Derek Johnson’s Contribution to the HuskyFanPodcast and Race Bannon
By HuskyFanPodcast | April 2, 2016
Derek Johnson of HardcoreHusky helped our podcast get off the ground. I am thankful for that. However, its a bit rich to hear that he made the show and now I want to shit on him.
This statement comes from Race Bannon, a cult hero among misfit husky fans, former writer for Dawgman.com and legend in his own mind. I enjoy Race’s DuckFighter Illustrated. His satire is great. However, as senility and dementia, or both creep in, Race’s memory and thoughts are not too lucid.
Initially Derek did not support the podcast. When he did not post a link, others on his website asked why. Derek thought the podcast was juvenile and repetitive. Not that I disagreed then.
As Hardcore Husky grew so did the podcast. However, other sources also fueled the growth of the podcast and the podcast itself helped Hardcore Husky grow.
In fact, the HuskyFanPodcast, the only legitimate podcast focused exclusively on Husky Football spawned or inspired the creation of a handful of other podcasts. Derek himself started his own podcast thanks to my encouragement. Then a few others started their own recruiting focused podcast. A Hardcore Husky Radio Network was spawned.
Oh and I should also mention the one listener we had who hated us started his own podcast, as well as two guys from UWDawgpound (who also mildly objected to our cast) and Dawgman.com started doing regular podcasts.
But Derek made us?
Nevermind the roughly $500 I’ve spent hosting the site plus many hours researching and preparing for shows and generating the insights that 99% of fans can’t generate and asking the questions that most professionals won’t ask.
Derek made us?
Sadly, this isn’t the worst of Race’s thoughts in recent months. There was the one where he tried to compare the UW 2015 football team to the UW 2000 team (in an effort to support his biased, pathetic and incorrect coach hating view). I shit you not.
And the constant bashing of metrics and advanced analytics….which programs use, big business uses, etc…because its predictive! It’s like a leading indicator. When Race and his ilk correctly bashed Sark in 2010-2011 they pointed out the constant blowouts, lack of wins against good teams etc. They were making a metrics based argument but didn’t know it.
Now when the metrics favor UW, it’s meaningless bullshit.
(Race also was down on Pete Carroll early in his 3rd year despite strong metrics in year 2 (2011) when the Seahawks lost 5 games by a total of 18 points. In fact Carroll’s year 2 vs. year 1 with the Hawks is quite similar to Petersen’s year 2 vs. year 1 with UW).
HardcoreHusky and Derek Johnson will have to change with the times or the website and community will die a slow death.
At the end of Steve Sarkisian’s tenure, there was a need for a critical voice. Sark ordered Kim Grinolds of Dawgman.com to get his message boards under control. He allegedly sternly asked Kim if he wanted to be WalMart or Nordstrom (in regards to his clientele). Nevermind that WalMart makes a fuckton more. And remember Molly Yanity speaking to how Sark edited Greg Bell’s stories before he published them?
That is why we started the podcast and supported HardcoreHusky. There was a desperate need for a critical voice because there was none. And there was no need for proper decorum or etiquette.
While Derek and Race predicted Sark would be the coach at UW forever as long as he won 7-8 games, I before the start of the 2013 season predicted Sark would leave within two years. I was right, which is becoming commonplace lately.
(I also wrote that Mark Helfrich sucked before the NC game and would lead Oregon to regress as a program. I was viciously attacked by HardcoreHusky posters, yet I was obviously right).
Anyway, a championship coach fell into UW’s lap and he has his team poised to be very good this season and the years ahead. The problem for HardcoreHusky is it thrives on UW losing and fucking things up. Race and his ilk are stuck in 2005. When Petersen takes the program to a higher level, HardcoreHusky will lose its essence.
Unfortunately for Derek, he will also be at a crossroads soon. Will he continue to shell out hundreds of bucks a month so people can essentially continue to make derogatory comments about specific players, coaches and AD personnel? Note I said derogatory and not critical. It’s fine to say Jen Cohen would be a bad AD. But you can’t make derogatory comments about her.
Or will Derek take the advice I gave him, clean up his site and then be able to get back into writing with UW’s blessing? He needs to do what I told him to do and what I did or his career as a Husky writer will be over. That would be a shame because I like his books and he needs to write a book about how Petersen revitalized the program. This is a guy who was friends with Don James and knows many former players personally. (Sadly it will probably be Fetters from Dawgman.com who writes said book and we won’t get to hear about Sark’s ridiculous relationship with Dawgman.com).
But according to Race I’m shitting on Derek now.
NOTE: I believe it is perfectly ok to post this here give it is not behind a pay wall or anything of the sort.
Sounds like he cares
Sounds like the move to Friday harbor did wonders for his content. I assume his podcast is now a booming success.
Only Puppy would act like there was anything cool about that story. That strip club depressed the shit out of me and I can imagine a decent looking black stripper in there. There were literaly meth head 3's dancing in there when I went.
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