DID WILBON GET DUPED BY JOHN THOMPSON?????

ned racine · Aug 16, 2007

VERY INTERESTING........

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070815/SPORTS/708150334/1006

HERE IS WILBONS FROM WEDNESDAY...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2007081301102.html

Chi City 81 · Aug 16, 2007

WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME?!

sportschick · Aug 16, 2007

WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY?????

And this is a D_B. Somebody posted it on the Ball State thread on sports and news.

Write-brained · Aug 16, 2007

Good ole, Zaleski.

Didn't realize he read SportsJournalists.com ... that was eerily similar to Bubbler's post on the soap opera thread.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/44135/

Bubbler said:

I just read Wilbon’s piece and a bigger hatchet job you will not find.

Some examples ...

-- As mentioned, it was the women’s volleyball coach who reported the initial violation. What wasn’t mentioned is that volleyball coach has filed a tort claim alleging retaliatory termination. He asserts that he was fired so the university could protect Thompson, sweep the violations under the rug or both. So which is it? Was BSU trying to fuck over Thompson or protect him?
-- Thompson allegedly committed the same violations he was originally accused of again this spring. He has subsequently been linked with violations ranging from financially assisting a potential transfer to Ball State to giving Nike’s to players as an academic reward.
-- Because of his, Thompson and his staff were asked to attend a three-day NCAA compliance seminar in Miami. BSU rented a $65 a day rental car for his use. Thompson upgraded without permission to a luxury SUV at $200 per day. Each of Thompson’s staff had their own room at the Miami Biscayne Bay Marriott also at $200 a pop. The entire trip cost the university $7,749 according to the Muncie Star Press, well over the budget earmarked for the trip.

Wilbon’s column fails to mention any of this. The fact that there’s no Ball State quotes at all regarding Thompson's allegations tells me he took Thompson’s word at 100 percent face value and made little effort to vet them.

More examples ...

-- In the column, Thompson claims Ball State had no basketballs and that he had to purchase them himself. What?

This strikes me as Wilbon (and Thompson) taking advantage of the ignorance of the Post readers who presumably think Ball State is a Division 3 backwater playing in Carver High School’s secondhand gym from the White Shadow.

Are Wilbon/Thompson trying to claim that a university with an enrollment around 18,000 and an arena that seats 10,000-plus, where basketball is the most popular sport among students and especially alumni for a program that had a sterling tradition until recently, where it is one of a handful of I-A programs where basketball means more as far as donation money than football, where it was paying Thompson well into six figures (with a raise to near $200,000 per not long before he quit), where it could absorb a $7,749-padded expense report for a trip to Miami, had no basketballs for practice and Thompson had to buy them himself? Really?

-- Thompson claims there was no coach for 2 1/2 months. Ex-coach Tim Buckley was iced on March 14, 2006. Thompson was hired on April 3, 2006.

I was really disappointed to see Wilbon’s name on that article, I have a lot of respect for him, but that was a pure and simple hatchet piece with not even basic chances for Ball State to respond to some pretty ridiculous charges. Thompson snowed Wilbon on that one, apparently believing correctly that Wilbon wouldn’t check up on any of the allegations.

I said it before, I think both Thompson and BSU’s administration have plenty of blame to spread amongst themselves and both are getting what they deserve.

And I know there is racism in Muncie (though I never saw it in the BSU community itself, which generally isolates itself from Muncie proper, which doesn’t mean university racism doesn’t exist), so that issue can’t be dismissed out of hand, but it was given greater emphasis in the column at the expense of facts that weigh against Thompson.

As I said, this strikes me as a piece written for Post readers who don’t know squat about Ball State, don’t care to know, and will therefore take Wilbon/Thompson at their word. It was an insult to the intelligence of readers who have knowledge of the program and irresponsible for those that don't.

No context + left out facts + reader ignorance of the situation on the ground = bad journalism. Wilbon should know better.
Click to expand...

ned racine · Aug 16, 2007

SORRY....i will whisper in the future...

sportschick · Aug 16, 2007

Some caps are OK, just not all caps, seems very angry, ya know.

This seems like pretty shoddy reporting by Wilbon, which is not like him at all.

EDIT: fixed

dooley_womack1 · Aug 16, 2007

Shotglass would have done a better job.

Moderator1 · Aug 16, 2007

So would shodglass.

Bill Horton · Aug 16, 2007

sportschick said:

Some caps are OK, just not all caps, seems very angry, ya know.

This seems like pretty shotty reporting by Wilbon, which is not like him at all.
Click to expand...

Perhaps Mr. Wilbon made the mistake of being TOO close to his subjects. There's a valuable lesson in there for all of us.

armageddon · Aug 16, 2007

Bill Horton said:

sportschick said:

Some caps are OK, just not all caps, seems very angry, ya know.

This seems like pretty shotty reporting by Wilbon, which is not like him at all.
Click to expand...

Perhaps Mr. Wilbon made the mistake of being TOO close to his subjects. There's a valuable lesson in there for all of us.
Click to expand...

Agreed. And I suspect Zaleski has a better handle on the reality of the situation than does Wilbon.

But another issue that bothers me, perhaps more than Wilbon not taking a break from PTI to call Ball State to verify, is this:

Where in the hell was a friggin' editor with the balls to send a red flag up the pole and order Wilbon to get the other side?

Absolute joke.

playthrough · Aug 16, 2007

Zaleski says they got Whitlock out to D.C. to plead their case, yet Whitlock was skeptical about the facts and declined the story. Then Wilbon took it and ran. Very, very interesting.

And very good question, armageddon.

Cousin Jeffrey · Aug 16, 2007

Zaleski, of course, isn't exactly presenting both sides either. But he did do a good job of centering a story that could spiral into complete mistruth.
Ol' Ronny was a finalist for OU's job when I was there. Good thing they hired Ron Howard's brother.

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