SportsJournalists.com

Piggybacking on the Joe Torre/Tom Verducci thread ...

Just heard Forde talking up Pitino as a master strategist, motivator and everything in between on ESPN Radio. Now, I'm a big Pitino fan, as well. Watching his teams up close has been one of the great joys of my sports writing career - just the way they snap out of the full-court press and right into smothering half-court defense makes my own thighs and calves burn. I love it.

That being said ... Forde did a book last year with Pitino, correct? "Rebound Rules"?

So ... is Forde obligated to disclose this when showering the man with praise over the radio? When writing about him on the .com?

Obligated? No. Should he? Yeah, especially when he gushes.

See Posnanski thread ... sportswriters taking themselves too seriously.

So if someone wrote a book on Ali, would they not be able to say he was a great boxer?

Forde is only under obligatgion to disclose the book if he stuck up for Pitino when the coach was in some sort of trouble.

You were better off staying silent, Bob.

Posnanski clearly says in that essay/post that we're much better off with the stronger ethical standards of today. Having ethics does not mean you can't love and have fun with sports.

Of course Pat shouldn't be gushing about Pitino without disclosing that he wrote a book with him.

The fact is, he shouldn't have written the book. I don't think anyone should write a book "with" any coach or athlete if they want to comment on them in the future. Period.

I, for one, never wanted to work for the "toy department." I always considered covering sports as a combination entertainment/business/education beat, and I like to think my work reflected that.

I personally don't think sports writers, as a whole, take themselves seriously enough.

I assume Forde is also willing to knock Pitino when warranted----like, for instance, the second half of today's game against Michigan State. Louisville seemed unable to make any sort of adjustment to MSU's defense and it only got worse as the game went on. That's a coahcing issue.

What say you, Pat Forde?

Yeah, that really killed Dick Schaap's credibility...

Wow. Talk about taking yourself way too seriously.

Jersey, I know what Joe wrote.

Ethics are great. Lord knows we all need to be reminded of them once every month or so.

But just because Forde wrote a book with Pitino does not mean he has to disclose it whenever someone asks his opinion on Pitino.

Now if Pitino was being investigated for rules infractions, then yes, absolutely he does.

Well, Bob, that's one opinion.

Here's another one: I can safely say that if you were working for me, and you wrote a book with anyone, you wouldn't be commenting on them ever again. Period.

As for Schaap, it's a somewhat different situation. His primary gig was book author, not daily print/web/broadcast journalist. I think people knew who he was, and what he was, and judged what he said accordingly.

And, Waylon, of course I"m with you, and no, you're not taking yourself too seriously.

Cut the guy a break. He's good people who does good work.

Never did I dispute that. In fact, I went out of my way to say I agreed with what he was saying.

But I get tired of these conflicts of interest being dismissed because it's "just sports." It was the same garbage a year ago with the APSE judging, when the MLB.com employee was judging. "He's good people!" and "You can trust him!"

You guys would all be OK with it if Chuck Todd ghost wrote Robert Gibbs' autobiography then? If Joe Klein ghost wrote a book with Joe Biden? No problem with that at all?

And spnited, king of the drive-by insult, no need to really address your post at all.

The issue, in case anybody is missing, is this:

Theoretically, when Forde talks up Pitino, it could entice people to go out and purchase Pitino's book. And when someone purchases Pitino's book, it also, theoretically, aids Forde financially (though it's possible he was paid a flat fee).

Therefore, you can't entirely trust that what Forde, in such a situation, is saying about Pitino, because there is at least the appearance of self-interest there.

The distinction posters are making between his coaching ability and a hypothetical situation where, say, recruiting violations are made, kind of baffles me. The games aren't important? Then why do we cover them? Why does CBS pay so much money to broadcast them? The games are the heart of this.

One other thing to consider: There may not be a journalist in the country that is more of a Pitino-as-college-coach expert than Pat (who is a friend).

He was the beat writer when Pitino was hired at Kentucky and became a columnist. He was still the columnist at the Courier-Journal when Pitino was hired at Louisville.

Waylon is right---saying because this is a sports topic it shouldn't be subject to the same ethical standards that exist in the newsroom is poppycock. That's why the news folks still call us the toy dept.

Who still says "poppycock?"