Saban comments

Horribly irresponsible for any reporter to pass around or e-mail a recording of something that was off the record.

My question might be, if it's off the record, why was he recording it in the first place? Shut off the audio and write it down, yo.

 

Usually agree with you Mizzou -- and I definitely don't think Darlington should be fired -- but I think Darlington is at fault at some level here. Sharing an off-the-record conversation with other media members violates the off-the-record aspect of it, does it not? If it's off-the-record, shouldn't you keep it under wraps?

 

A really dangerous fine line you're straddling there, Mizzou.

 

Yes, and you can't be screwed by another media type if you don't share your notes with them, either.

 

There is a lot of disagreement about the origins of the term "coon ass," but I can tell you nobody in my family or my circle who uses the term links it to the term "coon" as referenced above. In fact, years ago at my sister's wedding rehearsal dinner, we dined at a seafood restaurant where someone bestowed a certificate of "honorary coon ass" to the groomsmen. One of them, an African American from a northern state, seemed startled by the gesture. It took everyone some time to sort it out. We realized he thought it was a racial slur directed at him, he realized "coon ass" was an entirely different sort of term, and all ended well.

Years later he laughs about it.

 

I know that.

All I'm saying is the person who told the story shares some responsibility if the story gets out.

 

Yeah, sorry, Mizzou. When I talk shop I don't supply tapes to radio hosts. ... I'm sure that's a barrel of chuckles and all, though.

 

Telling the story to another person is one thing. Supplying the tape is an entirely different matter.

 

Bingo.

 

It's not a matter of proof. It's a matter of giving someone a tape they can make available to the public. The tape is the property of your newspaper; your retelling of a conversation is not. What's your difficulty in understanding that? As you said, everyone shares off-the-record stories with scribes, but the ones who hand over tapes are asking for trouble.

 

C'mon, Mizzzou.

If you are a radio guy and over beers a reporter tells you that Saban called LSU fans coonasses, are you gonna broadcast that? No.

If you've got a tape, hell, it might just be too tempting.

 

You know how those media types are...you can never trust them. Bastards!