Post Gazette beat guy in hot water

What an idiot:



Apologies issued for PG reporter's remarks
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Post-Gazette, KDKA-TV and Post-Gazette reporter Paul Zeise have apologized for remarks Zeise made on "Sports Showdown" Sunday night.

"We apologize for the insensitive and offensive remarks made on Sunday's "Sports Showdown," the Post-Gazette said in a statement issued yesterday. "Paul Zeise's comments do not represent the view of the Post-Gazette."

Zeise, who covers Pitt football and college basketball for the Post-Gazette, said, "I regret the poor choice of analogies I used to characterize a professional athlete's legal situation."

KDKA also apologized on its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts yesterday.

The "Sports Showdown," which runs for 30 minutes beginning at 11:35 p.m., is a weekly discussion show with three or four members of the local media with KDKA sports anchor Bob Pompeani as the host. Panelists Sunday were Zeise; Paul Alexander, an anchor-reporter for FSN Pittsburgh; and Ellis Cannon, a talk-show host on WPGB-FM.

The subject for discussion was Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who has been indicted by the federal government on dogfighting charges.

In introducing the topic, Pompeani said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is "probably going to suspend [Vick] for the rest of the season, the whole year. Is he right to do that given the fact this guy has not been convicted of anything?" Alexander answered: "Absolutely. When you're indicted by the federal government, you're going down. Since 1987 they have a 92 percent conviction rate."

Zeise took an opposing view. "It's really a sad day in this country when somehow ... Michael Vick would have been better off raping a woman if you look at the outcry of what happened. Had he done that, he probably would have been suspended for four games and he'd be back on the field. But because this has become a political issue, all of a sudden the commissioner has lost his stomach for it."

KDKA general manager Chris Pike said, "We apologize for the inappropriate and insensitive comments that do not reflect the view of KDKA management and staff."

Pike said Zeise, who was among a group of eight to 10 rotating panelists, will not be invited back on the show.



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Wow.

 

What a fucking idiot.

 

What does Bobby Knight think about this?

 

Polish those resumes, kids.

What a fucking tool.

 

He is just sitting back and enjoying it.

 

I know Paul, too. Pretty nice guy. I know 96-percent of this board hasn't seen this show but it's essentially the pierogie bender's version of ESPN's Sports Reporters, which usually devolves into four different people from four different media outlets screaming over each other and trying to out-wit each other. I'm guessing that's what happened here and Zeise took it a step (or 12) too far.

 

Bad news. That's the danger of going on shows like that...it's easy to get caught up and say something outrageous.

 

Amazing how many different groups he insulted in one sentence.

 

This is why you put columnists on and not beat guys. Columnists are making a career out of taking sometimes provocative stands on issues and defending those without crossing a line. Beat guys sometimes haven't learned how to reign in thoughts sometimes. Not saying all beat guys talk first and then think, but columnists making a living out of arguments and analogies.

 

Well, um, I don't know Paul, but I agree with at least part of his statement. I do think Vick could have beaten his wife within an inch of death and been back on the field in the same season. Rape? Not if he was convicted, but you look at Kobe's situation and you know the difficulties there. Bottom line, he's accused of doing brutal, horrible things to these dogs but the outcry far outweighs what it would have been had he been charged with even something violent against a human.

As for the politics of it: Goodell did wait a bit after the indictment to suspend him. Paul wasn't the first to hint that his hand was forced.

Release the hounds, but I'm failing to see the big deal about what he said.