LeBatard column on the media

[jaredk]

In the last 15 years, according to a piece this week by Dan's colleague, Linda Robertson, 8 U of Miami football players have died violently: 3 shot, 1 beaten to death, 4 in car wrecks.

But Dan thinks the media shouldn't wonder why these things keep happening.

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/story/324931.html

Seems to me, if a columnist is bothered by media reports that he believes say nothing concrete, the last thing he should write is another column that says nothing concrete. Go do some reporting. Tell me why there has been no arrest in the murder of a Miami player last year. Tell me why I should ignore the fact that Taylor's car was riddled by gunfire that left 27 shell casings in the street. Go interview the kid Taylor jacked up preceding that drive-by message, ask the kid if he's a suspect. (Local CBS TV did that.) Talk to some Taylor neighbors. Walk the street at 1 in the morning, tell me what it sounds like. Do something that Edna Buchanan would be proud of. Then write.

Or just take the day off.

 

[dooley_womack1]

What do car wrecks have to do with the repute of a program? And many athletes from big-time programs came from rough neighborhoods; we know that without Lebatard having to pull a Jane Byrne. It's not just a Miami thing. Robertson didn't seem to provide much that LeBatard had to really knock down.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Dan has his tin drum
Whitlock has his.
I hate the opinion culture of this business sometimes.

 

[Thanks for comin' out]

"I don't know how anyone could lack so much compassion that they would somehow blame a city or school or culture to this awfulness, as if a city or school or culture could possibly deserve something that brings this kind of sobbing and wailing."

Maybe Dan didn't ask Antrell Rolle - one of Taylor's actual friends - about this.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Why do people believe Rolle more than they believe the Miami cops?

 

[playthrough]

The reports I have seen and read have not "blamed" anyone as he believes, but I think they have provided context. Read the SI piece this week on Vick, that's very good journalism that (sadly) might be applicable here.

Plus, I don't need an ESPN talking head telling me that the talking heads are out of line.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

If there's a "might" in there, then it's not applicable.
Your talking-head point is a good one, though.

 

[Thanks for comin' out]

Why do people believe Rolle more than they believe the Miami cops?

Why do people believe Dan or Fenian more than Antrell Rolle? If one of your friends died, wouldn't you probably have a better - at least a rough - idea of what was going on with that person?

 

[Ace]

Bottom line is that in some places Miami is a dangerous city. It's not just for decoration that lots of modest, block homes have iron bars on the windows.

And if the University of Miami has a thug reputation it brought that on itself.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Why do people believe Rolle more than they believe the Miami cops?

Why do people believe Dan or Fenian more than Antrell Rolle? If one of your friends died, wouldn't you probably have a better - at least a rough - idea of what was going on with that person?

Plus... their fathers are/were both cops. He knows plenty, Antrel Rolle.

 

[hondo]

Bottom line is that in some places Miami is a dangerous city. It's not just for decoration that lots of modest, block homes have iron bars on the windows.

And if the University of Miami has a thug reputation it brought that on itself.

Ace and I are in agreement. Two many UM players, past and present, have died or been involved in too many incidents, to not come to the rational conclusion that there has been a pervasive, dark culture of some sort within the program. Did Sean Taylor bring his death on himself? Absolutely not, from all we know at this point. But neither did he lead the life of a choir boy. I hope Randy Shannon roots it out.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Bottom line is that in some places Miami is a dangerous city. It's not just for decoration that lots of modest, block homes have iron bars on the windows.

And if the University of Miami has a thug reputation it brought that on itself.

. . . and DLB's being deliberately obtuse, which is nothing new, in this neighborhood . . .

 

[Ace]

Bottom line is that in some places Miami is a dangerous city. It's not just for decoration that lots of modest, block homes have iron bars on the windows.

And if the University of Miami has a thug reputation it brought that on itself.

Ace and I are in agreement. Two many UM players, past and present, have died or been involved in too many incidents, to not come to the rational conclusion that there has been a pervasive, dark culture of some sort within the program. Did Sean Taylor bring his death on himself? Absolutely not, from all we know at this point. But neither did he lead the life of a choir boy. I hope Randy Shannon roots it out.

With a caveat.

I am not saying that it's fair that the current Miami program has a thug reputation or that these players/coaches did anything to warrant it, but past programs reveled in it and they are still paying for it.

 

[dooley_womack1]

But the point is, most major programs have stars from rough upbringings who have problems shaking free. Sean Taylor could have picked FSU, LSU, or hell, even Missouri, and the same outcome could have occurred with him. Being a Hurricane didn't kill him.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

What do car wrecks have to do with the repute of a program?

First, much of it comes to the issue of character. Second, Robertson barely scratched the surface of how much UM players/products are involved in a) illegality or b) tragedy.

And there are degrees of illegality. Certainly driving 80 mph in a 35 and crashing into a tree is "less" illegal than shooting someone to death at a Plantation apartment.

But the list of documented reckless driving incidents involving these young men, added to the incidents of other illegal conduct, added to incidents of assault and/or tragic death, is jaw-droppingly long.

Whether it involves having too many kids who are so lacking in self-awareness to think they are invincible and can hop away from a car wreck, or kids with a more sinister core or set of surroundings, UM has utterly failed to well-enough incorporate character into its football signing process.

Before someone says it ain't a UM thing, show me a pile of incidents related to a single other college that is remotely close.

Reading this column, I wish two things: a) that Taylor had been white and b) he hadn't gone to UM.

That way, Le Batard never would have written this pile of disingenuity.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Saying UM is rotten because of auto accidents is absurd. And does Buster Rhymes and Jamele Holloway and Barry Switzer and gunplay ring any bells? How about Sal Aunese and gang affiliations and whores for recruits and sexual harassment of a female kicker? And shoe shopping sprees? And the reports throughout the season from several teams of players stealing things? Yeah, the Canes are unique, all right. ::)

Bottom line: Sean Taylor could have gone to frickin' BYU and still come to this same end.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Why do people believe Rolle more than they believe the Miami cops?

Why do people believe Dan or Fenian more than Antrell Rolle? If one of your friends died, wouldn't you probably have a better - at least a rough - idea of what was going on with that person?

He wouldn't have any more idea than a goat about the specific circumstances of the specific crime.

 

[Jemele Hill]

Guess we didn't learn as much from Duke lacrosse as I thought. Just as that case became about overprivileged, white athletes, this one is becoming about Boyz In The Hood -- nevermind that Sean Taylor grew up middle class and went to an exclusive prep school in Miami.

I completely understand LeBatard's point. Seems like we just don't feel comfortable saying, what we don't know, or finding out through real reporting what's true and isn't. The knife and phone fabrications didn't pan out to be some mafioso execution. Now we have Antrel Rolle, who admitted he had talked to his friend in awhile, but somehow knew he was fearing for his life. Seems to me that if he feels that strongly he should be talking to the police. Kinda odd a guy would be living in fear, but yet his security system wasn't even on. Hmm.

FACT: The police believe it was random and Sean Taylor didn't know his attacker.

But let's just run with our theories instead....

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

If he wasn't living in fear, shouldn't he have been? His house was broken into a week prior, he's got enemies. I have no enemies and I'd a little itchy at my place getting robbed. He kept a machete under his bed like he's Mick Dundee. I'd listen to what Antrel Rolle had to say just as much as I'd listen to the cops with their ear to the ground.

 

[Joe Williams]

". . . Objectivity, the alleged bedrock of this profession, is both the excuse we hide under and a lie.

There are slants and shades in everything you read, hear and see as the line between Chris Wallace and Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly and Katie Couric and Geraldo Rivera becomes blurred and smeared as entertainaournalism. Asking emotional humans, with all their embedded prejudices and experiences and baggage, to be without bias (conscious or subconscious) is like asking night not to be dark. All we can do is aspire to clinical objectivity as professionals and hope that too many people don't get trampled and harmed when we inevitably fail."

What a bunch of malarkey. This is a guy who feeds the beasts daily in several media platforms, and usually works quite happily without having all the "facts." If LeBatard is so hung up on only working with facts, why is he writing an opinion column? Why isn't he dedicating his career to being an investigative reporter, uncovering hard news stories based entirely on facts?

And he's setting up straw men when he throws out the names of a bunch of TV commentators and then holds them up as an example of how tilted journalism has gotten. I'll bet the real news reporters at the Miami Herald don't appreciate being lumped in with Geraldo when DLB grouses about "his" profession.

Bottom line, Dan wouldn't be able to make his multifaceted lucrative living if he held himself to his blowhard standard here of only working with facts. And really, if all anyone read or listened to or watched was straight factual reporting, why would we even need opinion people (columnists and commentators)? This is like getting mad that chiropractors and faith healers don't use scalpels, anesthesia or radiation.