No Matter How Successful We Are, Bill Byrne Will Always Find A Way To Say The Wrong Thing

Kate Hairopolous of the DMN, probably their laziest reporter when it comes to getting timely news out, did an interview with Bill Byrne. Among the issues touched on was his infamous phone call to a fan who asked Byrne how he could breathe while acting as DeLoss Dodds' unlicensed proctologist; Byrne again apologized for his message that the fan deserved to have his butt kicked (something I thought, taken with other incidents under his watch, he should have been fired over). True to his "I'm always good for saying something stupid every time I'm interviewed" form, Byrne goes on to say this:

"I actually call people a lot," Byrne said. "First time I've left a message. The normal thing will be, I'll say, 'This is Bill Byrne,' and there'll be a pause. They'll say, 'The athletic director?' And I'll say, 'Yes.'

 

"There will be a pause. And nine times out of 10, the response is, 'Ooh, I shouldn't be writing when I'm drunk.'

"And then they apologize."

Terrific. So, when our fanbase writes to Byrne to criticize him or express disagreement with a decision he has made, it's because we're a bunch of drunks. Nice, $Bill. You really know how to get a fanbase on your side.

The DMN even obtained some of Byrne's emails to fans following the realignment talks with the SEC and Pac-10:

"We had the chance to gain the upper hand and you guys couldn't pull the trigger," one fan wrote Byrne.

Byrne responded in part: "Take a look how Arkansas and South Carolina did before they entered the SEC and how they have done since. Unless you're the lead dog, the scenery is always the same."

If Byrne actually believes we are comparable to South Carolina and Arkansas, we really need to get someone else to take over as athletic director at A&M; the difference in resources alone shows that there is no comparison between A&M and those two schools. At best, Byrne looks like someone who isn't able to see the whole picture, despite his claims to the contrary. At worst, Byrne looks like someone who is afraid of the competition we might face in the SEC, which means he isn't the man for the job at A&M. Either way, he's shown he can still be relied on to say the wrong thing and embarrass A&M when put on the spot by the fans or the media.