TMZ breaks NCAA violation story

Um ... really? I ask this honestly, not in an asshoolish way: Are you a beat writer now? I am, and I know the stories are there. I chase them. But I don't break them (at least not yet) because of reasons other than wanting to be able to eat gameday buffets and pow-wow with the people I cover. I don't break them because I can't get enough proof, or sources don't cooperate, etc. You think I'd choose gameday buffets and being close to sources over breaking a major story and writing a ticket to a better job?

You should be better than that Alma.

 

I think a lot of beat writers are so busy with the daily grind that the prospect of delving into a story about NCAA violations is not something they relish.

 

So . . . sitting through 200 city council meetings while waiting for that police or mayoral scandal isn't a deterrent there?

I get your point, but for a different reason.

I do agree that there is a lack of sports journalists who want to do investigative work, but it's not because of ambitious people going elsewhere or the grind of the beat. It's because on all levels of sport coverage, from the smallest paper in Podunk to yes, The Worldwide Leader, sports - like, say, Arts and Entertainment - attracts an inordinate number of individuals who get into the journalism aspect because they're fans. They are not interested in anything that puts the people or events they cover in a negative light because, well, that's just not what they signed up for. And doggone it, that takes effort.

Go re-read the Tiger Woods scandal thread. Some people on there arguing about "why is this news?" and "this isn't what I got into journalism for!"

This isn't about how the ambitious supposedly don't want to be sports journalists. It's more a situation where they're ambitious, but not ambitious enough to make a hero look bad.

 

Bang-on. But, TMZ will also deal with over-the-transom crap that people routinely dangle as bait.

 

AMEN, Alma.

And what a copout, the paying sources argument. How do you explain a few ESPN guys' domination of local stories then? They don't pay.

How do TWO big Dallas-area papers not have Ron Washington doing coke, many months after it happened? If I was a Rangers beat writer, I wouldn't want to leave my house today.

There are certainly some good beat guys left at newspapers, but they're getting scooped more and more — by the national guys, now TMZ, etc. It's pretty rare anymore to learn something new about any NFL team from the newspaper beat writer anymore. MLB is getting that way, too, and Schlabach and Katz sure have a lot first on colleges. (Newspapers' saving grace is Joe Schad, who got scooped by an NFL guy, Mort, on the Notre Dame stuff. If Schad's on the story, the local beat guy has a good chance).

I was in N.C. visiting family a couple times the past few weeks when big stories came down: Jake Delhomme gets cut by the Panthers (nothing in that day's Observer), the UN-CC coach, Lutz, gets canned (ditto).

It's not about time — the ol' "I'm blogging and writing and don't have a spare second to chase records" argument — but rather source development, relationships, the kinds of things beat guys and gals clearly aren't doing these days. Jay Glazer gets a scoop just by sending a text to a source who likes him. It's not like he's working his tail off, camping out at athletes' houses.

I covered an NFL team for four years. I broke stuff because I got to know the assistants, the secretaries, the equipment managers, everyone associated with the team.

 

Hmmmmmm .... Lots of thoughts there to think about.

I have been kind of one of the ones beating the Tiger drum a little bit. But it's not a fanboi thing. It's more like ... it just starts to feel like celebrity/entertainment journalism to me, not much different than what the National Enquirer or Perez Hilton does. You're covering people not because it is in the public interest in any real way, but because they are famous and the news is titillating.

I've had to do these stories. Drunken college kids most of the time. And I never flinched. I knew it had to be done. I understood that it was what the players - like Tiger - signed up for. But there was always a part of me thinking, "I'm a smart person. Why am I spending my time chasing around Starting QB's campus incident report?"

Your city council meeting point is well-taken, especially at college town newspapers where you can cover national in sports.

I guess what I'm getting at is that there's a reason that guys like Mark Bowden and Jones gravitate from sports to news. There's a reason that there's no sports Pulitzer. There's also a reason guys like Halberstam and Maraniss like to dabble in sports - because the dramatic tension, from a writer's standpoint, is built-in.

And news does draw its own fanbois - called pundits. But what you say is certainly the case, that sports are likely to draw fans instead of journalists, and that might assist in watering down the talent pool, as well.

 

So let's compare how many substantial stories, in the last six months, year, whatever, have been broken by TMZ compared to newspaper beat writers. I don't know, I'm guessing the beat writers are going to have dozens, hundreds, compared to...one. And maybe TMZ's only started concentrating on sports recently, so let's start keeping track from now until the end of the year and keep a scoreboard. Again, it will be a rout.

 

College coaches are sweating bullets today. TMZ, with money to pay sources, will have no shortage of dirt on college athletics. It's a filthy place.

 

But that's not all, if you act today you get bonus news with your NCAA violation, including an item on Ben Roethlisberger dropping out of a golf tournament, and Tiger Woods' filthy dirty texts to a porn star. Plus the Sham Wow, all for one low price...

 

Pass. That Sham Wow guy is creepy.

 

Apples and oranges. You're taking every outlet against one.

 

Is Jeffrey Hausinger an Oklahoma grad, or booster?

Or, do any of the other of the several pro athletes he reportedly represents have ties to OU?