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Gainesville Sun gets it very, very wrong

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by dixiehack, Jan 25, 2008.

  1. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

  2. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    What is meant by "recruiting for Oklahoma"? Was he trying to get other recruits to go there? Talking to them while on his visit to Florida? That line doesn't make sense to me.
     
  3. Yeah, that's rumored to happened a lot in the recruiting world.

    A kid will be a "silent commit" to State Tech. So State Tech urges him to take an official visit to rival State U. in order to influence other kids to attend State Tech, or just generally be a disruptive presence for State U. during the weekend.

    It doesn't happen as often as fans like to believe it does, but it does occur occasionally.
     
  4. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    I'd be very worried encouraging a recruit to visit any other school.

    It would be like me working over someone for a roto trade and letting him/her off the phone with the deal almost closed.
     
  5. Stone Cane

    Stone Cane Member

    i've never gotten why people care where high school kids are going to college to play football (or hoops)

    i understand this has become a massive industry

    i just don't get why

    who freaking cares
     
  6. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Why do newspapers feel the need to publish what one "trusted source" says happens during a recruiting visit if you can't validate it in some way?

    A lot of the scuttlebutt you hear is just wrong. And you publish something controversial like this and even if you have a source, he's likely to recant under pressure to keep the kid still in line for the beloved Gators.

    This is just dumb.
     
  7. silentbob

    silentbob Member

    I agree with Stone.

    If I ran a sports section, I wouldn't touch recruiting until signing day. Don't know how many times in the past years we've run a story that says so-and-so is going to State U. Then a week later: So-and-so changes his mind. A week later: So-and-so might be going back to State.

    What's scary is there are people -- reporters and fans -- who live for recruiting. How that happens I have NO idea.
     
  8. SEC Guy

    SEC Guy Member

    You gotta love a paper that's website is "Gatorsports.com"

    I think this is also the paper that had "We're No. 1" as the main headline after one of the recent titles.
     
  9. SEC Guy

    SEC Guy Member

    Read the main Tebow story on that link. The writer, who has been covering the team for well over a decade, has to refer to a quote from the Florida student paper.

    I give him credit for giving proper credit, but how embarrassed would you be if you had been on a beat that long and you get beaten badly by the student paper?

    I think that's more embarrassing than the error.
     
  10. Robbie is a great guy. But he's having a brutal week.
     
  11. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Our biggest problem is dumbasses. We've had some great players in the last few years, who've signed with D-I schools. Usually one a year, which isn't bad for a small town. We do a story or two during recruiting season, maybe one if they commit early, make a big "it's official" splash on signing day — then have them score a 3 on their ACT and end up at a juco in the fall.
    I'm so glad for this year's class. We have two guys who are likely to go D-I. One has his grades and has been firmly committed for months. Our next story on him will be on signing day. The other was one of those old juco guys who pulled his shit together and signed with a four-year school last month. We've already done something on him. The rest we can handle with a roundup on signing day.
     
  12. GuessWho

    GuessWho Active Member

    I totally agree. My standard comment is I'll worry about them when they get here. But a crapload of our readers seem to care. In our daily internet reports, hits on recruiting stories are off the freaking charts and nearly double anything else in the paper on those days.

    Sucks, but a lot of folks eat up those stories. Thank God I don't have to write them.
     
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