seriously?

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

supposedly steve smith had a very tense meeting with JR and jeff davidson back when he was here, it might have been in 2010 but i don't remember.

 

anyway at one point things were getting heated and davidson was reportedly ordered to stand down to steve by richardson, effectively undermining the hell out of his authority as the offensive coordinator.

 

 

[top dawg]

That's your response?  Seriously.

 

He was told to act like an adult and instead he acted like a spoiled kid because he believed "Daddy" would protect him.  This time Daddy made him face the consequences of his actions.  He could have taken that as a wake up call and grown up a little, but instead he chose to act like even more of a whiny brat than he already had been.

 

If that's "kicking ass and taking names" then I guess "kicking ass and taking names" is something any child can do.

 

Mr. Scot, just because you want to say he is actling like a spoiled child doesn't mean he's acting like a spoiled child. That's just your opinion.  Personally I don't think that Gettleman or Rivera acted like grown men the way that Smitty was notified, but that's my opinion.  There is not necessarily a right answer here.  The truth is probably somewhere in between.