Let me first state that I totally understand what Wayne Weaver is trying to accomplish and I believe his intentions are coming from a great place...but who is this man surrounding himself with?  Doesn't someone in his inner circle have the ability to waive the "let's slow down a little, big guy" flag in this man's face? 

It began with the notion that it would be a great idea to lead the NFL pack in being the flagship team to start the "we won't give it away for free" movement.  I get the business side of the story, but where was the PR birdie whispering something along the lines of "hey Wayne, we are small market team with a brand new fan base and lagging fan support.  Other teams are in the same boat fan-wise.  Let's wait for some other teams to join us in instilling the 'every game will be blacked out unless the fans buy tickets' motto and not be a solitary lightning rod for criticism." 

The year after the 2009 blackout debacle, like 4 other teams did exactly what the Jags did and blacked out almost all of their games and no one noticed.  Why did no one notice?  Because everyone was busting on the Jags for 2009 even though 2010 was a record year.  Get it?  We had a record year...and no one (barely) noticed.  Other teams were blacked out using the Jag's 2009 model ...and...no one (barely) noticed.  All because the Jags decided to be Lewis and Clark on the home game blackout front.  We are still fighting that battle.

Enter the Live Chat.  Brilliant.  Again, I get the idea that he was going for - let's be as accessible as possible to our fans.  But less than a day later, no one is talking about how "accessible" the Jags brass is to the fan base.  Everyone is talking about how Weaver is admitting the Jags are going to be non-contenders for at least 2 more years and our owner is begging the residents to buy tickets so the big bad national media won't make fun of us and huwrt ow feewings.  I mean, damn man, get a clue.  And nice 50 typos, btw.  It looks like dude can't even write a sentance [sic].

Once again, I am a Wayne Weaver fan and appreciate and respect the fact that he is damn near, if not the, sole reason we even have a team.  As a fan, I will always be grateful.  But someone needs to tell this man to stay down for a bit or at the very least, think about what the hell he's saying and doing and how it's going to be perceived when it inevitably gets picked up and ridiculed.

As you can tell, I'm tired of being the black sheep fan at my local sports bar. It doesn't have to be that way.  We've got a great team and great fans (and even a great owner when he doesn't have his flame thrower out).  I just think our owner makes some silly decisions that are, quite frankly, easy to avoid. 

G*ddamnit and Go F*kin Jags