Mr2Bits
Gator Fan
Gang, just as I was working on my latest segment of this blog (no, I didn't give up writing TOTT for Lent, in case you were wondering) an incident took place in Gainesville that day during spring practice that made me move in a different direction as far as my topic of choice went.
At some point this past Wednesday, Urban Meyer confronted Jeremy Fowler, a blogger at the Orlando Sentinel, over misconstruing quotes from WR Deonte Thompson during an interview, the text of which he had posted on his blog "Swamp Things". Coach Meyer expressed his disgust with Fowler's blog post, and in doing so drew the ire of not only the rest of the media, but also a small number of apologist fans amongst Gator Nation who have chosen to take Fowler's side. Fowler was the one who was clearly out of bounds, NOT Coach Meyer who was defending Thompson and his character.
Frankly I'm glad the Sentinel got what they had coming to them, and as far as I'm concerned it was a long time coming. Since the days of the much-reviled Larry Guest, the "Slantinel", as many of my fellow Orlandans refer to this publication, has never ceased to attack some aspect of Florida Gator football. This past Wednesday, things reached a boiling point which should have served to warn this newspaper that all this nonsense will no longer be taken lightly by Meyer or the football staff.
Naturally the media has rallied to the side of Fowler, who comes across to me as somebody rather immature and even smug in his attitude often reflected in his posted material. Instead of giving Coach Meyer credit for how he has resurrected Gator football and his accomplishments over the past five years, he simply regards this man of integrity as a "job flip-flopper" tiresomely as well as a belligerent control freak. When confronted by the fact that he took Deonte's words out of context, Fowler later retreated back to the sanctuary of the Sentinel and started crying wolf instead of facing the facts about all the trouble he caused.
Fowler isn't the only writer on their staff who has continued to speak ill about Meyer and the present Gator football program; as we all know Mike Bianchi has done more than his share, and if any of you were also in attendance at last year's Gator Country Caravan event held at Ker's Wing House in Altamonte Springs last summer you'll remember that Bianchi was greeted with a sound chorus of boos from the Orlando fanbase. At one time, the Sentinel employed a writer named Jemele Hill (now with ESPN), who ridiculously threw down the race card in 2006 reacting to Gator fans in attendance at a game in Gainesville that year who were dismayed at Chris Leak's performance one Saturday afternoon, labeling anybody who expressed such as "racist". Last but not least, probably the worst of the bunch is none other than Andrea Adelson, who is notorious for having taken a statement Coach Meyer made at last Year's Orlando Gator Gathering totally out of context and sparking national controversy in wrongly insinuating that Meyer was referring to Shane Matthews when he had stated that those who were speaking negatively about the football program were no longer welcome, and as of recent demanded an "explanation" for Meyer's health issues - the latter of which disgusted me to no end as Meyer's medical history, or <em>anyone's</em> for that matter, is none of her damn business.
Now that one of the Sentinel sports staff was finally castigated for sensationalism and purposely inviting controversy,<strong> it's time for ALL of them to reap what they sow.</strong> This sideshow of theirs has gone on for too long, and it needs to stop. Apparently Fowler turned a deaf ear to Meyer's statement that his cohort Adelson blew out of proportion and stepped over the line thinking he could once again get away with it - but as we saw earlier this week the joke is now on him. As far as I see the situation, Coach Meyer was doing what he could to avoid friction amongst his players, keep order on the field and in the locker room, and his utmost to protect them and the program he's been entrusted to run. To tell you the truth, I would have reacted the same way had I been in his shoes. Meyer has a job to do, but appeasing the media is not one of the duties he's expected to perform. Just because one has media credentials doesn't give an individual carte blanche to create an unsettling situation on purpose or manipulate the spoken and written word to their own satisfaction in an attempt to draw readers to their articles. Adelson often brushes off criticism from her readers with the alibi "I'm just reporting the news" - sorry, I for one refuse to buy into that. You fool nobody, Andrea - only yourself. You and Fowler can continue to make every attempt to try and undermine and disrupt the Gator football program, but you're doing so in vain.
The sports media in general has taken a downward spiral over the years in regards to the quality and integrity of what is broadcast and put into print. Instead of the high standards and ethics sports journalism once upheld as demonstrated by professionals such as the late Jim McKay, it now has reverted to a quality tantamount to what one sees on shows like TMZ and reads in grocery-checkout tabloids such as the National Enquirer, or as amateurish as one would expect from your average message-board troll posting on various sports websites. It's a disgrace as far as I'm concerned, and based on the level the Sentinel publishes written reports and commentary I could read articles of that same quality at a site like Bleacher Report. For a national newspaper, they ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Before anybody accuses me of being way too tart-tongued in my treatment of the media, let me say this: In spite of those individuals who cast a bad image upon their chosen profession (that includes the likes of Paul Finebaum, Tim Brando, Peter Kerasotis and Mike Freeman), there are those who simply report the news and refrain from inviting controversy and unnecessary conflict; a few names I'd like to make mention of and offer commendation to are Brady Ackerman, Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun, Buddy Martin of Gator Country and Ben Volin at the Palm Beach Post. I actually enjoy reading their accounts of what takes place in and around Gator football, and I especially enjoyed Martin's bio "Urban's Way". It only takes a few bad apples to spoil it for the rest of the bunch, and it doesn't have to be this way.
If the Sentinel refuses to cease their questionable tactics where reporting on Gator sports is concerned, the smartest thing they can do is just stay away from The Swamp and the Gator football venues to avoid further instances such as what happened this last week. It still amazes me how the Sentinel hires the personnel to staff their sports department as they do; why they make the choices they do I'll never figure out. Until the day comes when the Sentinel decides to remove the likes of Fowler and Adelson and replace them with responsible, objective, mature, professional journalists, I won't give them the right time of day.
Thus MY two cents' worth on the topic.
At some point this past Wednesday, Urban Meyer confronted Jeremy Fowler, a blogger at the Orlando Sentinel, over misconstruing quotes from WR Deonte Thompson during an interview, the text of which he had posted on his blog "Swamp Things". Coach Meyer expressed his disgust with Fowler's blog post, and in doing so drew the ire of not only the rest of the media, but also a small number of apologist fans amongst Gator Nation who have chosen to take Fowler's side. Fowler was the one who was clearly out of bounds, NOT Coach Meyer who was defending Thompson and his character.
Frankly I'm glad the Sentinel got what they had coming to them, and as far as I'm concerned it was a long time coming. Since the days of the much-reviled Larry Guest, the "Slantinel", as many of my fellow Orlandans refer to this publication, has never ceased to attack some aspect of Florida Gator football. This past Wednesday, things reached a boiling point which should have served to warn this newspaper that all this nonsense will no longer be taken lightly by Meyer or the football staff.
Naturally the media has rallied to the side of Fowler, who comes across to me as somebody rather immature and even smug in his attitude often reflected in his posted material. Instead of giving Coach Meyer credit for how he has resurrected Gator football and his accomplishments over the past five years, he simply regards this man of integrity as a "job flip-flopper" tiresomely as well as a belligerent control freak. When confronted by the fact that he took Deonte's words out of context, Fowler later retreated back to the sanctuary of the Sentinel and started crying wolf instead of facing the facts about all the trouble he caused.
Fowler isn't the only writer on their staff who has continued to speak ill about Meyer and the present Gator football program; as we all know Mike Bianchi has done more than his share, and if any of you were also in attendance at last year's Gator Country Caravan event held at Ker's Wing House in Altamonte Springs last summer you'll remember that Bianchi was greeted with a sound chorus of boos from the Orlando fanbase. At one time, the Sentinel employed a writer named Jemele Hill (now with ESPN), who ridiculously threw down the race card in 2006 reacting to Gator fans in attendance at a game in Gainesville that year who were dismayed at Chris Leak's performance one Saturday afternoon, labeling anybody who expressed such as "racist". Last but not least, probably the worst of the bunch is none other than Andrea Adelson, who is notorious for having taken a statement Coach Meyer made at last Year's Orlando Gator Gathering totally out of context and sparking national controversy in wrongly insinuating that Meyer was referring to Shane Matthews when he had stated that those who were speaking negatively about the football program were no longer welcome, and as of recent demanded an "explanation" for Meyer's health issues - the latter of which disgusted me to no end as Meyer's medical history, or <em>anyone's</em> for that matter, is none of her damn business.
Now that one of the Sentinel sports staff was finally castigated for sensationalism and purposely inviting controversy,<strong> it's time for ALL of them to reap what they sow.</strong> This sideshow of theirs has gone on for too long, and it needs to stop. Apparently Fowler turned a deaf ear to Meyer's statement that his cohort Adelson blew out of proportion and stepped over the line thinking he could once again get away with it - but as we saw earlier this week the joke is now on him. As far as I see the situation, Coach Meyer was doing what he could to avoid friction amongst his players, keep order on the field and in the locker room, and his utmost to protect them and the program he's been entrusted to run. To tell you the truth, I would have reacted the same way had I been in his shoes. Meyer has a job to do, but appeasing the media is not one of the duties he's expected to perform. Just because one has media credentials doesn't give an individual carte blanche to create an unsettling situation on purpose or manipulate the spoken and written word to their own satisfaction in an attempt to draw readers to their articles. Adelson often brushes off criticism from her readers with the alibi "I'm just reporting the news" - sorry, I for one refuse to buy into that. You fool nobody, Andrea - only yourself. You and Fowler can continue to make every attempt to try and undermine and disrupt the Gator football program, but you're doing so in vain.
The sports media in general has taken a downward spiral over the years in regards to the quality and integrity of what is broadcast and put into print. Instead of the high standards and ethics sports journalism once upheld as demonstrated by professionals such as the late Jim McKay, it now has reverted to a quality tantamount to what one sees on shows like TMZ and reads in grocery-checkout tabloids such as the National Enquirer, or as amateurish as one would expect from your average message-board troll posting on various sports websites. It's a disgrace as far as I'm concerned, and based on the level the Sentinel publishes written reports and commentary I could read articles of that same quality at a site like Bleacher Report. For a national newspaper, they ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Before anybody accuses me of being way too tart-tongued in my treatment of the media, let me say this: In spite of those individuals who cast a bad image upon their chosen profession (that includes the likes of Paul Finebaum, Tim Brando, Peter Kerasotis and Mike Freeman), there are those who simply report the news and refrain from inviting controversy and unnecessary conflict; a few names I'd like to make mention of and offer commendation to are Brady Ackerman, Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun, Buddy Martin of Gator Country and Ben Volin at the Palm Beach Post. I actually enjoy reading their accounts of what takes place in and around Gator football, and I especially enjoyed Martin's bio "Urban's Way". It only takes a few bad apples to spoil it for the rest of the bunch, and it doesn't have to be this way.
If the Sentinel refuses to cease their questionable tactics where reporting on Gator sports is concerned, the smartest thing they can do is just stay away from The Swamp and the Gator football venues to avoid further instances such as what happened this last week. It still amazes me how the Sentinel hires the personnel to staff their sports department as they do; why they make the choices they do I'll never figure out. Until the day comes when the Sentinel decides to remove the likes of Fowler and Adelson and replace them with responsible, objective, mature, professional journalists, I won't give them the right time of day.
Thus MY two cents' worth on the topic.
