Ripping other scribes...

[Mighty_Wingman]

I was going to post this on the Jeff Jacobs thread, but I didn't want to interrupt the debate about how to address coaches. So here we go.

In this week's Sports Illustrated, SportsJournalists.com board fave Austin Murphy goes out of his way to bash some Florida beat guy...makes it his lead, in fact. Very strange, and totally pointless.

Murphy wrote a story about how Florida has bounced back from its midseason loss to Auburn, and it's all because Urban Meyer didn't quit on Chris Leak. He's describing the scene in the postgame interview room:

A reporter to Meyer's left asked -- indeed, baited -- the coach: How could a four-year starter make such a mistake?

The scribe, it bears noting, was clad in that sartorial staple of sportswriters: A windbreaker from a charity golf event. This one commerated the Steve Spurrier Scramble for Kids -- a reminder that, regardless of his popularity around Gainesville, Meyer labors in the shadow of a legend.

Later in the story, he refers to the same reporter as "Windbreaker."

So let's recap, Austin: A reporter is a jerk for "baiting" Urban Meyer by wondering why a four-year starter would play like dog**** in a big game.

Because he dares to question the great and wise Urban, you have a right -- or a duty! -- to make fun of what he's wearing. When you're finished with that, you call him a homer for good measure, then get back to blowing Urban Meyer, one of the biggest ****head coaches in America.

Great.

(And no, for the record, I don't cover UF. Nor do I have any idea which of the Florida hacks Murphy's talking about in this story. Nor do I care.)

 

[HoopsMcCann]

i got a good idea who it may be -- but the more important question is how did windbreaker address meyer, as 'urban' or as 'coach'?

 

[Ace]

I think it's funny. It's also why I never wear ill-gotten booty to sports events. I sell it on ebay.

 

[hackhack]

want respect? don't wear graft.

 

[HoopsMcCann]

I think it's funny. It's also why I never wear ill-gotten booty to sports events. I sell it on ebay.

i hope that's a joke

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

All too true. And the guys -- there are a lot of them out there -- who are total whores for the graft are embarassing.

BUT, this is a story in Sports Illustrated, two months after the fact, about Meyer's and Leak's relationship. Bashing some dude for daring to ask Meyer why his quarterback played well isn't just unnecessary for the story, it's downright stupid. Not to mention, for lack of a better word, tacky.

 

[Ace]

I think it's funny. It's also why I never wear ill-gotten booty to sports events. I sell it on ebay.

i hope that's a joke

It is. Of course I wear it to games. I like to blend in.

 

[RokSki]

Austin must have been reading some SJ before deadline, and felt left out. One needn't go further than here to see some good examples of fellow-journalist ripping.

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

True. But my whole point is that there's a time and a place.

Well, I guess that was one of my points, the other being that Austin Murphy is a ****. But whatever.

 

[Jim Tom Pinch]

However in Chicago, scribes wripping on each other is sport

 

[write then drink]

the clown shouldn't have been wearing the jacket

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

I feel like we're missing the point here. Sure, the guy shouldn't have been wearing the jacket.

But am I the only one bothered by Murphy ripping the guy for asking a totally reasonable post-game question?

 

[shotglass]

No, you're not the only one.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

The guy used it as a piece of color to frame his story. Big deal. Is it the best way to go, probably not. But there are worse ways.

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

I hate to sound like I'm obsessed with this, but I think it's absurd that so many people on this board agree that it's somehow unethical to call a coach "Coach," but have no problem with a national writer saying a beat writer "baited" a coach with a perfectly reasonable question.

 

[Columbo]

commerated?

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Not unethical, maybe a tad obsequious.

'Father' Murphy <=> 'Coach' Blowhard

 

[Ralph Waldo Henderson]

I wouldn't have written what Murphy did, but wearing that jacket is a worse offense, in my opinion.

And I must have missed the "coach" debate. Hell, I'm unethical more than 50 percent of the time too, I guess.

 

[Babs]

I ***** about a lot of things, believe me, but I don't see anything wrong with calling a coach "Coach". If anything, it's formal as opposed to calling him "Bob" or whatever his name is.

Back on topic, I agree that the windbreaker bit is used as color for his story, and probably not a gratuitous dig.

 

[Almost_Famous]

Don't see this as ripping ... see it as a writer noting that those who cover Urban still long for Spurrier, and following a legend is never easy

one man's opinion