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Spurrier slams Columbia writer

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by sctvman, Oct 11, 2011.

  1. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I know of three writers who Spurrier called out when he was in Gainesville who got death threats as a result of him doing so.

    None of the three writers did anything wrong.
     
  2. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I've always wondering how I would react if someone -- a competitor, I guess -- wrote something that was fair but harsh and the coach refused to talk until the writer who aggrieved him left the presser. I'd like to think I'd try to rally the remaining writers to tell the coach to pound sand, and that we'd all walk out, but that's easy to say and hard to do. And of course, it gets a lot more complicated if the writer in question wrote something unfair or untrue. I do think, however, if you just sit there and let Spurrier run his little fiefdom like a tyrant with a suntan, eventually it's you he's trying to throw out of the press conference.
     
  3. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    First they came for the columnists,
    and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a columnist.

    Then they came for the lede writers,
    and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a lede writer.

    Then they came for the sidebar guys,
    and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a sidebar guy.

    Then they came for me
    and there was no one left to speak out for me.
     
  4. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    What usually happens is the coach makes a comment about the writer in question and the rest of the writers throw the writer in question under the bus and try to use it to their advantage. That's the way it seems to be at the college level.

    At the pro level there always seems to be more unity. I think there was a Florida writer who walked out of a Tom Coughlin press conference after Couglin tore Pete Prisco a new asshole. I don't remember the writer or the paper, but I don't think it was a TU guy. I may be wrong. It might have been the Florida Today columnist.
     
  5. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    The media sucks up to coaches (and players)? Say it ain't so?
     
  6. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Spurrier has long been a bully, which he likes being. If the guy didn't do anything wrong, Spurrier should be called out.
     
  7. Cubbiebum

    Cubbiebum Member

    Sorry but part of Spurrier's job in my eyes is to talk to the media ... even the ones he doesn't like. All this does is shine the spotlight on the team for all the wrong reasons.
     
  8. Spurrier comes off looking like a baby.

    Even if he has a legitimate gripe (and I'm not sure that he does), this is not the way an adult handles things.
     
  9. MightyMouse

    MightyMouse Member

    Indeed. You should stand in front of everyone and yell like a maniac. [/MikeGundy]
     
  10. Well, that's more or less what he did. He was pretty emotional and angry, pacing back and forth.
     
  11. SoCalDude

    SoCalDude Active Member

    Spurrier might be a dick, but I see no problem with what he did here. What we don't know is the other side -- was it really an untrue story? If it was, then maybe the writer deserves to be thrown under the bus. But at least Spurrier didn't castigate all the media because one guy screwed up ... if he did screw up.
    There was a time when UCLA's Terry Donahue turned into a prick because "legendary NFL writer" Bob Oates screwed up a story. Oates hadn't been to a UCLA game in years, but he came to one late in '88. Troy Aikman threw a long pass, but the ball slipped out of his hand, it came up about 5 yards short. The next day in the LAT, Oates wrote "Aikman can't throw the long ball."
    So, because he was the "legendary NFL writer" it swept the country and all the national writers were saying that Aikman can't throw the long ball.
    Donahue used that against the media for several years following. Anytime the media criticized him for anything, he'd say, "Well, the media thinks Aikman can't throw the long ball." I got sick of it and cut him off one time. I said, "No, Terry, one writer who came to one game said that. All of us who are here every day knew that wasn't true and none of us wrote that."
     
  12. John

    John Well-Known Member

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