When I hear the words "Louisville Man," I think of Early Cuyler puffing his chest out.
The Billy G stuff - at least at first - was a whole lot of undocumented rumors and "I heards." I can understand not throwing that stuff out there in detail because it would've been hard to substantiate (at least until the Dana O'Neil expose). But a book backed up by hard evidence and subsequent investigation? That's a different deal entirely, IMO.
I am happiest for SAE and Richie.
As much as I love watching this dumpster fire, I can only imagine how sweet it is for you guys.
You and the rest of the Louisvillians enjoy yourselves. It's been a long time coming.
I think they are parroting the "Michigan Man" ideal.That "Louisville Man" schtick sounds exactly the "Schlitz Man" ad campaign that Don Draper walked out of on the last episode of Mad Men.
I firmly believe media (nearly everyone actually) end up doing what's best for themselves... whether it be in the short term or long term. Jones has said he was at practices early on where players were treated like garbage and he was concerned about players being hurt (Harrelson in particular if I remember correctly). Nothing was reported. When the same thing happened at TT he said it was a player safety issue and Billy should be fired.
I don't think Jones is any better or worse than other college media in this area. I also don't think he has a great deal of room to criticize someone for bad behavior when they're gone when he looked the other way (for whatever reason) when they were here.
They do now, but let's not forget that the former Kentucky Scout website, BBN, owned and operated by Brian Poe, was in bed with the Mumme regime during that mess which led to UK disassociating with him.
I've absorbed so much on it this week (book, online articles, tweets, ul radio, msge boards etc.) I'm almost embarrassed how much intricate detail I know about all of this. Anyone have this problem. I actually don't want to talk about it with casual uk fan because I come off a little foaming at the mouth. Savoring this last few mins of underdogs doh.
I dont really think that is fair. On the particular instance you are talking about, we weren't allowed to talk about what happened at that practice, so there was no way I could have spoken on it. But in general, I was pretty harsh on Billy...from the VMI game his second year on, I said he needed to be replaced. I took an insane amount of criticism that year, was repeatedly crushed by fans and it led to Billy telling me the day he was fired that I was part of the reason this happened. I also called for Joker to be fired at the start of his third year...while I was on the official UK broadcast team for basketball. That made my interactions with Mitch more than a little awkward.
Still it is tough for a "fan" blogger or radio host. The VAST majority of people drawn to "fan" sites want to hear good news...that is just the reality. If you bring up ANYTHING negative, you get crushed and told you aren't a "real" fan. So to take a stand can be very difficult. I have been doing this ten years now but if I were too negative about a particular thing (like for instance when I dont predict UK football to win 9 games every year), there are some who just let me have it. This is even more true when it comes to "exposing" negative things going on. I knew about the treatment of Meeks and Harrellson by Billy while it was going on in his last year....but lets say I report that, what happens? Well the fans likely dont believe me (I didnt have the trust or audience then), the players are asked about it and deny it (what else could they do) and I am used as the scapegoat. I thought it all through at the time and realized that making my name for myself as the "fan" blogger trying to bring down a UK basketball coach would likely only result in my being shunned by the school and most fans (although in hindsight the school might have liked it). People believe what they want to believe...and that makes it hard to go against their beliefs.
Things are however different for me now. I have been doing this for a decade. I would be much less worried about the backlash. I guaran-damn-tee you would never see me write about being a "Kentucky man" and all that nonsense. If Calipari had a sex scandal and then this happened, I would blast him...and he is a personal friend...but I think credibility would require it. I understand why the fan bloggers feel like they have to "take up" for Louisville...but in my opinion, their desire to take up for their school (which is understandable and something I would probably do) leads them to lose their minds and throw logic and reasoning out the door to make insane arguments (like a "woman who dances in a bikini for money" is not the same as a "stripper"). That I would hope I would not do...and I think most of my time doing this has shown I would not do.
gpyI get why local media decide not to report on or expose negative issues with hometown teams and can respect the difficult decisions you have to make. Fans want to hear what they want to hear and i understand the reasons (and I see them as reasons, not excuses) you laid out... but my fundamental disagreement with the manner a lot of the media (not just you) handled the way those players were treated was their (and your) reaction after the fact.
Don't want or don't feel like you can report on an issue? OK. But don't then (when it's safe and potential negative consequences have been removed) take a moral stand and pile on after the fact if that same issue pops up somewhere else...
...and whores.
I've absorbed so much on it this week (book, online articles, tweets, ul radio, msge boards etc.) I'm almost embarrassed how much intricate detail I know about all of this. Anyone have this problem. I actually don't want to talk about it with casual uk fan because I come off a little foaming at the mouth. Savoring this last few mins of underdogs doh.
Who had PTI turning into douche about this on day 7? I don't have the spreadsheet handy.fans expect their rival teams media to be woodward and bernstein, and they expect their own to be mike and mike.