1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Gainesville Columnist hits a new low

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by SEC Guy, Jan 9, 2011.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. SEC Guy

    SEC Guy Member

    If you're asking Pat Dooley not to drink and do something, you might as well put him in a cage. He's the biggest drinker I've met in 30 years as a sports writer and that's saying something.
     
  2. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I'm with LTL.

    I can forgive a stupid tweet. And I think the Knoxville guy was too harsh in condemning it (if it was in a column, fine, bust his chops) but the response by Dooley really turned me off.
     
  3. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    I can't buy the "didn't know the story" defense. Regardless of how it got there, the man has a scar on his neck. You're going to ridicule him for that?

    Again, I don't know Dooley or his history or anything. But if I'm still an SE, I have a very serious problem with one of my guys tweeting something like that even on a personal account. You're a rep of your paper and it makes your paper look really bad.
     
  4. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    Not that it's really that germane to the point of the thread, but there was a period of time when Beamer's teams had a lot of pretty scuzzy legal problems. Jim Druckenmiller, Tony Morrison, Jim Crawford and the like. And this article from 1997 on college football arrests mentions "a staggering 18 (arrests) at Virginia Tech", although it doesn't go into detail on any of them.

    http://www.thefreelibrary.com/COLLEGE+FOOTBALL+CRIMINALS+%3A+VARIOUS+INCIDENTS+INVOLVING+DIVISION+I...-a083853437

    Now, having said that, pay attention because I'm only going to say this once. Frank Beamer, from everything I have ever heard, is a great man. I have nothing but respect for what he's accomplished at VT, and I will raise a glass in his honor when he retires (and then several more in celebration). And it goes without saying that Pat Dooley fucked up.

    I'm going to go wash my hands now.
     
  5. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Circus is correct. There was a really bad period there but they put a plan in place to deal with it and it has been minimal since. Not non-existent. No one is claiming perfection here. But minimal. Marcus Vick is obvously the highest profile (Michael didn't have any issues at VT that anyone knows about) and I think if you asked Beamer, he'd agree he probably gave Marcus a bit too much rope. He'd like to have a do-over there.
     
  6. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    Yeah, that's one of the reasons I do respect Beamer so much. They've been proactive ever since then and cleaned the team up significantly. He obviously took it very seriously.

    Any Michael Vick stories I've heard from his time at VT are apocryphal at best, and I'd be much more likely to file them under "urban legend".
     
  7. BigRed

    BigRed Active Member

    Nagi posted the item before Dooley had commented. I read it yesterday and his comments weren't there.
     
  8. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    By the way Circus, if another publisher picks up that biography, I'm including your tribute to him as a cover quote. It's on the record now!

    I got wind of two of Marcus' dustups when I was about 60-90 minutes out of Blacksburg on my way home. The police guy we dealt with said on the second, "You need to get in the habit of calling me before you leave town." Which I did. "Can I go home now?" I'd ask.
     
  9. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    I knew posting here would bite me in the ass. I'll probably have to turn in my degree now.
     
  10. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Again, as long as Pat Dooley actually wrote the tweet, I really don't care that his explanation came after-the-fact. That's how modern journalism works, like it or not. What if Dooley had deleted the tweet and accused Nagi of making it up? What would have been bullshit was refusing to update the blog. As soon as he got a response, he updated it. And Dooley's response actually made him look worse.

    He made a cruel joke. Whether he knew the story of Beamer is irrelevant to me. Does it make it any less cruel if he didn't know the story? He's still making fun of a guy with burns/scars on his face.
     
  11. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    You better have some hard facts before you throw shit like that around. Are you around every time he's in a bar or media hospy? Are you with him 365? Just because you see someone have a couple doesn't mean what you're saying.
     
  12. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Pat has been an ass for decades. He is who he is. Generally, he's not a bad person but that asshole streak comes out at the wrong time. This was one of them.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page