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Soap opera at Ball State

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by HackyMcHack, Jul 11, 2007.

  1. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    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.
     
  2. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Would love to see Wilbon, who I like as well, answer that one, Bubs.
     
  3. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    So would I.
     
  4. thebiglead

    thebiglead Member

    When i said i was surprised to see Wilbon jump in here ... this is what i meant. It's a risky leap. Longtime Wilbon fan, enjoy him on PTI, he granted us an interview ... but it's been a rough summer for him between this and the Who's Now debacle.

     
  5. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    Norman Chad just wrote all about it. There aren't many people who can do two full-time jobs well. One or the other (or both) starts to suffer. Newspaper editors too often settle for being a guy's B-job rather than his A-job, when it was the A-job that led to the radio or TV gig. Of course if a preps writer was working a second job in a cancer ward, they'd bust his butt if he slacked off in any way.

    And I say all this while believing that Mike Wilbon brings the most integrity, and a great work ethic, to whatever he does. But come on, the guy ain't Superman and something -- an extra phone call, a spare hour of think time -- has to give. From things I've read and heard, even Wilbon wonders if he's being fair to the paper at times.
     
  6. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Wouldn't hurt to email him that.
     
  7. OnTheRiver

    OnTheRiver Active Member

    That Wilbon column was painfully bad by anyone's standards, let alone someone like Wilbon.

    How very disappointing.
     
  8. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    I'm really disappointed, OTR, that this wasn't your post.

    OTR: You mean it isn't?

    :D
     
  9. Mmac

    Mmac Guest

    That was a surprisingly weak piece by Wilbon, miles beneath his usual standard. Perhaps because of a DC connection to the Thompson family he felt the need to come to Ronny's defense, but this piece wreaked of such a transparently one-sided bias, shoddy journalism, and, as Bubbler pointed out, a couple glaring factual misrepresentations that Wilbon apparently just accepted at face value from Ronny's mouth without bothering to verify. Very un-Wilbon like.

    The source I've spoken with about this is about as kind-hearted and gracious a guy as you could meet, but even he's quite clear about how shockingly bad Thompson's attitude for a newly hired D1 coach was from the day he was hired. Obviously Muncie's no progressive hotspot, but BSU has had plenty of black coaches, and countless black players over the years, and I can't recall any similar racial accusations ever arising until this mess. For Thompson and Wilbon to suddenly be talking about the place as if it were 1950's Mississippi is grossly unfair and inaccurate, IMO.
     
  10. Jesus_Muscatel

    Jesus_Muscatel Well-Known Member

    Not to mention the fact that John "Mr. Bronze" Thompson, the patriarch, has been known to scream racism when the sun comes up in the morning, and bang that drum 'til the bars close down on Wisconsin Ave.
     
  11. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    ... and solidly in his fourth decade of doing so...
     
  12. thebiglead

    thebiglead Member

    Some of the commenters on our website said that Whitlock was hosting Jim Rome's radio show yesterday and really took this piece apart. He also talked about how Big John had him in a room for six hours, trying to get him to write about it. Still dont think this becomes a national issue unless the ESPN machine gets Katz to write about it (he has passed, as has Bill Rhoden), or Whitlock jumps in the pool to defend his school.
     
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